Thursday, September 30, 2010

Luca and Clendinen conquer the Owl Run

Over the years, the meet has been called Champs Day, the Everhart Invitational, and (most recently) the Owl Run. Whatever you want to call it, though, it was the third middle-school cross-country meet of the 2010 season for Leon County Schools, and was hosted with the usual panache by Gretchen Everhart School.


The middle school girls two-mile race started just after 10:45am. After a little more than a quarter mile, Swift Creek's Madeline Horgan was setting the pace for the field, with a horde of runners right on her heels. By the end of the first mile the lead pack had dwindled to four--Horgan, Raa's Rebecca Clendinen and Lindsay Hughes, and Zoe Sheldon of Swift Creek tucked in behind them. The four passed the mile mark in 6:58. A quarter mile later Horgan, Clendinen, and Hughes had started to slip away from Sheldon. The runners returned to the schoolyard, and with a quarter-mile to go, Clendinen was out in front, followed by Hughes and then Horgan. As they raced to the finish line Hughes closed on Clendinen, but couldn't quite close the gap. It was Clendinen and then Hughes, both clocked in 13:57. The win was Clendinen's third this season. Horgan followed in third at 14:10, with Sheldon fourth in 14:23. Christiana Dogan (5th, 14:40) and Kelly Irvin (9th, 14:56) also put up top ten finishes for Raa, and the Rams ended up with 28 points and their eighth straight Owl Run team title. Horgan and Sheldon led Swift Creek to a 53-point total, good enough for second place. Montford was third with 67 points.


The boys' two-mile race followed. After finishing runner-up last Wednesday at Fort Braden, Raa's Wil Luca returned to the top at the Owl Run. Luca took the lead early, hit the one mile in front at 5:45, and outran his teammate Sukhi Kosla for the win, 11:41 to 11:53. Anthony Walker of Cobb ran 12:02 for third, breaking up Raa's chance at their third perfect score this season. Nevertheless, the Raa boys won the Owl Run team title for the eighth year in a row, scoring 18 points. Montford took home the runner-up trophy with 64 points, and the Swift Creek boys scored 87 points for third.


The oldest meet of the Leon County Schools' middle-school cross-country season, the Owl Run has the most history on any event on the circuit. Many Owl Run winners have gone on to have storied high school cross country careers. In particular, Joe Franklin and Carly Thomas went on to win state championships. Still the Owl Run is only the third event of the four-meet season, and the league championship meet remains to be run next Wednesday, 6 October 2010, at the Apalachee Regional Park Trail.


Girls' Team Standings
  1. Raa, 28
  2. Swift Creek, 53
  3. Montford, 67
  4. Cobb, 104
  5. Fairview, 147
  6. Deerlake, 172
  7. Fort Braden, 285
    Griffin, NTS

Top Ten Girls
  1. Rebecca Clendinen (Raa) 13:57
  2. Lindsay Hughes (Raa) 13:57
  3. Madeline Horgan (Swift Creek) 14:10
  4. Zoe Sheldon (Swift Creek) 14:23
  5. Christiana Dogan (Raa) 14:40
  6. Alex Wallace (Deer Lake) 14:40
  7. Maddy Kennan (Cobb) 14:52
  8. Jewels Krueger (Montford) 14:56
  9. Kelly Irvin (Raa) 14:56
  10. Katie Jones (Swift Creek) 14:57

Boys' Team Standings
  1. Raa, 18
  2. Montford, 64
  3. Swift Creek, 87
  4. Cobb, 110
  5. Deerlake, 196
  6. Fairview, 208
  7. Fort Braden, 537
  8. Griffin, 297

Top Ten Boys
  1. Wil Luca (Raa) 11:41
  2. Sukhi Khosla (Raa) 11:53
  3. Anthony Walker (Cobb) 12:02
  4. Jason Benn (Raa) 12:07
  5. Evan Francis (Raa) 12:10
  6. Devon Foster (Raa) 12:14
  7. Evan Wilson (Fairview) 12:16
  8. Ryan Olin (Montford) 12:18
  9. Scott Hunter (Montford) 12:23
  10. Kyle Buchholz (C0bb) 12:24

Owl Run Champions, 1997 - 2010
DateBoysGirls
30 SEP 2010
Wil Luca (Raa) 11:41
Rebecca Clendinen (Raa) 13:57
1 OCT 2009
Cade Zimmerman (Deerlake) 11:33
Cece Williams (Deerlake) 13:26
25 SEP 2008
Will Henderson (Raa) 11:42
Cece Williams (Deerlake) 11:56
27 SEP 2007
Will Henderson (Raa) 12:11
Carly Thomas (Raa) 12:27
28 SEP 2006
Will Stanford (Raa) 10:59
Summer Shepherd (Raa) 12:59
29 SEP 2005
Kurt Dietrich (Swift Creek) 12:07
Jana Stolting (Deerlake) 13:26
30 SEP 2004
Graham Hawkes (Cobb) 11:51
Mallory Alonzo (Raa) 14:01
2 OCT 2003
Joe Franklin (Griffin) 11:38
Charlotte Murrell (Cobb) 14:17
2002
Bryan Miletich (Deerlake) 11:51
Julia Bryant (Deerlake) 14:06
2001
Kevin Bryant (Raa) 12:33
Karen Devick (Raa) 13:58
2000
Danny Sass (Deerlake) 13:04
LaShaunta Arnold (Fairview) 14:50
1 OCT 1999
Logan Wolcott (Raa) 12:52
LaShaunta Arnold (Fairview) 14:30
13 OCT 1998
Matt Varn (Swift Creek) 12:31
Allie Hunter (Swift Creek) 14:27
1997
Anthony Washington (Bellevue) 12:26
Allie Hunter (Swift Creek) 15:00


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1 comment:

  1. I am so glad I finally got to work this event ... equally glad I didn't get barfed on by any of those guys blowing through the finish line! Great event.

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