CROSS COUNTRY: Gulf Girls Take Sixth

It was an East Coast weekend for some Pasco County teams Friday and Saturday.

Many of Pasco County's best cross country teams had to run through wind and rain against some of the top teams in the state of Florida.

The Gulf girls finished sixth in the large school race Friday at Flrunners.com at Chain O' Lakes Park in Titusville.

The Land O' Lakes boys finished 20th out of 22 teams in the Race of Champions, also in Titusville.
Bucs No. 1 runner Jaci Pustelnik ran a 21:10 and finished 14th overall.

Courtney McAuliffe was second for Gulf with 22:16. Colleen McAuliffe ran a 22:28. Jessica Peck ran a 22:55. Natalie Smith had a time of 23:53.

"There was a lot of stiff competition,'' said Coach Dean Lofton. "Brittnie Bennett is normally second [Gulf runner] but had a prior engagement and couldn't run. It was really windy out."
The coach was very pleased with his girls' efforts.

"I'm thrilled to death with the way we did," Lofton said. "We have never run on this [course] before. They were happy after the race. They know that they ran fast."

The Wiregrass girls were sixth in the Small School race. Wiregrass freshman Ariel Grey ran 20:51.

The Gulf boys finished 13th. There were over 20 teams in their race.

"I'm proud of them,'' said Lofton. "The boys broke 20 minutes on a tough course."

Storme Quinn ran an 18:44. Lane Miller ran an 18:56. Brian Mumaw had a 19:06. Victor Kardonas ran a 19:19. David Auxier ran a 19:59.

"I had five guys under 20 and it's been a couple of years since we did that,'' said Lofton. "They are all freshmen and sophomores.

"It was really windy. We had a steady wind of 15 miles per hour."

Wiregrass Ranch boys finished 12th in the small school race.

Land O' Lakes boys had some handicaps in their race.

Felix Soto ran 16:35 and finished 17th. He had some soreness in his thigh.
"I wasn't expecting us to finish very high,'' said Kris Keppel. "We were missing Jake Proudfoot who was taking SATs."

Sophomore Matt Schwartz ran second with a 17:24 time and finished 59th.
Kevin Engle ran a 18:45 to finish third.

Thomas Cook missed three practices due to a viral infection and ran an 18:53. Jake Morken, a freshman ran a 19:01. Hendrix Lafontant ran a 19:02

"We had three guys within four places,"Keppel said. "It rained a lot last night. It rained during the college races. The second mile was very soggy, very muddy. It is around a group of lakes. The first and third are outback. The second mile was very mucky.

"It was a pretty nice day. It was cloudy. There wasn't that much wind today.

The Land O' Lakes girls were 21st out of 24 in the Girls Invitational Saturday.

Renea Porsch ran a 21:48. Katherine Thompson ran a 22:13. Morgan Keppel ran 22:33. Jennifer Romero ran a 24:04. New No. 5, freshman Leah Stanton ran 26:09.

Keppel wasn't real impressed with his girls race.

"It was average," the coach said. "I was trying to get them to realize this is a big meet. There were 159 runners in the Invitational. It's bigger than the state meet. Our top four did about what I expected. Our five and six runners fell off a little more.

"This course is probably 15 to 18 seconds slower than Ed Radice [site of Southern Stars the previous week]. Most of that is due to that second mile. It was a smelly type of mud. This park is next to the Indian River, which is next to the Atlantic Ocean. There was always a breeze out there."

Ridgewood's boys ran in the Invitational and finished 20th. Steven Landreth was 28th and had a 17:37. Keppel said he has a hip problem.

The Ridgewood girls ran in the Open and finished 20th. Jillian Browne was 22nd with a 22:26.

Pasco County Girls Results from Flrunners.com

Name, place and time

Gulf, Large School Race (6th, 187): Jaci Pustelnik (14th, 21:15; Courtney McAuliffe (37th, 22:16); Colleen McAuliffe (39th, 22:28); Jessica Peck (45th, 22:58); Natalie Smith (61st, 23:55).

Wiregrass Ranch, Small School Race (6th, 197): Ariel Grey (8th, 20:45); Lakeisha Brown (34th, 22:35); Megan Ibison (37th, 22:47); Hannah Still (63rd, 24:00).

Ridgewood, Girls Open Race (20th, 440): Lauren Heyman (96th, 25:19); Athens Papadopoulos (106th, 25:52); Chrystal Rose (111th, 26:09); Katie Morgan (118th, 26:13).

Land O' Lakes, Track Shack Race (21st, 426): Renea Porsch (40th, 21:48); Katherine Thompson (52nd, 22:13); Megan Keppel (75th, 22:33); Jennifer Romero (115th, 24:04); Leah Stanton (150th, 26:09).

Pasco County Boys Results from Flrunners.com

Name, place, time

Land O' Lakes, Race of Champions (20th, 436): Felix Soto (17th, 16:35); Matt Schwartz (59th, 17:24); Thomas Cook (18:53); Jake Morken (129th, 19:01); Hendrix Lafontont (130th, 19:02).

Wiregrass Ranch, Small School Race (12th, 341): Ryan Pulsifer (36th, 18:57); John Davis (53rd, 19:21); Ian Cassette (72nd, 19:43); Logan Selzer (86th, 19:56); Jose Pena (107th, 20:43).

Gulf, Large School Race (13th, 336): Storme Quinn (51st, 18:42); Lane Miller (62nd, 18:59); Bryan Mumaw (66th, 19:03); Victor Kardonas (76th, 19:18); David Auxier (101st, 19:59).

Ridgewood, Florida Today Boys Invitational (20th, 470): Steven Landreth (28th, 17:37); Dean Stupor (102nd, 18:42); Tyler Camacho (122nd, 19:12); Matthew Causey (132nd, 19:25); Niko Mackey (149th, 19:56).