Lakeland Christian hosted a 1A double region this past Friday at Holloway Park and the competition seemed to give a glimpse of the 1A battles that could come this Saturday at the state championship meet.
FHSAA 1A Region 2
Circle Christian is strong, very strong, and so is Oak Hall. Both teams had sub 20 minute team averages, but it was Circle Christian that took home the individual and team title with Sinkenesh Parker leading the way. Circle Christian ended their region meet with 28 points to Oak Hall's 35 with Father Lopez in third with 115 points.
Parker is looking ready to win a state title, cruising to an 18:56 on the Holloway Park course without the benefit of cooler weather that the Saturday races felt this weekend.
On the boys side, Austin Montini won another regional title for Oak Hall cruising to a 16:24 win. Lakeland Christian's Seth Martinez was next to come through the line in a time of 16:44.
Montini led the Oak Hall boys to a regional team win, with Mount Dora taking second with 81 points. Mount Dora Christian had their top three place in the top five with freshman Riley Novack leading the way in a time of 16:47.
FHSAA 1A Region 3
Just like 1A region 2, region 3 has a lot of stars that are going to go head to head with region 2 come Saturday.
Cambridge Christian's Reed Legg won the individual title with a 16:20. He's coming off a 15:35 PR at FSU, so he poses a real threat to both Montini and Jay Brown for the individual title. John McKenzie led the way for the Seffner Christian boys with his second place finish in a time of 16:27 to win the team title by a huge margin over Cambridge Christian. Out of Door Academy sophomore, Tristan McWilliam, took third with a 16:30 finish.
On the girls side, Cambridge Christian is proving that they will be running for that team state title against Circle Christian and Oak Hall.
Led by fearless sixth grader, Eliana Black, who just won a middle school state title the week prior, these ladies had a team average of 20:16. Black won the individual regional title in a time of 19:06 with Lydia Friedman coming in second in 19:28.
Jessica Edwards finished third and was the final athlete to break the 20 minute barrier, cruising through the line in 19:43.
Out of Door Academy, Bell Creek Academy, Canterbury School, Shorecrest Prep, Tampa Bay HEAT, St. John Neumann, and First Baptist Academy all qualified their top seven girls to the state championship meet next week.