Kennedy Sparks Plant's Championship Run

TAMPA - For now, Plant's Michaela Kennedy says her first love is soccer. But after her victory in Friday's Class 3A-District 4 cross country meet at Lake Park, it's clear she has enough talent to make distance running her full-time sport.

Despite not being able to train four days last week, Kennedy left the lead pack just past the halfway mark of the 5-kilometer course and cruised to a seemingly easy win in 20 minutes, 10 seconds.

"I hope I don't have to choose between the two sports one day," said Kennedy, who was unable to run four days because of a family trip to celebrate her great-grandfather's 90th birthday. "I've already missed two soccer games this season and I still have to try out for the team."

Led by Kennedy and four other Panthers in the top 10 - Lizzie Goodwin (second, 20:17), Madison Clark, Alissa Morris and Mackenzie Banker - Plant scored 26 points to edge Newsome by 10 and post its 18th district title in the last 19 years under Roy Harrison.

Newsome, which won district and region crowns last year in 2A, was in command of the race through the first mile. The Wolves had all five scorers ahead of the Panthers' top five, but that changed in the second half of the race when Plant's top runners made a surge. Newsome made it close with top-10 performances from Sydney Coates, Brooke McEver, Janey Martin and Lindsay LeSavage. The Wolves' fifth scorer, Meaghan Lewandowski, was 11th.

Brandon's girls, led by senior Nicole Kenna, were something of a surprise as a region qualifier, finishing third with 107 points. King's girls (sixth) also moved on to the region.

In the boys race, Plant first-year coach Mike Boza led the Panthers to a successful defense of their district crown, knocking off George Jenkins 34-82. The Panthers' scorers were Duncan Hock (third), Trenor Wilkins (fourth), Ross Campbell (eighth), Hanley Gibbons (ninth) and Jordan Bass (10th).

"Streaks are big things in sports and we thought it was important to keep ours going," said Boza, who won eight straight district championships at Jesuit before arriving at Plant. "And with Jenkins, Newsome and Chamberlain, we think our district is one of the toughest in the state."

Thanks to a strong finish in the final mile, Brandon senior Drew Woodke was able to defend his individual title. He covered the course in 16:09 and held off a strong kick from Chamberlain's Mark Parrish (second, 16:11) and Hock (16:17). As a team, Brandon just missed qualifying for next week's region by finishing seventh. Newsome's Keegan Bixler (fifth) led his team to fourth and a region berth. Chamberlain (fifth) also advanced.

Class 2A-5

TAMPA - Paced by junior Connor Revord's individual victory, Jesuit registered its ninth straight district title with a near-perfect score Thursday at Lake Park.

Revord led from wire to wire, cruising to a 5-kilometer win in 16:00, while teammates Jordan Schilit (16:11) and Logan Trimble (16:53) grabbed the next two places. Robinson's Matt Altimari (fourth) and Sebring's Conner Bauer (sixth) broke up the Jesuit pack to prevent the four-time state champion from posting a flawless total of 15 points.

Instead, the Tigers had 18 as Benjamin Martin and Matt Tucker completed the team's scoring by taking fifth and seventh, respectively. Ranked No. 1 in the state for 2A, the win was expected. But Coach Greg Maurin says being ranked No. 1 can be a burden.

"Everyone expects you to win, and when you don't, it's like, 'What happened?'" said Maurin, whose squad is undefeated this fall. "But on the other hand, the guys have worked hard and are running well. They deserve it."

Altimari, Darrin Gibson (10th) and Brian Garcia (15th) led the Knights (71 points) to second place and another region berth.

Academy of the Holy Names' girls returned to the top spot with a 47-63 win against rival Tampa Catholic. Stephanie Socias (fifth), Kathleen Kacic and Marisa Petrick cracked the top 10, and Mallory Perez and Cristina Snyder joined them in the first 15. Tampa Catholic was led by Meghan Sullivan (fourth place) and Jacqueline Fricia (sixth).

"I knew it would be close between us and Tampa Catholic," said Jaguars coach Ray Rodriguez, who has led AHN to two district crowns in three seasons. "I was just hoping they had it in them today because some of them had been under the weather earlier this week."

Bartow freshmen Bridget and Kathleen McHugh went 1-2 in 19:32 and 19:37, and Clearwater Central Catholic's Domenica Owens, also a freshman, was third. Robinson, led by seventh place Lexie Goldberger, advance to the region by taking sixth place.

Bill Ward

Class 4A-4

OSPREY - Time for the Sarasota Riverview girls cross country team to start a new streak.

A year after having their nine-year district title winning streak snapped, the Rams are back on top after capturing the trophy Thursday at Oscar Scherer State Park.

