Region-by-region previews for the 2A meets that begin on Thursday.
2A -1 Preview
Mackenzie Wilson made the switch from Episcopal to Bolles for her freshman season and she has been a welcomed addition the Bulldogs cross country team. Wilson finished 15th at the 1A Cross Country Finals last year and had a great outdoor season heading into the 2012 cross country season. As a member of Bolles, she picked up her first cross country district championship with a time of 19:06 to lead the squad to the team title as well. She ran a personal best time of 18:38.00 to place second at Bale and Trail in the middle of October and has the best time by far coming into this regional. Senior Mikayla Hodges of Arnold is having a great past two weeks winning both the Panhandle Championships and 2A District 1. She is the only other runner in the field to have broken nineteen minutes this year. Other runners expected to have solid performances include Kaysi Roberts of West Florida Tech, Mary Kate Thyfault of Bishop Kenny, and Ally Hajda and Lily Arnold of Bolles.
Bolles looks to continue their tradiiton of winning as they bring home another regional championship. The Bulldogs finished second last year to Carrolton and look to be one of the favorites for the overall title in 2012. They come in with a team average of 19:29.00 and look to place all seven runners in the top fifteen spots. Rival Bishop Kenny will be their closest competitor, but Bolles is just a tad deeper throughout their roster. West Florida Tech and Pensacola Catholic will battle it out for third and fourth with Eastside and Episcopal fighting it out for those final two spots.
David Yarborough and Michael Barr of Bishop Kenny have formed a formidable 1-2 punch throughout the season. Last week, Yarborough took the district crown ahead of Barr. However, Barr comes in with the fastest personal best by three seconds, dipping under sixteen minutes, and running 15:58.10 at Great American. These two are an example of Coach Curran's style of great pack running and will run together most of the race. Austin Decker of Bolles finished third in that race and should be solid at third place at the regional with his personal best of 16:20. Behind him will be a group of five that have all ran between 16:30 and 16:40, Kentre Patterson, 2A-1 champion Alec Clark, Michael Remich, Zachary Perry, and 2A-4 champion Carsten Thue-Bludworth.
The Jacksonville area could produce the girls state champion in Bolles as well as the boys team champions, Bishop Kenny. BK finished second behind Ransom Everglades in 2011. The team is two weeks away from returning to the top of the podium. They will win the region easily, but their will be a close matchup for second between West Florida Tech and Pensacola Catholic. Eastside, Bolles, and Episcopal look to be the final three teams in.
Girls Individual Rankings - Girls Team Rankings
Boys Individual Rankings - Boys Team Rankings
2A-2 Preview
Lake Nona freshman Adair Lyden comes in as the clear favorite for a regional title. Add in the fact that its at Lake Nona and that definitely sweetens the pot. Lyden has put up impressive numbers this year and recently won her second district title. She has a personal best of 18:42.90 which is nearly a minute better than the rest of the field. Crystal River senior Clarissa Consol won her district last week and is the only runner besides Lyden to have run under twenty minutes. Consol should finish as regional runner-up. Gulf's Kari Grippo can add district champion to her list of accolades as well. It hasn't quite been the season she had hoped for. If she can bounce back and put up a solid performance, this wouldn't be a bad place to get going.
Crystal Burchhardt and Alexa Lacy are projected to finish in the top ten and lift Nature Coast Tech to win over Lake Highland Prep. Bishop Moore, Gulf, and Crystal River will determine the next three spots, with Lake Nona clinching the sixth and final spot on the legs of Lyden.
In the boys race, it will be close with about five guys finishing in around 16:30. Jean Carlos Peralta the freshman from Lake Nona won a district title on the same course and has the advantage of it being his home course. Gulf's Nick Buliga is coming off a district championshop as well and should give Peralta a run for his money after setting a new personal best of 16:26.58 last week. Also in the mix will be Peralta's teammate George Velez who finished second at districts as well as Dalton Shelton of Lake Placid and Payton Bailey of Lake Highland Prep who led a majority of the race where Peralta and Velez went 1-2.
Peralta and Velez should lead the Lions to the regional championship in a hard fought win over Nature Coast Tech. NCT has a great trio of runners in James Harkless, Kevin Ciccone, and Cody Van Natter, but Lake Nona has stronger four and five runners. Lake Highland Prep, Bishop Moore, Gulf, and Crystal River look to fill the final four spots.
