Charlotte Sikes |
You could have had both at the ARPXC Middle School Cross-Country Invitational, the opening meet of Leon County Schools' middle school cross-country season. In the girl's 3K, Swift Creek seventh-grader Charlotte Sikes threw down a meet record 11:31, winning the race for the second year in a row. In the boys' 3K, Fairview eighth-grader Emari Thomas sprinted on the homestretch to pull out a narrow victory, running 11:13. The Deerlake girls scored 24 points to take the team title for the third year in a row, while the Montford boys put up 41 points and nabbed their first ARPXC Invitational win.
The meet was on Wednesday evening, 23 August 2023, which is still summer in Tallahassee, Florida. If there was any doubt about the season, a quick glance at the thermometer would have dispelled it. It was hot enough that the meet was delayed half an hour, so the girls' race didn't start till 6:30 PM--by which time the temperature had dipped to 92°F.
Chloe Molen |
Charlotte Sikes set an early pace in the girls' 3K that was just as torrid. The Swift Creek seventh-grader went right to the front, shadowed by to Deerlake eighth-graders, Chloe Molen and Honesty Daniel. Sikes may have won the girls' race at the 2022 meet, but Molen had won it in 2021.
By the end of the first kilometer, though, Sikes had broken contact with her pursuers. During the second kilometer Sikes extended her lead and Molen pulled away from Daniel. Daniel, in turn, was overtaken by Deerlake seventh-grader Emma-Claire Tanenbaum. Only the distances between the top four runners changed during the final kilometer--Sikes finished with an 11:30 win, Molen was second in 12:08, Tanenbaum third in 12:15, and Daniel fourth in 12:33. Sikes' time was four seconds faster than her own winning time in the previous year's race.
Emma-Claire Tanenbaum |
"I feel awesome!" said Sikes after the race. "It's a real great course and my favorite place to run."
After Molen, Tanenbaum, and Daniel, eighth-grader Madeline Brockmeier also broke into the top ten for Deerlake, placing sixth n 13:31. Buck eighth-grader Allie Davenport completed the scoring for Deerlake, placing ninth overall in 14:01. With five scorers across the finish line, the Deerlake girls had a mathematically unbeatable 24 points and the ARPXC Invitational title. The Bucks had not only won the meet for the third year in a row, they had also won their fifteenth straight meet in LCS cross-country competition--a streak that goes back to 2020.
Honesty Daniel |
Sikes and Swift Creek were second in the team standings with 49 points. The Raa Rams, led by seventh-grader Brixton Mendez (8th, 13:58), were third with 77 points.
84 athletes representing 10 schools finished the girls' 3K.
2023 ARPXC Invitational Team Standings, Girls
- Deerlake, 24
- Swift Creek, 49
- Raa, 77
- Montford, 93
- Cobb, 153
- Fort Braden, 197
- Fairview, 199
- Griffin, 239
-
Woodville, NTS
Nims, NTS
Top Ten Girls, 2023 ARPXC Invitational
- 11:30.12, Charlotte Sikes (Swift Creek) 7
- 12:07.75, Chloe Molen (Deerlake) 8
- 12:14.33, Emma-Claire Tanenbaum (Deerlake) 7
- 12:32.26, Honesty Daniel (Deerlake) 8
- 12:35.19, Alexis Mayfield (Swift Creek) 8
- 13:30.17, Madeline Brockmeier (Deerlake) 8
- 13:36.58, Andrea Jimenez (Montford) 7
- 13:57.23, Brixton Menendez (Raa) 7
- 14:00.77, Allie Davenport (Deerlake) 8
- 14:04.52, Yujeong Lee (Deerlake) 7
"The heat! The heat!" exclaimed Charlotte Sikes. "And of course, when the boys ran, the whole course was in shade."
Emari Thomas |
The sun may have been a bit lower during the boys' 3K, but the temperatures weren't much lower. Nevertheless, Emari Thomas went out hard from the start. The Fairview eighth-grader had a 50-meter lead on the field by the end of the first kilometer; he was still 50 meters ahead at the two-kilometer mark. Then Montford seventh-grader Jack Nottingham began to close.
During the final kilometer, Nottingham pulled even with Thomas. The two were still racing neck-and-neck with 200 meters to go. On the homestretch, Apalachee Regional Park's notorious downhill charge to the finish line, Thomas broke away from Nottingham to get the win, 11:13 to 11:18. Seventh-grader Jacob Hassell of Deerlake held off Raa eighth-grader Carson Weiss to take third, 11:30 to 11:34.
Jack Nottingham and Emari Thomas |
Nottingham was only the first of three Montford athletes in the top ten; the other two were sixth-graders Chase Sims (6th, 12:07) and Isaiah Renn (9th, 12:18). Montford's two remaining scorers were eighth-graders Jack Getman (11th, 12:27) and Stokes Bryan (13th, 12:39), giving the Mustang boys 41 points and the team title.
Weiss and the Raa Rams were second in the team standings with 50 points. Led by Jacob Hassell, Deerlake, ARPXC Invitational champions in 2021 and 2022, took third with 60 points.
