FHSAA 1A District Recaps: 1A Brings Strong Team Sweeps



We're recapping the highlights from all 64 district meets across the state this week. Here's the rundown for all 16 districts in class 1A.

FHSAA 1A District 1

  • Girls Individual Champion: Kaylin Olivarez (Baker Senior HS)
  • Boys Individual Champion: Jonathan Tutton (Pensacola Christian Academy)
  • Girls Team Champion: Pensacola Christian Academy
  • Boys Team Champion: Pensacola Christian Academy
  • Recap: Pensacola Christian brought their brooms to the 1A district 1 meet, sweeping both the girls and boys team championship trophies. The PCA boys were led by Jonathan Tutton and Andrew Birx who finished first and second overall with their 17:00 and 17:21 to finish with 24 points of Baker Senior HS. The girls race featured a strong run from Baker Senior eighth grader Kaylin Olivarez who took the win with a time of 19:28. Pensacola Christian put three in the top four -- one freshman and two seventh graders to ultimately come out on top with 26 points over the Baker Senior HS squad. 

FHSAA 1A District 2

  • Girls Individual Champion: Madelyn Gortemoller (Port St.  Joe HS)
  • Boys Individual Champion: Austin Pennington (Blountstown HS)
  • Girls Team Champion: Port St. Joe HS
  • Boys Team Champion: Blountstown HS
  • Recap: Blountstown sophomore Austin Pennington led the boys race at the 1A district 2 meet with a winning time of 19:17 to lead the Blountstown boys to capture the team title overall, just two points ahead of Port St. Joe HS. The girls race featured a one-two punch from Port St. Joe duo Madelyn Gortemoller and Katie Trochessett who finished with times of 24:11.90 and 25:14 to lead their squad to an 18 point win over Blountstown. 

FHSAA 1A District 3

  • Girls Individual Champion: Laci Watford (University Christian School)
  • Boys Individual Champion: Matthew Stratton (St. Johns Country Day School)
  • Girls Team Champion: Providence School 
  • Boys Team Champion: St. Johns Country Day School 
  • Recap: St. Johns Country Day junior Matthew Stratton cruised to a 17:27 district win with Bishop Snyder junior Donald Dempsey taking second with a 17:53 finish. Stratton along with his teammates Richard Nichols and Jacob Kailes were able to lead the rest of the team to a district team championship with 32 points over Bishop Snyder's 46. The girls race featured a dominating run from University Christian junior Laci Watford who won the meet with a time of 19:26. Eighth grader Lindy White finished second with a time of 20:53 to lead her Providence ladies to a team title with 28 points over St. Johns Country Day.

FHSAA 1A District 4

  • Girls Individual Champion: Gracie Koeppel (Maclay School) 
  • Boys Individual Champion: Leo Rutledge (Maclay School) 
  • Girls Team Champion: Maclay School 
  • Boys Team Champion: Maclay School 
  • Recap: The 1A District 4 meet was a Maclay sweep all around. Gracie Koeppel and Leo Rutledge led the Maclay squads with their 20:49 and 17:23 wins. Rutledge along with Jackson Yarbrough and Clayton Knox, Carter Rothel, and Larence Bishop were able to come through with a dominating win with 18 points over St. Joseph Academy. Koeppel along with her young star teammates: Lillian Koeppel, Kate Hammett, Nishi Bhanderi, and Payton Thumm, scored a total of 19 points to win over Community Christian School. 

FHSAA 1A District 5

  • Girls Individual Champion: Lauren Jones (Oak Hall School) 
  • Boys Individual Champion: Austin Montini (Oak Hall School)
  • Girls Team Champion: Oak Hall School
  • Boys Team Champion: Oak Hall School    
  • Recap: Just as 1A District 4 was a Maclay sweep all around, the district 5 meet was an Oak Hall sweep paired with a 1-5 sweep from the Oak Hall ladies for a perfect score. Austin Montini, in pursuit of defending his 1A XC state title, won his district meet with an easy 16:48 with his teammate Asher Dobrin following behind with a time of 17:11 for second. Oak Hall boys took the team win with 23 points of St. Francis Catholic's 42. The girls race featured a perfect score with multi-time 1A state medalist Lauren Jones leading the way with a time of 19:37. 

FHSAA 1A District 6

  • Boys Individual Champion: Riley Novack (Mount Dora Christian Academy)
  • Girls Team Champion: Father Lopez Catholic HS
  • Boys Team Champion: Foundation Academy
  • Recap: Mount Dora Christian Academy duo Riley Novack and Mitchell Curtis took the first two individual places at the 1A District 6 race with times of 16:54 and 17:23. Mehari Van der Riet of Foundation Academy finished third with a time of 17:55 which ultimately led to a Foundation Academy win with 36 points over Mount Dora Christian Academy's 42. Foundation Academy also a had a sixth grader by the name of Claire Reburn take the individual girls district title with an impressive time of 20:43 for the youngster. Mary Peck and Victoria Woods finished second and third for Father Lopez, but Reburn ultimately led the Foundation Academy girls to a district title with 31 points over Father Lopez's 68.

