Stoltzing in Jacksonville and Panama City
 

Jana Stolting, October 5, 2008

This weekend, Big Bend area teams traveled to both the Bale-n-Trail meet in Jacksonville, and the Rutherford Rams Invitational outside of Panama City. Both venues provided great competition and produced strong performances.

At Bale-n-Trail, freshman sensation Lily Williams won the race with a blazing 18:12. In second was her teammate, Carly Thomas, with a time of 18:31. Chiles senior, Kaia Hampton, took seventh overall with a time of 19:00. Kendall Andrews came in eighth with a time of 19:12. With a very fast team average of 19:01, Chiles demolished the girls’ competition to take home the overall win. The Leon girls, led by Claire Stodghill (19:42), took tenth overall.

On the boys’ side, Leon’s Matt Mizereck and Will Stanford led their Lions to victory. Mizereck won the race with a very impressive 15:06. Stanford took third with 15:16. Teammate Riley Doherty snagged the thirteenth spot with a time of 16:36. Leon beat out Bishop Kenney by only one point to take the overall team title. Chiles, led by Brandon Lingerfelt (17:14), claimed the ninth spot overall.

Maclay, Lincoln, Godby, and Wewahitchka traveled towards the gulf to the Rutherford Rams Invitational. The Maclay girls, who finished second overall, were led by eighth grader Kristin Sweeney, who took second with a time of 20:10. [Editor's note - Coach Droze had much of the team working on pacing to build a stronger team for year end.] The marauder boys also finished second overall, led by a fourth place finish from sophomore, Patrick Swain. Billy Naylor, of Wewahitchka, finished in third.

It was yet another exciting week at the races, as many race times continue to drop. Without a doubt, the Big Bend will be represented very well this year at the State championships and beyond.