Saturday, September 28, 2019

Junious Brown, Ella Porcher, and Maclay take the brooms to Live Oak for the Twilight Invitational

Bishop Snyder High hosted the inaugural Twilight Invitational Cross-Country Meet at the Suwanee Country Club in Live Oak, Florida on Friday evening, 27 September 2019. With first year events, you never know if there is going to be a second year. But for as long as the Twilight Invitational survives, folks will remember the first year as the year that Maclay won everything. Junious Brown, a Maclay senior, was first in the boys' 5K at 16:09, leading his team of Marauders to a winning score of 45. Maclay sophomore Ella Porcher won the girls' 5K in 19:36, while her squad took the team title with a perfect score of 15.

Junious Brown

Golf courses are usually good places to run. Or they would be, if it weren't for all the white balls whizzing around. These are the size of large hailstones and are hard enough to do you serious injury if they strike you. At the Apalachee Regional Park Cross-Country Course or the Miccosukee Greenway in Tallahassee, you can call a sheriff's deputy if you spot someone hitting these dangerous projectiles around. For some reason, though, the authorities aren't interested in keeping these menaces away from country clubs. Somehow, though, the Bishop Snyder crew made sure that the Suwanee Country Club was safe for the duration of the Twilight Invitational.


The cease fire of dimpled white projectiles was in force when the boys' 5K started at 6:00 PM. Junious Brown won the race by over 100 meters, picking up his third victory of the 2019 campaign. Only one athlete has beaten Brown so far this season, Satellite junior Gabe Montague, who bested Brown at the Katie Caples Invitational on 21 September 2019. Saint Johns Country Day sophmore David Stratton ran 16:30 on the rolling hills of Suwanee Country Club to finish runner-up to Brown. North Florida Christian senior David Andrew Keen took third in 17:15.

Live Oak Twilight Invitational Course

Leo Rutledge, a Maclay junior, also cracked the top ten for the Marauders, placing fifth in 17:23. Frosh Clayton Knox (11th, 18:18), junior Michael Sweeney (13th, 18:26), and frosh Carter Rothel (15th, 18:35) also scored for Maclay, giving their team 45 points and first place in a field of fifteen schools. Led by sophomore Julian Bautista (6th, 17:31) Saint Francis Catholic was second with 97 points. Tallahassee Lincoln was a close third in the team standings with 103 points. Nicholas Samuel (4th, 17:20) was Lincoln's top scorer.


High School Boys' Team Scores, 2019 Live Oak Invitational
  1. Maclay, 45
  2. Saint Francis Catholic, 97
  3. Lincoln, 103
  4. Bishop Snyder, 157
  5. Wakulla, 166
  6. Columbia, 167
  7. Saint Johns Country Day, 189
  8. Trinity Christian Academy, 195
  9. Branford, 203
  10. Suwannee, 233
  11. Community Christian, 242
  12. North Florida Christian, 291
  13. Saint John Paul II Catholic, 363
  14. Jefferson County, 375
  15. University Christian, 452

Top Ten Athletes, 2019 Live Oak Invitational High School Boys' 5K
  1. 16:08.50, Junious Brown IV (Maclay) 12
  2. 16:29.50, Matthew Stratton (Saint Johns Country Day) 10
  3. 17:14.10, David Andrew Keen (North Florida Christian) 12
  4. 17:19.60, Nicholas Samuel (Lincoln) 11
  5. 17:22.10, Leo Rutledge (Maclay) 11
  6. 17:30.90, Julian Bautista (Saint Francis Catholic) 10
  7. 17:32.50, Jacob Kailes (Saint Johns Country Day) 11
  8. 17:44.50, Thomas Grabow (Saint Francis Catholic) 11
  9. 18:05.50, Stephen Votaw (Wakulla) 12
  10. 18:14.50, Alex McCollum (Columbia) 12

The girls' 5K was scheduled for 6:30, following the boys' race. In addition to being later than the boys' race, it was also a lot closer. Ella Porcher outkicked Laci Watford for a narrow win, 19:36 to 19:38. Watford, a University Christian sophomore, was one of only two representatives of her school in the race, so she didn't count in the team scoring. The next four runners did, and they were all Maclay athletes--eighth-grader Gracie Koppel (3rd, 20:57), frosh Sophia Paredes (4th, 21:01), and seniors Hannah Hosay (5th, 21:20) and Rachael Stockel (6th, 21:28). With the first five scorers in the race, Maclay had fifteen points, the lowest possible score.

Ella Porcher

Diamond Cooper, a senior, ran 21:40 for seventh, leading Wakulla High to second in the girls' team standings with 48 points. Community Christian scored 100 to place third in the eleven-team field, led by their sophomore ace, Morgan Wilson. Wilson was eighth in the 5K in 21:55.


Many of the athletes in the Live Oak Twilight Invitational will be back at the Suwanee Country Club on 23 October 2019, when the course hosts the FHSAA 1A District 2 Cross-Country Championship, the first round of Florida's state championship series in high school cross-country.


Miles and Minutes, LLC, of Tallahassee, Florida timed and scored the 2019 Live Oak Twilight Invitational.


High School Girls' Team Scores, 2019 Live Oak Invitational
  1. Maclay, 15
  2. Wakulla, 48
  3. Community Christian, 100
  4. Lincoln, 137
  5. Saint Johns Country Day, 138
  6. Branford, 167
  7. Suwannee, 197
  8. Jefferson County, 202
  9. Bishop Snyder, 223
  10. Saint Francis Catholic, 255
  11. Saint John Paul II Catholic, 334

Top Ten Athletes, 2019 Live Oak Invitational High School Girls' 5K
  1. 19:35.40, Ella Porcher (Maclay) 9
  2. 19:37.80, Laci Watford (University Christian) 10
  3. 20:56.10, Gracie Koeppel (Maclay) 8
  4. 21:00.60, Sofia Paredes (Maclay) 9
  5. 21:19.40, Hannah Hosay (Maclay) 12
  6. 21:27.80, Rachael Stockel (Maclay) 12
  7. 21:39.30, Diamond Cooper (Wakulla) 12
  8. 21:54.20, Morgan Wilson (Community Christian) 10
  9. 22:09.40, Audrey Fender (Columbia) 9
  10. 22:16.10, Nina Prince (Wakulla) 12

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Posted by Herb Wills at 10:05 PM
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