Area runners qualify for regionals

BY JARED MACARIN

jaredm@nwfdailynews.com

NICEVILLE ¡X Many area cross country runners went into Saturday¡¦s district meets with high expectations.

Most of them left with smiles on their faces after running the 5K course at Okaloosa-Walton College and qualifying for regional competition.

In District 1-3A, Fort Walton Beach, Navarre and Choctawhatchee each qualified their boys and girls teams for regionals, while Crestview¡¦s girls also qualified. In Class A, Rocky Bayou Christian¡¦s boys and girls qualified, as did South Walton¡¦s girls. Baker (Class A) and Walton (Class 2A) will be represented by individuals at regionals.

¡§I¡¦m thrilled to death that the team is going to regionals,¡¨ said Crestview sophomore Lauren Day, who finished second overall in a personal-best 19:12.

Day led the Bulldogs to a fourth-place finish, sandwiched between Fort Walton Beach in third and Choctaw in fifth. Navarre snuck in at eighth place for the final regional berth. Choctaw¡¦s Amber Barbaresi finished seventh overall, while Iolani Scanlan led three Vikings in the top 20 by placing 15th. Erin Gallagher was two spots behind Scanlan, and Ashley Bridgford was right behind her in 18th. Sabrina King (16th) and Taylor Polk (19th) also placed in the top-20 for Crestview.

¡§I think it went pretty well today,¡¨ Scanlan said. ¡§I¡¦m glad the whole team is going to regionals.¡¨

On the boys¡¦ side, Navarre was fourth overall, with Choctaw coming in sixth and Fort Walton Beach seventh. Hunter Boykin was sixth for the Raiders, while Zak Boston was also in the top 10 at eighth and Hamilton Boykin took 18th. Mike Sinkey set a new personal-best with a 16:22 to place third overall, and FWB¡¦s Ben Chastain was the first Viking to cross the finish line in 12th place, while Matt Bevil finished 17th.

¡§To run my fastest time of the year at districts, I¡¦m too happy right now,¡¨ Sinkey said. ¡§We had a lot of guys step up for us. It¡¦s a pretty good day.¡¨

In District 1-A, Rocky Bayou Christian¡¦s girls took second overall behind Maclay, while the Seahawks were fourth as a team. Holly Stanton finished fifth overall for the Knights, followed by top-20 finishers Korie Schaeffler (9th), Katie Brown (13th) and Elizabeth Berry in 19th. Julie Williamson took home sixth for South Walton, while Jessie Taylor finished 20th overall.

¡§I think we did really well,¡¨ Stanton said. ¡§We couldn¡¦t ask for more.¡¨

On the boys¡¦ side, Stephen Berry¡¦s eighth-place finish paced Rocky Bayou, which took fifth as a team. Baker¡¦s Chad Lawhon took 10th overall and will run at regionals as an individual. Wells and Austin Buzzett finished 17th and 18th, respectively, as the Seahawks just missed out on qualifying for regionals by placing seventh.

In District 1-2A, Walton¡¦s Shelby Rushing qualified for regionals once again, finishing eighth overall.

The Region 1 meet for all three classifications will be held at Miccosukee Greenway Canopy Park in Tallahassee on Saturday.

Ć District 1-4A

Niceville¡¦s boys and girls both qualified for regionals on Saturday at Bartram Trail, with the boys taking fourth and the girls finishing fifth.

For the boys, Loring Ross finished third overall in 16:14, with Tom Reho setting a new personal-best 16:22 as he finished fifth. For the girls, Morgan Keel was the top Eagle finisher in 12th. Ashley Calhoun was also in the top-20 as she crossed the line in 16th.

Winter Springs won on the boys¡¦ side, while host Bartram Trail won the girls¡¦ title.

¡§I was happy with the team performance and some of the individual performances, but it wasn¡¦t our best,¡¨ Niceville coach Sherman Eller said. ¡§We feel that (our best) will happen next week, and it¡¦s a course that we should do well on.¡¨

Niceville travels to Santa Fe Community College in Gainesville on Saturday for the Region 1-4A meet.

District meet results

District 1-A

At OWC

Boys

Team scores: Maclay 34, Jay 79, Pensacola Christian 119, Rocky Bayou Christian 145, John Paul II 171, South Walton 194, Wewahitchka 218, Central 221, Baker 222, Paxton 284, Freeport 321

RBCS: 8. Stephen Berry 17:48, 26. Josh Molyneux 19:26, 27. Luke Lennon 19:28, 48. Austin Denigan 20:41, 52. Hudson Pierce 21:05

SW: 16. Wells Buzzett 18:38, 17. Austin Buzzett 18:42, 58. Ryan Furey 21:39, 59. Cody Ficarra 21:42, 65. Navindu Wijesinghe 22:17

Baker: 10. Chad Lawhon 18:04, 33. John Scott 19:50, 51. Dylan Scott 21:03, 71. Zachary Baxter 23:09, 84. Graham Box 26:11

Paxton: 31. Jason Findley 19:40, 62. Chaze Russell 22:06, 67. Adrien Castillo 22:40, 80. Jesse Crawford 24:46, 81. Ryan Lewellan 25:16

