Payne, Charles Win 4A Region 3



Complete Coverage & Results

Race Footage Posted

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Meet Summary

On a nice morning down in Boca Raton, the boys and girls of region 3 took to the South County Regional Park for their chances at qualifying for the state championships. To start off the meet, the girls lined up across the start line and prepared to take off onto the course. Out in front from the start was a pack of St. Thomas Aquinas girls being chased by top competition from other schools. After the first mile, it was St. Thomas’s Alexandra Payne up in front, with teammates Megan Schloss, Brianna Rischar, and Giselle Suarez and West Broward’s Chloe Sell training just paces behind. After a second mile of running, Payne increased her lead and was able to secure her spot on top. Payne cruised in for the regional championship with a time of 18:58.66, followed by teammate Schloss in 19:20.60. Her first place finish easily propelled her team to a team title, 26-86 over Jupiter, whose top runner, Courteney Zboyan, finished fourth in 19:24.54. Park Vista, West Broward, Monarch, and Dwyer all join in the group that qualified for the state championships next week. Individuals to qualify include Boyd Anderson’s Topaz Brissett and Qadeera Allen, Courtney Jacobazzi of Coral Springs, Katherine McNeal of Cypress Bay, Monarch’s Jacqueline Johnson, Lauren Castillo of Palm Beach Central, and Camila Rey of Taravella.

Girls Race Footage



On the boys side, it a very close race among some of the top competition south Florida has to offer. Up in front were John I Leonard’s Anderson Charles and Charlie Bengston, along with Spanish River’s Nick French, and Ryan White of Park Vista. As a surprise to many, missing from this top pack was St. Thomas Aquinas’ Tom McCarthy, who, to my understanding, was not able to finish the race due to medical reasons. This issue was handled by typical top runner, Nicholas Bauer, who stepped up for his team and took a spot up in the front pack. By the end of the first mile, it was clear that this race belonged to Charles, who took a commanding lead over the field while the rest battled it out for the number two spot. Charles breezed into a first place finish with his time of 15:58.90. Taking the second spot was White in 16:10.19, outkicking Bengston, who came in third with 16:16.25. The absence of McCarthy allowed John I Leonard, whose team average was 16:42.13, to take the team title over St. Thomas, 47-67. Other teams that will take to the state championship course next week will include Park Vista, Spanish River, Flanagan, and Coral Springs. Added to the field will be Daniel Puentes of South Broward, Coral Glades’ Anthony Deleva, Atlantic’s Luke Jeske and William Fay, and Nassor Whitehead of Cooper City. These top qualifications, on both the boys and girls sides, set up for a very fast field at the state championships to take place on Saturday November 19th.


Boys Race Footage