Riverview's top five runners placed in the top 15 as the Rams edged Sickles 42-54.

The top eight teams and top 15 individuals qualify for the 4A-Region 3 meet Nov. 10 at Palm Bay Bayside.

East Lake's Katherine McMeekin won in 19:18. Teammate Therese Marchand was fifth in 20:53.

Sickles boys team, which had the top three finishers, was the winner against Sarasota 46-65. Sickles' Derek Wehunt set a course record in 15:47; the old record was 16:03.

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Class 3A-3

SPRING HILL - Land O' Lakes' Felix Soto won the boys race and the Wharton boys and girls cross country teams swept the other titles Thursday at Crews Lake Park.

Soto, who led from start to finish, ran a 16:38 to beat Wharton's John H. Grellner (17:13). It was Soto's second straight district title.

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

Wharton's Katrina Skinner won the district title for the second straight year, finishing in 19:10. Ocala Vanguard's Tori Lawson was second in 19:20, followed by Wharton's Erin Bailey in 19:48.

Wharton swept the team titles for the second consecutive year. The girls had 34 points, matching their 2006 score, followed by Vanguard with 76 points. Gulf (114) was fourth.

Wharton's boys won with 45 points. Vanguard was second with 82 and host Land O' Lakes was third with 88.

Larry Bugg

Class 2A-3

BROOKSVILLE - Wiregrass Ranch continued its turnaround from last season, qualifying its boys and girls cross country teams to the region and producing the school's first individual district champion in any sport - freshman Ariel Grey.

The girls, who were ninth last season, finished second behind Crystal River, which swept the team titles. The Wiregrass Ranch boys were sixth.

"We liked the course," Wiregrass Ranch coach Don Howard said. "We're so young, we've got four freshmen girls in the top seven and they're just getting stronger."

After racing stride-for-stride with Ocala West Port sophomore Gretchen MacMillan for more than three miles around McKethan Lake Park in Brooksville, Grey used a late surge to take the meet in 19 minutes, 47 seconds.

She beat MacMillan by 12 seconds and the rest of the 100-runner field by more than a minute.

Lakeishia Brown, 27th in 2006, finished seventh, while Taylor Hixson was ninth, Megan Ibison 16th and Hannah Still 19th. Crystal River placed five runners in the top 10. Nature Coast's girls also qualified for region.

For the boys, Hernando's run of back-to-back district titles ended due to a strong showing by Crystal River (37 points). The Leopards actually tied Nature Coast for second (92 points) but won the tiebreaker because of a faster run by their sixth-best finish. Hernando senior Tyler Maier won the boys race in 16:29, and junior Joseph Wright was third (16:50).

"That's the best we could've done," said Leopards coach Ernie Chatman, the tournament host. "I thought Crystal River was the best team here."

One of the biggest cheers let out in postrace ceremonies was for the Zephyrhills boys, who earned the eighth and final region qualifying spot in the team standings. The Bulldogs placed four runners in the top 50.

Bart O'Connell

Class 1A-5

LARGO - Berkeley Prep's boys and Lakeland Christian's girls captured team and individual championships as they cruised their way to region at Taylor Park.

Strong headwinds at the event encouraged drafting and teamwork in both races. Berkeley Prep's Richard Blake and his teammate, second-place finisher Tyler Great- house, took turns drafting through the first mile. Blake then separated from the pack, finishing 40 seconds ahead of Greathouse. Greathouse would beat out Shorecrest's Stephen Spanos in a sprint to the finish line.

"Our teammates from the junior varsity race told us how windy it was out there and to try and stay back. I got tired of that so I took off," Blake said.

Berkeley Prep boys coach Eileen Daly said her team's plan entering district was affected by the weather.

"The plan depended on the wind and the weather. We were hoping to run personal records on the course," Daly said. "But with the winds this strong, it made that difficult. Then the strategy was to work together as a team and to draft off each other. When Richard feels good, he will break away. Tyler works with the rest of the crowd that's behind him."

Rebecca Eaves did not feel comfortable in her title run for Lakeland Christian. She had the lead against Northside Christian's Katelyn Greenleaf for the majority of her race, but Greenleaf would catch up with Eaves when winds played their part. Eaves maintained her lead through the final half-mile and finished 34 seconds ahead of Greenleaf.

"It was scary because I saw Greenleaf behind me. I was always afraid that she was going to catch me on the end," Eaves said.

Lakeland Christian girls coach Mike Musick said his team's championship was a surprise given its recent spate of injuries.

"We got three kids with sprained ankles. So we are delighted to be first at this meet. It was unexpected two weeks ago. After this one, we are just trying to get to the state meet," Musick said.

Matthew Parke