Ava Flaherty and David Keen were top cats at the Panther Invitational

279 athletes representing two dozen schools raced in Tallahassee, Florida's Southwood community on Saturday morning, 7 September 2019, at the Panther Invitational Cross-Country Meet, hosted by Saint John Paul II Catholic High School. South Walton sophomore Ava Flaherty won the high school girls' 5K, leading her team to a near-perfect score of nineteen points and first place. In the high school boys' 5K, North Florida Christian senior David Andrew Keen posted a winning 18:00, while Community Christian took the team title with 47 points.


South Walton High is in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, in a different time zone from Tallahassee. The Seahawks had never been to the Panther Invitational before, but they made their first visit a memorable one. Not only did Ava Flaherty win the girls' race in 21:10, but Seahwak junior Patasha Bryan was a close second in 21:20. Morgan Wilson, a sophomore at Tallahassee's Community Christian Academy, was third in 22:04.


Following Wilson, South Walton sophomore Heidi Scali was fourth in 23:12--the third of five Seahawks in the top ten. The remaining two Seahawk scorers were junior Aris Short (6th, 23:17) and frosh Dafne Lucero (9th, 23:53). With that, the South Walton girls had a mathematically unbeatable nineteen points and the Panther Invitational title. Morgan Wilson's Community Christian team took second with 56 points. Led by seniors Emma Romuald (13th, 24:24) and Rylee French (14th, 24:27), the Lincoln girls were third in the seven-team field with 74 points.


John Paul II Catholic's 2019 Panther Invitational Team Standings, High School Girls

1. South Walton, 19
2. Community Christian, 56
3. Lincoln, 74
4. Jefferson County, 113
5. Aucilla Christian, 114
6. Florida State University, 155
7. Marianna, 208

Top Ten High School Girls, John Paul II Catholic's 2019 Panther Invitational

1. 21:09.90, Ava Flaherty (South Walton) 10
2. 21:19.55, Patasha Bryan (South Walton) 11
3. 22:03.44, Morgan Wilson (Community Christian) 10
4. 23:11.91, Heidi Scali (South Walton) 10
5. 23:15.04, Clara Alford (Wakulla) 10
6. 23:16.47, Aris Short (South Walton) 11
7. 23:52.09, Amaya Jones (Godby) 11
8. 23:52.59, Sammi Drawdy (Aucilla Christian) 9
9. 23:52.59, Dafne Lucero (South Walton) 9
10. 24:04.19, Katherine Bouck (Community Christian) 10

David Andrew Keen's career as a high school cross-country runner has paralleled the history of the Panther Invitational. As a North Florida Christian frosh, Keen was at the very first Panther Invitational in 2016. He ran 18:51 in that inaugural meet, placing second in the high school boys' 5K. The 2017 Panther Invitational was delayed two weeks by Hurricane Irma, and neither North Florida Christian nor Keen made it to the rescheduled meet. NFC raced at the 2018 Panther Invitational, though, and Keen, a junior, was third in 18:37.


Keen was back in Southwood in 2019 for the fourth Panther Invitational. It was the senior's fastest performance at the meet, just under 18:00, and it was good for the win. Well behind Keen, Community Christian Nicholas Ciarlariello and Florida State senior Morgan Castano battled for second, with Ciarlariello getting the nod 18:57 to 18:58. Maclay senior Thomas Deison was fourth in 19:00, close enough to read the tag on Ciarlariello's racing vest.


Ciarlariello was joined in the top ten by a pair of his Charger teammates, sophomore Keelan Tidwell (6th, 19:10) and frosh Stephen Machado (9th, 20:16). Senior Gavin Payne (19th, 21:12) and junior Luke Aagaard (25th, 21:47) completed Community Christian's scoring, giving the Charger's 47 points and first in place among the nine high school boys' teams at the Invitational.


