Niceville, Rocky Bayou girls shine at Eye Opener

By JARED MACARIN

jaredm@nwfdailynews.com

NICEVILLE — Niceville’s girls cross country team and success have gone hand in hand over the years.

Rocky Bayou Christian’s girls are trying to get to that level, where making the state meet is expected and the only question is how high they will finish.

Despite the ultimate destination still more than two months in the future, both teams were looking for a quality performance against some of the Panhandle’s best at the Emerald Coast Eye Opener Classic on Saturday at Okaloosa-Walton.

They got it, finishing first in their respective divisions and doing so in strong fashion.

Niceville had four of the top five runners that crossed the finish line in winning the large school (Class 3A-4A) division, while the Knights put three runners in the top 10 on their way to edging Jay in the small school (Class A-2A) division.

Washington won the 3A-4A race for the boys, while Gulf Breeze captured the 1A-2A race.

“We couldn’t be happier,” said Rocky Bayou Christian coach Mike Warren. “We barely missed going to state last year, and the girls are set on not letting that happen again.”

Holly Stanton led the way for the Knights, finishing second. She was followed in the top 10 by Elizabeth Berry (sixth) and Christy Allen (ninth).

South Walton’s girls, led by Julie Williamson’s eight-place finish, took fifth as a team.

The Eagles were even more impressive in their turn on the 5K course.

Chanelle Cox won the race, and Ashley Calhoun was right behind her in second. Crestview’s Lauren Day took third, but Niceville captured the next two spots as well with Lauren Eschbach and Morgan Keel.

“The whole team did really well today,” said Cox, who was in the top 10 at state last year. “We try to push each other in practice and the coaches work us hard and keep us motivated.”

Fort Walton Beach, also with high hopes for this season, finished second as a team. Julia Uthmeier was eighth, while Erin Gallagher placed 10th and Iolani Scanlan was 11th. Kristin Homer (14th) and Melissa Radford (16th) also placed in the top 20 to pace the Vikings.

Kristen Cross placed seventh overall for Navarre, which placed fourth as a team.

On the boys’ side, Navarre took second in the 3A-4A race, led by Zak Boston’s fifth-place finish. Hunter Boykin and Hamilton Boykin also were in the top 16. Choctawhatchee’s Mike Sinkey was sixth overall, and Niceville’s Dylan Schroeder was 10th.

The Indians placed third as a team, with Mykal Bailey Chris Elkins and Adam Hambleton also finishing in the top 22. After Schroeder, Niceville got top-20 finishes from Christian Ritacco and Mychal McLean to place fifth as a team.

Ben Chastain was 12th to lead Fort Walton Beach, who were sixth as a team.

In the 1A-2A race, South Walton placed fourth as a team and was spearheaded by top 20 finishes from Austin Buzzett and Wells Buzzett.

Emerald Coast Eye Opener Classic

At OWC

Boys

Small-School division (1A-2A)

Team scores: Gulf Breeze 34, Jay 59, Pensacola Catholic 75, South Walton 159, Wewahitchka 163, Pensacola Christian 175, Arnold 179, Marianna 180, Rocky Bayou Christian 186, East Hill 228

South Walton: 13. Austin Buzzett 19:54, 17. Wells Buzzett 20:10, 39. Cody Ficarra 21:42, 42. Ryan Furey 21:53, 48. C.J. Atwell 22:20

RBCS:15. Steve Berry 19:57, 26. Luke Lennon 20:59, 36. Hudson Pierce 21:25, 54. Stephen Jammer 22:51, 56. Austin Denigan 22:58

Walton: 68. Travis McHenry 29:13, 69. Mikael Rhodes 30:24

Baker: 55. Dylan Scott 22:54

Large-school division (3A-4A)

Team scores: Washington 26, Navarre 83, Choctawhatchee 90, Pine Forest 99, Niceville 107, Fort Walton Beach 143, pace 212, Crestview 234, Tate 254

Navarre: 5. Zak Boston 17:43, 8. Hunter Boykin 18:07, 16. Hamilton Boykin 18:34, 23. Chase Day 19:14, 31. Dustin Longhenry 19:35

Choctaw: 6. Mike Sinkey 17:51, 17. Mykal Bailey 18:43, 21. Chris Elkins 19:02, 22. Adam Hambleton 19:10, 24. Taylor Gary 19:17

Niceville: 10. Dylan Schroeder 18:10, 15. Christian Ritacco 18:26, 20. Mychal McLean 18:58, 29. Curtis Schreck 19:25, 33. Joseph Bernier 19:37

FWB: 12. Ben Chastain 18:13, 18. Sam Ammons 18:52, 28. Cody Skarupa 19:22, 40. Caise Vickery 20:31, 45. Jake Dearmon 21:26

Crestview: 19. Jacob Gourlie 18:55, 46. Dylan Brown 21:29, 52. Angelo Fajardo 22:55, 58. Mitch Petosky 25:43, 59. Forrest Jenkins 26:51

Girls

Small-school division (1A-2A)

Team scores: Rocky Bayou Christian 52, Jay 58, Gulf Breeze 81, Arnold 90, South Walton 101, Pensacola Christian 143, Pensacola Catholic 152

RBCS: 2. Holly Stanton 21:48, 7. Elizabeth Berry 23:20, 9. Christy Allen 23:46, 15. Katie Brown 24:41, 23. Whitney Denney 25:24

South Walton: 8. Julie Williamson 23:27, 16. Katherine Register 24:45, 20. Brook Terry 25:08, 24. Jessie Taylor 25:25, 38. Malorie Leach 26:51

Walton: 42. Lindsey Phillips 28:05

Large-school division (3A-4A)

Team scores: Niceville 29, Fort Walton Beach 59, Pine Forest 99, Navarre 109, Crestview 127, pace 144, Choctawhatchee 155, Washington 171

Niceville: 1. Chanelle Cox 20:08, 2. Ashley Calhoun 21:06, 4. Lauren Eschbach 21:26, 5. Morgan Keel 21:37, 17. Abby McCool 23:01

FWB: 8. Julia Uthmeier 22:23, 10. Erin Gallagher 22:31, 11. Iolani Scanlan 22:45, 14. Kristin Homer 22:53, 16. Melissa Radford 22:56

Navarre: 7. Kristen Cross 22:00, 13. Mallory Beck 22:53, Karyssa Tourelle-Fallon 23:05, 33. Sabrina Seignemartin 24:46, 42. Chelsea Chandler 26:06

Crestview: 3. Lauren Day 21:16, 20. Sabrina King 23:21, 22. Taylor Polk 23:38, 36. Tabitha Booher 25:09, 51. Elise Jenkins 26:52

Choctaw: 21. Tiana Rodriguez 23:27, 24. Amber Barbaresi 24:01, 37. Maddeline Voas 25:13, 39. Erin Watts 25:34, 40. Lauren Richardson 25:49