Distirct-by-district preview for the 3A meets that begin on Tuesday.
3A District 1
Pace sophomore Rachel Kling is coming off a runner-up finish at the Panhandle Championship. She beat Fort Walton Beach's Emma Rudman and Ivy Chastain in that race as they finished third and fourth behind her. Kling looks to be the favorite for the district crown. Rudman and Chastain will lead the Vikings to another district team title. Thomas Howell and Nick Morken have gone 1-2 in most of their races this season for Niceville. Last year Howell won the race with Morken in second. This one could go either way. Fort Walton Beach's 1-5 spread of a minimal 19 seconds and all five guys in the top ten will give them the easy team trophy.
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3A District 2
Chiles senior Rachel Givens, last week's Warrior of the Week dropped the hammer at the Panhandle Championships going sub 18, 17:54.10 on a strong course. She looks to be the clear favorite with teammate Sarah Lane over a minute back. Chiles finished runner-up at state in 2011 and the road back to state starts here. Luckily, for them the road leads through their backyard of Tallahassee. The boys race features three runners who have gone under 16 minutes. One second separates the personal bests of Chiles junior Cade Zimmerman and Leon sophomore Sukhi Khosla. This one could come down to the final meters of the race and the outcome could determine a tight battle between Chiles and Leon for the team title.
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3A District 3
Sarah Heisner of Creekside takes over for the Rodriguez twins who are now at Flagler College is looking for her first win of the year. Fellow senior Rachel Ingoldsby of Bartram Trail will have something to say about that as the two go for a district title. The team title is between these two teams as well as it looks like Creekside might have the slight advantage over Bartram Trail in this ten team district.
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3A District 4
Ocala Vanguard sophomore Elizabeth Mulford's nickname is racehorse. It will be tough to run her down in this meet, but if anyone has a chance it's Hannah Loder of Matanzas. Matanzas is favored in the team standings over Gainesville and Ocala Vanguard. Cameron Allen of Matanzas is the favorite in the boys race with a personal best time of 16:12.1 set this past week. The team championship will come down to depth as Matanzas and Vanguard are closely matched.
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3A District 5
East River senior Kaela Harmon is the only girl to break 20 minutes in the group. Anita Green, Octavia Gonzalez and Eilanna Carr a trio of sophomores should also be in contention. Winter Springs is projected to place their top five in the top fourteen to win easily. Edgewater's Joe Thrailkill and Mark Irons are coming off a 1-2 performanes at the Metro West Championships and could duplicate that at districts. St. Cloud's Antonio Montalvo who finished second at the Orange Belt Conference meet will be looking to break the pair up. Winter Springs with a strong 1-5 group wins the team title over Edgewater.
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3A District 6
Nikita Shah of Wiregrass Ranch is one of the top runners in all of 3A and the state with a personal best of 17:48.50. The Harvard bound senior will win this one easily and lead her team to the title as well. Travis Nichols last week's Warrior of the Week and Tyler Stahl have been a potent 1-2 punch for Land O'Lakes this year. They will have to contend with Courtland Bernard of Sarasota. These two teams Land O'Lakes and Sarasota will compete for the team title as well. Sarasota should win by a close margin.
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3A District 7
Sebring senior and recent University of Florida committ should dominate the competition in 3A-7. Senior Theresa Trentham and sophomore Ruby Lewis will be key players in bringing the team trophy to George Jenkins. Speaking of George Jenkins, junior Landon Schneider is hoping to bring back more hardware. Lakeland junior Johnathan Hulzebos will be in the mix as well. George Jenkins looks to sweep both the boys and girls team trophies.
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3A District 8
Maggie Parrish the younger sister of UF standout Mark Parrish looks for her first district championship. The freshman from Chamberlain will face a tough test from Sickles sophomore Abigail Grant. After Grant the 2-7 runners of Sickles have a fifty second spread. They look good to win the district team title. In the boys race it's Sickles senior Abdin Fator versus Tyler Bess-Lima and Matt Magee of Steinbrenner. Fator is the only thing standing in the way of a perfect score for Steinbrenner who wlll place all five runners before any other team's number one.
