Wednesday, September 13, 2023

Charlotte Sikes and Emari Thomas improve to 3-0 at the Everhart Invitational

The Everhart Invitational isn't the perfect cross-country meet. More than half the course is on pavement. Run at midday, it's usually too warm and bright for comfortable racing. But on the positive side, it's probably the oldest middle school cross-country meet in the state of Florida, having been around since 1988. And the athletes get to miss a few classes to race, which most middle school students are not going to complain about.


Tallahassee's 36th annual Everhart Invitational may not have been perfect, but the record of the race winners was. After the meet, Swift Creek seventh-grader Charlotte Sikes was a perfect 3-0 for the Leon County Middle School Cross-Country season, having won the girls' 3K in 11:49. Fairview eighth-grader Emari Thomas was likewise 3-0 after winning the boys' 3K in 10:45. In the team standings, the Deerlake girls took first for the third time this season, this time with a winning score of 25 points. The boys from Raa were first in their event, scoring 35 points.

Charlotte Sikes
Charlotte Sikes

The girls raced first, their 3000-meter race starting at 11:00 AM. Charlotte Sikes set the early pace, shadowed by Deerlake eighth-grader Chloe Molen. Sikes broke away from Molen early in the second kilometer of the race. By the end of the second kilometer, Sikes had maintained her lead over Molen, but Deerlake seventh-grader Emma-Claire Tanenbaum had started to close on Molen. During the final kilometer, Tanenbaum overtook Molen and started to gain on Sikes.


Sikes, however, was too far ahead to be caught, and made it across the finish line first in 11:49. Tanenbaum took second in 11:55. Molen was third in 12:09.

Another Deerlake harrier, eighth-grader Honesty Daniel, placed fourth in 12:37. Deerlake's next two scorers were eighth-grader Madeline Brockmeier, seventh in 12:56, and seventh-grader Vujeong Lee, ninth in 13:09. With all five scorers in the top ten, the Bucks had a mathematically unbeatable 25 points and the Everhart Invitational title.

Emma-Claire Tanenbaum
Emma-Claire Tanenbaum

Sikes and the Swift Creek Wolves put up 50 points to take second. The Rams of Raa, led by seventh-grader Brixton Mendez (5th, 12:45), were third with 80 points.


2023 Everhart Invitational Team Standings, Girls
  1. Deerlake, 25
  2. Swift Creek, 50
  3. Raa, 80
  4. Montford, 87
  5. Griffin, 164
  6. Cobb, 168
  7. Fairview, 225
  8. Fort Braden, 241
  9. Woodville, 272
  10. Nims, NTS

Top Ten Girls, 2023 Everhart Invitational
  1. 11:48.84, Charlotte Sikes (Swift Creek) 7
  2. 11:54.64, Emma-Claire Tanenbaum (Deerlake) 7
  3. 12:08.54, Chloe Molen (Deerlake) 8
  4. 12:36.17, Honesty Daniel (Deerlake) 8
  5. 12:44.50, Brixton Menendez (Raa) 7
  6. 12:48.56, Reagan Kingsley (Raa) 7
  7. 12:55.20, Madeline Brockmeier (Deerlake) 8
  8. 13:01.01, Sadie Blake (Swift Creek) 7
  9. 13:08.57, Yujeong Lee (Deerlake) 7
  10. 13:24.56, Morgan Lord (Deerlake) 7

At the season opener, the ARPXC Invitational, Emari Thomas won boys' 3K by less than five seconds. Two weeks later, at the Mustang Stampede, Thomas won the boys' race by less than three seconds. Another close race wasn't part of his plan at the Everhart Invitational, though. Thomas finished half a minute ahead of the second runner in the boys' 3K at Everhart, winning by a solid 150 meters.

Emari Thomas
Emari Thomas

Thomas was out ahead early in the race, and before the end of the first 800 meters he had broken contact with all challengers. After that it was a solo effort for the Fairview eighth-grader as he came home first in 10:45.


Late in the race, Raa eighth-grader Carson Weiss got away from Montford seventh-grader Jack Nottingham to take second in 11:19. Deerlake seventh-grader Jacob Hassell overtook Nottingham on the homestretch; at the finish line Hassell was third in 11:23 and Nottingham a close fourth in 11:24.


Behind Hassell and Nottingham, Raa seventh-grader Emerson Gandy placed fifth in 11:28. Two more Raa Rams broke into the top ten--eighth-grader Alden Weiss was eighth in 11:40 and seventh-grader Connor Cherry was ninth in 11:50. The fifth scorer for the Rams was the youngest, sixth-grader Fife Duncan, eleventh in 11:59. The Raa boys had 35 points and the team title, the first time since 2010 that the Rams took a team trophy home to Raa from Everhart. That 2010 team had been led by Wil Luca and Sukhi Khosla.


Nottingham and the Montford boys' squad, Everhart winners in 2021 and 2022, placed second in the 2023 meet with 46 points. Jacob Hassell and the Deerlake Bucks scored 67 points, taking third.


