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You would have thought you were at a World Federation Wrestling match or monster truck rally the way the announcer at the meet presented the race to spectators. He set a fun atmosphere for everyone, which helped distract from the cold. It was a few degrees below 40, a light frost still on the ground. Sounding more like a boxing match was about to begin, the announcer started naming some of the teams. "So many great teams here, I can't name them all." 17 Boys teams and 16 girls teams brought their game faces hoping to fill one of eight slots to move on to regionals.
The teams that advanced anyone could have predicted if you look at the stats and history over the season. Lily Williams from Chiles and Daronisha Lott from Pine Forest took the number one and two spots for the girls with Carly Thomas and Ivy Chastain not far behind. Chiles, Fort Walton and Niceville were the top three ranked teams. At the start of the race, Daronisha had the lead and held it through the 2 mile mark. Lily took over for the last mile and lead the way to the finish line.
For the boys, Leon took the number one and two spots with John Hazelton in first, followed by teammate Riley Doherty. Peter Frick from Washington placed third with Niceville's Thomas Howell, close behind in fourth. Most of Washington's team ran in the lead pack for the first half the race, with members of Leon and Fort Walton Beach right up there with them. As they passed the one mile mark, there was still a large pack up front. Right about the second mile, the pack thinned out and Leon's John Hazelton made his move to the front. Washington, Leon, and Niceville took the top three team spots.
One team that placed for Regionals was a bit harder to predict. Both the girls and boys teams from Choctawhatchee High will have their chance at the regional meet next weekend in Tallahassee. Often times the teams have been seen crossing the finish line together during regular season meets or using the meets as training runs.
"We just do what we do," stated Coach Kelley Hall. "With the region so strong, and so stern, you can't come in with the mindset that I'm going run every race out. We just try to do our best and get from Regional to State, which is the
ultimate goal."
Coach Hall also noted that that there is such a competitive region that they have to go in with forward thinking and understand that each training session has to be geared for Districts, Regionals and State.
"You have to peak when you're supposed to peak."
Obviously, this works well for Choctaw. Their boys team secured the eighth place spot, led by David Van Steenburgen. David placed 15th with a time of 16:35. The girls team took the fifth place spot. Their number one runner, Sara Steel placed fifth overall running a 19:16. Choctaw could very well have a few surprises for us and will be a team to watch in Tallahassee next week.