At the Fairgrounds Abbey Griffin and Asa Swope take prizes in the Falcon Invitational

The North Florida Fairgrounds in Tallahassee was an unfamiliar site for a Leon County middle school cross-country meet, but the winners were familiar enough. There, on Thursday, 23 September 2021, at the fourth annual Falcon Invitational, Deerlake eighth-grader Abbey Griffin won the girls' 3K for the second time in the 2021 season, running 12:07. Asa Swope picked up his fourth win in the boys' 3K, where the Swift Creek eighth-grader ran 11:05. The Deerlake girls scored 21 points for their fifth straight win of 2021, and the Montford boys won for the third week in a row, putting up 47 points.

Abbey Griffin

In 2018, Fairview Middle School hosted the first Falcon Invitational at Phipps Park. The meet moved to the FSU Rec SportsPlex in 2020. The 2021 Invitational moved again, this time to a venue almost on the doorstep of Fairview--the North Florida Fairgrounds. It was a new location for Leon County Schools' middle school cross-country, and a new location for Tallahassee distance running in general. Two decades earlier the Tallahassee Turkey Trot had finished at the Fairgrounds, but no race had ever been run entirely on the property. At the fourth annual Falcon Invitational, the Fairgrounds was the scene of two races.


The first was the girls' 3K. The starting gun fired at 6:00 PM. After the first kilometer, Deerlake eighth-grader London Mellen led the race, followed by Montford seventh-grader Annabelle Wiktorski. Also wearing Deerlake green, sixth-grader Chloe Molen and eighth-grader Abbey Griffin were a few steps further back. Of the first four races of the season, Molen, Mellen, Griffin, and Wiktorski had each won one. At the Fairgrounds one of them could break that tie.

London Mellen

The leaders lost Molen during the second kilometer. Mellen still led with 500 meters to go, but Griffin had passed Wiktorski. Griffin grabbed the lead during the final 200 meters and charged for home, getting there first with a 12:07. Mellen was second in 12:11 and Wiktorski third in 12:12. Andi Vilardo, a Montford seventh-grader, placed fourth in 12:27.


The next three places belonged to Deerlake Bucks. Eighth-grader Kyra Swart was fifth in 12:41, Molen was sixth in 12:43, and sixth-grader Honesty Daniel was seventh in 12:46. Their fifth runner across the finish line, the Deerlake girls had 21 points and first place in a field of eight teams. It was the fifth win of the season for the girls in green.

Led by Wiktorski, Montford placed second in the teams standings with 39 points. Raa scored 99 points, taking third. Raa's top runner was eighth-grader Kennedy Bell, twelfth in 13:55.


2021 Falcon Invitational Girls' Team Scores

1. Deerlake, 21
2. Montford, 39
3. Raa, 99
4. Cobb, 113
5. Swift Creek, 121
6. Fairview, 147
7. Nims, 228
8. Griffin, 232
9. Fort Braden, NTS
   Woodville, NTS

Top Ten, 2021 Falcon Invitational Girls' 3K

1. 12:06.81, Abbey Griffin (Deerlake) 8
2. 12:10.88, London Mellen (Deerlake) 8
3. 12:11.34, Annabelle Wiktorski (Montford) 7
4. 12:26.32, Andi Vilardo (Montford) 7
5. 12:40.39, Kyra Swart (Deerlake) 8
6. 12:42.60, Chloe Molen (Deerlake) 6
7. 12:45.71, Honesty Daniel (Deerlake) 6
8. 12:49.43, Savannah Stanley (Montford) 7
9. 12:55.58, Madeline Morris (Deerlake) 8
10. 13:02.74, Haley Heitmeyer (Montford) 7

The boys got their turn to race on the Fairgrounds at 6:30 PM. Swift Creek eighth-grader Asa Swope and Jonathan Kiros, a Deerlake seventh-grader, had split the first four races of the season, each winning two. At the Falcon Invitational, the fifth meet of 2021, they were sharing the lead after the first kilometer of the boys' 3K. By the two-kilometer mark, Swope had opened a gap. During the third kilometer the gap only grew wider, as Swope went on to win in 11:05. Fairview seventh-grader Jack Koon moved into third during that final kilometer and had started to close on Kiros, but the Deerlake seventh-grader held on to finish runner-up in 11:30. Koon was third in 11:31. Kingsley Knispel, a Swift Creek eighth-grader, placed fourth in 11:32.

Asa Swope

Montford seventh-grader Gavin Poucher was fifth in 11:34. For perhaps the first time ever in a Leon County Schools middle school cross-country meet, ten schools had full teams in the boys' race. Led by Poucher's performance, Montford placed first among those ten teams, scoring 47 points. The other Mustang scorers were eighth-grader Matthew Hauser (8th, 11:44), seventh-grader Trent Parsons (10th, 11:58), and eighth-graders Jackson Beener (11th, 12:00) and Edward Bass (13th, 12:15).