The Everhart Invitational was the third meet in Leon County Schools' 2023 middle school cross-country season. Three more meets remain in the schedule--the Fort Braden Run at Fort Braden Park on 20 September 2023, the FSU Invitational at Apalachee Regional Park on 30 September 2023, and the LCS League Championship Meet at Apalachee Regional Park on 6 October 2023.


2023 Everhart Invitational Team Standings, Boys
  1. Raa, 35
  2. Montford, 46
  3. Deerlake, 67
  4. Fairview, 120
  5. Swift Creek, 142
  6. Cobb, 153
  7. Griffin, 199
  8. Fort Braden, 215
  9. Nims, NTS
    Everhart, NTS
    Woodville, NTS

Top Ten Boys, 2023 Everhart Invitational
  1. 10:44.21, Emari Thomas (Fairview) 8
  2. 11:18.79, Carson Weiss (Raa) 8
  3. 11:22.10, Jacob Hassell (Deerlake) 7
  4. 11:23.32, Jack Nottingham (Montford) 7
  5. 11:27.41, Emerson Gandy (Raa) 7
  6. 11:35.01, Nicholas Hassell (Deerlake) 7
  7. 11:35.27, Johannes Hassell (Montford) 8
  8. 11:39.49, Alden Weiss (Raa) 8
  9. 11:49.76, Connor Cherry (Raa) 7
  10. 11:54.07, Blake Swanson (Montford) 8

Everhart Invitational Champions, 1988 - 2023
DateBoysGirls
13 September 202310:45, Emari Thomas (Fairview) 811:49, Charlotte Sikes (Swift Creek) 7
14 September 202210:39, Caio Zacchi (Nims) 811:52, Charlotte Sikes (Swift Creek) 6
15 September 2021Jonathan Kiros (Deerlake) 11:10Annabelle Wiktorski (Montford) 12:07
12 September 2019Patrick Koon (Fairview) 10:12Skye Williams (Montford) 12:29
13 September 2018Wyatt Townsend (Deerlake) 10:46Maya Tang (Deerlake) 12:16
21 September 2017Ben Kirbo (Montford) 11:41Paige Churchill (Swift Creek) 13:45
22 September 2016Weston Blake (Swift Creek) 11:47Amaya Jones (Raa) 13:51
17 September 2015Spencer Amsellem (Deerlake) 12:17Emily Molen (Deerlake) 12:16
18 September 2014Tavaris King (Griffin) 12:04Lawton Campbell (Deerlake) 12:41
19 September 2013Jacob Dodson (Raa) 11:46Ana Wallace (Deerlake) 13:13
20 September 2012Matthew Cashin (Raa) 12:01Saige Kemeny (Montford) 13:19
22 September 2011Evan Francis (Raa) 11:56Zoe Sheldon (Swift Creek) 13:43
30 September 2010Wil Luca (Raa) 11:41Rebecca Clendinen (Raa) 13:57
1 October 2009Cade Zimmerman (Deerlake) 11:33Cece Williams (Deerlake) 13:26
25 September 2008Will Henderson (Raa) 11:42Cece Williams (Deerlake) 11:56
27 September 2007Will Henderson (Raa) 12:11Carly Thomas (Raa) 12:27
28 September 2006Will Stanford (Raa) 10:59Summer Shepherd (Raa) 12:59
29 September 2005Kurt Dietrich (Swift Creek) 12:07Jana Stolting (Deerlake) 13:26
30 September 2004Graham Hawkes (Cobb) 11:51Mallory Alonzo (Raa) 14:01
2 October 2003Joe Franklin (Griffin) 11:38Charlotte Murrell (Cobb) 14:17
3 October 2002Bryan Miletich (Deerlake) 11:51Julia Bryant (Deerlake) 14:06
4 October 2001Kevin Bryant (Raa) 12:33Karen Devick (Raa) 13:58
4 October 2000Danny Sass (Deerlake) 13:04LaShaunta Arnold (Fairview) 14:50
1 October 1999Logan Wolcott (Raa) 12:52LaShaunta Arnold (Fairview) 14:30
13 October 1998Matt Varn (Swift Creek) 12:31Allie Hunter (Swift Creek) 14:27
1997Anthony Washington (Bellevue) 12:26Allie Hunter (Swift Creek) 15:00
1996
6 October 1995Bryan Hendricks (Cobb) 8:15*Meredith Warren (Raa) 10:36*
6 October 1994Kevin Anderson (Deerlake) 8:10*Meredith Warren (Raa) 9:56*
20 October 1993
20 October 1992Mark Roehl (Raa) 8:40*Brianne Pla (Cobb) 9:33*
22 October 1991Michael Rodriguez (Raa) 8:38*Holly Skinner (Cobb) 10:15*
10 October 1990Tim Bolton (Cobb) 8:44*Christy Weinberger(Bellevue)10:17*
24 May 1990Wayne McDaniel (Raa) 6:58†Cynthia Costin (Griffin) 8:06†
23 May 1989Wayne McDaniel (Raa) 7:09†Tonia Jackson (Nims) 8:13†
10 May 1988Bobby Jessup (Griffin) †Tonia Jackson (Raa) †
* 1-1/2 mile race at Gretchen Everhart School
† 2 km race at Florida State University


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Posted by Herb Wills at 11:55 PM
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