Being a first-year high school runner, Sarah Hartman admits she was a little nervous about taking the lead in Wednesday's Class 3A-District 4 championships at Lake Park. But once surging to the front after the first mile, the Sickles freshman sure looked like she belonged there en route to a comfortable victory.
Crossing the finish line in a 5-kilometer time of 19 minutes, 48 seconds, Hartman put nearly a half-minute between herself and the runner-up, King standout Dayna Cline. After catching her breath, Hartman was a mix of surprised and thrilled about taking the girls individual crown.
"I'm just really happy (to win) and to do it as a freshman just makes it so much better," Hartman said. "Now, maybe I'll be going to state as a freshman and that would be unbelievable."
Led by Cline and 12th-place Emily Kolilas, King's girls were the top local team, taking second with 80 points behind Lake Region (55).
Sickles senior Julian Gines was hoping to make it a sweep of the individual titles for the Gryphons, but he was unable to stay with winner Gary Solomon (16:32) of Lake Region and finished 12 seconds back.
Lakeland Jenkins was the boys team champion, scoring 53 points. Sickles (third, 97) was the top local team and Armwood (117), led by Ben Hilton's sixth-place effort, earned fourth.
Bill Ward
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