MIDDLEBURG – With a near-record 32 teams competing, the Middleburg Bronco Classic cross country invitational had four rounds of heavy competition on the Middleburg High School campus course known for mud, tree roots and a track finish and the bubbly heat tested every athlete will to get to the finish line minus throwing up and collapsing.

“It’s hot out there,” said St. Johns Country Day School senior Rebecca Stratton, who, though, not running the course as one of the top female runners in the area, was on the course blasting away with her camera with a minor muscle injury. “Everyone is pushing hard because this is early in the season and runners want to test their summer training.”

With the firepower of state power programs like Ponte Vedra (3A girls runner-up, 3A boys fifth), Nease (Boys 4A champions), Buchholz (4A girls champions, boys 4A runner-ups), Bishop Kenny (2A girls champions, 2A boys runner-up) and St. Augustine (12th in 3A girls) on the roster, meet director and Middleburg High coach Paul Grybb was close to giddiness in his excitement to see the action on the course.

“One of the biggest fields we’ve ever had,” said Grybb, a long-time stalwart at both Middleburg and Ridgeview high schools and a huge proponent of big meets including Ridgeview’s Bob Hans Memorial at his former alma mater. “Everyone wants to race and this course is not the easiest course to run plus the heat factor will make it tough.”

As the varsity races evolved, the powers to be; Nease and Ponte Vedra on both sides; boys and girls, took control of both races from the starter gun and showed off their prowess with Ponte Vedra’s boys landed four boys in the top 10 finishers behind race winner Tanner Andrade Brinsko’s winning split of fifteen minutes, 59.6 seconds that gapped runnerup Cole Sweeney of St. Augustine by almost 14 seconds with Kenneth Folkenroth of Tocoi Creek third in 16:23.5.

Amongst the leaders from the start was Fleming Island senior Jacob Campbell in fourth at 16:26.1. Campbell, a strong runner in last year’s top five for coaches Dave Allen and Jason Poole that was fourth in Class 3A, has assumed the lead role for the Golden Eagles with the departure of college runners Graham Myers and John Keester IV; Florida and South Florida, with newcomer Jacob Sanders, a Clay High transfer, adding points in the top 20 at 14th.

With the team points going to Ponte

Vedra at 36 and Nease at 91, Fleming Island battled in for third with 122 with Oakleaf showing strong team presence behind their leader Jack Strombeck at eighth place in 16:42.9. Strombeck had a strong race at last week’s Cecil Field Summer Classic and will continue to ascend higher into the top 10 ranks as the season progresses.

Oakleaf boys team showed good team depth to take their fourth place finish with Luke Janke at 18th and Grant Keppel at 26th to create a strong first three runners for future meets.

With Campbell and Sanders maybe creating a second round of strong 1-2s, Allen and Poole will be tasked during the season to bring up the 3-4-5 with Marcos Serrano; 27th, and Tyler Mess, 30th, new names able to close the scoring gap.

St. Johns Country Day School posted a 14th place finish in the boys and a ninth in the girl's race as coach Greg Stratton has dialed up a roster of runners down to the sixth grades to bolster the next few years of his leadership with eighth grader Kate Staten returning from a strong seventh-grade season last year to give Stratton a 37th place finish in 21:45.9 with seventh grader Ella Rose Hannah in at 59th keeping the Lady Spartans in the talk of a return to the state top 10 ranks for the next few years.

For the girl's race, state powers Ponte Vedra, Bishop Kenny Buchholz and Nease plus St. Augustine took their usual spots at the top with Fleming Island sixth with the 1-2-3 front runners of Brooke Reynolds, Ava Hendryx and Jennifer Fagan breaking into the top 15 with spots at 10-11-14.

Up front, Ponte Vedra’s Daisy Ross; ninth in 3A last year, won in a quick 18:43.4 with Bishop Kenney’s pair of Tessa Massa; 11th in 2A last year) and Stephanie Grden; 14th in 2A last year, in at second and fourth and Ocala Forest’s Jordan McLean; seventh in 4A last year, splitting the two Kenny’s at third in 19:07.5.

Ponte Vedra’s girls won with 57 points with Bishop Kenny close by at 69 and Buchholz third at 92. Fleming Island finished sixth with 153 points with St. Johns ninth with 289.

For the boys, St. Johns finished in 14th (Arlo Kistner 64th in 19:22.9), Middleburg 15th (Daniel Johnson 70th in 19:33.2), Keystone Heights 18th (James Thomas 12th in 17:33.0) Clay 20th (Jeremiah Jewell 65th in 19:23.6) and Ridgeview and Orange Park fielding individual athletes; Braidyn Matz for Ridgeview (33rd in 18:19.1) and Kasen LeBlanc for Orange Park (131st in 22:08).

Upcoming, Saturday, September 7, is the Clay County Invitational moved to the Seamark Ranch campus that has housed MudRuns over the last decade with plenty of tough running conditions for cross country with three moderate to difficult climbs along the way.

College Cross Country

Myers, Kesster get the first taste of college running

In college cross country action, the aforementioned duo of Graham Myers and John Keester IV both had their first taste of college running and both fared well at the UCF Cross Country Invitational on August 30 with Myers clocking a 16:09.5 to place 27th for the Florida Gators and Keester just behind him at 30th in 16:24.2 for South Florida.

Florida State’s Kidus Misgina won the race in 14:32.4 with FSU taking six of the top seven spots to win the meet with just 15 points. Fourth place was an unattached finisher; Josh Ruiz, of Florida.

In the girl's field, with FSU taking the top two spots; 17:16.4 and 17:30.6, to win the team title over Florida 18-51, South Florida’s Kate Thompson, a Fleming Island grad, finished in 47th in 20:41.5.