Last Saturday, some of the area teams traveled to the Little Everglades Pre-State Invitational in Dade City, while others competed at the Mosley Dolphin Dash in Lynn Haven, Florida. At Pre-State, Chiles entered in the elite division. With another strong performance, Lily Williams finished second overall in a time of 17:46. Although Carly Thomas finished fifth (17:55) and Rachel Givens was twelfth (18:22), Chiles came in second overall behind Estero, another team in their division. Hopefully, as the post season approaches, the Timberwolves will re-establish their dominance! Meanwhile, Leon’s ladies entered the Invitational division, and Autumn Wable finished eighth (19:58). The Lions were twenty-fourth as a team. Finishing fifteenth and nineteenth respectively, both Leon and Chiles participated in the boys’ elite race.

At the Mosley Dolphin Dash, Langlee Toothman was the first female finisher hailing from Tallahassee. Representing Florida High, Toothman, along with teammates Brionnah Kreps (22:34 – 11th) and Isabella Yue (22:40 – twelfth), helped the Noles claim second place overall. Aileen Kadzis from John Paul II ran a time of 22:28, which put her in ninth, and her team was twelfth. Godby ranked sixth. In the guys’ competition, NFC’S Luke Strickland was second with a personal record of 17:29, and he was followed by Seth Venable (17:47 – 5th). Their contributions helped their team to fifth. Florida High had two top-fifteen runners, Joseph Garcia (18:00 – eighth) and Walker Toothman (18:21 – thirteenth) with the team finishing third. Godby, Rickards, and JPII finished eleventh, thirteenth, and fifteenth respectively. Another successful Saturday brings the local teams one step closer to the start of the post-season!