Behind Swope and Knispel, Swift Creek was second with 59 points. Kiros and the Deerlake Bucks were a close third with 62. Scoring 78 points, Koon and host school Fairview placed fourth.

Jonathan Kiros

Leon County Schools middle school cross-country returns to the Florida State University Rec Sportplex on Friday evening, 1 October 2021, for the penultimate meet of the season. The League championship follows on Thursday, 7 October 2021, at Apalachee Regional Park.

2021 Falcon Invitational Boys' Team Scores

1. Montford, 47
2. Swift Creek, 59
3. Deerlake, 62
4. Fairview, 78
5. Cobb, 144
6. Raa, 164
7. Griffin, 218
8. Woodville, 253
9. Fort Braden, 255
10. Nims, 261

Top Ten, 2021 Falcon Invitational Boys' 3K

1. 11:04.51, Asa Swope (Swift Creek) 8
2. 11:29.11, Jonathan Kiros (Deerlake) 7
3. 11:30.64, Jack Koon (Fairview) 7
4. 11:31.74, Kingsley Knispel (Swift Creek) 8
5. 11:33.92, Gavin Poucher (Montford) 7
6. 11:40.33, Antonio Clements (Cobb) 6
7. 11:42.35, Thoren Knispel (Swift Creek) 8
8. 11:43.26, Matthew Hauser (Montford) 8
9. 11:55.82, Emari Thomas (Fairview) 6
10. 11:57.72, Trent Parsons (Montford) 7

Falcon Invitational Champions 2018 - 2021
Girls
Date	Team Champ	Individual Champ
27 September 2018	Swift Creek, 34	11:27.82, Maya Tang (Deerlake) 8
26 September 2019	Swift Creek, 44	12:30.55, Kyra Swart (Deerlake) 6
23 October 2020	Montford, 30	12:29.07, Abbey Griffin (Deerlake) 7
23 September 2021	Deerlake, 21	12:06.81, Abbey Griffin (Deerlake) 8
Boys
Date	Team Champ	Individual Champ
27 September 2018	Deerlake, 35	9:49.60, Wyatt Townsend (Deerlake) 8
26 September 2019	Fairview, 30	10:10.03, Patrick Koon (Fairview) 8
23 October 2020	Deerlake, 63	11:21.44, Neal Porter (Montford) 8
23 September 2021	Montford, 47	11:04.51, Asa Swope (Swift Creek) 8
The Falcon Invitational was in Phipps Park in 2018 and 2019, at the FSU Rec SportsPlex in 2020, and at the North Florida Fairgrounds in 2021.

Links

• Complete results of the 2021 Falcon Invitational Middle School Cross-Country Meet via Brian Corbin
  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vSh8IUKNRyIb8m_pHZ9LDuRr6_JVTLjOT91AV2IBH2JE2_c4fDUIiWxx1yv0BxUl_WSwHp68GM7S_lu/pubhtml
  
  
• More Trouble Afoot! photos of the 2021 Falcon Invitational Middle School Cross-Country Meet
  
  • Girls: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10118402770172903
  • Boys: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10118402868785283
  
  
• The 2021 LCS middle school cross-country season
  
  • ARPXC Invitational https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2021/08/swift-creek-2021.html
    
  • Fort Braden Run https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2021/09/fort-braden-2021.html
    
  • Mustang Stampede https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2021/09/mustang-2021.html
    
  • Everhart Invitational https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2021/09/owl-run-2021.html
    
  • Falcon Invitational https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2021/09/falcon-2021.html
    
  • Mabry Invitational [ Coming on 1 October 2021 ]
    
  • LCS Championship [ Coming on 7 October 2021 ]
    
  
  
• Leon County Schools' 2021 middle school cross country schedule
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2021/08/lcs-xc-2021.html
  
  
• 2020 story, “Abbey Griffin and Neal Porter fly right at the Falcon Invitational”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2020/10/falcon-2020.html
  
  
• 2019 story, “Kyra Swart and Patrick Koon soar at the Falcon Invitational”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2019/09/falcon-2019.html
  
  
• 2018 story, “Tang and Townsend fly to victory at the Falcon Invitational”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2018/09/falcon-2018.html
  
  
• Tallahassee area cross country meets in 2020
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2020/09/tallahassee-xc-2020.html
  
  
• Find your next road race or cross-country run in the Tallahassee region
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/search/label/calendar?max-results=1
  
  

#2781