Friday afternoon marked the end of the regular season and the beginning of the post-season! Many area teams participated in the Halloween-themed City Championships at Maclay. In the girls’ race, Stefanie Kurgatt of Maclay maintained a lead throughout the 3-loop course, and she crossed the finish line (complete with a candy-corn costume) in 18:32. The Marauders beat Aucilla by 15 points with the help of two other top-ten finishers, Lindsey Poole (21:48 – 6th) and Elizabeth Santoro (22:16 – 7th). Coming in fifth, Savana Osterbye was the first finisher for Florida High in a time of 21:42, and her team came in fourth. Naliyah Gilbert (22:32) and Anica Sunshine (22:49) from Lincoln also survived 3 trips through the soggy holding pond, and they helped their team earn third.

Lincoln and Maclay battled in the boys’ competition. Lincoln’s Jacob Slupecki claimed first in 17:15, but Travis Covert (17:23) from Maclay was hot on his heels. Another Trojan, Hunter Scott (17:36) barely scraped out third place with another Marauder, Connor Daughton (17:37) slightly behind him in fourth. Maclay gained an advantage when all of their scorers finished in the top ten: Jack Rutledge finished sixth (17:51), Matt Antworth (18:08) sprinted to the finish in eighth, and Alex Artecona (18:20) was tenth. Jesse Close ran a time of 18:09 which helped Lincoln to second place. Other teams that competed were Florida High in sixth, NFC in seventh, Godby in eighth, and JPII in ninth. Although everyone came out of this race a bit muddy, the Tallahassee runners are ready for Districts! Friday, Maclay will host the its district competition on the same course that was used for City Champs. Saturday, both Godby and Chiles will host their respective district’s competition at the Apalachee Regional Park. Come out and enjoy the cool weather and intense racing!