Saturday, September 12, 2020

The engines were purring for Morgan Wilson and Jackson Yarbrough at the Panther Invitational

Morgan Wilson had a come-from-behind victory in the high school girls' 5K and Jackson Yarbrough held off Leo Rutledge to win the high school boys' 5K at the fifth annual Panther Invitational Cross-Country Meet, hosted by Saint John Paul II Catholic High School in Tallahassee, Florida on Saturday morning, 12 September 2020. The Wakulla girls took the team title in their race with 37 points, while Maclay was the top boys team with a near-perfect score of 18.

Morgan Wilson, Grace Koeppel
Morgan Wilson

The Saint John Paul II Panthers run their home cross-country meets--including the Panther Invitational--on their school campus in the Southwood neighborhood of Tallahassee. Southwood was once part of Southwood Plantation, where the Saint Joe Paper Company ran cattle. Tallahassee harriers often find themselves racing on old cow pastures. When I was at Florida State University, we ran our cross-country meets on the grounds of the old college dairy farm and on the university golf course, which also used to be part of the dairy farm. Later, Florida State and other Tallahassee schools ran at the Miccosukkee Greenway, where Welaunee Plantation's cattle once grazed. Tallahassee's Apalachee Regional Park Cross-Country Course is also on former cattle land.


The cows had been gone for more than a few years when the 2020 Panther Invitational high school girls' race got under way at 7:45 AM. Maclay frosh Gracie Koeppel charged out in front of the field. 1500 meters into the race, Koeppel had ten seconds on the next runner, Morgan Wilson, a junior racing in Community Christian colors. Wilson, who had won the John Paul II Kickoff on the same course a week earlier, closed the gap by the three-kilometer mark, racing right behind Koeppel. Before the end of the fourth kilometer Wilson took over the lead, then spent the fifth kilometer getting away from Koeppel. At the end of that final kilometer, Wilson took first in 21:30 and Koeppel second in 21:38. In a battle for third Wakulla junior Clara Alford ran 21:42 to prevail over Maclay seventh-grader Lillian Koeppel (4th, 21:42) and Maclay junior Sofia Paredes (5th, 22:43).

Grace Koeppel, Morgan Wilson
Grace Koeppel

While Maclay waited for their fourth runner, Wakulla put four more scorers across-the finish line, including top-ten finishers frosh Liliana Lewis (6th, 22:58), junior Marina Whitsell (8th, 23:25), and junior Elizabeth Blitch (9th, 23:37). Alejandra Vivaldo Vasquez (11th, 23:54), a senior, was Wakulla's fifth scorer, giving her team 37 point and the Panther Invitational tile. The Maclay girls were third with 50 points, just ahead of the 54 scored by third-place Community Christian.


John Paul II Catholic's 2020 Panther Invitational Team Standings, High School Girls
  1. Wakulla, 37
  2. Maclay, 50
  3. Community Christian, 54
  4. Florida State, 101
  5. Aucilla Christian, 135
  6. Marianna, 146

Top Ten High School Girls, John Paul II Catholic's 2020 Panther Invitational
  1. 21:30.00, Morgan Wilson (Community Christian) 11
  2. 21:38.00, Gracie Koeppel (Maclay) 9
  3. 22:41.22, Clara Alford (Wakulla) 11
  4. 22:41.57, Lillian Koeppel (Maclay) 7
  5. 22:42.82, Sofia Paredes (Maclay) 10
  6. 22:57.85, Liliana Lewis (Wakulla) 9
  7. 23:02.42, Niya Coleman (Florida State) 10
  8. 23:24.99, Marina Whitsell (Wakulla) 11
  9. 23:36.50, Elizabeth Blitch (Wakulla) 11
  10. 23:42.87, Sarah Tychsen (Community Christian) 9

Jackson Yarbrough
Jackson Yarbrough

A week before the Panther Invitational, Maclay senior Leo Rutledge had already raced on the course, winning the boys' 5K at the John Paul II Kickoff. But Jackson Yarbrough hadn't been at the kickoff. Yarbrough, a junior and transfer from Leon High, was soon setting the pace in the boys' race at the Panther Invite, taking over from early leader Simon Cole, a Wakulla senior. Rutledge also overtook Cole, running a distant second to Yarbrough till the third mile, when he began eating into Yarbrough's lead. With 200 meters to go, Rutledge was challenging Yarbrough. Yarbrough put the hammer down, and kicked to the finish line ahead of Rutledge, 17:32 to 17:34. Maclay sophomore Clayton Knox was third in 18:03, and Cole took fourth for Wakulla in 18:38.


Maclay's final two scorers showed up soon afterward, with sophomore Carter Rothel fifth in 18:50 and junior Evans Bishop seventh in 19:50. With five in the top seven, Maclay scored a mathematically unbeatable 18 points, winning the meet for the second time in the past three years. Wakulla was second in the field of eight teams with 86 points. Community Christian was a close third with 89 points, led by the 20:04 performance of Nicholas Ciarlariello--good for ninth place.