Junior Wyatt Stafford's (7th, 19:58) Aucilla Christian squad had ninety points, but so did the Lincoln team led by frosh Corey Stavres (15th, 20:55). Aucilla Christian took second on the tiebreaker, leaving Lincoln in third.


John Paul II Catholic's 2019 Panther Invitational Team Standings, High School Boys

1. Community Christian, 47
2. Aucilla Christian, 90
3. Lincoln, 90
4. Florida State University, 105
5. Saint John Paul II Catholic, 126
6. North Florida Christian, 133
7. Rickards, 151
8. Jefferson County, 180
9. Marianna, 212

Top Ten High School Boys, John Paul II Catholic's 2019 Panther Invitational

1. 17:59.54, David Andrew Keen (North Florida Christian) 12
2. 18:56.30, Nicholas Ciarlariello (Community Christian) 11
3. 18:57.85, Morgan Castano (Florida State University) 12
4. 18:59.21, Thomas Deison (Maclay School) 12
5. 19:04.18, Chadwick Phillips (South Walton) 11
6. 19:09.35, Keelan Tidwell (Community Christian) 10
7. 19:57.96, Wyatt Stafford (Aucilla Christian) 11
8. 20:05.46, Jalen Brownlee (Rickards) 11
9. 20:15.52, Stephen Machado (Community Christian) 9
10. 20:27.48, Shiquel Tucker (Godby) 8

The South Walton girls weren't the only dominating team from Santa Rosa Beach at the fourth annual Panther Invitational. The 2019 edition of the meet included a middle school race for the first time, and the girls' competition was all about the Emerald Coast Stingrays. Emerald Coast seventh-graders Annabelle Melberg and Madilynn Jersey went one-two in the girls' standings, running 12:46 and 12:55 for three kilometers. Leah Keller, a Florida State eighth-grader, was third in 13:43, but Emerald Coast took three of the next four places, with seventh-grader Claire Griner fourth in 13:48, eighth-grader Wren Hall fifth in 13:49, and seventh-grader Vivian Peele seventh in 15:04.


All together, Emerald Coast put six runners in the top ten. No other school put a scoring athlete in the top ten, so Emerald Coast tallied a perfect fifteen points, placing first among three teams. Led by sxith-grader Aubrey Recks (15th, 16:27), the Riversprings girls were second with 56 points. The Community Leadership girls were third at 74 points, behind the eighteenth place, 16:40 showing of eighth-grader Emma Stewart.


John Paul II Catholic's 2019 Panther Invitational Team Standings, Middle School Girls

1. Emerald Coast, 15
2. Riversprings, 56
3. Community Leadership, 74

Top Ten Middle School Girls, John Paul II Catholic's 2019 Panther Invitational

1. 12:45.23, Annabelle Melberg (Emerald Coast) 7
2. 12:54.86, Madilynn Jersey (Emerald Coast) 7
3. 13:42.51, Leah Keller (Florida State University) 8
4. 13:47.18, Claire Griner (Emerald Coast) 7
5. 14:22.71, Wren Hall (Emerald Coast) 8
6. 14:34.36, Maddie Manausa (Holy Comforter Episcopal) 8
7. 15:03.45, Vivian Peele (Emerald Coast) 7
8. 15:13.83, Kaitlyn Kristian (Montford) 8
9. 15:22.23, Kate Reichelderfer (Holy Comforter Episcopal) 7
10. 15:25.96, Reese Knowlton (Emerald Coast) 8

Just two days after throwing down a third-place finish in the middle school boys' 3K at the tenth annual Fort Braden Run, Jackson Rowe was racing again in the three-kilometer event at the Panther Invitational. The Montford eighth-grader wasn't third this time. Rowe ran 11:30 at Panther, taking first in the boys' standings. Community Leadership seventh-grader Noah Deem was right behind Rowe in second. Rowe and Deem had tangled three weeks earlier in another cross-country race, the Miller Landing Madness 3K, where Rowe had finished five seconds ahead of Deem. Deem was closer at the Panther Invite, running, 11:32, but Rowe still had the edge. Carter Ward, an eighth-grader racing for Emerald Coast, was third in 11:59.

