Never give up!
Timothy Doyle wasn't in the front at the beginning of the 4A-1 race, but that was just fine for the 4A 1,600m state champion. The Freedom junior picked up yet another winning the title in a new PR of 15:50 over Bryce Bell who also went sub 16. On the girl's side, it might have been the race of the week as Kayley Delay ran a new PR and FL#2 of 17:37.40 with freshman Elayna Bahr also joining the 17 minute club with a PR of 17:59.30. We merged results from every regional across the state to find out who won the week.
Bailey Hertenstein smashed the Holloway Park course record in a time of 18:13.83 with freshman teammate in second place with a time of 18:58.22. On the boy's side it came down to a sprint to the finish with Jordan Gonzalez of Sarasota giving the Sailors a regional champion for the second straight year. Steinbrenner girls dominated with 46 pts. while the Lakewood Ranch boys edged out Newsome by four points 85 to 89. Andy Warrener recaps all the action from 4A Region 2.
Riverview junior Bailey Hertenstein is one of only three girls to ever break 19 minutes on the Holloway Park course. Hertenstein's 18:40.70 was the top ranked mark, but she crushed that at the 4A Region 2 Championship winning in a time of 18:13.18. Equally impressive was freshman teammate Alyssa Hendrix who added her name to the best times in course history with a sub 19 mark of 18:58.22 as the runner-up. Due to their success, the Sharks claimed the sixth and final spot as a team for the state meet.
One of the best races of the day was the boys race in 4A Region 2. Jordan Gonzalez, Haftom Fliegelman, and Tristen Montalvo all rounding the curve to the final shoot stride for stride in a three-way battle. Gonzalez pulled away in the final seconds to win in 16:36.48 with Fliegelman and Montalvo right behind at 16:38.22 and 16:38.55.
We were snapping away at the 4A Region 2 Championship at Holloway Park in Lakeland. Donald Lamb was on-site and captured over TWO THOUSAND photos from the 4A Region 2 races along including this picture in the boys race that proves it wasn't just a tight pack at the front.
Holloway Park in Lakeland will be the site for a quadruple regional featuring 4A-2, 3A-2, 2A-3, and 1A-2. Flrunners.com will be on-site with video coverage by Todd Grasley and Billy Simpson, photos by Jeff Adams and Donald Lamb, race recaps by Andy Warrener, results, and much more! In the meantime check out our video previews of each race as well as how our virtual meet predicts each race playing out on both the individual and team front.
It's regionals week! 4A, Florida's largest cross country classification, will kick off the road to state at the regional level as athletes head to South Florida on Thursday for 4A Region 4. We preview all four regionals in addition to seeing how our virtual meets see things playing out. It's going to be a crazy ride as the top individuals and teams hope to advance to Tallahassee for the Cross Country Finals on November 5th.