Julian Bautista and Meghan Bishop were first on the Fourth in Keystone Heights

The Freedom 5K has been run on the street of Keystone Heights, Florida every fourth of July since 2020. And Gainesville, Florida athlete Julian Bautista has been at every one of those races. He placed fourth in the inaugural run, and second in the 2022 and 2023 races. But on Thursday morning, 4 July 2024, Bautista was done being an "also ran" in Keystone Heights. He won the fifth annual Freedom 5K by 70 meters, running 17:39. Lake Butler, Florida master runner Meghan Bishop was the first woman in the race, coming in fourteenth overall in 22:32.


Ray Gottschalk, a rising senior on the Ponte Vedra High cross-country team, took second in the Freedom 5K, running 17:54. It was 18 seconds faster than Gottschalk's fourth-place performance in the 2023 race. Tyler Griffin, less than a year from his senior year cross-country season at Keystone Heights High, placed third in 18:01. Jamie Moss of Fleming Island, Florida was the first male master in the 5K, finishing fifteenth in the men's standings and seventeenth overall in 22:42.


Keystone Heights schoolgirl Ryleigh Thomas took second in the women's standings; Thomas was fifteenth overall in 22:32. Thirteen-year-old Tinley Guessford of Florahome, Florida was third in the women's division and twentieth overall in 22:41.


281 athletes finished the 2024 Keystone Heights Freedom 5K. Florida Race Day, LLC, of Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida chip-timed the race.


Top Ten Men, 2024 Keystone Heights Freedom 5K

1. 17:38.90, Julian Bautista (M, 20) Gainesville, FL
2. 17:53.22, Ray Gottschalk (M, 17) Ponte Vedra Beach, FL
3. 18:00.62, Tyler Griffin (M, 18) Keystone Heights, FL
4. 18:14.09, Brett Tornwall (M, 39) Blacksburg, VA
5. 18:26.68, Noah Yara (M, 16) Lawtey, FL
6. 18:36.58, Stuart Robertson (M, 30) Starke, FL
7. 18:51.27, Ryder Thomas (M, 15) Keystone Heights, FL
8. 19:00.12, Ryan Collins (M, 29) Keystone Heights, FL
9. 21:05.90, Jackson Parmeter (M, 16) ,
10. 22:08.98, Brandyn Ward (M, 15) Keystone Heights, FL

Top Ten Women, 2024 Keystone Heights Freedom 5K

1. 22:31.29, Meghan Bishop (F, 43) Lake Butler, FL
2. 22:31.29, Ryleigh Thomas (F, 11) Keystone Heights, FL
3. 22:40.79, Tinley Guessford (F, 13) Florahome, FL
4. 24:50.08, Rebecka Thoms (F, 45) Fleming Island, FL
5. 25:19.24, Brooke Haddix (F, 33) MelroseMelrose, FL
6. 25:32.12, Dawn Koval (F, 47) St Augustine, FL
7. 25:30.44, Melody Tyre (F, 14) Keystone Heights, FL
8. 25:29.60, Hailey Kerlin (F, 21) Hawthorne, FL
9. 25:54.33, Debbie Gottschalk (F, 61) Ponte Vedra Beach, FL
10. 26:06.41, Janelle Tornwall (F, 39) Blacksburg, VA

Keystone Heights Freedom 5K winners, 2020 - 2024
Date	Men	Women	Finishers
4 July 2020	16:25, Matthew Stratton	16:57, Eden Meyer	96
3 July 2021	17:01, Cohen MacDonald	21:14, Maggie McCloskey	160
2 July 2022	16:00, Noah Wasserman	22:05, Maggie McCloskey	138
4 July 2023	16:33, Troy Winkler	21:50, Maggie McCloskey	219
4 July 2024	17:39, Julian Bautista	22:32, Meghan Bishop	281

Links

• Complete results of the 2024 Keystone Heights Freedom Run 5K
  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vTrBosG5qRtZidpeU-t1nBXOvk3SowqEfAS21Iu4GBOiBWnSGeRUGynLb_EQpMZDoUwU3XLzKmAi5Pe/pubhtml
  
  
• 2023 story, “Troy Winkler and Maggie McCloskey lead Keystone Heights' Freedom 5K”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2023/07/keystone-heights-freedom-2023.html
  
  
• 2022 story, “High performance racing in Keystone Heights for Noah Wasserman and Maggie McCloskey”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2022/07/keystone-heights-freedom-2022.html
  
  
• Find more red, white, and blue races on the Trouble Afoot! calendar
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/search/label/calendar?max-results=1
  
  

#3167

Troy Winkler and Maggie McCloskey lead Keystone Heights' Freedom 5K

Keystone Heights, Florida's fourth annual Freedom 5K on Tuesday morning, 4 July 2022, was larger than its three predecessors. For the first time, more than 200 athletes crossed the finish line. Troy Winkler of Sanderson, Florida led that record field across the finish line. A rising senior on the cross-country team at Baker County High, Sanderson won the race in 16:33. Gainesville, Florida athlete Maggie McCloskey was the first woman in the 5K for the third year in a row, placing seventeenth overall in 21:50.


