Thursday, August 31, 2023

Cadence Curnalia, Matthew Hauser win as Thomas County, Lincoln split the Yellow Jacket Invitational

Yellow JacketJust after dawn on Wednesday, 30 August 2023, Hurricane Idalia made landfall in Florida's Big Bend, moving inland into South Georgia. The next afternoon, Thursday, 31 August 2023, the high school cross-country runners of the region were back racing at the 30th annual Yellow Jacket Invitational in Thomasville, Georgia. Cadence Curnalia, a junior competing for host school Thomas County Central, won the girls' 5K by nearly 400 meters, running 21:36. Lee County took the team title with a nearly-unbeatable 32 points. Lincoln High sophomore Matthew Hauser took first in the boys' 5K, finishing with a lead of more than 200 meters in 16:40 and leading his Trojans to first place with a team score of 38.


The girls' 5K was the first high school race, with a start scheduled at 5:00 PM. Cadence Curnalia came into the Yellow Jacket Invitational with a record of winning--as a seventh-grader she had won the middle school girls' race in 2019, then repeated in 2020. In 2021, her frosh year at Thomas County Central, Curnalia had won the Invitational's high school girls' 5K. In 2022, she placed second in that race. Curnalia wasn't interested in finishing runner-up again in 2023.


She didn't. Curnalia crushed the field with a 21:36, her best mark yet at the Yellow Jacket Invite. Seminole County junior Geisha Smith took second at 23:08. Hadiya Ali, a Lee County sophomore, placed third in 23:20.


Ali was followed closely by her teammate Kali Nicholson, a junior who finished fourth in 23:26. Lee County's remaining scorers also cracked the top ten--junior Olivia Vanderwalt was sixth in 23:46, sophomore Harlee Oosterveen was ninth in 25:48, and sophomore Gabriella Vanderwalt was tenth in 26:09. With five athletes in the top ten, the Lee County girls' had 32 points--good for first place in a field of eleven teams.


Led by Curnalia, Thomas County Central took second with 99 points. Westover, winner of the girls' division in 2021, took third with 117. Westover's top finisher was Yaliza Wright, seventeenth in 26:49.


2023 Yellow Jacket XC Invitational Team Standings, High School Girls
  1. Lee County, 32
  2. Thomas County Central, 99
  3. Westover, 117
  4. Bainbridge, 129
  5. Monroe Comprehensive, 137
  6. Lincoln, 137
  7. Tift Area, 186
  8. Warner Robins Northside, 192
  9. Thomasville, 200
  10. Seminole County, 220
  11. Baconton Charter, 307

Top Ten High School Girls, 30th annual Yellow Jacket XC Invitational
  1. 21:35.30, Cadence Curnalia (Thomas County) 11
  2. 23:08.00, Geisha Smith (Seminole County) 11
  3. 23:19.50, Hadiya Ali (Lee County) 10
  4. 23:25.50, Kali Nicholson (Lee County) 11
  5. 23:37.00, Faith Thompson (Warner Robins Northside) 11
  6. 23:45.90, Olivia Vanderwalt (Lee County) 11
  7. 25:02.70, Anna Caulkins (Lincoln) 12
  8. 25:30.80, Kate Phillips (Tift Area) 10
  9. 25:47.60, Harlee Oosterveen (Lee County) 10
  10. 26:08.20, Gabriella Vanderwalt (Lee County) 10

Curnalia's Yellow Jacket Invitational win was her second of the 2023 cross-country season; her first had been at the Sherwood Around The Cross Invitational twelve days earlier in Albany, Georgia. Matthew Hauser came into the Yellow Jacket still looking for his first cross-country win of 2023.


He got it. In his first Yellow Jacket Invite appearance, the Lincoln sophomore threw down a winning 16:40. Another sophomore, Jesus Gutierrez of Warner Robins Northside, grabbed second with a 17:24. Bainbridge senior Jahlae Sapp took third in 17:38.


Hauser wasn't the only Lincoln Trojan in the top ten. Senior Enijah Thomas was fifth in 18:13, frosh Trent Parsons was sixth in 18:19, and senior Mason Romuald was ninth in 18:57. Connor Aarons completed the scoring for Lincoln; the junior placed seventeenth in 19:28. With that, the Trojan boys had 38 points, putting them first among thirteen teams.


