Wednesday, November 3, 2010

2010 Maclay All-Comers Cross-Country Championships

For years, Maclay School coach Gary Droze has been wishing for a muddy home cross-country course. A few years ago he routed the course through a holding pond on the school grounds. When the holding pond insisted on remaining dry, he started leaving a garden hose running there overnight.


Be careful what you wish for.


Although Tallahassee had been dry for weeks, it started raining steadily the afternoon of the Maclay All-Comers Cross-Country Championships on Thursday, 28 October 2010. Unfortunately, the weather had also been unseasonably warm, and the rain was accompanied by an unseasonable electrical storm. Lightning delayed the start of the meet, a delay that stretched to over an hour, aided by Maclay School's hypersensitive lightning detector. There were five races to run, sunset was approaching, and the overcast skies meant even less light for the runners. Around 5:00pm Coach Droze hit on the creative solution of running all five races at the same time and sorting out the results at the finish line. Godby Coach Chris Sumner insisted the computer could do it. The finish line volunteers were game to try. And so, at around 5:30pm, the middle school boys 3K, the middle school girls 3K, the high school boys 5K, the high school girls 5K, and the open 5K all started simultaneously. And the finish crew and Coach Sumner made it work.


Middle School Boys 3K

The middle school boys were the first to finish. Joe Thrailkill of Orlando's Lee Middle School ran alone out in front to a 10:31 victory, finishing nearly 200m ahead of runner-up John Metzler (11:06) of Dayspring Christian Academy. In the team standings, the Rams Running Club routed their rivals. Led by Sukhi Khosla (4th, 11:08), the Rams put up an unbeatable score of 18 points. Only Cornerstone's Avery Bartlett (6th, 11:23) kept the Rams from a perfect total of 15.


Middle School Boys' Team Standings
  1. Rams Running Club, 18
  2. Holy Comforter Episcopal School, 71
  3. Florida State University, 73
  4. Maclay School, 92
  5. Cornerstone Learning Center, 121

Top Ten Middle School Boys
  1. Joe Thrailkill (Lee Middle School) 10:30.79
  2. John Metzler (Dayspring Christian Academy) 11:05.53
  3. Elijah Sarmiento (Unattached) 11:06.77
  4. Sukhi Khosla (Rams Running Club) 11:07.53
  5. Will Luca (Rams Running Club) 11:13.03
  6. Avery Bartlett (Cornerstone Learning Center) 11:22.64
  7. Jason Benn (Rams Running Club) 11:23.34
  8. Evan Francis (Rams Running Club) 11:27.20
  9. Harry Burn (Rams Running Club) 11:59.78
  10. Anthony Cruz (Florida State University School) 12:00.29


Middle School Girls

Lindsey Poole of Maclay outran Wakulla's Kasey James for the individual title, 12:34 to 13:08. They were followed by the Rams Running Club's Rebecca Clendinen (3rd, 13:09) and Lindsay Hughes (4th, 13:09), setting up a struggle for the team championship between Maclay and the Rams. Both teams had three runners in the top ten, but the difference came when Rams Brittany Asbury (14:08) and Kelly Ervin (14:09) finished 11th and 12th, giving their team a 29 to 31 victory over Maclay.


Middle School Girls' Team Standings
  1. Rams Running Club, 29
  2. Maclay School, 31
  3. Cornerstone Learning Center, 73

Top Ten Middle School Girls
  1. Lindsey Poole (Maclay School) 12:33.30
  2. Kasey James (Wakulla Middle School) 13:07.23
  3. Rebecca Clendinen (Rams Running Club) 13:08.74
  4. Lindsey Hughes (Rams Running Club) 13:09.00
  5. Tamani Wilson (Maclay School) 13:09.81
  6. Caroline Willis (Maclay School) 13:25.06
  7. Katie Whitworth (Holy Comforter Episcopal School) 13:47.16
  8. Grace Jackson (Cornerstone Learning Center) 13:49.72
  9. Lilli Broadway (Wakulla Middle School) 13:56.57
  10. Maddy Kennan (Rams Running Club) 13:57.02


High School Boys

Other runners went out in the lead, but Maclay's Patrick Swain (1st, 17:18), Austin Stevens (2nd, 17:18), and Jacob Coates (3rd, 17:33) moved up when the time was right and took the first three spots, leading their team to a mathematically assured victory with 21 points.


High School Boys' Team Standings
  1. Maclay School, 21
  2. Lincoln High School, 49
  3. Florida State University, 103
  4. Marianna High School, 117
  5. Wakulla High School, 121
  6. Wewahitchka High School, 195
  7. Grace Christian Academy, 203
  8. Aucilla Christian Academy, 207
  9. Godby High School, 214

Top Ten High School Boys
  1. Patrick Swain (Maclay) 17:17.21
  2. Austin Stevens (Maclay) 17:17.43
  3. Jacob Coates (Maclay) 17:32.49
  4. Trey Edwards (Florida State University) 17:38.40
  5. Travis Covert (Maclay) 17:58.31
  6. Joseph Garcia (Florida State University) 18:11.51
  7. Jacob Slupecki (Lincoln) 18:34.46
  8. Alex Close (Lincoln) 18:37.61
  9. Brennan Borgstad (Lincoln) 18:38.18
  10. Matt Antworth (Maclay) 18:39.57


High School Girls

Aucilla Christian Academy's Sarah Sorenson led her team with a 21:50 win in the high school girls' race. She was followed across the finish line by runner-up Perra Harrell of Grace Christian Academy in 22:09. Then Florida State's Sydney Earp finished third, setting up a fight for the team title between Aucilla and Florida State. Aucilla's top three beat each of Florida State's top three, but you need five to score, and the next two runners made the difference for FSUS as they prevailed over Aucilla, 49 to 52.


High School Girls' Team Standings
  1. Florida State University School, 49
  2. Aucilla Christian Academy, 52
  3. Wakulla High School, 74
  4. Maclay School, 96
  5. Lincoln High School, 135
  6. John Paul II Catholic High School, 189
  7. Grace Christian Academy, 189
  8. Wewahitchka High School, 194
  9. Marianna High School, 195

Top Ten High School Girls
  1. Sarah Sorensen (Aucilla) 21:49.65
  2. Perra Harrell (Grace) 22:08.90
  3. Sydney Earp (Florida State University) 22:14.69
  4. Elizabeth Riley (Aucilla) 22:19.40
  5. Taylor Copeland (Aucilla) 22:25.67
  6. Aileen Kadzis (John Paul II) 22:29.11
  7. Allie Murray (Florida State University) 22:29.99
  8. Langlee Toothman (Florida State University) 22:32.72
  9. Marty Wiedeman (Wakulla) 22:36.76
  10. Amy Murray (Florida State University) 22:56.80

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Posted by Herb Wills at 4:51 PM
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1 comment:

  1. JudyNovember 3, 2010 at 8:51 PM

    This is the first I'd seen of this story, Herb...great job! It sounds almost more exciting than it actually ended up being...! I especially like the pic of the "hypersensitive lightning detector!"

    See you tomorrow...with fingers crossed...

    judy

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