Will Winsor, a Holy Comforter eighth-grader, took fourth in 12:08. Winsor was just the first of four Crusaders in the top ten, the others were eighth-graders Will Springer (6th, 12:14) and Matthew Wilbourn (7th, 12:19) and seventh-grader Heny Fernandez (10th, 12:30). Sixth-grader Graham Resavage (20th, 13:53) completed Holy Comforter's scoring, giving the Crusaders 39 points and a win in their hometown.


Behind the third-place finish of Carter Ward, Emerald Coast was a close second with 42 points. Led by the fifth place, 12:12 finish of seventh-grader Jayden Catrett, Marianna placed third in the six-team field with 88 points.


John Paul II Catholic's 2019 Panther Invitational Team Standings, Middle School Boys

1. Holy Comforter Episcopal, 39
2. Emerald Coast, 42
3. Marianna, 88
4. Trinity Catholic, 97
5. Community Leadership, 118
6. Christ Classical, 152

Top Ten Middle School Boys, John Paul II Catholic's 2019 Panther Invitational

1. 11:29.39, Jackson Rowe (Montford) 8
2. 11:31.44, Noah Deem (Community Leadership) 7
3. 11:58.41, Carter Ward (Emerald Coast) 8
4. 12:07.56, Will Winsor (Holy Comforter Episcopal) 8
5. 12:11.99, Jayden Catrett (Marianna) 7
6. 12:13.14, Will Springer (Holy Comforter Episcopal) 8
7. 12:18.33, Matthew Wilbourn (Holy Comforter Episcopal) 8
8. 12:19.51, Kiernan Ganske (Emerald Coast) 7
9. 12:24.26, Reece Juno (Franklin County) 8
10. 12:29.26, Henry Fernandez (Holy Comforter Episcopal) 7

Panther Invitational Cross-Country Meet Winners, 2016 - 2019
High School Boys
Date	Team Champ	Individual Champ
9 September 2016	Lincoln, 38	18:18, Gatlin Nennstiel (Aucilla Christian) 12
23 September 2017	Wakulla, 15	18:17, Chris Porter (Wakulla) 11
8 September 2018	Maclay, 19	17:30, Junious Brown IV (Maclay) 11
7 September 2019	Community Christian, 47	18:00, David A. Keen (North Florida Christian) 12
High School Girls
Date	Team Champ	Individual Champ
9 September 2016	Florida State, 41	21:52, Gianna Forte (Bishop Snyder) 10
23 September 2017	Community Christian, 29	22:31, Alyssa Langston (Wakulla) 11
8 September 2018	Maclay, 21	21:49, Ella Porcher (Maclay) 8
7 September 2019	South Walton, 17	21:10, Ava Flaherty (South Walton) 10

Links

• Complete results of John Paul II Catholic's 2019 Panther Invitational from Miles & Minutes, LLC
  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vTW87ZuIxJt4l7uUfswLMljBiwrmU1XU0ZtQ9SzUvl4egUo4O46q4ZFBvnS0N2HfSfdvRt2jBpLL3GE/pubhtml
  
  
• 2018 story, “Junious Brown and Ella Porcher lead a Maclay sweep of the Panther Invitational”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2018/09/panther-xc-2018.html
  
  
• 2017 story, “The Wakulla boys and the Community Christian girls prevail at the Panther Invitational”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2017/09/panther-xc-2017.html
  
  
• 2016 story, “Seminoles and Trojans triumph at the Panther Cross Country Invitational”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2016/09/panther-xc-2016.html
  
  
• 2018 Tallahassee Area Cross Country Schedule
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2018/07/tallahassee-xc-2018.html
  
  
• Upcoming cross country, road, trail, and track races in the Tallahassee region via Trouble Afoot!
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/search/label/calendar?max-results=1
  
  

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