Gainesville's Julian Bautista finished runner-up for the second year in a row; his second-place time in the 2023 race was 17:39. Tyler Griffin was also a returnee, but the Keystone Heights High cross-country runner improved from fourth place in the 2022 race to third in 2023, running 17:55. Jamie Moss of Fleming Island, Florida was the first master runner in the Freedom 5K, eighteenth overall in 22:12.


Olivia Griffin of Keystone Heights took second in the women's division, placing 21st overall in 22:42. A rising frosh on the Keystone Heights High cross-country team, Griffin had been the fourth woman in the 2022 Freedom 5K. Elkton, Florida's Carolyn Corgel repeated as the top woman master in the race. In the 2023 5K she ran 22:46, finishing as the third woman and 22nd overall.


219 athletes finished the 2023 Keystone Heights Freedom 5K. Florida Race Day, LLC, of Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida chip-timed the race.


Top Ten Men, 2023 Keystone Heights Freedom 5K

1. 16:32.04, Troy Winkler (M, 18) Sanderson, FL
2. 17:38.70, Julian Bautista (M, 19) Gainesville, FL
3. 17:54.57, Tyler Griffin (M, 17) Keystone Heights, FL
4. 18:11.36, Ray Gottschalk (M, 16) Ponte Vedra Beach, FL
5. 18:19.52, Stuart Robertson (M, 29) Starke, FL
6. 18:27.44, Ryan Collins (M, 28) Keystone Heights, FL
7. 18:33.07, Noah Yara (M, 15) Lawtey, FL
8. 18:49.62, Ryder Thomas (M, 14) Keystone Heights, FL
9. 19:44.96, Trey Nelson (M, 27) Sandy, UT
10. 19:45.35, Caleb Baker (M, 16) Florahome, FL

Top Ten Women, 2023 Keystone Heights Freedom 5K

1. 21:49.67, Maggie McCloskey (F, 30) Gainesville, FL
2. 22:41.69, Olivia Griffin (F, 14) Keystone Heights, FL
3. 22:45.14, Carolyn Corgel (F, 65) Elkton, FL
4. 24:27.27, Meghan Bishop (F, 42) Lake Butler, FL
5. 24:23.47, R. Thomas (F, 10) Keystone Heights, FL
6. 26:45.31, Francesca Enea (F, 35) Orlando, FL
7. 27:35.41, A. Yara (F, 12) Lawtey, FL
8. 27:35.34, Abigail Robinson (F, 14) Gainesville, FL
9. 27:52.59, Melody Tyre (F, 13) Keystone Heights, FL
10. 28:40.10, Melissa Watson (F, 58) Damascus, AR

Keystone Heights Freedom 5K winners, 2020 - 2023
Date	Men	Women	Finishers
4 July 2020	16:25, Matthew Stratton	16:57, Eden Meyer	96
3 July 2021	17:01, Cohen MacDonald	21:14, Maggie McCloskey	160
2 July 2022	16:00, Noah Wasserman	22:05, Maggie McCloskey	138
4 July 2023	16:33, Troy Winkler	21:50, Maggie McCloskey	219

Links

• Complete results of the 2023 Keystone Heights Freedom Run 5K
  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vSraxxxM0ohRubmdbssLqcMGYmWPkMcrik2erBC6j_0ilWetfIpDsrLgpwe_CWjTZqKOhGfEmdWGSHs/pubhtml
  
  
• Independence Day 2023 racing coverage on Trouble Afoot!
  • Gainesville FL: https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2023/07/ftc-melon-2023.html
  • Jay FL: https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2023/07/jay-freedom-2023.html
  • Keystone Heights FL: https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2023/07/keystone-heights-freedom-2023.html
  • Tallahassee FL: https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2023/07/firecracker-2023.html
  • Valdosta GA: https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2023/07/valdosta-independence-2023.html
  
