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RHS Snipes among XC elite challengers

Clay girls on the radar

By Randy Lefko Sports Editor
Posted 8/25/21

Orange Park - In 2020, James Snipes got the itch to try cross country as a way to improve his court speed for basketball and a funny thing happened.

“I liked running fast and training to run …

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RHS Snipes among XC elite challengers

Clay girls on the radar


Posted

Orange Park - In 2020, James Snipes got the itch to try cross country as a way to improve his court speed for basketball and a funny thing happened.

“I liked running fast and training to run fast,” said Snipes, a senior at Ridgeview High under the watchful eyes of cross country coach Paul Grybb. “Last year was my first competitive season in cross country.”

Grybb reiterated that he, as a high schooler, also took up cross country to improve his basketball and found out he liked the trekking through the woods as well.

Arear runners are gearing up this week to take on what should be one of the strongest, fastest fields for a cross country season opener as the Cecil Field Summer Classic kicks off the cross country season on Fri., Aug. 27 at the New World Golf Course at Cecil Field Base off Branan Field Road.

In last year’s district to region to state cross country weeks, Snipes emerged on the state scene as a possible wild card with a strong 17:03 effort for 11th place with teammate Dominik Frietze also advancing with a 17:52 split.

At regions, Snipes again took out on his hard first mile push with likes of Leon, Pace and Ponte Vedra around him and six runners hitting 16-plus times. Snipes fell off the pace to finish in 17:41.14 and miss an invite to state.

“He was a little disappointed, but motivated to do some real training to get into the 16 minute range this year,” said Grybb. “My job now is to reign him in from just hammering all day and get him focus on the training to get stronger, then faster.”

Grybb’s formula may prove fruitful as Snipes recently took on the 1st Place Sports Tour de Pain race weekend; a four mile beach run Friday night, a 5K road race Saturday morning and a one mile street race Saturday afternoon in the brutal heat of the day. Race times are added up and a series winner named.

For Snipes, the Tour revealed some summer strength as he finished third overall to to veterans of the road running circuit; Sem Sultanov, 24, and Michael Remich, 25.

Snipes captured times of 23:46 for the beach four milers, 16:31 for the road 5K and a 4:50 mile.

“Running on the beach sand was a new experience,” said Snipes. “I think I improved a lot being I was running with those two guys much older than myself.”

On the south end of Clay County, Clay High cross country coach Frank Wickes also has himself a bit of a dilemma.

“Last year, my three top girls had a breakout season and surprised a bunch of people with two girls; Savannah Hill and Ulyanna Damme, both state meet qualifiers and Madisyn Blackburn, a region qualifiers and a just-miss to the state meet, all returning for Wickes.

“We have had a great summer of just running and the workouts we are doing now make me think Clay cross county could have another special season,” said Wickes. “We’ve got two girls coming in that can make our top five a pretty good group; Kaygen Williamson, who ran last year and missed by a spot to go to regions, and a freshman; Gabby Barrios, who looks promising as a newcomer.”

Hill, as a freshman, ran fearlessly with the likes of Bolles and Bishop Kenny in her district with Dammer and Blackburn close by putting the Clay girls in the top 22 at districts with Williamson in at 24th enough to get the team to regions. Damme was top district finisher for Clay at 21:59.

At regions, with Bolles, Bishop Kenny and South Walton dominating the top of the finishers list; Bolles with a 1-7 finish block, Damme against improved to be top Clay finisher at 20:46.50 with Hill 22nd at 20:57.20. Blackburn was 33rd at 21:55.30 and missed the state invite cut.

At state, Hill got introduced to the hills of Tallahassee and the stress of running the best runners in Florida and finished at 22:05.3 with Damme at 23:01.1.

“I think they found out that running fast is one thing; running fast on hills is another thing,” said Wickes. “I’ve been talking a bit about now being a targeted team because everyone knows we had a pretty good year last year.”