Ideal conditions at Wickham Park in Melbourne made Mason Jones of Titusville hungry for a new personal best. The senior finished runner-up in 2015 at the Wickham Park Cross Country Jamboree behind Brandon Marquez who ran a meet record time of 15:48.00. His time was 16:34.00 on a sloppy course that was bogged down with mud and soaking wet. This year Jones was out front from the start of the race and never relinquished the lead.
"Well it was a tight start as usual. The course was really nice compared to last year, mostly dry and a few holes and roots. I'd say it was a pretty clean race. I don't think anyone fell. I pretty much just broke out early with the lead and kind of pulled away as much as I could, but there was a pretty big second gap hanging behind me for a while. Overall, it was a pretty good race."
The competitive field pulled Jones to a time of a 15:51, a three second PR, and the win. Jones, who was 9th at the 2A Cross Country Finals, says it feels good get off to such a great start.
"It felt great to win the first race of the season especially with a pr because I know I can run faster and work harder to get my times even lower."
Host Satellite showed why they will challenge Trinity Prep and the rest of 2A this season placing their top five runners in the top 12 spots. Egan Kattenberg and John Cacciatore finished third and fourth for the Scorpions with times of 16:06 and 16:09. identical spots as last year. Sophomore Troy Smith of Rockledge was the meet's runner-up.
On the girl's side, Holy Trinity Academy senior Samantha Folio is looking to make her fifth top 25 appearance at the Cross Country Finals. Folio, like her male counterpart Jones, took it out hard from the gun and never looked back, quickly distancing herself from the field with a time of 19:29.00. It marks the first win at this meet for Folio, who finished 10th in 2014 and 4th in 2013.
Equally as impressive as Folio's feat, were the nine girls behind her who all finished under 21 minutes. Rockledge senior Dominique Coriell was second in 20:17 with Claire Barber of the Pine School in third at 20:24. Host Satellite came in the next three spots with sophomore Marie Groppel (20:29), freshman Anique Kattenberg (20:33), and sophomore Lana Rukab (20:35).
The top five Scorpions all finished in the top 15 which shows that Coach Butler's boys and girls team will be ready to run this season and when November rolls around.
More Coverage
- Wickham Park Jamboree Meet Page (Results/Coverage)
- Wickham Park Jamboree Featured Photo Album By Rick Andrews (1,283 Photos)
- 2015 Wickham Park Jamboree Meet Coverage