Jacob Hassell and Carson Weiss |
133 athletes representing 10 schools finished the boys' 3K at the 2023 ARPXC Invitational. Brian Corbin timed and scored the meet.
2023 ARPXC Invitational Team Standings, Boys
- Montford, 41
- Raa, 50
- Deerlake, 60
- Swift Creek, 119
- Fairview, 127
- Cobb, 166
- Fort Braden, 211
- Griffin, 245
- Nims, 262
- Woodville, NTS
Top Ten Boys, 2023 ARPXC Invitational
- 11:12.79, Emari Thomas (Fairview) 8
- 11:17.12, Jack Nottingham (Montford) 7
- 11:29.61, Jacob Hassell (Deerlake) 7
- 11:33.92, Carson Weiss (Raa) 8
- 11:53.09, Nicholas Hassell (Deerlake) 7
- 12:06.56, Chase Simms (Montford) 6
- 12:07.51, Emerson Gandy (Raa) 7
- 12:11.30, Joshua Agbali (Fairview) 8
- 12:17.81, Isaiah Renn (Montford) 6
- 12:25.52, Alden Weiss (Raa) 8
ARPXC Invitational Champions 2015 - 2023 | ||
---|---|---|
Girls | ||
Date | Team Champ | Individual Champ |
2 September 2015 | Swift Creek, 26 | 12:34.24, Alyson Churchill (Swift Creek) 8 |
7 September 2016 | Canceled due to hurricane damage | |
7 September 2017 | Deerlake, 37 | 13:05.25, Paige Churchill (Swift Creek) 7 |
30 August 2018 | Swift Creek, 36 | 12:51.04, Maya Tang (Deerlake) 8 |
29 August 2019 | Montford, 40 | 12:43.44, Skye Williams (Montford) 8 |
26 August 2021 | Deerlake, 18 | 12:36.11, Chloe Molen (Deerlake ) 6 |
24 August 2022 | Deerlake, 29 | 11:33.97, Charlotte Sikes (Swift Creek) 6 |
23 August 2023 | Deerlake, 24 | 11:30.12, Charlotte Sikes (Swift Creek) 7 |
Boys | ||
Date | Team Champ | Individual Champ |
2 September 2015 | Rained Out | |
7 September 2016 | Canceled due to hurricane damage | |
7 September 2017 | Deerlake, 34 | 11:07.71, Patrick Koon (Fairview) 6 |
30 August 2018 | Rained Out | |
29 August 2019 | Fairview, 41 | 10:31.55, Patrick Koon (Fairview) 8 |
26 August 2021 | Deerlake, 49 | 11:27.50, Jonathan Kiros (Deerlake ) 7 |
24 August 2022 | Deerlake, 48 | 10:29.66, Caio Zacchi (Nims) 8 |
23 August 2023 | Montford, 41 | 11:12.79, Emari Thomas (Fairview) 8 |
The 2015 races were two miles. In later years the athletes raced three kilometers. |
Links
- Complete results of the 2023 ARPXC Invitational
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vRT1UCFinNPptOwoqNpzBB8s8yTIZH47vEOGlBEdGzwnXLJYWn6Fz2rQGfrUEgRWiPadq69ZhSY7tsI/pubhtml
- More Trouble Afoot! photos of the 2023 ARPXC Invitational
- Girls: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10121299438825703
- Boys: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10121299537877203
- 2022 story, “Newcomers Charlotte Sikes and Caio Zacchi rule the races at the ARPXC Invitational”
https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2022/08/swift-creek-2022.html
- 2021 story, “Chloe Molen and Jonathan Kiros lead a Deerlake sweep of the ARPXC Invitational”
https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2021/08/swift-creek-2021.html
- 2019 story, “Skye Williams and Patrick Koon start the LCS middle school cross-country season on top”
https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2019/08/swift-creek-2019.html
- 2018 story, “Maya Tang opens the season with a win at the ARPXC Invitational”
https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2018/08/swift-creek-2018.html
- 2017 story, “Churchill, Koon open cross-country season with wins at the Swift Creek Invitational”
https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2017/09/swift-creek-2017.html
- 2015 story, “Churchill and Swift Creek outrun the storm at the Swift Creek Invitational”
https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2015/09/swift-creek-2015.html
- The 2023 LCS middle school cross-country season
- ARPXC Invitational https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2023/08/swift-creek-2023.html
Fort Braden Run [ Coming on 31 August 2023 ]- Mustang Stampede [ Coming on 5 September 2023 ]
- Everhart Invitational [ Coming on 13 September 2023 ]
- Fort Braden Run [ Coming on 20 September 2023 ]
- FSU Invitational [ Coming on 29 September 2023 ]
- LCS Championship [ Coming on 5 October 2023 ]
- ARPXC Invitational https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2023/08/swift-creek-2023.html
- Leon County Schools' 2023 middle school cross country schedule
https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2023/08/lcs-xc-2023.html
- Find your next cross country race on the Trouble Afoot! calendar
https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/search/label/calendar?max-results=1
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