  
• 2022 story, “High performance racing in Keystone Heights for Noah Wasserman and Maggie McCloskey”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2022/07/keystone-heights-freedom-2022.html
  
  
• Find more red, white, and blue races on the Trouble Afoot! calendar
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/search/label/calendar?max-results=1
  
  

#2945

High performance racing in Keystone Heights for Noah Wasserman and Maggie McCloskey

Noah Wasserman has logged quite a few five-kilometer races competing for the May River High School cross-country team in Bluffton, South Carolina. Autumn 2022 will be his senior-year season for the Sharks. But on Saturday morning, 2 July 2022, Wasserman was racing a 5K on his own in Keystone Heights, Florida--the third annual Keystone Heights Freedom 5K. Throwing down a course-record 16:00, he won the race by a good 250 meters. Saint Francis Catholic Academy cross-country coach Maggie McCloskey was the first woman in the 3.1-mile race, placing thirteenth overall in 22:05 and successfully defending her 2021 Freedom 5K title.


Wasserman wasn't the only high school harrier at the Freedom 5K. Cohen MacDonald, another rising senior at May River, was the second runner across the finish line at 16:53. MacDonald was closely followed in 16:53 by Julian Bautista, a 2022 alum of Gainesville's Saint Francis Catholic Academy and its cross-country team. Tyler Griffin, a rising junior at Keystone Heights High, took fourth in 17:49.


David Jones of Ocala, Florida was the fastest master runner in the race, placing eleventh overall in 21:21. Elkton, Florida's Carolyn Corgel was the first woman master and second female finisher, nineteenth overall in 22:55.


Nine-year-old Ryleigh Thomas of Keystone Heights was third in the women's standings and 23rd overall in 23:41. Olivia Griffin, a rising eight-grader on the Keystone Heights High cross-country team was fourth in the women's division and 30th overall in 25:26.


138 athletes finished the 2022 Keystone Heights Freedom 5K. Florida Race Day, LLC, of Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida chip-timed the race.


Top Ten Men, 2022 Keystone Heights Freedom 5K

1. 15:59.77, Noah Wasserman (M, 16) Bluffton, SC
2. 16:52.04, Julian Bautista (M, 18) Gainesville, FL
3. 16:51.39, Cohen MacDonald (M, 16) Okatie, SC
4. 17:48.25, Tyler Griffin (M, 16) Keystone Heights, FL
5. 17:54.95, Brett Tomwall (M, 37)
6. 18:47.18, Ryan Collins (M, 27) Keystone Heights, FL
7. 19:38.48, Jackson MacDonald (M, 14) Bluffton, SC
8. 19:39.75, Ray Gottschalk (M, 15) Ponte Vedra Beach, FL
9. 19:54.06, Sam Stone (M, 15) Micanopy, FL
10. 20:26.65, L. Morrow (M, 11) Ocala, FL

Top Ten Women, 2022 Keystone Heights Freedom 5K

1. 22:04.93, Maggie McCloskey (F, 29) Gainesville, FL
2. 22:54.81, Carolyn Corgel (F, 64) Elkton, FL
3. 23:40.49, Ryleigh Thomas (F, 9) Keystone Heights, FL
4. 25:25.61, Olivia Griffin (F, 12) Keystone Heights, FL
5. 26:05.47, Megan Sewell (F, 35) Plant City, FL
6. 26:05.58, Janelle Tornwall (F, 37) Alachua, FL
7. 26:24.06, Jaime Block (F, 34) Gainesville, FL
8. 26:26.47, Melanie Portier (F, 47) Keystone Heights, FL
9. 27:51.09, Stefanie Bergman Cirillo (F, 50) Lake Worth, FL
10. 27:53.65, Rachel Carter (F, 32) Plant City, FL

Keystone Heights Freedom 5K winners, 2020 - 2022
Date	Men	Women	Finishers
4 July 2020	16:25, Matthew Stratton	16:57, Eden Meyer	96
3 July 2021	17:01, Cohen MacDonald	21:14, Maggie McCloskey	160
2 July 2022	16:00, Noah Wasserman	22:05, Maggie McCloskey	138

Links

• Complete results of the 2022 Keystone Heights Freedom Run 5K
  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vRc3NM3wVKPQc1G7THxOrmFerrqFES1EYsZK-6EFVwyUb7Zqjg2W7D6seb67Gwzxn3DWVzR13xL7O6T/pubhtml
  
  
• .Find more red, white, and blue races on the Trouble Afoot! calendar
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/search/label/calendar?max-results=1
  
  

#2850