Thomas Parker and Sheryl Rosen nab spring cross-country wins at the Buck Lake 5K

Anyone who declares that spring is not cross-country season is ignoring the fact that the World Cross-Country Championships are always contested in late March. So, too, was the fifth annual Buck Lake 5K Trail Race, run at Tallahassee's Alford Greenway on Saturday morning, 26 March 2022. Thomas Parker won the race, running 19:15 on a hilly course carpeted with wet grass. Sheryl Rosen was the first female finisher, placing fourth overall in 20:31, the second-fastest time ever run by a woman in the Buck Lake 5K.

Thomas Parker

The race got started shortly after 9:00 AM. Asa Swope, an eighth-grader on the cross-country team at nearby Swift Creek Middle School, set the early pace. Half a kilometer into the run, Thomas Parker moved into second, overtaking Levi Harwell, a junior-year cross-country runner at North Florida Christian School. Parker eventually caught Swope as well, then proceeded to build up a lead of more than 200 meters as he galloped home in a winning 19:15.


Swope finished runner-up in 20:11, nearly a one-minute improvement over the 21:09 he posted at his previous Buck Lake 5K appearance in 2020. Mike Martinez was the top master runner in the 5K, coming in third overall in 20:27. Master runner Duane Evans, winner of the 2018 Buck Lake 5K, was fourth in 20:50.

Sheryl Rosen

After the first 500 meters of the race, Sheryl Rosen was running third in the women's field, trailing two middle school cross-country runners--seventh-grader Annabelle Wiktorski and sixth-grader Charlotte Sikes. Rosen may have been new to racing on Alford Greenway, but she was no stranger to cross-country running. She soon took command of the women's competition and went on to win by some 300 meters, running 20:31. The only woman who has run faster in the Buck Lake 5K was Jennifer McGranahan, a Pensacola master runner who posted a 20:17 at the 2020 race.


Annabelle Wiktorski, the 2021 Leon County Schools' middle school cross-country champion, finished the race second in the women's standings, placing seventh overall in 22:06. Savannah Stanley, a seventh-grader on the Montford Middle School cross-country team, took third in the women's division and fourteenth overall in 24:23. Another Montford harrier, seventh-grader Haley Heitmeyer, was the fourth woman and fifteenth overall in 24:31. Sara Collins was the first woman master and fifth female finisher in the 5K, placing 24th overall in 27:11.

Annabelle Wiktorski

123 athletes finished the 2022 Bobcat 5K cross-country race. Another 149 completed an earlier one-mile fun run. Gulf Winds Track Club chip-timed the races.


Top Ten Men, 2022 Bobcat 5K Cross-Country Race

1. 19:15, Thomas Parker (M, 39)
2. 20:11, Asa Swope (M, 14)
3. 20:27, Mike Martinez (M, 56)
4. 20:50, Duane Evans (M, 54)
5. 22:05, Levi Harwell (M, 17)
6. 22:07, Jackson Beener (M, 14)
7. 22:18, Chris Stanley (M, 44)
8. 23:25, Aaron Harwell (M, 17)
9. 23:26, Jacob Stribling (M, 14)
10. 23:50, Kyle Andree (M, 38)

Top Ten Women, 2022 Bobcat 5K Cross-Country Race

1. 20:31, Sheryl Rosen (F, 37)
2. 22:06, Annabelle Wiktorski (F, 12)
3. 24:23, Savannah Stanley (F, 13)
4. 24:31, Haley Heitmeyer (F, 12)
5. 27:11, Sara Collins (F, 41)
6. 28:16, Georgia Goodman (F, 9)
7. 29:12, Ami Wheeler (F, 48)
8. 29:13, Kristen Knapp (F, 51)
9. 29:27, Vlasta Wiktorski (F, 44)
10. 29:58, Erica Spangler (F, 40)

Winners of the Bobcat 5K Cross-Country Race, 2017 - 2022
Date	Men	Women	Finishers
25 March 2017	20:41, Kyle Spratt	21:32, Stacie Elliott	102
24 March 2018	20:07, Duane Evans	21:34, Laura McDermott	114
9 March 2019	20:05, Connor Edwards	22:38, Clifton Lewis	150
29 February 2020	17:57, Trevor Sununu	20:17, Jennifer McGranahan	212
26 March 2022	19:15, Thomas Parker	20:31, Sheryl Rosen	123

Links

• Complete results of the 2022 Bobcat 5K Cross-Country Race
  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vRiFAPqH4Xr14L4cPjwnBLFsiUGjiDE8DNjDa-dOAmVVrfoUqGaQP2rRIlOphrcCTCq-28-bw7ZioG1/pubhtml
  
  
• More Trouble Afoot! photos of the 2022 Bobcat 5K Cross-Country Race
  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10119001697392953
  
  
• 2020 story, “Trevor Sununu and Jennifer McGranahan claw their way to Bobcat 5K wins”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2020/02/bobcat-2020.html
  
  
• 2019 story, “Connor Edwards and Clifton Lewis finish first at the Bobcat 5K”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2019/03/bobcat-2019.html
  
  
• 2018 story, “Duane Evans and Laura McDermott ran best at the Bobcat”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2018/03/bobcat-2018.html
  
  
• 2017 story, “Spratt over Spratt, while Stacie Elliott takes the women's title at the Bobcat 5K”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2017/03/bobcat-2017.html
  
  
• Upcoming runs on trails, tracks, and roads on the Trouble Afoot! racing calendar
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/search/label/calendar?max-results=1
  
  

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