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Both Bulls Teams Advance

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A Tribune staff report

Published: November 3, 2007

BROOKSVILLE - Everything about the Class 2A-District 3 course seemed to set up well for freshman Ariel Grey and the Wiregrass Ranch girls and boys cross country teams.

Following a picnic at McKethan Lake last Saturday morning, the Bulls returned on Thursday and qualified both teams for the Region 2 tournament next Saturday in Titusville. Grey easily won the girls race in 19 minutes, 47 seconds.

Other regional qualifiers include Zephyrhills' boys team, which finished eighth with four runners in the top 50, and Bulldogs sophomore Brandy Comton as an individual.

Grey raced stride-for-stride with Ocala West Port's Gretchen MacMillan until the final stretch, ultimately sprinting out to a comfortable lead to come across 12 seconds ahead of MacMillan and 1 minute, 10 seconds ahead of the third-place finisher from team champion Crystal River.

"I thought it was a really good pace. I didn't feel like I was going too fast," Grey said. "It helped me a lot, because when I'm by myself, I can't find a pace and I usually end up going too fast."

The race, run primarily on a paved trail surrounding McKethan Lake in the Withlacoochee State Forest in Brooksville, was fast and flat, leading Grey to believe she could finish in 19:30.

Though she fell short of that mark, Coach Don Howard was thrilled with her performance, as well as the rest of the girls team, which finished second overall: Lakeishia Brown (seventh, 21:15), Taylor Hixson (10th, 21:31), Megan Ibison (16th, 22:15) and Hannah Still (19th, 22:49). Marissa Tomei was 25th, and Elyse Houston was 37th.

"She wanted to run faster. You've got to get yourself where everybody else is, too," Howard said of Grey. "Plus, it's not cool out here. She did great.

"I haven't worked them hard, just taken it easy and let their natural talent do it."

Compton earned the final individual regional qualifying spot by finishing 15th (22:08). Other top county finishes in the girls race were turned in by Pasco freshman Teresa Christams (18th in 22:47) and Sunlake junior Lesley Shaughnessy (23rd, 22:57).

Wiregrass Ranch freshman Ryan Pulsifer was the top Pasco County runner in the boys race, finishing 10th in 17:28. The Bulls were sixth as a team.

Bart O'Connell

Soto Cruises To Win 3A-District 3 Title

SHADY HILLS - Felix Soto had to break away from the pack and then, suddenly, the Land O' Lakes High distance standout found himself alone running through the Crews Lake Park woods Thursday.

Hey, it was a little lonely, but he didn't have to watch someone else's back, and he won the Class 3A-District 3 boys cross country race for the second straight year.

Soto ran a 16:38 on his home course and didn't have to deal with a lot of pain in his ankle. He turned his ankle playing soccer earlier this season, but the pain was minimal Thursday.

Soto beat Wharton's John Grellner for the title. Grellner ran a 17:13.

More importantly for Soto and six Pasco County cross country teams, this race meant they will qualify for the next step, the Class 3A Region 2 meet Nov. 10 at Brooksville Central High.

Qualifiers from the regional meet will move on to the Class 3A state cross country meet the following week at Little Everglades Ranch near Dade City.

"It was a pretty good race," Soto said of his run. "I didn't have much competition. I treated it like a workout today.

"I was hoping to get 16:10. I won, and that's what mattered. I have been injured. It hurts when I kick a ball, not when I run. I think I could have been a little faster if I was 100 percent."

"He looked very relaxed," Land O' Lakes coach Kris Keppel said of Soto. "That was good. He really wasn't pushed, so his time isn't as impressive as it would be if someone pushed him."

Keppel was happy that both his boys and girls teams qualified for the regional.

"We have them both going, and that's the first time since 2004," he said. "I think we the boys ran well as a team. It's just that Wharton the district boys champion ran a little better than we did."

Gulf High's Jaci Pustelnik finished seventh in the girls race, the top finish by a Pasco County female runner. The senior knew she was moving on to the regional along with her Bucs teammates.

"At the start of the race, there were a lot of girls," she said. "It was really tightly packed. Once we got on the trails, it started narrowing out and I was able to work my way up.

"I'm proud of my time 20:38. That's pretty good, considering it's a little hot out. It was hard to get up to a good pace. I am really proud of our team. We wanted to get all our girls under 23:30 and Natalie Smith, our sixth runner, got 23:12, so we got our goal."

The Gulf girls finished fourth with 114 points and will advance to the regionals. Wesley Chapel was fifth with 157 points, and Land O' Lakes was seventh with 211 points. The top eight teams and the top 15 individuals qualified for the regional race.

"They really ran well," Gulf coach Dean Lofton said. "It's a real strong district. The heat wasn't much. We run much hotter than this. They exceeded our expectations."

Wesley Chapel's Jessica Furst was eighth, just behind Pustelnik.

The sophomore ran a time of 20:42.

"I had a nice strategy," Furst said. "I started out a lot slower than I usually do, and then started picking them off as I go."

"We're excited," said Wesley Chapel coach Rebecca Sadusky of her team's advancing to the regionals. "I was a little worried. I just wanted the girls to run their race and do what they needed to do. We have a little bit more work to do for regionals. We'll see what happens."

The Wharton girls and boys won the district titles just as they did in 2006. The Wharton girls had 34 points, the same total they had in 2006. The Vanguard girls were second with 76 points.

The Wharton boys won with 45 points. Vanguard was second with 82 points and Land O' Lakes, the host team, was third with 88 points.

Larry Bugg

Williams, Hollifield Pace Bishop McLaughlin

LARGO - At the Class 1A-District 5 meet, Conor Williams was the top finisher for Bishop McLaughlin with his time of 22:56. Williams placed 82nd out of 92 runners, six minutes off the winning time set by district champion Richard Blake of Berkeley Prep.

"It was hard, because there was a really strong headwind out there. But they did great. Culmination of a great season," said Hurricanes coach David Cross.

Hurricane freshman Adam Hollifield placed 89th with his time of 26:08. The two runners could not qualify Bishop McLaughlin for a team score, and neither runner placed high enough to advance to regionals.

However, their result was something the team could build off of, according to Cross, who is urging Williams to return for his senior season.

"He's a football player turned cross country runner. He's got a lot of gift for track. He's more of a track athlete," Cross said.

This was Williams' first district championship meet, and he said that he enjoyed his experience. Williams ran with the pack for the majority of his race, avoiding the strong winds at Lake Taylor.

"I think I did all right. It wasn't my best, but I gave it all," Williams said, "The winds were killer."

"Like running on a treadmill," Cross added.

Matthew Parke

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