Congrats to the Boys and Girls Track and Field Teams. They both finished 1st in the district for the 4th straight year and have 10 athletes who qualified for State. Demetrius Smith - High Jump, James Prince - Pole Vault, Alec Clark - 1600, Hunter Sport - 800, Muridia Washington - 400, also Raleigh Nesbitt, Kaysi Roberts, Muridia Washington, Jordan Sortino in the girls 4x800m and Hunter Sport, Alec Clark, Austin Sortino, Marcus Slade in the boys 4x800m.

North Florida teams struggled to compete in the 80 degree temperatures at the State Championship.  Bishop Kenny, Bolles, FWB, Niceville, Washington, Catholic, West Florida... These are just some of the north Florida teams that finished lower that projected and lost to teams they had not lost to all year.  Not sure we could have done anything different as we just have not had that kind of heat for a while, making it impossible to be prepared, it didn't help that they started the first race at 8:30 when all season races have started at 7:00, our teams ran at 10:10 and 10:50, it was brutal!  Out of all of hear north Florida schools it was West Florida and Catholic who seemed to drop the least, I am very proud of that!

The boys ranked 15th going into State finished 18th which is not bad considering some of the other shocking drops from other North Florida Teams. Kaysi also struggled, but so didn't every other Pensacola girls including her rival Emma Walker who ran 20:40, it just wasn't a good day for the northern schools.

I think we have finally conquered the State course as a team, we have finally figured out how to prepare for it but we just had no way of preparing for the unusual warm temperatures that this year's race presented us with. The team looks forward to getting the track season started, I think we have some great times to look forward to this year and next!

F 5000 Meter Run
22) Kaysi Roberts 20:08.18

M 5000 Meter Run
41) Alec Clark 17:22.23
60) Mark Sortino 17:41.44
99) Darrin Qualls 18:22.08
130) Marcus Slade 18:53.60
161) David Wright 19:28.57
176) Seth Modin 20:10.37

Both teams came up big at the Regional Championship race, running faster than they have any other race this season.

Kaysi Roberts, only a Sophomore, had the most impressive performance of the day, running a new school record of 18:53 and winning the 2011 2A Region 1 Championship. She out raced every girl from Pensacola to Jacksonville and in doing so, qualified for the State Championship next weekend. The rest of the girls tried their best to overcome being short a runner and nearly did as each of the six girls, Kaysi Roberts, Raleigh Nesbitt, Jordan Sortino, Miranda Wiley, Hanna Moore and Danielle Turner all ran personal best times and only missed qualifying for State by 4 points.

The boys also came up big as the entire team qualified for State for the 3rd straight year with a 5th place finish. Alec Clark led the boys with a 5th place finish followed by Austin Sortino's 11th place finish. Darrin Qualls, Marcus Slade and David Wright finished as the team's 3rd 4th and 5th runners, all running personal best times. The boys will now move on to the State Championship where they will try to beat their 15th place finish from last year.

F 5000 Meter Run
1) Kaysi Roberts 18:53.56
32) Raleigh Nesbitt 21:00.71
36) Jordan Sortino 21:19.82
49) Miranda Wiley 22:03.99
70) Hanna Moore 23:06.51
71) Danielle Turner 23:07.28
74) Andrea Rivera-santiago 23:35.43

M 5000 Meter Run
5) Alec Clark 16:40.56
11) Mark Sortino 16:54.39
39) Darrin Qualls 17:51.93
44) Marcus Slade 17:56.59
57) David Wright 18:30.34
69) Hunter Sport 18:51.22
91) Seth Modin 20:15.08

Both teams finished 2nd overall at the 2A District 1 Championship, marking the 3rd year in a row that both teams have finished runner-up or better at Districts.

Kaysi defended her title as District Champion with a 19:26 running most of the race alone in front. Jordan and Raleigh both ran personal best times helping the team to hold onto 2nd place overall. Hanna and Danielle ran personal bests for the second race in a row, hopefully they will continue to drop as we head into our last two races.

Austin Sortino was the big star this week on the boys side, running a huge personal best of 16:36, less than a second away from being crowned the District Champion. Alec struggled a bit but still managed a 3rd place finish. Darrin had another great race, he has been very consistent for us the last few races.

Both teams head to the Regional next weekend where the top 6 teams will qualify for State. The teams will need big performances from everyone in order to get to the State Championship. They have both made it the last two years, can they make it 3?

F 5000 Meter Run
1) Kaysi Roberts 19:26.00
7) Jordan Sortino 21:40.00
8) Raleigh Nesbitt 21:43.00
16) Miranda Wiley 22:54.00
17) Hanna Moore 23:04.00
18) Andrea Rivera-santiago 23:11.00
19) Danielle Turner 23:12.00

M 5000 Meter Run
2) Mark Sortino 16:36.00
3) Alec Clark 16:54.00
12) Darrin Qualls 18:14.00
16) Seth Modin 18:35.00
23) Hunter Sport 19:11.00
24) David Wright 19:14.06
25) Marcus Slade 19:14.49

For most of our runners the County Championship did not go as planned.

