TALLAHASSEE - Fleming Island High cross country runners Ava Hendrix and Andrew Boyer may have liked the feel of being upfront a few weeks ago as the pair came up with their best finishes of the season at the Class 3A cross country championships held Saturday at Tallahassee's Apalachee Regional Park.
Hendrix, a senior, had her first stellar race a few weeks ago at the Cecil Field New World Fall Classic with a sub-19 minute finish (18:41) for the Golden Eagles then ran among the elites in the Class 3A race to finish 16th in 19 minutes, 3.5 seconds for the Golden Eagles.
Hendrix and junior Brooke Reynolds have been trading off the top two spots for coach Dave Allen all season; Reynolds seventh, Hendrix eighth at regions; Reynolds fourth, Hendrix fifth at districts, with the pair finishing usually within eyeshot of each other at just about 19 minutes and change to give the team point total a jolt right from the start with their usual top 20 finishes.
At the 3A race, Reynolds started fast on the double loop with a monster hill near the midway point and 800 yards from the finish straightaway with an opening mile with the leaders at 5:38.7 in seventh place with Hendrix at 5:41.2 in 13th with number three Jeniffer Fagan starting with a 6:05 in 65th place.
Maybe the hill, maybe the long wrap around the start area to start the second lap, but Hendrix passed Reynolds with a 12:03.1 split (6:20 mile on the big hill) at two miles with Reynolds falling back to a 12:08.5 split (6:29 split).
Fagan, a strong, steady runner, moved up 16 places with her two miles split at 12:42.4 to give Fleming Island a boost in team points as the trio seemed to be getting closer to each other.
Fourth runner Kate Giacoman, a junior, stayed even steadier in her 87th place behind two even miles while number five Karissa Lou in at 138th as a freshman.
Hendrix extended on the final stretch to the finish to gain her 16th place finish and top Fleming Island finisher with Reynolds in at 25th place in 19:19.9.
Fleming Island finished with junior Kate Giacoman, senior Emma Schlotthauer and freshman Madison Moore.
Fleming Island girls would finish ninth in team points with 270 points to better last year's finish at 13th with Ponte Vedra winning with 63 over Miami Dillard, the defending 3A champion, with 86 points. Ponte Vedra was second to Dillard last year 46-66. Ocala Vanguard was third with 169 to improve from sixth last year.
For the boys, Jacob Campbell was the top runner for Allen before a tweaked knee kept him out of the district race where Andrew Boyer had to step in as the front runner for Fleming Island. Boyer, out quick at districts with the Ponte Vedra swiftees and St. Augustine's Cole Swesey, the eventual district champion, has peaked at the right time and stayed healthy while Campbell produced a handful of fast sub-16 minute finishes for wins in Bartram Trail and Ponte Vedra and a 15:50 at the usually fast New World Fall Classic (15:50). Boyer was slowly getting closer to Campbell with a 15:54 at the Fall Classic with Campbell returning with a strong 15:41.72 best at regions with Boyer in at 15:54.47.
In the Class 3A race, with Belen Jesuit looking to dominate the race with sophomore Marcelo Mantecon shredding the first mile in 4:29.7 in an attack on Leon's Patrick Koon's course record of 14:50, the rest of the race was going to be how many Belen Jesuit's could come in before Mantecon got his sweats back on.
Meanwhile, Boyer and Campbell were together at mile one in 14:58 and biding their time.
Of course, Belen Jesuit had five runners under 4:30 in the first mile to set the frontrunning tone.
At two miles, Mantecon, who came in with a 14:40 season best, simmered to 4:57 after the big hill with Boyer moving past Campbell in 20th now with a 5:17 second mile; Campbell at 25th with a 5:23.7 split.
As was expected, Mantecon won in 14:57 and Belen Jesuit scored an astounding 20 points (15 points in cross country is a 1-2-3-4-5 finish).
Boyer would sprint in at 18th in 16:05.6 with Campbell 35th at 16:35.8. Number three for Fleming Island was senior Cole Atzert in 77th in 17:04.9. Senior Jack Pugh, and juniors Marcos Serrano, Jacob Sanders, and senior Tyler Mess finished out the scoring for Fleming Island.
Belen Jesuit's 20 points won the team title handily over Chiles at 144 and Ponte Vedra at 203 with Fleming Island seventh at 304.
In the Class 1A girls race, St. Johns Country Day School's youthfully young squad big farewell to the last Stratton for a while in senior Rebecca Stratton, sister to state champion Matthew Stratton, and also welcomed the next generation of great runners to St. Johns in eighth grader Kate Staten who was two steps behind Stratton at the finish with the pair at 42nd and 43rd in 20:41.80 and 20:43.30.
St. Johns finished 17th in team points with Stratton the lone senior among six teammates in either seventh or eighth grade.