Gutierrez and the Northside Eagles put up 59 points for second. Crisp County placed third with 131, led by the fourth place, 18:02 showing of junior Sawyer McGinnis.


2023 Yellow Jacket XC Invitational Team Standings, High School Boys
  1. Lincoln, 38
  2. Warner Robins Northside, 59
  3. Crisp County, 104
  4. Brookwood, 131
  5. Bainbridge, 170
  6. Thomas County Central, 186
  7. Thomasville, 208
  8. Lee County, 239
  9. Westover, 241
  10. Baconton Charter, 246
  11. Seminole County, 249
  12. Pelham, 278
  13. Cairo, 308

Top Ten High School Boys, 30th annual Yellow Jacket XC Invitational
  1. 16:39.10, Matthew Hauser (Lincoln) 10
  2. 17:23.20, Jesus Gutierrez (Warner Robins Northside) 10
  3. 17:38.00, Jahlae Sapp (Bainbridge) 12
  4. 18:01.60, Sawyer McGinnis (Crisp County) 11
  5. 18:12.80, Enijah Thomas (Lincoln) 12
  6. 18:18.90, Trent Parsons (Lincoln) 9
  7. 18:39.90, Nate Jackson (Warner Robins Northside) 10
  8. 18:52.00, John Hoffpauir (Lee County) 10
  9. 18:56.20, Mason Romuald (Lincoln) 12
  10. 18:56.80, Calvon Clark (Warner Robins Northside) 11

In Tallahassee, Florida, Fairview Middle School had been scheduled to race at the Fort Braden Run on the same day as the Yellow Jacket Invite. The Fort Braden meet ended up rescheduled for 20 September 2023 due to the hurricane, leaving Fairview eighth-grader Emari Thomas free to race in Thomasville. Race he did, winning the middle school boys' event by close to 200 meters in 12:47. Thomas County harriers took the next two places, with seventh-grader Holten Dennard second in 13:31 and eighth-grader Connor Stephens third in 14:04.


Thomasville Middle School Bulldog eighth-graders took the next two spots, with Conner D'Amico fourth in 14:41 and Jack Chastain fifth in 14:43. Two more Bulldogs also cracked the top ten--eighth-grader Mason Baggett was seventh in 15:00 and seventh-grader Luke Ridley eighth in 15:01. When the Bulldog's fifth scorer, seventh-grader Parks Everett, crossed the finish line twelfth in 15:37, Thomasville had 30 points and first place among eight teams.


Dennard and Thomas County were a close second with 38 points. The Whigham boys were third with 112 points; Whigham's first finisher was sixth-grader Luke Molisee, sixteenth in 16:04.


2023 Yellow Jacket XC Invitational Team Standings, Middle School Boys
  1. Thomasville, 30
  2. Thomas County, 38
  3. Whigham, 112
  4. Seminole County, 133
  5. Bainbridge, 144
  6. Baconton Charter, 145
  7. Tift Area, 157
  8. Spring Creek Charter, 184

Top Ten Middle School Boys, 30th annual Yellow Jacket XC Invitational
  1. 12:46.70, Emari Thomas (Fairview) 8
  2. 13:30.90, Holten Dennard (Thomas County) 7
  3. 14:04.00, Connor Stephens (Thomas County) 8
  4. 14:40.90, Conner D'Amico (Thomasville) 8
  5. 14:42.30, Jack Chastain (Thomasville) 8
  6. 14:53.30, Richard Calloway (Seminole County) 8
  7. 15:00.00, Mason Baggett (Thomasville) 8
  8. 15:00.10, Luke Ridley (Thomasville) 7
  9. 15:05.00, Aaron Irvin (Thomas County) 7
  10. 15:32.70, Brayden Inlow (Bainbridge) 9

2023 was Jada Anderson's third year of running cross-country for Bainbridge Middle School, but it was her first appearance at the Yellow Jacket Invitational. The eighth-grader made the most of it, winning the middle school girls' race in 15:58, the only sub-16:00 performance in that event since 2020. A few seconds back, Crisp County eighth-grader Mya Dunlap was runner-up in 16:05. Gracie Musgrove, a Brookwood seventh-grader, was the first hometown finisher, placing third in 16:33.