On the girls side, Kaysi didn't feel to good, fought hard but had to settle for second place. The rest of the team ran hard and near their best but ultimately not what we expected for this course at this time of the season. The west Florida girls settled for a 3rd place finish behind Catholic and just 5 points behind Pace. The girls now have two weeks of hard work to prepare themselves for District, Regional and hopefully State.

On the boys side Alec had a great race finishing 5th overall with a 16:29. Also Darrin ran good breaking 18 minutes. But the best race of the day goes to Seth, dropping over a minute to an 18:06. The rest of the team fought hard but seamed to struggle a bit. The boys finished in 4th behind Washington, Navarre and Catholic.


F 5000 Meter Run
2) Kaysi Roberts 19:21.00
17) Jordan Sortino 21:59.00
18) Raleigh Nesbitt 22:00.01
24) Andrea Rivera-santiago 22:20.00
40) Hanna Moore 23:08.00
48) Miranda Wiley 23:24.00
55) Danielle Turner 23:41.00
78) Kaitlyn Turner 25:29.00
101) Chandler Morales 27:37.00
103) Kathryn Swann 28:16.00
108) Mary Katherine Cobb 29:57.00

M 5000 Meter Run
5) Alec Clark 16:29.00
13) Mark Sortino 17:14.00
25) Darrin Qualls 17:59.00
28) Seth Modin 18:06.00
43) Hunter Sport 18:30.00
46) Marcus Slade 18:35.00
55) Garrett Diamond 18:46.00
58) David Wright 19:02.00
72) Seymore Pate 19:38.00
78) Delvon Rodgers 20:00.00

The course at State has proved to be a problem for our runners in the past. All of our returning runners would be quick to tell you that last year's state race was one of their worst performances of the year. We left that course last year scratching our heads a bit, wondering what went wrong? So this year I made the decision to try and solve this problem by facing the course twice. I am so happy that we did because both the girls and boys teams faced their fears and put up record performances at the Pre-State Invitational this weekend.

The girl's top five runners averaged 21:55 their fastest average this year and are closing in fast on county and district favorite Pensacola Catholic. In order to allow Kaysi Roberts to race against the best in the state, she ran in the Elite race. It was worth it, as she ran her best race of the season finishing at 19:19.6. This time is very impressive considering the hilly course they did not give her a starting box which forced her to start the race behind everyone. Her first mile was much slower than usually because she had to fight her way to the top, but she did a good job making up for it the rest of the race finishing only 5 seconds slower than her best time ever. Jordan and Raliegh also put up some great times, only a few seconds away from breaking 22 minutes. The team has a shot next week on a very fast course to get their top 5 runners all under 22 minutes. They will be trying to defend their county championship title agains their distric rival Catholic.

The boy's top five averaged 17:51 and just like the girls, this was their fastest team average this year. Alec had to face the same situation as Kaysi, starting behind everyone and fighting through the crowd to get closer to the front. Although this kind of effort will often lead to dead legs the last mile, Alec was able to hang on running a 16:37.79, only a few seconds slower than his best race ever. The rest of the guys did great as well most running faster on this hilly grass course than they did last weekend on the flat paved course at JD-Mac. The biggest improvement was Marcus Slade, who nearly broke 18 minutes.

F 5000 Meter Run
39) Kaysi Roberts 19:19.60
95) Jordan Sortino 22:07.07
98) Raliegh Nesbitt 22:08.37
133) Rivera-santiago 22:51.52
148) Miranda Wiley 23:10.26
174) Hanna Moore 23:58.75
181) Danielle Turner 24:09.68
140) Kaitlyn Turner 26:59.49
157) Chandler Morales 28:01.74
180) Mary Tomlinson 29:40.62
182) Kathryn Swann 29:50.88
187) Mary Katherine Cobb 30:11.85

M 5000 Meter Run
98) Alec Clark 16:37.79
38) Ausitn Sortino 17:25.24
81) Marcus Slade 18:04.07
107) Darrin Qualls 18:28.59
124) Hunter Sport 18:41.79
136) Delvon Rodgers 20:28.86
142) David Wright 18:55.05
144) Garrett Diamond 18:56.15
180) Rodric stovall 21:11.72
186) Seymore Pate 19:47.97
228) Cameron stroehl 22:13.86

The cross country team saw two school records fall last weekend at the JD-Mac invitational. Sophomore Kaysi Roberts broke her own school record with a 19:14 5k, while Junior Alec Clark ran 16:24 breaking 2011 graduate Nick Mascardo's record. Both runners are currently ranked in the top 10 of the State and have been invited to the Elite Pre-State Race in Dade City Florida next weekend.

The team had several other impressive performances as well.

The girls had to race without their #2 and #3 runners Jordan Sortino and Andrea Rivera but that didn't stop Raleigh Nesbitt and Miranda Wiley from dropping their time over a minute finishing 22:02 and 22:05. These times put them right on the heals of our Jordan and sets the team up for a shot at running 5 girls under 22 minutes at pre-state.

