Showing posts with label Micanopy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Micanopy. Show all posts

Monday, March 31, 2025

Adam Lassila and Annie-Grace Funderburg prevail on Payne-ful trails

2025 Trail Of PaynePayne's Prairie, a geographic oddity in Florida between Gainesville and Micanopy, has been home to camels, mastodons, giant ground sloths, bison, cattle-herding Seminoles, and (in the years when the prairie was flooded) steamships. Since 2011 Payne's Prairie has also been home to a trail race, the Trail Of Payne 10K, a tour of Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park. On Saturday morning, 29 March 2025, Gainesville athlete Adam Lassila won the thirteenth annual Trail of Payne 10K, finishing over a kilometer ahead of the competition in 38:57. Annie Grace-Funderburg of Orlando, Florida was the first woman in the race, placing third overall in 47:58.


William Cunningham, a sophomore on the Buchholz High cross-country team, was back for more Payne after first running the race in 2024. In the 2025 event, Cunningham took the runner-up spot in 44:37, improving on his time (49:40) and place (6th) from the previous year. Ocala, Florida's Lucas Burkley took third in 46:30. Jeff Carney of Gainesville was the first master runner in the race and the fourth male finisher, coming in fifth overall in 48:22.


It was Adam Lassila's first experience with Payne, but women's champ Annie Grace-Funderburg was a veteran of the race. Grace-Funderburg's debut at the Trail Of Payne 10K was in the 2022 race, where she finished in over an hour. The Orlando athlete was back in 2023, running 49:06 and placing runner-up in the women's division. In 2024 Grace-Funderburg was again second in the women's standings, this time with a 52:36. 2025 was her fastest as well as her most successful outing at the Trail Of Payne, as she went 47:58 for the women's title.


Lillian Hamman of Gainesville was second to Grace-Funderburg on the women's side, placing eleventh overall in 49:40. Another Gainesville athlete, Shauna Dixon, was the first woman master and third female finisher, seventeenth overall in 52:31.


Top Ten Men, 2025 Trail of Payne 10K
  1. 38:57, Adam Lassila (M, 38) Gainesville, FL
  2. 44:37, Will Cunningham (M, 16) Gainesville, FL
  3. 46:30, Lucas Burkley (M, 33) Ocala, FL
  4. 48:22, Jeff Carney (M, 49) Gainesville, FL
  5. 48:33, John Engels (M, 53) Gainesville, FL
  6. 48:33, Sean Black (M, 56) Melbourne, FL
  7. 48:34, Matt Detwiler (M, 36) Gainesville, FL
  8. 48:46, Chris Vulpe (M, 59) Gainesville, FL
  9. 49:32, Jonathan Mays (M, 50) Gainesville, FL
  10. 49:45, Seth Johnson (M, 26) Gainesville, FL

Top Ten Women, 2025 Trail of Payne 10K
  1. 47:58, Annie-Grace Funderburg (F, 34) Orlando, FL
  2. 49:40, Lillian Hamman (F, 26) Gainesville, FL
  3. 52:31, Shauna Dixon (F, 63) Gainesville, FL
  4. 52:58, Mindi Iannarelli (F, 40) Saint Augustine, FL
  5. 53:01, Karen Stukes (F, 54) Crystal River, FL
  6. 56:56, Verity Mathis (F, 46) Gainesville, FL
  7. 56:58, Nykki Ross (F, 31) Gainesville, FL
  8. 60:22, Julia Graddy (F, 21) Gainesville, FL
  9. 60:38, Madison Steen (F, 23) Gainesville, FL
  10. 60:51, Lauren Rogers (F, 32) Gainesville, FL

In 2024 race management added a 5K to the program for any athlete who wanted a little less Payne. The Trail Of Payne 5K returned in 2025, and Toni Illaru of Finland won the race, running 21:19. Another master runner, Gainesville's Benjamin Wilkinson, ran 23:11 for second. Harlan Carney, a frosh on the track team at P. K. Yonge School, took third with a 23:49.


