Morgan Wilson and Simon Cole excel in Southwood at the FSUS Invite

Don't confuse the Florida State University School Invitational with the Florida State University Invitational.


Both events are cross-country meets, but the venerable FSU Invitational goes back to the 1970s and is currently held annually as a two-day affair at Apalachee Regional Park Championship Cross-Country Course. The FSUS Invitational was held for the first time on Saturday morning, 26 September 2020, on the campus of Florida State University School (sometimes known as Florida High) in Tallahassee, Florida's Southwood neighborhood.

Morgan Wilson

Morgan Wilson, for one, found the Southwood location agreeable. A Community Christian junior, Wilson had already won two races in Southwood during the 2020 season, at the Saint John Paul II Kickoff and at the Panther Invitational. Wilson continued to excel in Southwood at the FSUS Invitational, winning the high school girls' 5K in 21:25. The Wakulla girls won the team title with 20 points, adding to their previous victorious visit to Southwood at the Panther Invitational. In the high school boys' 5K, Wakulla senior Simon Cole picked up his first cross-country win in Southwood or anywhere else, taking first in 18:17. The Chiles boys had the top team in the race, scoring 47 points.


Racing at the FSUS Invitational got started at 8:00 AM ET with the high school girls' 5K. There may have been a point where Morgan Wilson wasn't leading, but it had to have been brief and early. Wilson was soon ahead of the pack, and spent the rest of the race getting farther ahead, ultimately finishing with a lead of well over 200 meters. While Wilson set the pace, Wakulla juniors Elizabeth Blitch and Clara Alford moved up through the field to take second and third, running 22:30 and 22:30.

Elizabeth Blitch & Clara Alford

The Wakulla girls nabbed the next three places as well, with junior Marina Whitsell fourth in 22:46, senior Alejandra Vivaldo Vasquez fifth in 22:51, and frosh Liliana Lewis sixth in 22:55. With only Wilson keeping them from a perfect score, Wakulla's Eagles totalled a mathematically unbeatable 20 points, placing first among the seven girls' teams at the Invitational. Maclay, led by a 23:04 eighth-place showing by sophomore Sofia Paredes, was second with 77 points. Wilson and Community Christian were a close third with 82.


2020 FSUS Invitational High School Girls' 5K Team Standings

1. Wakulla, 20
2. Maclay, 77
3. Community Christian, 82
4. Lincoln, 95
5. Florida State University, 130
6. Brookwood, 146
7. Aucilla Christian, 181

Top Ten Athletes, 2020 FSUS Invitational High School Girls' 5K

1. 21:24.60, Morgan Wilson (Community Christian) 11
2. 22:29.40, Elizabeth Blitch (Wakulla) 11
3. 22:39.10, Clara Alford (Wakulla) 11
4. 22:45.90, Marina Whitsell (Wakulla) 11
5. 22:50.50, Alejandra Vivaldo Vasquez (Wakulla) 12
6. 22:54.90, Liliana Lewis (Wakulla) 9
7. 22:59.80, Niya Coleman (Florida State University) 10
8. 23:03.80, Sofia Paredes (Maclay) 10
9. 23:15.90, Sarah Tychsen (Community Christian) 9
10. 23:24.90, Lauren Whittier (Lincoln) 12

By the end of the first mile of the boys' 5K, Simon Cole had broken contact with the field, racing 50 meters ahead of the runner in second position, Aucilla Christian senior Wyatt Stafford. Cole went on to win by nearly an entire minute in 18:17. Stafford hung on to the runner-up position, running 19:14. Florida State sophomore Bryce Broga moved up during the second half of the race to take third in 19:22.

Simon Cole

Chiles High's athletes may not have been up front fighting for first, but there were three of them in the top ten--sophomores Owen Franklin (6th, 19:33), Ben Middleton (7th, 19:33), and Colin Dunphy (9th, 19:36). Timberwolves Tyler Canavan and Nathan Morris completed Chiles' scoring, placing eleventh in 19:42 and fourteenth in 19:46. Chiles had 47 points and first place among the nine boys' teams.


Wakulla, led by individual winner Simon Cole, was second with 96 points. Lincoln took third with 96 points. Sophomore Joesph McLeod was Lincoln's first finisher, tenth in 19:37.


2020 FSUS Invitational High School Boys' 5K Team Standings

1. Chiles, 47
2. Wakulla, 72
3. Lincoln, 96
4. Aucilla Christian, 118
5. Florida State University, 142
6. Community Christian, 148
7. Brookwood, 174
8. Maclay, 185
9. North Florida Christian, 188

Top Ten Athletes, 2020 FSUS Invitational High School Boys' 5K

1. 18:16.60, Simon Cole (Wakulla) 12
2. 19:13.50, Wyatt Stafford (Aucilla Christian) 12
3. 19:21.80, Bryce Broga (Florida State University) 10
4. 19:26.20, Tyler Grubbs (North Florida Christian) 12
5. 19:31.50, Kent Grayson (Brookwood) 7
6. 19:32.60, Owen Franklin (Chiles) 10
7. 19:32.90, Ben Middleton (Chiles) 10
8. 19:34.90, Donnie Pitts (Wakulla) 11
9. 19:35.80, Colin Dunphy (Chiles) 10
10. 19:36.50, Joseph McLeod (Lincoln) 10

A lot of runners were scrambling to lead right after the start of the middle school girls' 3K, but when the field had settled down there were two runners out in front--Chloe Molen and Isabella Laughton. Molen, a fifth-grader racing for Red Hills Running Club, ran a couple of steps ahead of Laughton for well over half the race, all the way to the homestretch. Laughton, competing unattached, remained in contact, but never could make up those two steps. They were still two steps apart at the finish line where Molen took first in 13:15 and Laughton second in 13:16. Wearing Red Hills colors, Fourth-grader Charlotte Sikes placed third in 13:27.

