On Saturday October 19, 2013, Polk County cross country began several new traditions. The first was running in Lakeland at Holloway Park, a course known by many as one of the toughest ones in the county. Holloway Park would end up being the perfect venue for Saturday’s meet as Polk County would also have their first ever middle school 3K championship. The course for the 5K and the 3K were no different than any of the other meets that were held at the park earlier that year.
Girls Varsity
Going into the race the George Jenkins girls knew they had the upper hand after having a dominant season against both in county and out of county schools. So at the one mile mark it was not surprising to see the George Jenkins girls top five in the top ten girls. Emily English (pictured above) would take the overall victory for George Jenkins in a time of 20:28.4 followed closely by her teammate Victoria Jung in a time of 20:29.2, rounding out the top three was Leah Jostes of Lake Region running an impressive time of 21:27.1. In the team standing George Jenkins easily dominated the field with an impressive team score of 28 points (1,2,4,10,11,16,23/ 21:25 avg), for the runner up title it came down to the wire with second and third place being separated by four points Lake Region (3,7,13,18,21,27) would take home Polk County runner-up and Lakeland Christian (5,8,14,15,24,28,33) would have to settle for third.
Boys Varsity
On the boys side McKeel was the obvious favorite to win the team title, but it was the individual title that was up for grabs. Going into the race there was no predetermined favorite, but instead four: Isaac Rigel, Jonathan Hulzebos, Casey Brady, and Landon Schneider. From the gun the lead pack took off consisting of the four favorites, McKeel’s team, and several other individuals. Coming through the first mile it was not surprising to see such a gap between the next group and for McKeel to have all five guys in the top ten. In the end Isaac Rigel of Lake Wales would take home the individual title with a time of 16:47.4, followed by Jonathan Hulzebos of Lakeland with a time of 16:52.9, and rounding out the top three was Casey Brady of McKeel with a time of 17:01.1. On the team side McKeel won their second consecutive team title with an impressive score of 29 (3,5,6,7,8,12,15), and taking runner up for the second year was George Jenkins with a score of 58 (4,10,11,13,20,21,25).
Girls and Boys JV
The overall team title for the JV races would be the exactly the same as they were in the varsity races, with George Jenkins taking the girls title and McKeel taking the boys title. Sydney Kurtz would win the girl’s JV race for George Jenkins with a time of 23:57.0. Christian Malick of George Jenkins would win the boys JV race with a time of 18:34.7.
Girls and Boys Middle School
Bok Tower and Destiny Cuevas would take home the first ever Polk County Middle School cross country overall champions. Destiny Cuevas of Daniel Jenkins Middle School won the 3K in a time of 13:22.2 and Bok Tower would take home the team title with a score of 67. On the boys side Daniel Jenkins Middle School and Paul Stafford would take home the first ever Polk County Middle School individual and team overall titles. Paul Stafford of Bok Academy would come across the line with a time of 11:34 and Daniels Jenkins Middle School would capture the title with a score of 46 points.