FHSAA 1A District 7

  • Girls Individual Champion: Sinkenesh Parker (Circle Christian School) 
  • Boys Individual Champion: Jack DeJesus (Circle Christian School) 
  • Girls Team Champion: Circle Christian School 
  • Boys Team Champion: Circle Christian School 
  • Recap: Jack DeJesus led the Circle Christian School boys to a dominating district finish with a 17:43 run. Jackson Overholt of Lakeland Christian School ran a time of 18:01 to separate the Circle Christian sweep and put his squad in a strong position to finish second with 62 points next to Circle Christians 19. The girls race was very similar with Circle Christian duo Sinkenesh Parker and Archike Parker finishing first and second with times of 19:27 and 21:01 to lead their team to a district title. Eighth grader Lauren Bayes of Lakeland Christian School broke up a Circle Christian sweep with her 21:10 third place performance. Circle Christian girls won the meet with 18 points with Lakeland Christian following second with 53 points and First Academy third with 79. 

FHSAA 1A District 8

  • Girls Individual Champion: Morgan Harvill (International Community School) 
  • Boys Individual Champion: Joshua McKay (The Geneva School) 
  • Girls Team Champion: International Community School 
  • Boys Team Champion: The Master's Academy 
  • Recap: Geneva School junior Joshua McKay won the 1A District 8 meet by nearly a minute with his 17:19 individual win over The Mater's Academy's Josh Gillis who finished second with a time of 18:08. Gillis ultimately led his team to a district title over Holy Trinity Academy finishing with 48 points over 61 points. The girls race featured a strong run from International Community School duo MOrgan Harvill and Brooke DeMoor who finished first and second with 20:24 and 21:06 performances to lead their team to a 37 point win over city of Life Christian Academy. 

FHSAA 1A District 9

  • Girls Individual Champion: Alexia Tine (Bell Creek Academy) 
  • Boys Individual Champion: Dalin Mitchell (Seffner Christian) 
  • Girls Team Champion: Bell Creek Academy 
  • Boys Team Champion: Seffner Christian 
  • Recap: The 1A District 9 meet features the reigning 1A state champions, Seffner Christian. In the first step towards defending their state title, the Seffner Christian boys finished with a perfect score, sweeping the first-fifth places with Dalin Mitchell leading the way with his 16:16 individual win. On the girls side, eighth grader Alexia Tine led her Bell Creek Academy team to a district team win by taking the first individual spot with a 20:53 performance. Rebekah Haddad of Tampa Bay HEAT finished second with a 21:35 to lead her team to a close second place finish. 

FHSAA 1A District 10

  • Girls Individual Champion: Caroline Lehman (Cambridge Christian School) 
  • Boys Individual Champion: Braxton Legg (Cambridge Christian School) 
  • Girls Team Champion: Cambridge Christian School 
  • Boys Team Champion: Cambridge Christian School 
  • Recap: Cambridge Christian sophomore Braxton Legg captured the 1A District 10 meet with a time of 17:08. Mateo Luna and Landon Young of Indian Rocks Christian finished second and third with their 17:50 and 17:52 finishes. It was a close finish between the Cambridge Christian and Indian Rocks Christian boys, ultimately coming down to the fifth runner and resulting in a Cambridge Christian 27 point win to Indian Rocks Christian's 28. The girls race featured a strong run from Cambridge Christian's Caroline Lehman who took the field by over three minutes. Cambridge was without a strong run from Eliana Black, who used the race as a training run in preparation for the FLYRA Middle School State Championship. The Cambridge ladies were still able to pull off a win without Black's top performance, winning with a dominate 31 points over eighth grader Lili Scoby's  Shorecrest lead and strong 69 point second place performance. 

FHSAA 1A District 11

  • Girls Individual Champion: Jessica Edwards (Canterbury School Fort Myers) 
  • Boys Individual Champion: Tristan McWilliam (Out of Door Academy) 
  • Girls Team Champion: Out of Door Academy 
  • Boys Team Champion: Southwest Florida Christian Academy HS 
  • Recap: Tristian McWilliam of Out of Door Academy took the individual district title at the 1A district 11 meet with a time of 16:48. Ethan Tank and Andrew Duda of Southwest Florida Christian Academy finished second and third with their times of 17:08 and 17:24 to ultimately lead their team to a district title with 25 points over Out of Door Academy. The girls race featured a great race between University of Florida commit Jessica Edwards and Evangelical sophomore Ava Povich for the individual win with Edwards taking her final cross country district title with a time of 19:35 over Povich's 19:45. Out of Door Academy captured the team district title with eighth grader Ellie Hierholzer and sophomore Maria Shaw finishing third and fourth with their 20:46 and 21:00 performances. 