The boys team also saw big drops, the biggest coming from Hunter Sport, and Garrett Diamond who both improved nearly a minute or more. Seymore Pate ran under 19:20 in the Junior Varsity race which means he will be added to the varsity squad at the Pre-State Invitational next weekend.

F 5000 Meter Run
1) Kaysi Roberts 19:14.00
13) Raliegh Nesbitt 22:01.00
15) Miranda Wiley 22:09.54
28) Hanna Moore 23:32.00
31) Danielle Turner 23:42.00
M 5000 Meter Run
3) Alec Clark 16:24.94
8) Mark Sortino 17:12.00
23) Marcus Slade 18:25.00
25) Darrin Qualls 18:29.00
28) Hunter Sport 18:35.00
30) Garrett Diamond 18:37.00
32) David Wright 18:56.00

For the first time this year the girls had the entire varsity team run under 24 minutes. Their team average of 22:21 is by far their best of the season. The boys did not have the same sort of break out race as only a few had significant drops in time. JV runners Seth Modin, Seymore Pate and Cameron stroehl each dropped nearly a minute or more. Seth ran under 19:30 which has earned him a spot on the Varsity squad for the Pre-State Invitational in a couple of weeks.




F 5000 Meter Run
9) Kaysi Roberts 19:38.90
33) Kaitlyn Turner 26:01.90
54) Jordan Sortino 22:02.70
87) Andrea Rivera-santiago 23:00.90
100) Raliegh Nesbitt 23:31.00
101) Miranda Wiley 23:32.00
107) Hanna Moore 23:48.50
108) Danielle Turner 23:49.80
43) Chandler Morales 27:33.20
48) Kathryn Swann 28:09.00
58) Mary Katherine Cobb 29:01.00
62) Mary Tomlinson 29:33.10

M 5000 Meter Run
27) Alec Clark 16:59.10
39) Mark Sortino 17:19.60
115) Darrin Qualls 18:57.30
122) David Wright 19:06.50
126) Garrett Diamond 19:15.20
173) Hunter Sport 20:07.50
26) Seth Modin 19:22.30
53) Seymore Pate 20:21.80
64) Delvon Rodgers 20:37.80
113) Cameron stroehl 22:36.50

The teams ran a tough hilly and hot course after a week of training that included 3 speed workouts, considering all of this, I think they had a good day. The leaders of both teams ran personal bests. Kaysi Roberts ran with a pack led by Lily William for the first mile, hitting a 5:47, that led her to a new school record of 19:27.6. Alec Clark put together a great race, including a 5:10 mile followed by a 5:30 second mile that led him to a 16:42.99. The team will race at home next week for the Gulf Coast Cross Country Stampede.

F 5000 Meter Run
13) Kaysi Roberts 19:27.60
31) Andrea Rivera-santiago 23:34.29
32) Jordan Sortino 23:38.67
40) Raliegh Nesbitt 24:06.31
50) Miranda Wiley 24:28.63
60) Hanna Moore 25:07.93
67) Danielle Turner 25:46.53
40) Kaitlyn Turner 26:55.35
63) Chandler Morales 29:09.56
69) Mary Katherine Cobb 29:55.35
75) Mary Tomlinson 30:42.09
76) Kathryn Swann 31:02.49
M 5000 Meter Run
29) Alec Clark 16:42.99
70) Mark Sortino 17:22.25
131) Marcus Slade 18:37.62
151) David Wright 19:36.05
152) Darrin Qualls 19:37.69
155) Garrett Diamond 19:43.17
51) Seth Modin 20:36.32
68) Seymore Pate 21:15.57
76) Delvon Rodgers 21:35.31
104) Cameron stroehl 23:39.34

Overall our 2nd race of the year went well but we still have much more work to do to try to close the gap between us and Pensacola Catholic on both the girls and boys squad.

The varsity boys seemed to be a bit off on this race as each of them ran about 10 to 15 seconds slower than expected. Over the next few weeks we need to really focus on bringing these times down, especially or 3rd, 4th and 5th runners.

The girls had a great race, each running 30 seconds or more faster than the previous weekend. We also saw big drops in our JV girls, with two runners, Raliegh and Danielle, hitting fast enough times to be added to Varsity next race. The biggest news of the weekend was Kaysi's 19:37 performance which is a new personal best and school record. Hitting this time so early in the season gives her a great shot at breaking 19 minutes this year.

Both teams will get back to work this week as we prepare for the FSU Championship next weekend.

F 5000 Meter Run
6) Kaysi Roberts 19:37.26
59) Jordan Sortino 22:37.41
108) Hanna Moore 24:31.34
109) Miranda Wiley 24:38.55

M 5000 Meter Run
22) Alec Clark 17:01
25) Austin Sortino 17:06
74) Marcus Slade 18:55.19
96) Garrett Diamond 19:38.02
97) David Wright 19:42.48
104) Darrin Qualls 20:01.96