Master runners swept the top three places in the women's standings, with Andrea Galinski of Gainesville first. Galinski was Galinski was ninth overall in 27:42. Brandy Nethery of Micanopy, Florida was the second woman, tenth overall in 28:10. At 28:47, Kim Swinehart of Dunellon, Florida was the third woman and twelfth overall.


88 athletes finished the 2025 Trail Of Payne 10K, while another 83 completed the 5K.


Top Ten Men, 2025 Trail of Payne 5K
  1. 21:19, Toni Illaru (M, 53) Huhmari, FIN
  2. 23:11, Benjamin Wilkinson (M, 44) Gainesville, FL
  3. 23:49, Harlan Carney (M, 12) Gainesville, FL
  4. 25:41, Randy Bayas (M, 30) Ocala, FL
  5. 26:08, Cane & Ash Stringer (M, 23) Gainesville, FL
  6. 26:54, Thomas Goss (M, 20) Alachua, FL
  7. 26:59, Aedan Mandapat (M, 16) Gainesville, FL
  8. 27:23, Richard Howard (M, 56) Gainesville, FL
  9. 28:19, Jack Gustke (M, 25) Gainesville, FL
  10. 29:37, Kirk Webster (M, 32) Gainesville, FL

Top Ten Women, 2025 Trail of Payne 5K
  1. 27:42, Andrea Galinski (F, 46) Gainesville, FL
  2. 28:10, Brandy Nethery (F, 44) Micanopy, FL
  3. 28:47, Kim Swinehart (F, 45) Dunnellon, FL
  4. 29:40, Veronica Dansby (F, 32) Gainesville, FL
  5. 30:33, Jaime Block (F, 36) Gainesville, FL
  6. 30:39, Katie White (F, 36) Gainesville, FL
  7. 32:07, Miriam Rutzen (F, 34) Gainesville, FL
  8. 32:30, Stefanie Jones (F, 46) Gainesville, FL
  9. 32:37, Kat Perlstein (F, 29) Gainesville, FL
  10. 32:44, Rachel Mallinger (F, 41) Gainesville, FL

Trail of Payne 10K winners, 2011 - 2025
DateDistanceMenWomenFinishers
19 March 201110 km35:56, Christian Kern41:06, Tatiana Titova271
17 March 201210 km34:37, Mike Hensley40:33, Tenley Godfrey342
16 March 201310 km37:12, Christopher Raye40:22, Stephanie McGrail273
29 March 201410 km37:16, Nick Auyeung41:30, Carol Rowe244
28 March 201510 km34:02, Mike Hensley42:12, Meredith DeFranco271
26 March 201610 km35:42, Bobby Hensley43:11, Stephanie McGrail194
25 March 201710 km33:16, Enoch Nadler39:44, Stephanie McGrail207
24 March 201810 km35:56, Bobby Hensley43:30, Meredith DeFranco180
23 March 201910 km36:10, Chris Cabret43:20, Courtney Rouse227
21 March 2020No Race, COVID-19
27 March 2021No Race, COVID-19
26 March 202210 km41:30, Dan Stoner47:14, Noelle Lucke-Wolde143
25 March 202310 km36:46, Wrigley Longstreet45:12, Noelle Lucke-Wolde107
23 March 202410 km45:56. Johnathon Johnson51:06, Noelle Lucke-Wold143
5 km19:23, Jack Neubert23:34, Tamlynn Leatt65
29 March 202510 km38:57, Adam Lassila47:58, Annie-Grace Funderburg88
5 km21:19, Toni Illaru27:42, Andrea Galinski83


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Wednesday, March 27, 2019

Chris Cabret and Courtney Rouse score a Payne-full cross-country sweep for Team FTC

If there's any word that comes to mind when "prairie" is mentioned, it's "flat." Payne's Prairie is certainly flat. Located in Florida north of Micanopy and south of Gainesville, Payne's Prairie was created when its limestone foundation dissolved, collapsing the hills and leaving a broad, level area, sometimes lake and sometimes Savannah. And sometimes racecourse, at least once a year for the Trail Of Payne 10K cross-country race.


