JACKSONVILLE - After one of the best cross country and track seasons in Clay County history, the Fleming Island High boys and girls cross country teams put a little feeler out on the state scene by visiting (and dominating) the Florida Striders Summer Classic 5K on Sat., July 27 in Jacksonville.
With incoming senior Jacob Campbell winning from the starting gun in 16 minutes, 29 seconds on the road course, the Fleming Island cross-country contingencies for both girls and boys took the top three spots overall with Campbell leading in with teammate Andrew Boyer and Tyler Mess just steps behind him for the boys and Ava Hendrix winning the overall female title in 19:19; 10th overall, with Brooke Reynolds and Jennifer Fagan right behind her in 20:22 and 21:11.
There were 219 finishers for the event staged by 1st Place Sports.
In the top 20 finishers, just two high schoolers got in amongst the youngsters with Bryan Boyers, 47, 15th in 20:39, James Hartley, 25, in 16th in 20:54, George Barthelmes, 54, in 18th in 21:29, David Ledlow, 30, in 19th in 21:42 and Laier Pereira De Silva, 50, in 20th in 21:44.
Next up is the rugged Tour de Pain race series on August 9-10 with runners competing in a road 4 miler on Fri., Aug. 9 at 6 p.m. at the Prominence Business Center, a road 5K in downtown Jacksonville's James Weldon Johnson Park on Sat., August 10 at 7 a.m. and a road mile also at Weldon Park at 9 a.m. Saturday with all times added together for the winner.