Race assignments and virtual meet projections for the Katie Caples Invitational on Saturday, September 24th at Bishop Kenny High School in Jacksonville. flrunners.com will be on-site with race video and photo coverage for Saturday's evening races.
Morning Race Schools (Boys 8:55AM, Girls 9:30AM): Baldwin, Beachside (girls), Christs Church Academy, Clay, Covenant, Ed White, First Baptist, Global Outreach (girls), Harvest Community, Impact Christian (boys), International Community, Lyman, Orange Park, Paxon, Raines, Riverside, St. John Paul II, St. Johns Classical, St. Joseph Academy, Terry Parker, University Christian (boys), Westside, Yulee.
Girls Varsity Race (6:05PM): Astronaut, Bishop Snyder, Camden County, Columbia, Community Christian, Father Lopez, Fernandina Beach, Flagler Palm Coast, Fletcher, Florida High, Gainesville, Holy Trinity, Lake Wales, Mater Lakes, Menendez, Middleburg, Montverde, Mount Dora Christian, Oakleaf, Ridgeview, St. Francis, St. Johns Country Day, Stanton Prep, Thomas County Central, Valdosta, Wakulla, Wayne County, Wolfson.
Boys Varsity Race (6:35PM): Bishop Snyder, Camden County, Citrus, Columbia, Community Christian, Episcopal, Father Lopez, Fernandina Beach, Fletcher, Florida High, Gainesville, Holy Trinity, Lake Wales, Master's Academy, Matanzas, Menendez, Middleburg, Mount Dora, Mount Dora Christian, Oakleaf, Ridgeview, St. Augustine, St. Brendan, St. Francis, Stanton Prep, Thomas County Central, Tocoi Creek, Valdosta, Wakulla, Wayne County, Wolfson.
Elite Girls Race (7:00PM): Bartram Trail, Bishop Kenny, Bishop Verot, Bolles, Braddock, Buchholz, Chiles, Circle Christian, Creekside, Episcopal, Fleming Island, Master's Academy, Matanzas, Mount Dora, Oak Hall, Ponte Vedra, Providence, St. Augustine, St. Brendan, Tocoi Creek.
Bolles girls are not expected to run all of their top runners including a rest weekend for the top runner and the recent University of Tennessee commit Jillian Candelino, so the door is open for others to go for the win.
However, even with FL #1 ranked Bolles not running their best this weekend, the defending champions are back from the 2021 Katie Caples Invitational in the individual winner Kate Drummond of Buchholz and the team champions in Ponte Vedra.
Last year's 3A state champions Ponte Vedra and 4A state champions Buchholz were only separated by two points in last year's Katie Caples Invitational and return the majority of the same runners from those squads. Ponte Vedra will be without their #5 and #6 runners this weekend and Buchholz has had depth issues beyond their strong top four, so will be up to whoever has the final scorer to step up the most to insure a team victory.
Two of the top teams from Miami and South Florida are making the trip up to Jacksonville to test themselves against new competition including last year's 2A state runner-up St. Brendan and 4A podium hopeful Braddock girls.
The Braddock girls will get a good opportunity to test themselves against Buchholz as the third fastest squad right now in 4A, while St. Brendan gets a chance to measure up against several teams in 2A trying to knock them off that podium spot this year including host school Bishop Kenny, Episcopal School of Jacksonville, and Mount Dora. Bishop Verot is a quality team also making a long trip up to Jacksonville from Fort Myers and in that competitive 2A group of teams after Bolles trying to see where they stack up with the others.
1A squads Circle Christian and Oak Hall School as well as local schools Creekside and St. Augustine expect to have high finishes in the elite girls field.
Drummond may be the reigning race champion, but she will not be the pre-race favorite. Ponte Vedra junior Lindy White has beaten Drummond twice this season including a 16-second victory at the Craig Speziale Invitational with the fastest season-best 5K time in the field at 18:23. Drummond has a season-best of 18:55 currently.
St. Brendan's Emma Hencock also has to be considered a strong pick to win after her 18:27 5K PR victory at the Spanish River Invitational last Friday despite this being her first time ever race at the Katie Caples Invitational.
Mackenzie De Lisle of Bishop Verot, Ava Wyant of The Master's Academy, Katelyn Lawrence of St. Augustine, Annabella Cardona of Braddock, Sydney Miller of Oak Hall, and Alyson Johnson of Creekside are just a few names among a deep name of stars who should be pushing the pace up front to help more girls go under 19 minutes in the race.
Boys Elite Race (7:25PM): Astronaut, Bartram Trail, Bishop Kenny, Bishop Verot, Bolles, Braddock, Buchholz, Chiles, Circle Christian, Creekside, Flagler Palm Coast, Fleming Island, Mandarin, Mater Lakes, Montverde, New Smyrna Beach, Ponte Vedra, Oak Hall, Providence.
The FL #2 ranked and 4A state title contenders Creekside boys will be favorites here with the reigning 2A state champions Bolles being their top challenger but not expected to race Aidan Ryan this weekend but the rest of their varsity lineup (planned off weekend). Creekside defeated Bolles decisively earlier in the season at Cecil Field when they were missing Ryan. Both squads will have an equal number of sub-17-minute performers this season in the race on Saturday night at 5 each.
Circle Christian, Buchholz, and Ponte Vedra will be among the next best teams in the elite boys field.
Two top 10 ranked calibers runners in the state should clash up front in Emerson Miller of Buchholz and Riley Novak of Montverde Academy with a pack behind them trying to push for sub 16 minute times including Creekside's Tanner Simonds, Buchholz's Mason Kawaja, Chiles' Wyatt Townsend, and Circle Christian's Jack DeJesus among others.
Novack is the top returnee from last year's elite race when he finished 4th in a time of 15:43, while Townsend was 6th (15:51), DeJesus was 8th (15:53), and Miller was 9th (15:54). Miller beat them all head to head earlier in the season at Cecil Field with a 15:34 season-best run for 3rd place.