Don't think that because Payne's Prairie is flat, the Trail Of Payne course is easy. The terrain is rugged. At the ninth annual Trail Of Payne 10K, on Saturday morning, 23 March 2019, Chris Cabret ran the course in 36:10. It was nearly a minute off his best cross-country time, a 35:25 that Cabret ran at the 2016 NCAA-D2 Nationals as a frosh at Saint Leo University. 36:10 couldn't have been too disappointing a mark for the Team Florida Track Club runner, though, because it was fast enough for Cabret to win the Trail Of Payne by more than 150 meters. Likewise, another Team Florida Track Club member, Courtney Rouse, had run a 37:19.09 10K on the track, more than a bit faster than the 43:20 she managed at Payne's Prairie. Nevertheless, Rouse was the first woman in the 2019 Trail Of Payne, completing a Team FTC sweep and placing seventh overall.


John Sansalone of Gainesville finished runner-up for the second year in row, his 36:48 was three seconds faster than his 2018 time of 36:51. Thurman Lincoln, a senior on the Buchholz High cross-country team, took third in 39:39. Another Buchholz Bobcat, frosh Wrigley Longstreet, was fourth in 40:07. Dan Stoner of Team Florida Track Club had been either the second or third master runner in the race during each of the last three years, but in 2019 he was the Trail Of Payne's top master, placing fifth overall in 40:59.


Sarah Williams took second in the women's standings, placing 21st overall in 48:22. Another veteran of the Trail Of Payne, Williams had finished among the top ten women in both 2017 and 2018. Dr. Kristina Von Castel, a University of Florida nutrition professor, was the first woman master and third female finisher, 25th overall in 49:11.


227 athletes finished the 2019 Trail Of Payne 10K. Start 2 Finish Race Management timed the race.


Top Ten Men, 2019 Trail of Payne 10K
  1. 36:10, Chris Cabret (M, 21) Gainesville, FL
  2. 36:48, John M Sansalone (M, 23) Gainesville, FL
  3. 39:39, Thurman Lincoln (M, 18) Gainesville, FL
  4. 40:07, Wrigley Longstreet (M, 15) Gainesville, FL
  5. 40:59, Dan Stoner (M, 44)
  6. 41:45, Patrick Gallagher (M, 43) Gainesville, FL
  7. 43:33, Jonathan Tan (M, 45)
  8. 44:06, Scott Wright (M, 41)
  9. 44:36, Jonathan Mays (M, 44)
  10. 45:48, Johnny Sansalone (M, 61)

Top Ten Women, 2019 Trail of Payne 10K
  1. 43:20, Courtney Rouse (F, 25)
  2. 48:22, Sarah Williams (F, 39)
  3. 49:11, Kristina Von Castel (F, 43)
  4. 50:31, Angela Desimone (F, 48)
  5. 50:41, Tierra Dozier (F, 33)
  6. 50:44, Karen Schlatter (F, 34)
  7. 50:55, Verity Mathis (F, 40) Gainesville, FL
  8. 50:56, Ann Bernert (F, 26)
  9. 51:56, Sally Chappell (F, 56)
  10. 52:13, Becky Yeadon (F, 27)

Trail of Payne 10K winners, 2011 - 2019
DateMenWomenFinishers
19 March 201135:56, Christian Kern41:06, Tatiana Titova271
17 March 201234:37, Mike Hensley40:33, Tenley Godfrey342
16 March 201337:12, Christopher Raye40:22, Stephanie McGrail273
29 March 201437:16, Nick Auyeung41:30, Carol Rowe244
28 March 201534:02, Mike Hensley42:12, Meredith DeFranco271
26 March 201635:42, Bobby Hensley43:11, Stephanie McGrail194
25 March 201733:16, Enoch Nadler39:44, Stephanie McGrail207
24 March 201835:56, Bobby Hensley43:30, Meredith DeFranco180
23 March 201936:10, Chris Cabret43:20, Courtney Rouse227


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Sunday, March 25, 2018

Hensley and DeFranco return for more Payne and more wins

2018 Trail of Payne 10KPaynes Prairie lies south of Gainesville, Florida. If you had been there 10,000 years ago or so, you might have seen mastodons, mammoths, or giant ground sloths. If you make a more recent visit to Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park, you might see bison, alligators, or feral horses. And if you were in the park on Saturday morning, 24 March 2018, you could have seen 180 athletes doing their best to deal with the boggy footing and challenging terrain of the area, strugging to finish the eighth annual Trail of Payne 10K cross-country race.


