Florida High put together a strong showing at the Yellow Jacket XC Invitational on Aug. 29 at Thomas County Central Middle School in Thomasville, Georgia, winning the girls team competition while producing the meet’s top individual boys finisher.
The meet featured several Leon County schools, including Florida High, Lincoln, Community Christian School, St. John Paul II Catholic and Community Leadership Academy.
Boys
Florida High finished second in the boys team standings with 69 points, trailing host Thomas County Central High School’s 38 points. The Seminoles placed five runners inside the top 27 overall, led by sophomore Lawson Phillips, who won the individual 5,000-meter race in 17:15.80.
Phillips finished more than 16 seconds ahead of Thomas County Central’s Holten Dennard, who finished second in 17:32.00.
Florida High’s Yoshi Hutt was the team’s second finisher, placing ninth overall in 18:47.00. Eighth-grader Ezekiel Wyman followed in 19th at 20:07.50, while Elijah Rhodes and Christian Acree finished 26th and 27th, respectively, with times of 21:02.50 and 21:03.50.
Sophomores Shane Moore and Grant Phillips also competed for the Seminoles, finishing 34th and 60th.
Lincoln finished fourth in the team standings with 103 points. Cooper Rideout led the Trojans, finishing 15th overall in 19:48.00. Lucas Puig was 23rd in 20:48.20, followed closely by Ayden Green in 25th at 21:01.70.
Damion Johnson and Grant Hayden rounded out Lincoln’s scoring five, finishing 28th and 30th in 21:05.40 and 21:14.10. The five scoring runners finished within just 1 minute, 26 seconds of each other, giving Lincoln the smallest scoring spread among the Leon County teams.
Community Christian School finished sixth with 132 points. The Warriors had two of the area’s strongest individual performances, with Lincoln Eisenberg placing sixth overall in 18:21.00 and Everett Malick finishing seventh in 18:29.30.
Dominic Graff was CCS’ third scorer in 41st at 21:56.40, followed by Jericho Wilson in 56th at 23:25.70 and Josiah Durbin in 61st at 23:54.70. Hayden Joyner and Stephen Meli also competed for CCS.
St. John Paul II was represented by Joseph McSoley and James Thompson. McSoley finished 12th overall in 19:30.20, while Thompson placed 88th in 27:27.20. The Panthers did not have enough runners to record a team score.
Community Leadership Academy’s Jacob Herdt also competed individually, finishing 107th in 48:25.20.
Tallahassee Classical was represented by Mackiah Hayes and Isaiah Laughton. Hayes finished 31st in 21:20.00, while Laughton placed 65th in 24:06.10.
Boys Team Standings
- Thomas County Central — 38
- Florida High — 69
- Valdosta — 74
- Lincoln — 103
- Colquitt County — 105
- Community Christian — 132
Girls
Florida High completed the team sweep by winning the girls competition with 39 points, edging Thomas County Central’s 42 points. Lincoln finished third with 63 points.
The Seminoles placed five runners inside the top 19 overall, led by freshman Vera Vanlandingham, who finished second overall in 22:15.40.
Eighth-grader Maie Moody and senior Leah Boutwell finished third and fourth, respectively. Moody ran 23:12.70, while Boutwell finished in 23:19.60.
Florida High’s Blakely Newlin placed 17th in 25:41.50, followed by Elin Quisenberry in 18th at 25:54.60. Shelby Tucker and Stella Quisenberry also finished inside the top 20, giving Florida High a strong group at the front of the field.
Lincoln’s girls finished third as a team with 63 points. Eighth-grader Evin Gomez led the Trojans in seventh overall with a time of 24:00.40, followed immediately by senior Sadie Blake in eighth at 24:05.50.
Lydia Kennett was 11th in 24:39.10, Logan Brumfield finished 13th in 24:59.80, and Grace Bergstresser rounded out Lincoln’s scoring five in 24th at 27:58.00.
Lincoln also had several additional runners in the field, including Sahni Myers, Isabel Puig, Miasia Harden, Finnley Humes, Addyson White, Nora Duff, Serenity Nelson and Natalie Linville.
Community Christian had two girls compete individually. Anna Cate Cole finished 22nd overall in 26:27.20, while Sierra Gerrell finished 26th in 27:22.00. CCS did not record a team score.
St. John Paul II was represented by Holly McCormick and Savannah Stidham. McCormick finished 19th overall in 26:12.70, while Stidham placed 82nd in 41:15.20.
Community Leadership Academy’s Delaney Johnson finished 56th overall with a time of 32:30.40.
Girls Team Standings
- Florida High — 39
- Thomas County Central — 42
- Lincoln — 63
- Colquitt County — 87
- Cairo — 173
- Tift Area Academy — 184
- Seminole County — 218
- Valdosta — 229
- Lanier County — 232
Florida High’s boys and girls teams both finished near the top of the standings, with the girls taking the team championship and the boys finishing second. Lincoln also placed both teams inside the top four, while CCS recorded a sixth-place finish on the boys side.
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