Abbey Griffin and Asa Swope race like thoroughbreds at the Mustang Stampede

Abbey Griffin placed second in the girls' 3K at the 2020 Mustang Stampede Middle School Cross-Country Meet. Asa Swope finished fourth in the boys' 3K at the same meet. Both Griffin and Swope were back at Montford Middle School on Tuesday, 7 September 2021 for the ninth annual Mustand Stampede, the third meet of Leon County Schools' middle school cross-country season. Griffin, now an eighth-grader at Deerlake, won the girls' race this time around, running 11:55. Swope ran 11:02 to take first in the boys' event. The Deerlake girls successfully defended their team title, scoring a mathematically unbeatable 22 points. Racing on their home course, the Montford boys captured their first team win of 2021, putting up 45 points.

Abbey Griffin

The humidity was high but cloudy skies had kept the temperature down when the girls' 3K started at 6:00 PM. After a kilometer of racing, London Mellen had the lead, closely followed by Kyra Swart, both Deerlake eighth-graders. Five days earlier, Mellen had won the girls' 3K at the Fort Braden Run, the second meet of the season. Swart had won the Mustang Stampede in 2021. Abbey Griffin was a few steps behind the two leaders when the race turned into the woods.


Coming out of the woods a kilometer later, Mellen was still leading and Griffin had moved into second. Swart had fallen back, replaced by two Montford seventh-graders--Annabelle Wiktorski and Andi Vilardo.


Griffin broke away on the homestretch. She looked back over her shoulder as she charged for the finish line, then looked again, but she made it there first in 11:55. Behind Griffin, Wiktorski was challenging Mellen for the runner-up spot. Wiktorski had the better kick that day and finished second in 11:56, while Mellen was third in 11:57. Vilardo finished fourth in 12:04.

Deerlake Girls

The next three finishers were all Deerlake Bucks--sixth-grader Chloe Molen was fifth in 12:31, seventh-grader Kaia Ables was sixth in 12:35, and sixth-grader Honesty Daniel was seventh in 12:37. Once Daniel was safely home, the Bucks had 22 points and the first place in the eight-team field.


Led by Wiktorski, Montford was second with 40 points. Swift Creek placed third with 102 points; their top runner was eighth-grader Emily Bullough, fourteenth in 14:02.


2021 Mustang Stampede Team Standings, Girls

1. Deerlake, 22
2. Montford, 40
3. Swift Creek, 102
4. Raa, 112
5. Cobb, 136
6. Fairview, 137
7. Nims, 202
8. Griffin, 238
9. Woodville, NTS
   Fort Braden, NTS

Top 10 Girls, 2021 Montford Mustang Stampede 3K

1. 11:54.02, Abbey Griffin (Deerlake ) 8
2. 11:55.64, Annabelle Wiktorski (Montford ) 7
3. 11:56.76, London Mellen (Deerlake ) 8
4. 12:03.05, Andi Vilardo (Montford ) 7
5. 12:30.98, Chloe Molen (Deerlake ) 6
6. 12:34.85, Kaia Ables (Deerlake ) 7
7. 12:36.44, Honesty Daniel (Deerlake ) 6
8. 12:38.91, Savannah Stanley (Montford ) 7
9. 12:42.57, Madeline Morris (Deerlake ) 8
10. 12:53.96, Haley Heitmeyer (Montford ) 7

Gavin Poucher, a Montford seventh-grader, was leading the boys' 3K at the end of the first kilometer. During the second kilometer, though, Asa Swope and Jonathan Kiros took over. Swope, a Swift Creek eighth-grader, and Kiros, a Deerlake seventh-grader, had tangled in the two earlier meets of the season, the ARPXC Invitational and the Fort Braden Run. Kiros had won their first match and Swope the second. At the Mustang Stampede, Swope made it two out of three, running away from Kiros late in the third kilometer to take first in 11:02. Kiros finished runner-up in 11:10. In a battle to the finish line, Nims seventh-grader Celestine Rwamptie edged Fairview seventh-grader Jack Koon for third, 11:12 to 11:13.

