Niceville, FWB cross country teams qualify for state
The Fort Walton Beach girls’ cross country team finished second at the Region 1-3A meet in Tallahassee, highlighting an impressive showing by a pair of Okaloosa County rivals.
The Viking boys finished fourth, while Niceville’s girls finished third and its boys finished fifth. Both schools will send both their boys’ and girls’ teams to the state meet next weekend.
Choctawhatchee’s girls narrowly missed a trip to state, as they finished seventh. Only the top six teams advance to state. The Choctaw boys finished 14th and Navarre’s boys finished 11th.
In Region 1-2A, South Walton’s girls finished ninth and missed out on state, but Jacob Leuze finished 12th on the boys’ side with a time of 16:48 to qualify individually.
Niceville’s Marsel Mosley was the top individual finisher, narrowly missing a school record with a time of 18:41to finish fifth on the boys’ side. The Eagles also had the top individual boys’ finisher, as Thomas Howell breaking a school record with a time of 15:40 to finish fifth.
The Viking girls were led by two record-breaking performances from Sarah Devaux and Ivy Chastain. Both broke Fort Walton Beach school records, as Devaux’s 18:47 was good for seventh place and Chastain’s 18:54 put her in eighth.
Other Fort Walton Beach girls included Briana Degennaro (19:22) in 14th, Rhianna Moller (19:53) in 17th, Melissa Radford (19:58) in 29th, Kathryn Russell (19:59) in 31st and Lauren Eschbach (20:02) in 32nd.
“We have two really strong teams,” Fort Walton Beach coach Lissette Moller-Fields said. “We really want to get on the podium at state.”
The Viking boys also fared well in fourth place, although Moller-Fields said she was hoping for a third-place finish from them. Alexander Godfrey led the way in 15th place with a 16:22. He was followed by Jake Dearmon (16:31) in 19th, Cameron Sanchez (16:58) in 39th, Sam Ammons (16:59) in 41st and Timothy Bulger (17:02) in 45th.
Things went well for Niceville as well, as several Eagles turned in great performances. In addition to Mosley’s performance on the girls’ side, Regan McAllister (19:23) finished 15th, Annie Serpa (19:23) finished 16th, Elizabeth Berry (20:51) finished 44th, Abigail McCool (20:56) finished 47th and Alise Snyders (20:59) finished 48th.
On the boys’ side, Jason Riggs (16:35) finished 21st, followed by Patrick Lacombe (16:43) in 27th, Nicholas Morken (17:00) in 42nd, Joseph Bernier (17:14) in 49th and Cullen Fralix (17:29) in 56th.
“Next week finalizes the season,” Niceville coach Sherman Eller said. “We hope to run our best race of the year. Our only two goals were to qualify for state and do well at state.”
Although they didn’t qualify for state, the Choctaw girls put on an impressive performance. Sara Steele (19:48) led the way in 24th place, followed by Casey Evans (19:50) in 25th, Brooke McSheehy (21:12) in 55th, Taylor Reynolds (21:50) in 67th, Randee Harvell (21:57) in 71st and Sarah Fraser (22:08) in 74th.
Fort the Choctaw boys, Alec Herrera was the top finisher in 36th place at 16:56. David Van Steenbergen followed at 16:58 in 38th place, followed by Quinten Morten (18:03) in 76th, Christian Grohoske (18:40) in 88th and Antonio Aviles (20:31) in 97th.
The Navarre boys got a 40th-place finish from Trent Beck, with a time of 16:59. Seth Nydam (17:59) finished 73rd, while Jared Gonzalez (18:15) finished 82nd, John Millward (18:17) finished 83rd, Kevin Mackenzie (18:23) finished 86th and Bryan Barrett (19:42) finished 96th.
South Walton’s girls were led by Alexandra Weiner (20:30) in 26th place. Alyssa Bump (21:30) followed in 40th, followed by Darcy Godwin (22:25) in 57th, Meghan Ryan (22:37) in 60th, Kaley Findley (23:08) in 66th, Heather Anderson (24:33) in 76th and Kylie Cloutier (26:23) in 80th.
“Five of the top teams in our region are top ten in state,” South Walton coach Greg Niemic said. “It was a tough competition.”
In addition to Leuze’s performance on the boys’ side, Tristan Lanasa finished 24th with a time of 17:18 for the Seahawks.