FHSAA 1A District 12

  • Girls Individual Champion: Katie Beam (First Baptist Academy)
  • Boys Individual Champion: Kevin Barry (Marco Island Academy Charter)
  • Girls Team Champion: Community School of Naples 
  • Boys Team Champion: Donahue Academy of Ave Maria
  • Recap: Marco Island Academy Charter swept the first three individual places of the 1A District 12 meet with Kevin Barry leading the way with a time of 18:13. The Donahue Academy of Ave Maria showed the power of a strong pack with Leonardo Borjon, Andrew Graham, Winston Fairchild, Aiden Luzarraga, and Wyatt Bragdon taking the team win with 50 points, two points ahead of Marco Island Academy's 52. The girls race featured a dominating lead from First Baptist Academy sophomore Katie Beam who won the race with a time of 20:52. The team championship was a close race between the Community School of Naples and the Village School of Naples. In the end, Grace O'Malley's third place performance behind Mylee Van de Wouw of Village School of Naples, secured the win for Community School of Naples with 56 points. 

FHSAA 1A District 13

  • Girls Individual Champion: Grace Reed (John Carroll HS) 
  • Boys Individual Champion: Jason Flaming (Master's Academy) 
  • Girls Team Champion: Benjamin School 
  • Boys Team Champion: The Pine School 
  • Recap: Master's Academy sophomore Jason Flaming took the 1A District 13 win with a time of 19:19 ahead of John Carroll senior Joey Ageeb's 19:46. The Pine School's pack was too much to overtake this district meet, placing their top five in the top nine of the meet with Stephen Weller leading the way for their 37 point win. The girls race featured a strong win from Grace Reed with a time of 23:01 -- over one minute ahead of the field. Sydney Schiff and Grace Tighe finished second and third for the Benjamin School which ultimately led the Benjamin ladies to a 35 point win ahead of the St. Edwards School.  

FHSAA 1A District 14

  • Girls Individual Champion: Amber Lopez (St. John Paul II Academy) 
  • Boys Individual Champion: Payton Caja (Highlands Christian Academy) 
  • Girls Team Champion: St. John Paul Academy II
  • Boys Team Champion: Trinity Christian Academy (Lake Worth)
  • Recap: Highlands Christian Academy senior Payton Caja captured the individual district title for the 1A district 14 meet with his time of 18:26 over Atlantic Christian Academy's Sammy Glarza. Luke D'Oraizo of Trinity Christian Academy finished third with a time of 20:38 to lead his team to a team title with 40 points over Highlands Christian Academy's 55. The girls race featured a win from St. John Paul II Academy's Amber Lopez with a time of 22:15 and a second place run from Grace Lopez with a 24:09 to lead their team to a district title. 
  • Girls Individual Champion: Alyssa Benson (South Florida HEAT)
  • Boys Individual Champion: Joshua Shields (South Florida HEAT)
  • Girls Team Champion: South Florida HEAT
  • Boys Team Champion: South Florida HEAT
  • Recap: South Florida HEAT brought the heat to the 1A district 15 meet with their individual and team sweeps. Alyssa Benson led the girls race to a one through five sweep with a win of 20:39. The boys race was led by Joshua Shields and his 16:59 win with three HEAT teammates following behind and Sebastian Tenorio breaking up a potential HEAT perfect score with his fifth place finish for the Divine Savior Academy. 
  • Girls Individual Champion: Kara Semelfort (Doctors Charter School) 
  • Boys Individual Champion: Jonathan Pitchford (Marathon MS/HS)
  • Girls Team Champion: Marathon MS/HS
  • Boys Team Champion: Palmer Trinity School 
  • Recap: The boys 1A District 16 individual title featured an individual win from Marathon senior Jonathan Pitchford who won the meet by close to a minute with his 16:19 run. George Stark of Palmer Trinity School ran a time of 17:16 to finish second. The team championship came down to a tie between Marathon and Palmer Trinity with Leandro de Armas securing the win for Palmer Trinity. The girls race featured a close finish with Kara Semelfort of Doctors Charter going 23:26 to win and Dani Perez Cartaya coming in second with a 23:27. Sarah Paskiewicz finished fourth overall with a time of 24:25 to lead the Marathon ladies to a district title over Palmer Trinity.