Friday, September 19, 2014

Tavaris King and Lawton Campbell can't be caught at Everhart

Lawton Campbell and Alyson ChurchillOn Thursday morning, 18 September 2014, the 27th annual Everhart Invitational started out with a familiar script. As at the first two meets of Leon County Schools' 2014 middle school cross-country season, Deerlake's Lawton Campbell won the girls' two-mile race. Similarly, the Swift Creek girls' won the team title. As at the previous week's Montford Invitational, Tavaris King won the two-mile boys' race. But when the team scores had been tallied, the Fairview boys had knocked off the defending champions from Swift Creek, 59 to 87.


It was nearly 11:00 AM on a warm, sunny morning when the girls' race started. Lawton Campbell of Deerlake was out front early with Alyson Churchill close behind. The two were only a step apart when they flashed by the half mile. Deerlake's Emily Molen followed in third, with Emily Culley of Montford on her heels. Little changed up front during the first half of the race, but early in the second mile Campbell started to pull away. But Churchill gave up ground only reluctantly; Campbell built up a significant lead but not a comfortable one. It was a winning lead, though, as Campbell crossed the line first in 12:41. It was the fastest winning time in the girls' race at Everhart since 2008 when another Deerlake runner, Cece Williams, set the girls' course record of 11:56. Alyson Churchill was second in 12:49. Molen placed third in 13:02. Swift Creek's Megan Churchill overtook Emily Culley late in the race to take fourth, 13:04 to 13:05. Each of the top five athletes ran faster than the winners of the previous five Everhart races, 2009 to 2013.


Alyson Churchill and Megan Churchill were joined in the top ten by Swift Creek's Chase Merrick (7th, 13:29) and Emma Romuald (9th, 14:32). When McIver Levy (13th, 14:54) crossed the finish line for Swift Creek, the Wolves had a winning team score, edging Deerlake for the title 35 to 37. The narrow win was Swift Creek's eighth in a row, a streak that dates back to 2012. The last team to beat Swift Creek was Montford at the 2012 Everhart Invitational. This time around the Montford girls were third with 87 points.


2014 Everhart Invitational Team Standings, GirlsSwift Creek Girls
  1. Swift Creek, 35 points
  2. Deerlake, 37
  3. Montford, 87
  4. Fairview, 103
  5. Raa, 110
  6. Cobb, 160
  7. Fort Braden, 217

Top Ten Girls, 2014 Everhart Invitational
  1. 12:40.82 ~ Lawton Campbell (Deerlake) 8Top eight girls
  2. 12:48.88 ~ Alyson Churchill (Swift Creek) 7
  3. 13:01.52 ~ Emily Molen (Deerlake) 7
  4. 13:03.30 ~ Megan Churchill (Swift Creek) 7
  5. 13:04.49 ~ Emily Culley (Montford) 8
  6. 13:18.01 ~ Caitlin Wilkey (Montford) 7
  7. 13:28.57 ~ Chase Merrick (Swift Creek) 7
  8. 13:45.91 ~ Grace Jackson (Deerlake) 8
  9. 14:31.74 ~ Emma Romuald (Swift Creek) 7
  10. 14:36.04 ~ Gracie Streeval (Deerlake) 8

Tavaris KingAt the 2014 season opener at Fort Braden, the Fairview boys placed second, four points behind the winners from Swift Creek. The following week at the Mustang Stampede, Fairview placed third, 15 points back of Swift Creek.


"We'll get there," said Fairview coach Everett Blakely.


At the third meet of the season, the Everhart Invitational, the Fairview Falcons got there, scoring 59 points to Swift Creek's 67 for the win. Montford took third with 72 points.


Tavaris King of Griffin was in control of the race almost from the very first. After the dust had settled from the start, you could see King out front. By the time he passed the mile mark in under six minutes, King had a ten-second lead. That lead grew to over half a minute by the time King crossed the line a winner in 12:04. Griffin's Darry Wilson was second in 12:36. Behind Wilson, Alxander Gilliam of Fairview had moved up through the field during the race to take third in 12:39. Ky Peltier of Swift Creek placed fourth in 12:47. Montford's AJ Hodges kicked past Yunus Kovankaya of Swift Creek for fifth, 12:51 to 12:52.


Originally scheduled for 24 September 2014 as the fourth meet of the season, the Swift Creek Invitational has been canceled. After a week off, the schools will meet one last time on 1 October 2014 in the Leon County School Cross-Country Championship at Apalachee Regional Park.