Gainseville athlete Bobby Hensley won the race by more than 200 meters, running 35:56. It was Hensley's second Trail of Payne title; he had also won the race in 2016. Meredith DeFranco of Gainesville was also a repeat winner. After winning the women's division in the 2015 Trail of Payne, DeFranco returned to the race in 2018 and picked up a second women's win, placing tenth overall in 43:30.


The only other man to have won two Trail of Payne races is Mike Hensley, who scored wins in 2012 and 2015. Aside from DeFranco, the only runner to have twice been the first woman at the Trail of Payne 10K was Stephanie McGrail, a three-time winner: 2013, 2016, and 2017. McGrail set the women's course record in the 2017 race.


Behind Hensley, John Sansalone was second in the race, running 36:51. Before graduating from Gainesville's Saint Francis Catholic High in 2013, Sansalone had been a standout on the school's cross-country team. Anton Matchev, an eighth-grader on the cross-country team at Gainesville's Abraham Lincoln Middle School, edged David Cox for third, 38:46 to 38:47. Right behind Cox, Gainesville runner Luke Flory and Patrick Gallagher fought for fifth. Both runners were clocked in 38:48, but Flory made it across the finish line before Gallagher. Gallagher, sixth overall, was the first master runner in the race.


Rae Powers was the women's runner-up and seventeenth overall in 44:35. Lara Drondoski edged two-time Trail of Payne champion Stephanie McGrail for third in the women's standings, both athletes running 45:10. Drondoski and McGrail were eighteenth and nineteenth overall. Elisabeth Diamond of Bell, Florida was the first woman master in the 10K and the twelfth female finisher, 44th overall in 52:55.


Start 2 Finish Race Management timed the race.


Top Ten Men, 2018 Trail of Payne 10K
  1. 35:56, Bobby Hensley (M, 33) Gainesville, FL
  2. 36:51, John Sansalone (M, 22) Gainesville, FL
  3. 38:46, Anton Matchev (M, 14)
  4. 38:47, David Cox (M, 32)
  5. 38:48, Luke Flory (M, 39) Gainesville, FL
  6. 38:48, Patrick Gallagher (M, 42) Gainesville, FL
  7. 40:34, Ben Huron (M, 41)
  8. 40:58, Dan Stoner (M, 43)
  9. 42:32, Cedric Torres (M, 23)
  10. 43:41, Andy Natwick (M, 36)

Top Ten Women, 2018 Trail of Payne 10K
  1. 43:30, Meredith DeFranco (F, 34) Gainesville, FL
  2. 44:35, Rae Powers (F, 26)
  3. 45:10, Lara Drondoski (F, 24)
  4. 45:10, Stephanie McGrail (F, 31)
  5. 45:20, Kate Egan (F, 33)
  6. 47:30, Sarah Williams (F, 38)
  7. 48:19, Kristen Urichko (F, 23)
  8. 50:15, Safi Chalfin-Smith (F, 15) Gainesville, FL
  9. 51:10, Melissa Land (F, 36)
  10. 51:59, Laura Coppola (F, 39)