Girls Individual Rankings - Girls Team Rankings
Boys Individual Rankings - Boys Team Rankings
2A-3 Preview
West Shore senior Sarah Day has to be one of the top runners in 2A and the favorite for regionals by a large margin. Over the past three weeks, she has ran 18:32, 18:08, and 18:26. Those are impressive times and even more impressive towards the end of the season as she begins to peak. Last year, Day placed seventh at this meet, but she is coming off a great track season where she placed second in the 3200 and fourth in the 1600 and has really increased her speed. If anyone is to come close to Day will be Claire Snyder. Snyder transferred from Tampa Prep to The Academy of Holy Names this year. She placed eighth at the 1A Cross Country Finalst last year and has a personal best of 18:48. Robinson's Julia DeYoung along with a trio from the coast, Maleria Storum of Cocoa Beach, Claire Castillo of Titusville, and Christina Hamilton of Satellite should have solid races.
Lemon Bay, Cocoa Beach, Rockledge and Robinson could see a four-way team battle for the title with Immokalee, Titusville, and Berkeley Prep trying to fight for the last two spots.
The top ten runners in the boys race have all run under 16:30 making this a really close contest. I expect the group to go out with about eight in the lead pack, and then five at the two mile, and a very close finish between two or three runners. Tim O'Laughlin, Christian Vasquez, Alex Pedraza, and Xavier Walton all won their respective districts and should be contenders for the individual title. Also in the mix will be Leonel Delacruz of Immokalee, Miguel Casiano of Lehigh, and Erick Medina of LaBelle.
Cocoa Beach senior and blogger extraordinaire Cory Sayyeau has said at the beginning of the season the team wasn't clicking one thru five but recently the guys in the back end of the rotation have been stepping up and performing like they have been capable of. They are the favorites to capture their third title of the postseason joining their district and Cape Coast Conference trophies. Immokalee and Tampa Jesuit will battle for second with Robinson and LaBelle evenly matched in the next two spots. The final ticket to state will come down to Berkeley Prep and Lemon Bay.
Girls Individual Rankings - Girls Team Rankings
Boys Individual Rankings - Boys Team Rankings
2A-4 Preview
Pine Crest freshman Julia Montgomery had a break out year in 2012. She won all but two of the meets she has been in this year including the flrunners.com Race of Champions where she ran a new personal time of 17:52.60 and at the district meet where she finished runner-up to Daesha Rogers. Rogers, the eighth grade phenom from American Heritage, has been well known on the running scene for what seems like an eternity, but this cross country season was a little different for her. Rumors circulated about the future of the cross country program at American Heritage and if Daesha would stay or transfer out to a bigger school like Miami Northwestern. She ran in exactly four races, the required number by FHSAA, to participate in postseason competition. So the questions of where was Daesha at or will she just focus on track were quieted when she busted out an 18:22.30 to beat Montgomery by two seconds. Daesha has been known to take the race out hard and has been working to run a smarter race. These two will have a rematch on Thursday and no doubt again the following week at the ARP in Tallahassee. These two along with Sarah Day of West Shore will put on one heck of a show. The race for third will be between freshman Lauren Archer of Ransom Everglades, Montgomery's teammate Ella Wurth and Roger's teammate Rachelle Alexander.
Pine Crest is very deep this season with Montgomery, Wurth, and Savanna Gornisiewicz in the top three. They should place their top six in the top twenty spots and have a team average of 19:52.30. Ransom Everglades counters with Lauren Archer, Erica Scott, and Kat Smith, but Pine Crest is stronger all around and should beat them out for the team title by double digit points. Last years surprise champion Carrollton should battle it out with American Heritage another top team from last year for third and fourth. Doral Academy Charter and Lincoln Park Academy round out the six teams that advance to state.
In the boys race expect a tight pack of four led by Saint Andrews freshman Nic Jacobsen, the Ransom Everglades duo of Jan Bergengruen and freshman Gaby Correa. Jonathan Klumpp of North Broward Prep is coming off a district championship and new personal time of 16:38.74. Others to watch include Sam Geiman of Suncoast, David Sweetapple and Nick Kaleel of Saint Andrews, and Adam Freeman and Connor Guest of Ransom Everglades.
Ransom Everglades will bring it and should add another regional title to their collection. Pine Crest looks to be a solid second. The real fun comes in the battle for the final four spots. Suncoast and Key West are separated by four points and should advance. Saint Andrews, Lincoln Park, and Monsignor Pace separated by twenty points and only two of those three can advance.
Girls Individual Rankings - Girls Team Rankings
Boys Individual Rankings - Boys Team Rankings