2014 Everhart Invitational Team Standings, BoysFairview Middle School boys' cross-country team
  1. Fairview, 59 points
  2. Swift Creek, 67
  3. Montford, 72
  4. Raa, 93
  5. Griffin, 113
  6. Deerlake, 126
  7. Cobb, 161

Top Ten Boys, 2014 Everhart Invitational
  1. 12:03.78 ~ Tavaris King (Griffin) 8Top boys at the Everhart Invitational
  2. 12:35.05 ~ Darryl Wilson (Griffin) 8
  3. 12:38.56 ~ Alexander Gilliam (Fairview) 8
  4. 12:46.37 ~ Ky Peltier (Swift Creek) 8
  5. 12:50.88 ~ Aj Hodges (Montford) 8
  6. 12:51.38 ~ Yunus Kovankaya (Swift Creek) 8
  7. 12:53.06 ~ Nile Bryant (Raa) 8
  8. 12:53.97 ~ Sam Mountin (Deerlake) 8
  9. 13:02.11 ~ Charles Hruda (Fairview) 8
  10. 13:05.23 ~ Giovani Vitrano (Raa) 7

Everhart Invitational Champions, 1988 - 2014
DateBoysGirls
18 SEP 2014Tavaris King (Griffin) 12:04Lawton Campbell (Deerlake) 12:41
19 SEP 2013Jacob Dodson (Raa) 11:46Ana Wallace (Deerlake) 13:13
20 SEP 2012Matthew Cashin (Raa) 12:01Saige Kemeny (Montford) 13:19
22 SEP 2011Evan Francis (Raa) 11:56Zoe Sheldon (Swift Creek) 13:43
30 SEP 2010Wil Luca (Raa) 11:41Rebecca Clendinen (Raa) 13:57
1 OCT 2009Cade Zimmerman (Deerlake) 11:33Cece Williams (Deerlake) 13:26
25 SEP 2008Will Henderson (Raa) 11:42Cece Williams (Deerlake) 11:56
27 SEP 2007Will Henderson (Raa) 12:11Carly Thomas (Raa) 12:27
28 SEP 2006Will Stanford (Raa) 10:59Summer Shepherd (Raa) 12:59
29 SEP 2005Kurt Dietrich (Swift Creek) 12:07Jana Stolting (Deerlake) 13:26
30 SEP 2004Graham Hawkes (Cobb) 11:51Mallory Alonzo (Raa) 14:01
2 OCT 2003Joe Franklin (Griffin) 11:38Charlotte Murrell (Cobb) 14:17
2002Bryan Miletich (Deerlake) 11:51Julia Bryant (Deerlake) 14:06
2001Kevin Bryant (Raa) 12:33Karen Devick (Raa) 13:58
2000Danny Sass (Deerlake) 13:04LaShaunta Arnold (Fairview) 14:50
1 OCT 1999Logan Wolcott (Raa) 12:52LaShaunta Arnold (Fairview) 14:30
13 OCT 1998Matt Varn (Swift Creek) 12:31Allie Hunter (Swift Creek) 14:27
1997Anthony Washington (Bellevue) 12:26Allie Hunter (Swift Creek) 15:00
1996

6 OCT 1995Bryan Hendricks (Cobb) 8:15*Meredith Warren (Raa) 10:36*
6 OCT 1994Kevin Anderson (Deerlake) 8:10*Meredith Warren (Raa) 9:56*
20 OCT 1993
20 OCT 1992Mark Roehl (Raa) 8:40*Brianne Pla (Cobb) 9:33*
22 OCT 1991Michael Rodriguez (Raa) 8:38*Holly Skinner (Cobb) 10:15*
10 OCT 1990Tim Bolton (Cobb) 8:44*Christy Weinberger(Bellevue)10:17*
24 MAY 1990Wayne McDaniel (Raa) 6:58†Cynthia Costin (Griffin) 8:06†
23 MAY 1989Wayne McDaniel (Raa) 7:09†Tonia Jackson (Nims) 8:13†
10 MAY 1988Bobby Jessup (Griffin) †Tonia Jackson (Raa) †
* 1-1/2 mile race at Gretchen Everhart School
† 2 km race at Florida State University


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Posted by Herb Wills at 5:27 PM
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