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3A District 9
Freshman Eliana Ochoa of Brandon leads the field with the fastest time of 20:35.6. Brandon and Strawberry Crest will battle it out for the team title. Canaan Meester-Kitterman of Bayshore is more than a minute favorite over Armwood's Mohammed Tamari. Tamari and teammate Jacob River look to lead Armwood over Brandon and neighbor Strawberry crest in a close one.
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3A District 10
Amanda Spring of Northeast is looking to close out her senior season with a district championship. Spring has the fastest time by over a minute coming into this race. Teammates Caroline Condon, Summer Kanstoroom, and Courtney Condon should all finish in the top ten to give Northeast the team trophy. On the boys side, it will be a see-saw battle between Osceola (Seminole) and Northeast alternating the top six spots. Hunter McCann and Nicholas Spring (Amanda's brother) are the favorites for the individual title with personal bests almost equal to one another. Both teams top three runners are pretty equal, but Osceola has the edge at number four and five and that will be the difference between them winning the team title and Northeast finishing second.
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3A District 11
Coach Jeff Sommer said he wasn't pleased with his team's performance his standout senior Kacy Smith last week. This week Smith who is bound for Ole Miss should rebound and give Estero another district championship to add to their collection. Smith is the favorite, but will be pushed by teammates Katy G. Solis and Katie Slater. Look for Bethany Jenkins and Daley Cline to step up as well. Estero wins big en route to another state championship bid. A pair of seniors Bobby Ormsby of Cypress Lake and Jose Cartagena of Estero will go at it for the individual crown. Much like the girls, Estero boys will win easily placing six of their top seven under 17:00.
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3A District 12
The scary thing about Emily Edwards is she still has one year after this. The Fort Myers junior should cruise the district rounds and make an impact at state. She has got to be talked about as one of the favorites in that race. Gulf Coast and Caroline Barlow will give Ft. Myers a run for their money in the team standings, but the Green Wave are too strong. The guys race has six guys that have gone under sixteen minutes led by Palmetto Ridge senior Carlos Miranda who has run 15:07 for 5k this year. Tyler Bennett and Ace Brown of Fort Myers keep it close for the first two miles away then Miranda pulls away for the win. Green Wave place five in the top ten for the team title.
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3A District 13
Merritt Island sophomore Sarah Holland leads the field of 83 girls with a personal best of 18:59.11. Teammate Elizabeth Harper had a better 2011, but is looking to rebound. The Mustangs have the top four runners in this race and should win easily with a score under 20 points. Senior Alec Reesh of Melbourne is the closest runner to the seventeen minute mark. He is coming off a seventh place finish at the Cape Coast Conference Meet on Monday so it will be interesting to see how the fatigure hits this group. Tristan Adams and Reesh's younger brother Ian look to lead the Bulldogs to a district championship.
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3A District 14
South Fork girls look poised to take the top three spots led by sophomore Bethany Hardcastle and Laurie Scott. They place all five runners in the top ten to win easy. Martin County junior Tyler O'Brien is coming off a pair of second place finishes and a new personal best of 16:30.60. He is heating up at the right time and looks to be the favorite in this race along with teammate Nicholas Parrinelli as they lead Martin County to the team title,
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3A District 15
Morgan Rodriguez of Cardinal Gibbons and Marianne Aguilar of Archbishop McCarthy go at it in a heated battle between the two individuals and their respective schools. Both will break twenty minutes and be followed by a host of their teammates. On paper its 32-33 with Cardinal Gibbons coming out on top. Depending on who wins individual honors could determine which team comes out on top. The Penaranda brothers Carlos and Daniel are looking to form a tandem for Pembroke Pines. Carlos has the better personal best by a minute 16:40.9 and should win easy. The question is can they lead their team over Archbishop McCarthy in what will be another close one.
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3A District 16
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Altoniece Williams the senior from Miami Northwestern leads a contingent of ten South Florida teams at the 3A-16 meet. Three others have broken 22 minutes including her teammate Torrencia Allen and Miami Central teammates Sharie Hinds and Roselore Desir. In a team battle that extends onto the football fields, and track rivalries, MNW edges out Central. The boys race is about as sure of a bet as you can make. Belen Jesuit will put up a perfect score as they start the road to their fifth team title in six years. Belen made it to Portland Oregon last year for Nike Nationals and is hoping to make the postseason once again. The Wolverines are led by senior Avery Lopez who will be a contender for an individual state championship come the middle of November.