3A District 12 meet hosted by Palmetto Ridge HS

The home course at Palmetto Ridge is a flat, firm and fast layout that at this time of year can produce some great times. The Collier County Athletic Conference Championships were held here a week ago and PRs abounded. That was an afternoon race. Today was a morning race and the cool temps brought out some more PRs.

The girl’s championship race started at 9:00am with top 3A contender Devin Molloy of Barron Collier HS as the favorite to win. Fellow sophomores, Rosie Poling from Lely HS, Andrea Vargas Palmetto Ridge HS, Sarina Francis, Gulf Coast HS and Becca Shakour, Naples HS were the only ones that, on paper at least, had a chance to push her. The pack went out as expected with Devin up front with the rest of the mentioned contenders plus Palmetto Ridge senior Aleksa Guerra right on her heels. By the mile it was Molloy and Poling pulling away from the chase pack with Francis and Guerra leading the next bunch. At the two, Devin had dropped Rosie and was pulling away. At the finish Molloy got the win, notched a PR and made a statement that she is the one to beat in 3A this year. Polling was 2^nd with Francis, Guerra and Shakour rounding out the top 5 in that order.

Lely won the team trophy by having 6 in the top 20, scoring 57 points. Palmetto Ridge were next with 61, Naples in 3^rd with 70 and Barron Collier were the 4^th and final transfers to region 3 with 74. Gulf Coast HS runners Sarina Francis and Juliana Ross make the cut as individuals.

The boy’s championship was a little cloudier to predict, based on recent results Gulf Coast’s Jack Matute was the fastest runner coming in but Lely’s Gage Wheeler was coming on strong. The 1-2 duo from Barron Collier, Chad Husted and Jordan Russo, as well as, Naples’ Zoltan Hepp were harriers not to be discounted when the race got underway. At the first turn 100 meters into the course the usual suspects were all there with Zotan pushing the pace early. By the 1 mile marker Matute, Wheeler Husted and Russo formed and lead pack that had 5 meters on rest. Not much changed at the 2 except the distance back to the chase pack had grown to 15 meters. Gage gapped Jack around the 2.5 reversing the order of the previous week and looked to be in another gear. Wheeler held his advantage to the line for his first varsity victory as well as a PR. Matute was next with Husted, Russo and Lely’s Garrett Southerland making the top 5.

Barron Collier put 5 across in the top 15 scoring just 36 points for the team win. They were followed by Lely, with 56 and Gulf Coast, with 64 as the 3 teams that will transfer to the Region 3 meet next week. East Lee failed to field a full team in this district of 7, meaning instead of 4 automatic transfer only 3 will go. Four individuals made the cut; Alejandro Servin & Jason Saint Paul, Golden Gate HS, Christopher Davis & Colin Williams, Naples HS.

~Twangster