Conditions were excellent for the Palm Beach County Athletic Conference South Championships/ Boca Raton City Championships. The driving rains of the previous day gave way to cloud cover, and temps had fallen slightly into the low 80’s by race time. The Delray Municipal Golf Course, which is directly across the street from Atlantic High, served as an excellent venue. The course was relatively flat and fast with many opportunities for spectators to view the runners along the course. A cooperative agreement between Atlantic High and the golf course resulted in a well run race and an invitation to return next year. Kudos to Atlantic coach Perry Patterson for his hard work.
The girls varsity race opened up with Spanish River’s Ellyn Snider taking an early and commanding lead, pulling away from the field to win and post a national elite 19:37, a P.R by 6 seconds. She was followed by Boca Raton’s Olivia Nicholson in 20:24, Spanish River’s Catherine Vianale and Stephanie Musinski in 21:24 and 21:26 respectively, and Christine Sullivan of Pope John Paul in 21:35 rounding out the top five. The girls team standings had Spanish River first in both the city and conference standings. Four runners in the top ten helped them earn a 34 point total to runner up Boca Raton’s 54 points.
In contrast to the girls race, the boys varsity race developed into a competitive duel that went all the way to a close finish. Six or more runners passed the mile mark in tight formation in just over 5 minutes with a few more close behind. In the lead pack: Nic Jacobsen of St. Andrews, Will Fay of Atlantic, Caleb Rader of Spanish River, Doug Cirillo of West Boca, and Charles Ootto of Boca Raton Christian. As they passed the mile mark, Nic Jacobsen put the hammer down and strung the pack down to single file. By 1 ¼ miles, the pack was down to 3, and pulling away from the field. Nic continued to push the pace as Caleb Rader and Will Fay stuck right with him. After 2 miles, Fay and Rader began to test Jacobsen, finally breaking him around 2 ½ miles. A surge by Rader opened a gap which Fay was unable to close, and the win went to Caleb Rader of Spanish River, in 16:50., with Will Fay of Atlantic the runner up in 16:52. David Sweetapple of St. Andrews took third in 17:18, with Samuel Parada of Spanish River fourth. Charles Otto of Boca Raton Christian rounded out the top 5 with a 17:21, and early leader Nic Jacobsen faded to sixth.
In the team standings it was a rerun of the girls results, with slight score changes. Spanish River took both the Conference and City titles with 37 points, and runner up Boca Raton made it close with 44 points. JV Races In both the girls an boys JV races it was Boca Raton showing the depth of their programs with Mariah Morganstern of Boca Raton taking the win to lead the girls team to a 24 point win, and Eric Reit of Boca Raton taking the win to lead the boys team to an impressive 16 point total.