Jackson Yarbrough, Leo Rutledge
Jackson Yarbrough and Leo Rutledge

John Paul II Catholic's 2020 Panther Invitational Team Standings, High School Boys
  1. Maclay, 18
  2. Wakulla, 86
  3. Community Christian, 89
  4. Aucilla Christian, 108
  5. Saint John Paul II Catholic, 144
  6. Florida State, 145
  7. Marianna, 158
  8. North Florida Christian, 183

Top Ten High School Boys, John Paul II Catholic's 2020 Panther Invitational
  1. 17:31.88, Jackson Yarbrough (Maclay) 11
  2. 17:33.89, Leo Rutledge (Maclay) 12
  3. 18:02.54, Clayton Knox (Maclay) 10
  4. 18:37.14, Simon Cole (Wakulla) 12
  5. 18:49.94, Carter Rothel (Maclay) 10
  6. 19:23.26, Wyatt Stafford (Aucilla Christian) 12
  7. 19:49.03, Evans Bishop (Maclay) 11
  8. 19:55.71, Tyler Grubbs (North Florida Christian) 12
  9. 20:03.14, Nicholas Ciarlariello (Community Christian) 12
  10. 20:08.09, Bryce Broga (Florida State) 10

After the high school athletes had cleared the course it was time for the middle school 3K. Noah Deem, runner-up in the race in 2019, won the 2020 event. The eighth-grader from Community Leadership Academy ran 11:38. Peter Boulware, another Community Leadership eighth-grader, was runner-up in 12:46. Luke Meli, a Community Christian seventh-grader, was third in 12:57.


Meli was the first of three Community Christian athletes among the top ten boys, the other two being seventh-grader Charles Wilson (7th, 13:36) and eighth-grader Bryan Meli (9th, 14:00). The remaining Community Christian scorers were eighth-grader Ian Osterhaus (17th, 15:33) and seventh-grader Elias Bernstein (24th, 16:28). Meli, Wilson, Meli, Osterhaus, and Bernstein gave Community Christian 40 points and first in the middle school boys' standings.


Trinity Catholic, led by seventh-grader Mark Moore (6th, 13:33), took second with 53 points. Christ Classical was third with 65 points behind the tenth-place finish of eighth-grader Phillip Liquia (14:23).


John Paul II Catholic's 2020 Panther Invitational Team Standings, Middle School Boys
  1. Community Christian, 40
  2. Trinity Catholic, 53
  3. Christ Classical, 65
  4. Community Leadership, 66

Top Ten Middle School Boys, John Paul II Catholic's 2020 Panther Invitational
  1. 11:37.57, Noah Deem (Community Leadership) 8
  2. 12:45.33, Peter Boulware (Community Leadership) 8
  3. 12:56.69, Luke Meli (Community Christian) 7
  4. 13:19.39, Jayden Catrett (Unattached) 8
  5. 13:27.98, Josiah Friddle (Franklin County) 8
  6. 13:32.06, Mark Moore (Trinity Catholic) 7
  7. 13:35.56, Charles Wilson (Community Christian) 7
  8. 13:46.56, Henry Lewis (Wakulla) 8t
  9. 13:59.38, Bryan Meli (Community Christian) 8
  10. 14:22.33, Phillip Liquia (Christ Classical) 8

There was a single middle school race for both girls and boys. Two eighth-graders battled for the first girls' spot--Isabella Laughton and Maclay's Payton Thumm. Thumm prevailed at the finish line, 13:52 to 13:54. Sixth-grader Charlotte Sikes of the Red Hills Running Club was third in the girls' division with a 14:06.


Thumm was just one of five Maclay girls in the top twelve. Rounding out the five were seventh-grader Nishi Bhanderi (4th, 14:34), eighth-grader Kassidy Moninger (5th, 14:47), eighth-grader Lauren Guyer (10th, 15:17), and sixth-grader Nya Drake (12th, 16:03). Those girls gave Maclay a mathematically unbeatable total of 23 points, making the Marauders the top middle school girls' team. The Red Hills Running club was second with 69 points. Wakulla, led by the fifteenth-place finish of sixth-grader Hadley Brown (16:29), was third with 89.


John Paul II Catholic's 2020 Panther Invitational Team Standings, Middle School Girls
  1. Maclay, 23
  2. Red Hills Running Club, 69
  3. Wakulla, 89
  4. Riversprings, 104
  5. Trinity Catholic, 110
  6. Community Leadership, 134

Top Ten Middle School Girls, John Paul II Catholic's 2020 Panther Invitational
  1. 13:51.98, Payton Thumm (Maclay) 8
  2. 13:53.78, Isabella Laughton (Unattached) 8
  3. 14:05.96, Charlotte Sikes (Red Hills Running Club) 6
  4. 14:33.21, Nishi Bhanderi (Maclay) 7
  5. 14:46.02, Kassidy Moninger (Maclay) 8
  6. 15:04.80, Madi Sims (Unattached) 8
  7. 15:07.36, Madeline Morris (Red Hills Running Club) 7
  8. 15:11.14, Ryleigh Gunter (Florida State) 8
  9. 15:14.22, Haley Heitmeyer (Red Hills Running Club) 6
  10. 15:16.90, Lauren Guyer (Maclay) 8

Panther Invitational Cross-Country Meet Winners, 2016 - 2020
High School Boys
DateTeam ChampIndividual Champ
9 September 2016Lincoln, 3818:18, Gatlin Nennstiel (Aucilla Christian) 12
23 September 2017Wakulla, 1518:17, Chris Porter (Wakulla) 11
8 September 2018Maclay, 1917:30, Junious Brown IV (Maclay) 11
7 September 2019Community Christian, 4718:00, David A. Keen (North Florida Christian) 12
12 September 2020Maclay, 2317:32, Jackson Yarbrough (Maclay) 11
High School Girls
DateTeam ChampIndividual Champ
9 September 2016Florida State, 4121:52, Gianna Forte (Bishop Snyder) 10
23 September 2017Community Christian, 2922:31, Alyssa Langston (Wakulla) 11
8 September 2018Maclay, 2121:49, Ella Porcher (Maclay) 8
7 September 2019South Walton, 1721:10, Ava Flaherty (South Walton) 10
12 September 2020Wakulla, 3721:30, Morgan Wilson (Community Christian) 11


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Posted by Herb Wills at 8:17 PM
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