BARTRAM TRAIL - Fleming Island senior cross country runner Jacob Campbell broke early and extended to win the Bale N Trail Cross Country Invitational held Saturday at Bartram Trail High School on a slightly muddy course adorned with hay bales along the way.
Campbell, the top returner of last year's Golden Eagle cross country team that finished fourth in Class 3A last year with grads Graham Myers, now at the University of Florida, and John Keester IV, now at the University of South Florida, has emerged as one of the top area runners as the cross country season starts to ramp up for post season races.
Campbell won with a time of 16 minutes, 7.10 seconds with a three-second gap on St. Augustine junior Cole Swesey and 11 seconds on third placer Sean Cunningham of Providence.
Where Campbell needs to be, in comparison with the 2023 Golden Eagles attack, is under the 16-minute mark as the top 14 runners in the Class 3A championship were under 16 minutes on the much hillier Tallahassee cross-country championship course. Campbell's 16:07 split would have placed 22nd in Class 3A last season.
Campbell hit the sub-16 mark last week in a very fast field in Georgia with a 16th-place finish in 15:46.10 on a much hillier course.
For coaches, Dave Allen and Jason Poole, their methodical training regimen is designed to have their team as ready as possible in those November post-season races.
The second finisher for the Golden Eagles was junior Andrew Boyer who took sixth in 16:35.20 with number three; senior Cole Atzert, a distant 32nd in 17:29.10.
"We are getting there race by race," said Allen, prior to the Bartram Trail race. "We have the FSU Pre-race on the Tallahassee course in two weeks and a race at Ponte Vedra on October 4 (Craig Speziale Invite) to get everyone on board."
From Oakleaf, sophomore Jack Strombeck, who had a couple of sub-17 minute performances prior to the Bartram Trail race, finished a surprising 20th in 17:04.80 in what was to be a direct challenge with Campbell.
For Oakleaf coach Sherronda Harris, the key runner at Bartram Trail was freshman Luke Janke, who finished 31st in 17:25.90 just behind Strombeck and just ahead of Atzert.
"Little by little, we'll get closer to the top racers in the area," said Harris. "Jack and Luke run together for most of the races with Jack a bit stronger at the end. Luke is learning his role and his capability at the 3.1-mile range."
Middle school courses are traditionally 3 km (1.7 miles).
Behind Atzert, Fleming Island had two finishers in Marco Serrano, a junior, and Jacob Sanders, also a junior, which is Allen and Poole's key to team finishes in November.
With Campbell's finish, Fleming Island finished fourth as a team behind Providence, Creekside and Bartram Trail with Providence putting four runners in the top 20 and Creekside and Bartram Trail landing three runners in the top 20. Oakleaf was seventh.
For the girl's race, winner Alyson Johnson, a junior at Creekside, pulled away in the second half of the race and won in 18:03.50 over Spruce Creek senior Mackenzie Roy in 18:16.10 and Seven Rivers Christian's eighth grader Mary Summers.
Fleming Island's three-runner trio of Brooke Reynolds, Ava Hendryx, and Jennifer Fagan stayed within earshot of each other with Reynolds and Hendryx in at ninth and 10th and Fagan back at 25th.
In a unique Clay County battle a little further back, Ridgeview senior Emily Turner, who has improved as the season has progressed, ran nearly shoulder to shoulder with Oakleaf's Morgan Wade to finish in 41st and 42nd just two seconds apart in 21:40.40 and 21:42.80.
St. Johns Country Day School senior Rebecca Stratton, with three invite wins under her belt, finished 49th in 22:04.40.
For the team scores, Creekside used the Johnson sisters; Alyson in first and Sydney in fourth, to take the team title with 58 points ahead of Flagler Palm Coast, Nease, and Providence with Fleming Island fifth, St. Johns 14th and Oakleaf 18th.