Trail of Payne 10K winners, 2011 - 2018
DateMenWomenFinishers
19 March 201135:56, Christian Kern41:06, Tatiana Titova271
17 March 201234:37, Mike Hensley40:33, Tenley Godfrey342
16 March 201337:12, Christopher Raye40:22, Stephanie McGrail273
29 March 201437:16, Nick Auyeung41:30, Carol Rowe244
28 March 201534:02, Mike Hensley42:12, Meredith DeFranco271
26 March 201635:42, Bobby Hensley43:11, Stephanie McGrail194
25 March 201733:16, Enoch Nadler39:44, Stephanie McGrail207
24 March 201835:56, Bobby Hensley43:30, Meredith DeFranco180


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Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Team Florida Track Club's Nadler and McGrail run through Payne to victory

Trail of Payne 10KKampala, Uganda hosted the World Cross-Country Championships on Sunday, 26 March 2017. The women competed at eight kilometers, while the men raced twelve kilometers. This disparity isn't limited to cross-country at the international level. At the NCAA the men's race is ten kilometers but the women's race is six kilometers. You don't see many such differences in athletics outside of cross-country, at least in the running events. There is no "men's marathon" and "women's marathon;" everyone runs 42.195 kilometers. The 10,000-meter run is 10,000 meters long, no matter who is running.


Equality for the sexes also rules the day at the Micanopy Trail of Payne cross-country run. Everyone at that annual event competes at ten kilometers. That was true at the first Trail of Payne in 2011, and it was still true at the seventh annual Trail of Payne on Saturday morning, 25 March 2017. Enoch Nadler of Gainesville, Florida won that race in 33:16. Another Gainesville athlete, Stephanie McGrail, took the women's title, placing eighth overall in 39:44. Both Nadler and McGrail are members of Team Florida Track Club.


Team Florida Track Club's Brady Holmer, a former Norther Kentucky University distance runner, grabbed the runner-up spot with a 34:33. Yet another Team Florida Track Club athlete, Jacksonville University track-and-cross-country alumnus Andy Merrill, took third in 34:40. Patrick Gallagher of Gainesville was the fastest master runner in the Trail of Payne, placing sixth overall in 38:12.


Gainesville's Anne Elise Creamer was second in the women's standings and ninth overall in 40:19. Eva George of Gainesville was the third woman and thirteenth overall in 42:13. Gretchen Loyd was the first woman master and fourth female finisher, placing seventeenth overall in 43:54.


The "Payne" in the "Trail of Payne" is Payne's Prairie, a large basin south of Gainesville that figures into the history and geology of the area. 207 athletes endured the Payne to finish the ten-kilometer run. Start 2 Finish Race Management timed the race.


Top Ten Men, 2017 Trail of Payne 10K
  1. 33:16, Enoch Nadler (M, 31) Gainesville, FL
  2. 34:33, Brady Holmer (M, 23)
  3. 34:40, Andy Merrill (M, 23)
  4. 37:19, Hutson Rapier (M, 34)
  5. 37:43, Michael Dougherty (M, 26)
  6. 38:12, Patrick Gallagher (M, 41) Gainesville, FL
  7. 39:35, Trent Herzog (M, 20)
  8. 41:13, Miles Harris (M, 28)
  9. 41:30, Dan Monteau (M, 53)
  10. 41:52, Ryan Harris (M, 27)

Top Ten Women, 2017 Trail of Payne 10K
  1. 39:44, Stephanie McGrail (F, 30)
  2. 40:19, Anne Elise Creamer (F, 26) Gainesville, FL
  3. 42:13, Eva George (F, 32) Gainesville, FL
  4. 43:54, Gretchen Loyd (F, 43)
  5. 44:41, Lauren Pearlman (F, 34)
  6. 45:09, Elizabeth Andrade (F, 47) Gainesville, FL
  7. 45:27, Sarah Williams (F, 37)
  8. 46:03, Monica Huster (F, 24) Gainesville, FL
  9. 46:49, Ana Sotillo (F, 22)
  10. 46:50, Virginia Hatch (F, 33)

