Kyra Swart and Patrick Koon saddle up at the Mustang Stampede Cross-Country Meet

There was a lot of Deerlake at the Mustang Stampede Middle School Cross-Country Meet on Thursday evening, 19 September 2019. Montford Middle School hosted the seventh annual meet, but it was the Deerlake Middle School Bucks who took team titles in both the girls' 3K race and the boys' 3K race. Deerlake sixth-grader Kyra Swart placed first in the girls' race. Instead of a Deerlake athlete, though, the top spot in the boys' race when to Fairview eighth-grader Patrick Koon, his fourth win in four outings during the Leon County Schools' 2019 middle school cross-country season.

Madison Sims & Kyra Swart

Competition opened just after 6:00 PM with the girls' 3K. 99 athletes from eight different school scrambled for the lead. When the dust had cleared, though, Fort Braden seventh-grader Madison Sims was setting the pace, with Kyra Swart of Deerlake just behind her. Sims was still leading near the one-kilometer mark, where the athletes turned into a wooded section of the course. Coming out of the woods nearly a kilometer later, Swart was ahead.


Sims wasn't going away. Just past the two-kilometer mark, she overtook Swart. Sims was still ahead with less than 500 meters to go, but Swart was less than ten meters back. It was still a race.

Ella Holman

And it was a race all the way to the finish line, where Swart outkicked Sims to eke out a 13:03 to 13:05 win, the first of the season for the Deerlake sixth-grader. It was also the best showing of the LCS season for Sims, who had previously placed sixth at the Fort Braden Run and the ARPXC Invitational. Deerlake eighth-grader Ella Holman passed Sophia Youngberg, a Montford seventh-grader, late in the race to take third in 13:26. Youngberg was fourth in 13:29.

Sophia Youngberg

It was Montford' home course, and in addition to Youngberg, the Mustangs also put seventh-graders Aditi Mukhirala (7th, 13:59) and Clara Thompson (8th, 14:04) into the top ten. But four athletes cracked the top ten for Deerlake--Swart, Youngberg, eighth-grader Leah Kiros (9th, 14:07), and seventh-grader Callie Byington (10th, 14:17). When sixth-grader London Mellen crossed the line in 14:49 to take seventeenth for the Bucks, the Deerlake girls had 40 points and their first win of the season. Montford was a close second with 56 points. Led by the fifth place, 13:34 finish of eighth-grader Ava Jones, Swift Creek was fourth in the seven-team field with 56 points.


2019 Mustang Stampede Team Standings, Girls

1. Deerlake, 40
2. Montford, 44
3. Swift Creek, 56
4. Raa, 107
5. Cobb, 163
6. Fairview, 170
7. Fort Braden, 183
8. Griffin, NTS

Top 10 Girls, 2019 Montford Mustang Stampede 3K

1. 13:02.18, Kyra Swart (Deerlake) 6
2. 13:04.39, Madison Sims (Fort Braden) 7
3. 13:25.28, Ella Holman (Deerlake) 8
4. 13:28.13, Sophia Youngberg (Montford) 7
5. 13:33.32, Ava Jones (Swift Creek) 8
6. 13:33.76, Elizabeth Kessler (Swift Creek) 8
7. 13:58.61, Aditi Mukhirala (Montford) 7
8. 14:03.77, Clara Thompson (Montford) 7
9. 14:06.79, Leah Kiros (Deerlake) 8
10. 14:16.71, Callie Byington (Deerlake) 7

"I didn't think I ran well today," said Patrick Koon, shortly after the boys' 3K.

Patrick Koon

Some athletes are driven by discontent. It was difficult to find fault with Koon's performance, though. The Fairview eighth-grader won his race at the Mustang Stampede by close to 150 meters, leading from wire to wire and running 10:54. Behind him, though, there was a race on for second. Two eighth-graders, Justin Greenwood and Jackson Rowe of Montford, were in a dogfight all the way to the finish line. Rowe had been close to Greenwood all season, but not this close. The home course wasn't a factor, either.


"We just rebuilt the course this week," said Rowe. "I only got to run the course three times. Last time I was slacking a little bit, but this time I changed my game plan."


Greenwood made his own adjustments to Rowe's challenge.

Justin Greenwood & Jackson Rowe

"I just thought, I'm going to pace off of him and then kick it," said Greenwood.


Greenwood's plan passed the test. The Fairview runner held off Rowe on the homestretch to take second, 11:28 to 11:29.


Rowe was followed across the finish line by a whole lot of Deerlake. The Bucks took the next three places, with eighth-grader Brooks Bowden fourth in 11:41, eighth-grader Davis McNeely fifth in 11:49, and seventh-grader Danny Mauldin sixth in 11:49. Eighth-grader Cade Swart also cracked the top ten for Deerlake, nabbing ninth in 11:52. Eighth-grader Jonah Blay finished the scoring for the Bucks, taking twelfth in 12:06. The Deerlake boys had 36 points, putting them first among the eight teams in the race.

Davis McNeely, Danny Mauldin, & Drayden Reams

Fairview was second with 40 points. On the boys' side, Fairview and Deerlake have split the first four meets of the season, with each team claiming two wins. The boys from Montford, the host school, were third with 87 points.