Freeport: 40. Dalton Morrison 20:03, 74. Jamey Goddin 23:34, 75. Logan Wilburn 23:34, 86. Johnnie McCormick 26:25

LH: 44. Daniel Fortune 20:36, 72. Ray Pate 23:12

Girls

Team scores: Maclay 17, Rocky Bayou Christian 63, Jay 84, South Walton 130, Pensacola Christian 132, John Paul II 156, North Florida Christian 182, Paxton 207

RBCS: 5. Holly Stanton 20:51, 9. Korie Schaeffler 21:36, 13. Katie Brown 22:10, 19. Elizabeth Berry 22:55, 23. Whitney Denney, 23:21

SW: 6. Julie Williamson 21:08, 20. Jessie Taylor 23:00, 33. Kendall Brown 25:03, 36. Malorie Leach 25:17, 44. Katherine Register 27:27

Paxton: 37. Laura Anderson 25:25, 38. Aubrey Anderson 25:56, 42. Erin Walker 26:44, 51. Lillian Dixon 29:34, 53. Megan Adams 30:45

Baker: 50. Erin Grundol 29:17, 56. Ashley Ganey 31:52, 63. Andrea Taylor 39:44, 64. Jamie Grice 41:09

Freeport: 57. Brittany Kitch 32:30, 58. Amanda Bates 34:10, 59. Anne Moore 34:10, 60. Valerie Smith 34:11

District 1-2A

At OWC

Boys

Team scores: Gulf Breeze 32, Pensacola Catholic 75, Godby 91, Marianna 122, Wakulla 128, Arnold 156, Florida High 183, West Florida 206, Pensacola 208

Walton: 26. Daniel King 19:21, 60. Travis McHenry 22:34, 65. Garrett Herndl 24:04

Girls

Team scores: Gulf Breeze 36, Pensacola Catholic 60, Arnold 77, Wakulla 123, Godby 130, Pensacola 135, Suwannee 148, Florida High 179

Walton: 8. Shelby Rushing 21:55, 21. Lindsey Phillips 23:44,

District 1-3A

At OWC

Boys

Team scores: Chiles 52, Washington 68, Leon 84, Navarre 97, Pine Forest 149, Choctawhatchee 158, Fort Walton beach 192, Lincoln 224, Pace 295, Escambia 328, Mosley 350, Rutherford 359, Tate 384, Bay 390, Crestview 397, Milton 418

Navarre: 6. Hunter Boykin 16:31, 8. Zak Boston 16:35, 18. Hamilton Boykin 16:54, 26. Dustin Longhenry 17:18, 39. Daniel Crotty 17:41

Choctaw: 3. Mike Sinkey 16:22, 30. Chris Elkins 17:26, 31. Mykal Bailey 17:26, 45. Matt Bell 17:56, 49. Alec Herrera 18:08

FWB: 12. Ben Chastain 16:43, 17. Matt Bevil 16:54, 48. Kyle Schenthal 18:06, 56. Christian Moore 18:32, 59. Sam Ammons 18:39

Crestview: 32. Jacob Gourlie 17:28, 67. Charles Brown 19:07, 89. Angelo Fajardo 21:00, 104. Forrest Jenkins 21:55, 105. John Wood 22:50

Girls

Team scores: Chiles 25, Leon 62, Fort Walton Beach 104, Crestview 158, Choctawhatchee 166, Lincoln 167, Pine Forest 176, Navarre 224, Washington 254, Pace 259, Escambia 298, Mosley 314, Tate 317, Milton 321, Bay 443

FWB: 15. Iolani Scanlan 20:32, 17. Erin Gallagher 20:47, 18. Ashley Bridgford 20:48, 23. Sarah DeVaux 21:00, 31. Julia Uthmeier 21:19

Crestview: 2. Lauren Day 19:12, 16. Sabrina King 20:39, 19. Taylor Polk 20:52, 39. Tabitha Booher 22:00, 82. Elise Jenkins 24:41

Choctaw: 7. Amber Barbaresi 20:01, 29. Lisa Spikes 21:17, 40. Tiana Rodriguez 22:01, 41. Maddeline Voss 22:02, 49. Hayden Veech 22:34

Navarre: 30. Karyssa Tourelle-Fallon 21:18, 32. Kristen Cross 21:19, 34. Sabrina Seignemartin 21:28, 61. Mallory Beck 22:59, 67. Karlee Tyler 23:38

District 1-4A

At Jacksonville Bartram Trail

Boys

Team scores (top 8): Winter Springs 73, Buchholz 99, Mandarin 111, Niceville 114, Bartram Trail 122, Lyman 131, Spruce Creek 150, Flagler Palm Coast 166

Niceville: 3. Loring Ross 16:14, 5. Tom Reho 16:22, 23. Christian Ritacco 17:13, 31. Dylan Schroeder 17:21, 52. Mychal McLean 17:48

Girls

Team scores (top 8): Bartram Trail 39, Spruce Creek 88, Winter Springs 99, Lake Mary 99, Niceville 144, Lyman 168, Fletcher 211, Buchholz 244

Niceville: 12. Morgan Keel 20:10, 16. Ashley Calhoun 20:24, 23. Abby McCool 20:58, 45. Katie Pfeiffer 21:42, 48. Taylor Adams 21:45