Isabella Laughton & Chloe Molen

Red Hills put two more athletes in the top ten, with seventh-grader Madeline Morris sixth in 14:12 and sixth-grader Haley Heitmeyer seventh in 14:21. Fourth-grader Emma-Claire Tanenbaum was the fifth and final scorer for Red Hills, placing eleventh in 15:14. That gave the Hilltoppers 21 points and first place. Maclay was second with 47 points, their first runner eighth-grader Mary Call Miller (5th, 14:11). From Thomasville, Georgia, Brookwood School's Warriors were third with 60 points, led by seventh-grader Addison Gamble (1


2020 FSUS Invitational Middle School Girls' 3K Team Standings

1. Red Hills Running Club, 21
2. Maclay, 47
3. Brookwood, 60

Top Ten Athletes, 2020 FSUS Invitational Middle School Girls' 3K

1. 13:14.20, Chloe Molen (Red Hills Running Club) 5
2. 13:15.90, Isabella Laughton (Unattached)
3. 13:26.70, Charlotte Sikes (Red Hills Running Club) 4
4. 13:47.50, Cecilia Veliz (Unattached)
5. 14:10.90, Mary Call Miller (Maclay) 8
6. 14:11.90, Madeline Morris (Red Hills Running Club) 7
7. 14:20.50, Haley Heitmeyer (Red Hills Running Club) 6
8. 14:27.10, Abby Stalvey (Brookwood) 8
9. 15:09.50, Ellie Mazziotta (Maclay) 6
10. 15:09.90, Addison Gamble (Brookwood) 7

Doubling is a track thing, right? No one ever runs two events in cross-country.


Don't bet on it. At the FSUS Invitational, Brookwood seventh-grader Kent Grayson was on the starting line of the middle school boys' 3K less than 45 minutes after he finished fifth in the high school boys' 5K. A few more minutes later, Grayson was leading the 3K race. He won the shorter event by more than half a minute, running 11:58. Hayne Miller, a Maclay eighth-grader, placed second in 12:34. Competing unattached, seventh-grader Henry Lewis was third in 12:44.

Kent Grayson

Brookwood put three more Warriors in the top ten--seventh-graders James Mizell (5th, 13:16), John Albert Roesel (7th, 13:39), and Mathew Lauderdale (9th, 14:10). Sixth-grader Brooks Clay placed thirteenth for Brookwood, giving the Warriors a slim 27 to 28 victory over Maclay.


Miles and Minutes, LLC of Tallahassee timed and scored the 2020 FSUS Invitational.


2020 FSUS Invitational Middle School Boys' 3K Team Standings

1. Brookwood, 27
2. Maclay, 28

Top Ten Athletes, 2020 FSUS Invitational Middle School Boys' 3K

1. 11:57.10, Kent Grayson (Brookwood) 7
2. 12:33.70, Hayne Miller (Maclay) 8
3. 12:43.10, Henry Lewis (Unattached) 7
4. 12:57.61, Logan Phipps (Maclay) 5
5. 13:15.20, James Mizell (Brookwood) 7
6. 13:25.50, Ethan Nicholson (Falcon Track Club) 6
7. 13:38.80, John Albert Roesel (Brookwood) 7
8. 13:40.50, Colin Edwards (Maclay) 8
9. 14:09.80, Mathew Lauderdale (Brookwood) 7
10. 14:11.40, Collins Dickson (Maclay) 7

Links

• Complete results of the 2020 Florida State University School Invitational
  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vSj2RHvsYGmCgaahukp6KBYJr5dqUZ_2ddT-LZjMGq9tzFrzVSV0ZfRaq-R5Ix2-jMF56tqGoEQH9ww/pubhtml
  
  
• More Trouble Afoot! photos of the 2020 Florida State University School Invitational
  
  • HS Girls: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10116834693301523
  • HS Boys: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10116834747183543
  • MS Girls: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10116834788929883
  • MS Boys: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10116834893006313
  
  
• Course maps for the 2020 Florida State University School Invitational
  
  • 5K: https://app.box.com/s/nhmvelj3lqdxxzfk7jghwt9hsz0ivu08
  • 3K: https://app.box.com/s/5ezahmwtg9kaa9xvaoe8vl2kgsr5fzku
  
  
• Tallahassee area cross country meets in 2020
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2020/09/tallahassee-xc-2020.html
  
  

#2720