The race for first had come down to Bainbridge's Anderson and Crisp County's Dunlap; the fight for the girls' team title was likewise between Bainbridge and Crisp County. Bainbridge had a second athlete in the top ten when eighth-grader placed eighth in 17:08, but Crisp County answered by putting sixth-grader Mary Michael McGinnis across the finish line ninth in 17:14. The girls from Bainbridge completed their scoring with eighth-grader Carrington Smith (11th, 17:28), seventh-grader Ayesha Sapp (25th, 19:39), and sixth-grader Payson Huto (36th, 20:53). That gave Bainbridge 67 points and a narrow win.


Dunlap and the Crisp County girls were only three points back, second with 70. Thomasville was a close third at 77 points, led by eighth-grader Sadie Kate Scarbrough. Scarbrough was fourth in 16:41. Eight schools had complete teams in the middle school girls' race.


Miles And Minutes, LLC, of Tallahassee, Florida timed and scored the races at the 2023 Yellow Jacket Invitational Cross-Country Meet.


2023 Yellow Jacket XC Invitational Team Standings, Middle School Girls
  1. Bainbridge, 67
  2. Crisp County, 70
  3. Thomasville, 77
  4. Tift Area, 85
  5. Thomas County, 109
  6. Baconton Charter, 116
  7. Whigham, 165
  8. Spring Creek Charter, 212

Top Ten Middle School Girls, 30th annual Yellow Jacket XC Invitational
  1. 15:57.20, Jada Anderson (Bainbridge) 8
  2. 16:04.60, Mya Dunlap (Crisp County) 8
  3. 16:32.20, Gracie Musgrove (Brookwood) 7
  4. 16:40.30, Sadie Kate Scarbrough (Thomasville) 8
  5. 16:50.80, Annabelle Barrow (Baconton Charter) 6
  6. 17:01.10, Madison Miracle (Baconton Charter) 6
  7. 17:05.60, Iyanna Kyles (Seminole County) 8
  8. 17:08.00, Emerson Huggins (Bainbridge) 8
  9. 17:13.60, Mary Michael McGinnis (Crisp County) 6
  10. 17:22.60, Eleanor Walker (Tift Area) 5

Yellow Jacket Cross Country Invitational winners, 2008 - 2023
High School Boys
DateTeam ChampIndividual Champ
18 October 2008Tift County, 32 points16:59, Hunter Honeycutt (Tift County)
17 October 2009
16 October 2010
15 October 2011
20 October 2012
19 October 2013Maclay, 4116:13, Chase Harris (Bainbridge) 11
25 October 2014Thomas County Central, 7416:25, Wil Luca (Leon) 12
17 October 2015Leon, 3615:47, Poncherella Leonard (Bainbridge) 11
15 October 2016Veterans, 5417:13, Colby Jones (Lee County) 11
14 October 2017Veterans, 3217:04, Brishen House (Lowndes) 12
12 October 2019Colquitt County, 6817:21, Stokes Moore (Bainbridge) 12
29 August 2020Davis, 3618:16, Briley Reyes (Davis) 11
2 September 2021Valdosta, 3317:45, Parker Jackson (Valdosta) 12
13 September 2022Lowndes, 4616:50, Jonah Berry (GCU Elite Racing) 11
31 August 2023Lincoln, 3816:40, Matthew Hauser (Lincoln) 10
High School Girls
DateTeam ChampIndividual Champ
18 October 2008Valdosta, 30 points21:12, JaCourtney Alexander (Cairo)
17 October 2009
16 October 2010
15 October 2011
20 October 2012
19 October 2013Maclay, 3019:44, Paige Braswell (Bainbridge) 12
25 October 2014Berrien County, 4720:58, Rebekah Smith (Thomasville) 11
17 October 2015Leon, 4420:07, Elizabeth Funderburk (Colquitt County) 10
15 October 2016Lee County, 8317:50, Elizabeth Funderburk (Colquitt County) 11
14 October 2017Valwood, 8017:45, Elizabeth Funderburk (Colquitt County) 12
12 October 2019Aucilla Christian, 3221:28, Anna James (Thomas County Central) 11
29 August 2020Colquitt County, 4120:06, Anna James (Thomas County Central) 12
2 September 2021Westover, 4423:40, Cadence Curnalia (Thomas County Central) 9
13 September 2022Lowndes, 3121:47, Kendall Johnson (Lowndes) 10
31 August 2023Lee County, 3221:36, Cadence Curnalia (Thomas County) 11
Do you have results from the missing years? Please let me know!


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Posted by Herb Wills at 11:52 PM
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