Trail of Payne 10K winners, 2011 - 2017
DateMenWomenFinishers
19 March 201135:56, Christian Kern41:06, Tatiana Titova271
17 March 201234:37, Mike Hensley40:33, Tenley Godfrey342
16 March 201337:12, Christopher Raye40:22, Stephanie McGrail273
29 March 201437:16, Nick Auyeung41:30, Carol Rowe244
28 March 201534:02, Mike Hensley42:12, Meredith DeFranco271
26 March 201635:42, Bobby Hensley43:11, Pix McGrix194
25 March 201733:16, Enoch Nadler39:44, Stephanie McGrail207


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Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Bobby Hensley overcomes Payne

2016 Trail of Payne 10KThere was once a mighty body of water south of Gainesville, Alachua Lake. The lake was large enough that steamships plied its waters. Then one day in 1891 a sinkhole opened up in the lake, and it was as if the stopper had been pulled out of the drain in God's bathtub. Lake Alachua was sucked down the sinkhole and into the Floridan aquifer, stranding turtles, fish, alligators, and the steamer Chakala. Alachua Lake was gone, and what was left was Payne's Prairie. Today the prairie is home to Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park, which in turn is home to the Trail of Payne 10K cross country race. The sixth annual Trail of Payne was held in the park on a wet Saturday morning, 26 March 2016.


Bobby Hensley won that 2016 race, running 35:42. Mike Hensley, a two-time Trail of Payne champ, finished runner-up in 36:26. Shawn Webber was the top master runner in the race, edging Peter Licari 39:07 to 39:10 for third place overall.


An athlete using the unlikely nom de guerre of Pix McGrix took the women's title, coming in seventh overall in 43:11. Becky Gomez finished runner-up in the women's standings, placing eighth overall in 44:20. Virgina Hatch was the third woman in the race, eighteenth overall in 48:24. Danielle Heath (26th, 50:33) edged Elisabeth Diamond 27th, 50:36) for the first woman master; Heath and Diamond were the fifth and sixth female finishers.


Some parts of the course were flooded, but nothing that hinted at the return of Alachua Lake, and certainly nothing to cause a trail runner's heart to quail. 194 athletes finished the sixth annual Trail of Payne 10K. Start 2 Finish Race Management timed the race.


Top Ten Men, 2016 Trail of Payne 10K
  1. 35:42 ~ Bobby Hensley (M, 31)
  2. 36:26 ~ Mike Hensley (M, 30)
  3. 39:07 ~ Shawn Webber (M, 41)
  4. 39:10 ~ Peter Licari (M, 21)
  5. 40:05 ~ Dan Stoner (M, 41)
  6. 40:33 ~ Rob Robins (M, 43)
  7. 44:29 ~ Sean Black (M, 47)
  8. 45:07 ~ Xi Cao (M, 26) Gainesville, FL
  9. 45:30 ~ Chris Vulpe (M, 50)
  10. 46:10 ~ Michael Attard (M, 28)

Top Ten Women, 2016 Trail of Payne 10K
  1. 43:11 ~ Pix McGrix (F, 29)
  2. 44:20 ~ Becky Gomez (F, 24)
  3. 48:24 ~ Virginia Hatch (F, 32)
  4. 49:24 ~ Eva George (F, 31) Gainesville, FL
  5. 50:33 ~ Danielle Heath (F, 51)
  6. 50:36 ~ Elisabeth Diamond (F, 56) Bell, FL
  7. 51:11 ~ Rebecca Pieters (F, 32)
  8. 51:42 ~ Aylena Carlson (F, 19) Gainesville, FL
  9. 51:56 ~ Kristen Hall (F, 25)
  10. 52:06 ~ Morgan Keppel (F, 23) Gainesville, FL

Trail of Payne 10K winners, 2011 - 2016
DateMenWomenFinishers
19 March 201135:56, Christian Kern41:06, Tatiana Titova271
17 March 201234:37, Mike Hensley40:33, Tenley Godfrey342
16 March 201337:12, Christopher Raye40:22, Stephanie McGrail273
29 March 201437:16, Nick Auyeung41:30, Carol Rowe244
28 March 201534:02, Mike Hensley42:12, Meredith DeFranco271
26 March 201635:42, Bobby Hensley43:11, Pix McGrix194


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