The middle schools of Leon County Schools are close to the conclusion of their 2019 cross-country season. Next up is the penultimate meet of the year, the Falcon Invitational at Phipps Park on Thursday evening, 26 September 2019. The season closes seven days later on Thursday evening, 3 October 2019, with the League Championship at Apalachee Regional Park.


2019 Mustang Stampede Team Standings, Boys

1. Deerlake, 36
2. Fairview, 40
3. Montford, 87
4. Swift Creek, 113
5. Raa, 113
6. Cobb, 185
7. Fort Braden, 194
8. Griffin, 214

Top 10 Boys, 2019 Montford Mustang Stampede 3K

1. 10:53.95, Patrick Koon (Fairview) 8
2. 11:27.54, Justin Greenwood (Fairview) 8
3. 11:28.03, Jackson Rowe (Montford) 8
4. 11:40.90, Brooks Bowden (Deerlake) 8
5. 11:48.67, Davis McNeely (Deerlake) 8
6. 11:48.91, Danny Mauldin (Deerlake) 7
7. 11:49.50, Ranceeson Grace (Fairview) 8
8. 11:50.56, Drayden Reams (Raa) 8
9. 11:51.61, Cade Swart (Deerlake) 8
10. 11:59.54, Asher Robertson (Swift Creek) 7

Mustang Cross-Country Stampede Champions 2013 - 2019
Girls
Date	Team Champ	Individual Champ
27 September 2013	Swift Creek, 37 points	13:42, Saige Kemeny (Montford) 7
10 September 2014	Swift Creek, 34	12:46, Lawton Campbell (Deerlake) 8
30 September 2015	Swift Creek, 43	12:25, Emily Molen (Deerlake) 8
28 September 2016	Montford, 43	13:12, Paige Churchill (Swift Creek) 6
28 September 2017	Swift Creek, 20	13:12, Paige Churchill (Swift Creek) 7
20 September 2018	Montford, 40	11:45, Paige Churchill (Swift Creek) 8
19 September 2019	Deerlake, 40	13:03, Kyra Swart (Deerlake) 6
Boys
Date	Team Champ	Individual Champ
27 September 2013	Montford, 56 points	11:56, Jacob Dodson (Raa) 8
10 September 2014	Swift Creek, 66	12:14, Tavaris King (Griffin) 8
30 September 2015	Deerlake, 43	11:56, Weston Blake (Swift Creek) 7
28 September 2016	Swift Creek, 39	11:28, Weston Blake (Swift Creek) 7
28 September 2017	Deerlake, 42	11:15, Ben Kirbo (Montford) 8
20 September 2018	Deerlake, 34	9:43, Wyatt Townsend (Deerlake) 8
19 September 2019	Deerlake, 36	10:54, Patrick Koon (Fairview) 8
From 2013 to 2017, the race distance at the Mustang Stampede was two miles. In 2018 the distance was changed to three kilometers.

The middle schools of Leon County Schools continue their cross-country season on Thursday, 27 September 2018, with the Falcon Invitational, hosted by Fairview at Phipps Park. On Thursday, 4 October 2018, the season concludes with a return to Apalachee Regional Park for the league championship meet.


Links

• Complete results of the 2019 Mustang Stampede Cross-Country Meet, courtesy of Brian Corbin Timing
  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vR6nA4JxmmePhUaUR6cVslvxufPjEiRfGwSZ-zxEz_QsoJK1WeDlzpv4bLhRE8P0UmQOke5sKxVNviV/pubhtml
  
  
• More photos of Montford Middle School's 2019 Mustang Stampede cross-country meet
  
  • Girls: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10114302201240913
  • Boys: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10114301845049723
  
  
• The 2019 LCS middle school cross-country season
  
  • ARPXC Invitational https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2019/08/swift-creek-2019.html
    
  • Fort Braden Run https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2019/09/fort-braden-2019.html
    
  • Everhart Invitational https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2019/09/owl-run-2019.html
    
  • Mustang Invitational https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2019/09/mustang-2019.html
    
  • Falcon Invitational [ Coming on 26 September 2019 ]
    
  • LCS Championship [ Coming on 3 October 2019 ]
    
  
  
• Leon County Schools' 2019 middle school cross country schedule
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2019/06/lcs-xc-2019.html
  
  
• 2018 story, “Paige Churchill and Wyatt Townsend gallop into the winner's circle at the Mustang Stampede”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2018/09/mustang-2018.html
  
  
• 2017 story, “Paige Churchill and Ben Kirbo were head of the herd at the Mustang Stampede”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2017/09/mustang-2017.html
  
  
• 2016 story, “Paige Churchill and Weston Blake lead the Stampede at Montford”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2016/09/mustang-2016.html
  
  
• 2015 story, “Molen and Blake lead the stampede at the Mustang Invitational”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2015/10/mustang-2015.html
  
  
• 2014 story, “Swift Creek rides again at the Mustang Stampede”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2014/09/mustang-2014.html
  
  
• 2013 story, “Swift Creek girls and Montford boys keep winning at the Mustang Invitational”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2013/09/mustang-2013.html
  
  
• Find your next road race or cross-country run in the Tallahassee region
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/search/label/calendar?max-results=1
  
  

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