JACKSONVILLE - Fleming Island High's boys cross country team executed a team plan in a sport long thought of as an individual sports of fast runners and lots of hills to finish fourth in a stellar field of state contender teams at the Cecil Field Summer Classic cross country invitational held August 22 at the Cecil Field Golf Course.
"We're going to be really good this year," said Fleming Island coach Dave Allen, who saw newly transferred J.P. Strombeck and Luke Janke, both last year at Oakleaf, contributed to a five man, sub-17 minute front that had Strombeck the top Eagle finisher and Janke the fifth man in; all in the top 68 places of the race to punch up the Eagles fifth place finish. "We will get two or three guys into the 15 minutes plus range as the season progresses."
Fleming Island scored an impressive fourth place finish off 221 team points to finish behind the likes of No. 1. Belen Jesuit at 102, No. 2 Oviedo at 157, No. 3 Bolles at 201, then Fleming Island just ahead of Nease at 260.
For Strombeck, who was top runner for the Oakleaf High team last year until late in the season when a ailment ended his season in post season, finished in 36th place in 16 minutes, 26 seconds, but with Fleming Island teammate Marcos Serrano right next to him just one second behind.
"He's been cleared and adds another strong frontrunner to our team," said Allen. "I believe in October when we run this course again, we'll be even faster because this race was built on more long distance summer runs and a few speed sessions. We'll bring in more speed work as the post season gets closer."
The 1-2 finish was a strong push for the Eagles team points, but the strength and depth of the Eagles team emerged with senior Jacob Sanders, whom Allen noted as one of his 15 minute guys, in at 49th in 16:42.
From there, Allen's second guy potentially in the 15 minute range, senior Andrew Boyer, was 58th in 16:48. Boyer was Fleming Island's top finisher in the state championship race last year with a 16:05 split in the Class 3A championship race for 18th overall.
"We could potentially have two or three guys under 16; Strombeck, Boyer and Sanders, plus a few more guys under 17," said Allen. "Ryder Muyres, a sophomore, ran a lost 17 time for a personal best on the course. We add him in the sub 17 mix and that's a good team score. For us, though, Class 3A has Belen Jesuit in at state."
With Janke just five seconds behind Boyer, in 16:52 in 68th, the Eagles team point count was ready to finalized as other teams awaited the 3-4-5 runners to finish.
Up front, Tampa's Belen Jesuit grabbed the top two spots with juniors Marcelo Mantecon and Armando Cruz out surging the field to win in 14:50 and 15:15, respectively. Holy Trinity senior Evan Spreitzer was third in 15:28. Spreitzer was second in 1A last year, Mantecon was state champion in Class 3A and Cruz was seventh in 3A. Boyer
There were 15 finishers under 16 minutes and 79 under 17 minutes.
In the mix from the area were Buchholz at sixth, Chiles at ninth, Ponte Vedra at 10th and Matanzas at 13th. Oakleaf was 39th in the 42 team field with 1062 team points.
In the girls race, junior Brooke Reynolds had a strong 28th place finish in 19:58 behind a stellar field that had a record set at the top from Bishop Moore freshman Annabella Tomasic in 17:37. Tomasic was ahead of Bartram Trail freshman Avery Hartley in 18:16 and third place finisher Celina Coryell, a senior out of Satellite High, in 18:27.
Ponte Vedra won the elite girls titleat 145 with Our Lady of Lourdes Academy of Miami second in a tight 156 finish. Chiles was third at 178. Fleming Island was 20th with 495.
St. Johns Country Day School's girls finished 31st in the 34 team field led by freshmen 1-2 punch Kate Staten and Ella Rose Hanna in at 125th and 130th.
In the girls open race, Ridgeview High senior Emily Turner finished second with a 21:48 behind Nease freshman Katherine Healey in at 21:00.
Other top area finishers included Payton Carpenter, a sixth grader at St. Johns Classical Academy in Fleming Island, in 23:42 for 36th, Oakleaf freshman Kellyn Dusanic in 26:22 for 98th and Clay sophomore Olivia Phoenix-Dean in 28:19 for 142nd.
At Flagler Palm Coast's East Coast Classic on the same Saturday, Middleburg High's boys finished 16th behind top 50 finishes from seniors Adam Ruoss and Daniel Johnson in 18:53.30 and 19:06.50, respectively.
For the Middleburg girls, freshman Lauren Rosset was top finisher in 24:44.40 for 62nd.
Area runners will head to the UNF XC Invite on Friday, August 29, the Florida Horse Park Invitational in Ocala on September 6 or the Run Matanzas XC on September 6.
The always fast Katie Caples Invitational at Bishop Kenny is scheduled for September 21.