Jonathan Kiros and Asa Swope

Montford's Poucher placed fifth in 11:20. He was only the first Mustang in the top ten--seventh-grader Trent Parsons was sixth in 11:35 and eighth-grader Edward Bass was tenth in 11:55, both wearing Montford maroon. Montford's remaining scorers were seventh-grader Parker Smith (11th, 12:03) and eighth-grader Matthew Hauser (13th, 12:07), giving the Mustangs 45 points and the boys' team title.


Swope and Swift Creek placed second with 69 points. Deerlake, led by Kiros, took third with 69 points. The Deerlake boys had won the first meet of the season and Swift Creek the second, but the third meet belonged to the Mustangs.

Montford Boys

The fourth meet on the schedule of Leon County Schools' 2021 middle school cross-country season is the Everhart Invitational at Gretchen Everhart School on Wednesday morning, 15 September 2021. The season coninues with the Falcon Invitational at the North Florida Fairgrounds on 23 September 2021, the Mabry Invitational at the FSU Rec Sportsplex on 1 October 2021, and the LCS League Championship Meet at Apalachee Regional Park on 7 October 2021.


2021 Mustang Stampede Team Standings, Boys

1. Montford, 45
2. Swift Creek, 64
3. Deerlake, 69
4. Fairview, 77
5. Cobb, 162
6. Raa, 186
7. Nims, 196
8. Fort Braden, 206
9. Woodville, 232
10. Griffin, NTS

Top 10 Boys, 2021 Montford Mustang Stampede 3K

1. 11:01.06, Asa Swope (Swift Creek ) 8
2. 11:09.12, Jonathan Kiros (Deerlake ) 7
3. 11:11.30, Celestine Rwamptie (Nims ) 7
4. 11:12.21, Jack Koon (Fairview ) 7
5. 11:19.31, Gavin Poucher (Montford ) 7
6. 11:34.06, Trent Parsons (Montford ) 7
7. 11:34.28, Thoren Knispel (Swift Creek ) 8
8. 11:41.73, Kingsley Knispel (Swift Creek ) 8
9. 11:48.83, Emari Thomas (Fairview ) 6
10. 11:54.24, Edward Bass (Montford ) 8

Mustang Cross-Country Stampede Champions 2013 - 2021
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
14 October 2020	Deerlake, 18	12:50, Kyra Swart (Deerlake) 7
7 September 2021	Deerlake, 22	11:55, Abbey Griffin (Deerlake ) 8
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
14 October 2020	Deerlake, 43	11:31, Danny Mauldin (Deerlake) 8
7 September 2021	Montford, 45	11:02, Asa Swope (Swift Creek ) 8
From 2013 to 2017, the race distance at the Mustang Stampede was two miles. In 2018 the distance was changed to three kilometers.

Links

• Complete results of the 2021 Mustang Stampede Cross-Country Meet, courtesy of Brian Corbin
  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vS9awiKw9FxOXhn0Vrvv8EOfrXf5hZOtpxqbORXCKY-qQ3fhIYnEycE7DisuAwQBayWK8XDC03_Bj7y/pubhtml
  
  
• More Trouble Afoot! photos of Montford Middle School's 2021 Mustang Stampede Cross-Country Meet
  
  • Girls: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10118346972706473
  • Boys: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10118348598388593
  
  
• 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 [ Coming on 15 September 2021 ]
    
  • Falcon Invitational [ Coming on 23 September 2021 ]
    
  • 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, “Kyra Swart and Danny Mauldin win while Deerlake sweeps the Mustang Stampede”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2020/10/mustang-2020.html
  
  
• 2019 story, “Kyra Swart and Patrick Koon saddle up at the Mustang Stampede Cross-Country Meet”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2019/09/mustang-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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