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Soto, Furst, Gulf Girls Heading To The State Meet

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By LARRY BUGG Tribune correspondent

Published: November 12, 2007

BROOKSVILLE - On the whole, Jessica Furst would have rather run through some mountains Saturday morning.

Instead, the Wesley Chapel High sophomore distance runner had to run through sugar sand at the Class 3A-Region 2 Cross Country Championships at Central High School.
Furst did well enough, though.

She finished with a time of 20:45 and qualified along with the Gulf High girls team and Land O' Lakes High's Felix Soto to run Saturday at the Class 2A state meet.
Furst finished 13th and the top 15 individuals qualify for the state meet.

Gulf High was right on the bubble. The Bucs were sixth among 14 teams with 174 points. Fortunately, the top six teams also have a date at the "show" Saturday at Little Everglades Ranch.

Soto won his second straight regional boys title with a time of 16:28. He was 24th at the state meet last year.

Land O' Lakes High sophomore Matthew Schwartz finished with a time of 17:40 and missed the cut, finishing 17th.

"I'm tired," said Furst. "There were a lot of hills and sand. I pushed as hard as I could. The sand is a problem.

"I feel pretty good about going to state."

Her coach was impressed with her team and especially with Furst. Wesley Chapel finished 11th with 265 points.

"I think they ran well," said Wesley Chapel coach Rebecca Sadusky. "This is a really tough course. My top three ran real well. I am happy with Jessica. She did really great. Overall, we had a great season. It was a learning experience for me," said the first-year coach. "We really meshed together as a team. I am really pleased with how we did as a team. I think the cold weather temperatures in 50s helped her out a little bit because that is the kind of climate she is used to."

Gulf High senior Jaci Pustelnik finished 20th overall with a time of 21:03. Since her team managed to finish sixth, Pustelnik will end her four-year high school cross country career at the state meet.

Unfortunately, the run was a painful experience for her.

"It was a hard course, but I pushed myself as hard as I could the entire time," said Pustelnik. "The last mile, I pulled my hip. I did something to my hip. I don't know what but it hurts really bad. I tried as hard as I possibly could. We did really good as a team. The sugar sand is the hardest part."

Gulf High coach Dean Lofton was relieved and happy that his team is going to the "show."

"That's awesome," said Lofton. "That's our seventh time in eight years going to state. I can't even believe how good they ran today. We averaged 21:52 overall. That's by far our best team average and this is a tough course. We were seeded sixth. They really pushed themselves hard. Natalie Smith finished fifth 22:37. She is normally No. 6. She finished a minute faster than she did at districts. It sugar sand didn't seem to be much of a problem to them. They all ran very good times either close to their PRs or PRs."

Soto wanted to lead his team to the state meet but it finished ninth with 201 points.

"We made it to state the past three years," said Soto. "I'm hoping to make it all my four years. I am hoping to motivate the team. I won by five seconds last year. It's his time decent for this course. If it was a little bit easier, I would have had a lower time like 16:10. The right ankle still hurts. I am trying to put it out of my mind. I have been playing soccer. I have never had a great race at state. Last year, I was 24th. I hope to be in the top five. I don't really know who my competition is.

"Last year, I ran. I have to deal with the fact that it is not a fast course. I have to stay strong for that course."

Land O' Lakes High's boys lost one of their top three runners, Jake Proudfoot, who left the team last week. The Gators were ninth with 201 points.

"That's Soto's time only eight seconds off his PR so I would say he had a great race," said Land O' Lakes coach Kris Keppel. "Jake's Proudfoot, normally No. 2 or 3 runner priorities went in a different direction than our team so we went in a different direction than him. He quit on us. He just decided to quit. We had our work cut out for us. He scored some good points for us. No matter what happened, our team ran great today. Every one of those young men is coming back next year."

Keppel said that Leah Stanton ran a 23:55 for the Gator girls. She took a minute off her PR and finished 74th. The Land O' Lakes girls were 12th with 280 points.

The Ridgewood boys were 12th (255) and Gulf (355) was 14th.

"We had injury problems today," Ridgewood boys coach J.D. Baker said. "Steven Landreth 22nd, 17:53 had a groin injury."

RESULTS

Team and individuals of Pasco County runners at Class 3A-Region 2 Cross Country Championships at Central High

Girls

Gulf (sixth, 174 points): Jaci Pustelnik (20th, 21:03); Brittnie Bennett (28th, 21:32); Courtney McAuliffe (31st, 21:40); Colleen McAuliffe (52nd, 22:28); Natalie Smith (55th, 22:37).

Wesley Chapel (11th, 265): Jessica Furst (13th, 20:45); Kirsten Fee (35th, 21:47); Shelby Deloach (43rd, 22:05); Kali Vansweringen (92nd, 28:25); Mary Powell (95th, 29:13).

Land O'Lakes (12th, 280): Renae Porsh (33rd, 21:43); Katherine Thompson (48th, 22:11); Morgan Keppel (62nd, 23:13); Leah Stanton (74th, 23:55); Jennifer Romero (77th, 24:18); Ana Duque (91st, 27:58).

Boys

Land O'Lakes (ninth, 201): Felix Soto (first, 16:28); Matthew Schwartz (16th, 17:40); Thomas Cook (61st, 18:46); Jacob Morken (63rd, 18:53); Hendrix Lafontant (64th, 18:54); Kevin Engle (81st, 19:38); Christopher Dotson (92nd, 20:15).

Ridgewood (12th, 255): Steven Landreth (22nd, 17:53); Tyler Camucho (39th, 18:07); Dean Stupar (55th, 18:40); Mason Chilamonczyk (67th, 18:57); Charles Cacavas (84th, 19:44); Christopher Ross (89th, 20:03).

Gulf (14th, 355): Storme Quinn (29th, 17:58); Victor Karantonis (70th, 19:11); Bryan Mumaw (82nd, 19:40); Matthew Hoppe (85th, 19:54); Jonathan Rude (94th, 20:54).

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