Plant High girls win state cross-country title

After winning a record-tying 10th state title as Plant's girls cross country coach Saturday, Roy Harrison needed only a split second to decide whether he wants to come back and try capturing a few more crowns before he retires from teaching in four years.

"Hey, sure, I'd like to win four more times -- what the heck?," said Harrison, 55. "Ten (state championships) seemed like a nice round number but why not 11 or 12? Just roll with it."

Harrison's 10th championship, however, was won by the narrowest of margins of any of his victories at the state finals. On one of the warmer days this meet has been staged at Little Everglades Ranch, the Panthers took first place by just two points over runner-up Miami Ferguson and by four over the team many had picked to win, Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas.

But led by senior Danielle Kissel's third-place individual finish and a surprising sixth-place effort by first-year runner Scarlett Fox, Plant and Harrison came out on top again.

With yet another title to his credit, it's no wonder Harrison has earned the nickname "Mr. November" because of the way his teams have a habit of peaking at state. With 10 girls crowns, Harrison ties former Largo boys coach Brent Haley for the most championships in Florida for a single gender.

During Harrison's 30-year coaching career at Plant, his teams twice have missed first place by six points. And until Saturday, the narrowest gap between one of his winning teams and second place came last year, when the Panthers edged Miami Lourdes by 11.

Saturday, Harrison said all of his scoring five – Kissel, Fox, Julia Rodriguez (24th), Kara Halfaker (25th) and Erica Oosterhout (28th) – played a role. But he singled out Kissel and Fox, who earned all-state honors for their top 10 showings, as well as Oosterhout, who passed runners from both Ferguson and Aquinas uphill in the final 250 meters.

"I wanted it so bad today -- it's my senior year and my last race," said Kissel, the area's top finisher in any division. "I just woke up this morning and said 'This is my day.' "

But it wasn't everyone's day for Plant. Some of Harrison's runners were slightly off, which is why he initially thought they had lost. But others picked up the slack. It's why Harrison acknowledged there's a little luck involved in winning a state championship.

"You can't always get them to run great on the same day," Harrison said. "Some of them ran great, some were way off, some of them just ran OK. But the combination was enough to win."

Plant's boys, paced by senior Travis Christenberry's third-place individual showing, were third in the 4A boys race. Christenberry finished strong on the final stretch of the course to pick off several runners ahead of him.

"Coach (Mike Boza) told me coming into the race I was picked to finish 10th or 11th and I honestly was expecting sixth place," said Christenberry, who was 20th at last year's state meet. "This was my last race and I just wanted to get something done for once."

Running in his first state meet, Riverview senior Michael Babinec made an impressive debut, taking all-state honors with an eighth-place finish.

Orlando Colonial won the 4A boys title with 86, Miami Columbus (103) was second and Plant earned third with 146. The Panthers' other scorers were Curtis Foulsham (17th), John Drawdy (35th), Sam Powers (54th) and Bryce Weaver (64th).

Newsome's boys, paced by 13th-place Lars Benner, took 11th place with 319.