Last Saturday might have been a bit chilly, but this proved conducive to intense racing and quick times at the Panhandle Cross Country Championships. Almost every local team made the one-hour journey to the fast, flat course at Marianna High School. With the gun going off at eight, the pack of boys sped across the football stadium first, and then they continued out of sight into the woods. Breaking the 16-minute mark for the second week in a row, Taylor Buzzard of Chiles finished second in a time of 15:58. Finishing around the grass track shortly after, Jacob Krell ran a time of 16:06, which put him in fourth place. Cade Zimmerman and Will Spiers crossed the finish in 16:18 for ninth and 16:23 for twelfth respectively. Chiles earned second place overall. Rounding out the top 10, Lincoln’s Jacob Slupecki finished in 16:20.11, which helped his team come in third. Leading the Marauders to fifth, Maclay’s Travis Covert ran a personal record time of 16:20, which put him in eleventh place. Other Tallahassee teams included NFC who was fourteenth, Rickards who was fifteenth, and Godby who was sixteenth. The top 8 finishers were part of the All-Panhandle Team, so Taylor Buzzard and Jacob Krell from Chiles were honored for their accomplishments.

In the girls’ competition, Chiles won with their top five runners in the top 10. Lily Williams won the race in 17:50 with her teammates Carly Thomas (17:59) and Rachel Givens (18:06) right behind her in second and third. Completing the squad, Sara Lane finished seventh in 19:23, and Jessica Gillard was ninth in 19:33. Maclay’s Stefanie Kurgatt (18:22) and Kristin Sweeney (19:22) entered the finishing stretch in fifth and sixth respectively. The Lady Marauders were third. Once again, the top 8 runners were part of the All-Panhandle team, so these Chiles and Maclay ladies composed the majority of the team! Lincoln was the only other scoring team from Tallahassee to compete, and they were seventh overall.

The only teams not present for the Pahnhandle festivities were Leon and Florida High. Traveling to Lake City, they competed in the Alligator Lake Cross Country Invitational. Leon won the Boys’ Varsity race, and Florida High was ninth. Leon teammates Ben McMahon (16:11.25) and Will Henderson (16:11.83) battled to the finish, claiming second and third just tenths of a second apart. Shortly thereafter, their teammate Zac Buccholz finished seventh in 16:30. Meanwhile, Autumn Wable led the Lady Lions to eighth by coming in fourth with a personal record of 19:27. The ladies from Florida High finished sixth. Another weekend full of fast-pacing and great racing! This week is the last week of regular season competition with City Championships Friday at Maclay.