FSU Invite: Leon's Koon makes Apalachee Regional history; Maclay girls continue to climb

No high schooler has ever accomplished what Leon junior Patrick Koon did Saturday morning at Apalachee Regional Park in its 13 years of existence.

Three weeks after he set a personal record at The Southern Showcase in Huntsville, Alabama, winning the elite race with a time of 14:43.09, Koon dominated the state course in just his second outing at Apalachee.

Koon won the boys' elite race at 14:50, smashing the previous course high school 5K record of 14:59.45 by nine seconds. Waiting at the finish line was the previous owner of that record, the 2013 and 2014 All-Big Bend Runner of the Year and Leon alumnus, Sukhi Khosla.

Khosla embraced Koon, who said he's happy to keep the course record in the Leon family.

"I'm pumped to be able to take down a course record. That's been my goal since freshman year," Koon said. "It's great that I was able to keep it in the Leon family too. Can't let anyone else have it. Gotta keep it with Leon."

Despite the lower time in Alabama, Koon said his run Saturday was stronger because he accomplished  it on a course that will host state and is also a nationally accredited.

Apalachee Regional hosted the 2021 NCAA Cross Country National Championships and has hosted a plethora of national, and even world contests.

In finding his footing against a competitive field, Koon said the key was listening to head coach Andrew Wills and staying consistent with his training.

"He's [Wills] done this before and he'll do it again," Koon said. "To be able to listen to him and know that I'm able to accomplish anything is pretty great."

Training continues to be Koon's primary focus, along with staying humble in the journey to the state meet.

Koon added he's aware he can't sleep on any of his competitors.

Belen Jesuit junior Joshua Ruiz, the state runner-up behind Koon last year, took fourth and third among Florida runners. Belen also dominated the team field, winning the overall boys' elite title by 62-points, and placed its top five runners inside the top 30.

In a prior interview, Koon mentioned that times and records were "icing on the cake" when came to his finishes, but his main focus was winning.

Saturday was the exception to the junior's strict rule.

"I said that winning was the main point earlier, but I think time wins just a little more over that on a course like this," Koon said.

Competing for each other

In the girls' competition, one of the smallest schools competing in the elite race was Maclay. Despite being a 1A team, the Marauders have packed a strong punch this season.

MileSplit Florida has Maclay's girls' squad ranked as the top team in 1A, holding a five-point team point advantage over Tampa Cambridge Christian. Despite Cambridge Christian's Eliana Black winning the elite race by 14-seconds (17:39.80), the Marauders beat Cambridge in the team standings by nine points.

"Everyone is really close in age and we all have a great bond cause we've been running together since middle school," junior Gracie Koeppel said. "Everyone is just really supportive of each other. We help build each other up and it's just friendly competition."

Similar to the track season, Maclay has found its success through numbers.

While they might not have an individual winner every single race, the Marauders' top five of Koeppel, freshman Lillian Koeppel, freshman Caroline Couch, junior Mary Clayton Soto, and sophomore Kassidy Moninger had produced.

Marauders coach Angie Milford said there are things that need to be worked on, but the key focus of pacing continues to remain strong.

"We're still working, and that's what I told the girls beforehand," Milford said.

"We've got a goal to work on our pacing for state, cause it's the end rankings that mean the most to us. I told them if they work on their pacing, good things are going to happen and obviously, team placement shows that."

One of the things Maclay has done this season to push itself is competing beyond state lines.

Maclay was at the same meet Koon broke his PR in Huntsville and was most recently at the Alexander/Asics Invitational in Georgia, where Maclay took fourth as a team.

"It's been really fun to travel, but it's also been humbling," Gracie said. "In Florida, there are a lot of teams that are really good, but to go to these big meets and have all these super talented teams all over the country helps us to grow."

"There's a lot of teams and a lot of really fast girls," Lillian said. "It pushes us to run faster and work on our times."

Peaking at the right time is almost a commandment of cross country, but achieving that differs from team to team. The Marauders believe they shouldn't force too much and try to steadily improve from meet to meet.

The FSU Invite was Maclay's last regular season meet before it heads back to the ARP  for districts on Oct. 18. They are only away from the Big Bend for regionals before returningfor state.

"Being smart is key for us," Gracie said. "We don't want to go too hard right now and take care of our bodies. We want to put in good easy miles with a mix of guilty days."

Big Bend FSU Invite results

*scores listed are top five contributing to team score 

Elite boys 

Team: Leon - 407 points (13th); Chiles A - 443 points (17th) 

1. Patrick Koon, Leon 14.50.00

9. Wyatt Townsend, Chiles 15:26.70

80. Quinn Carrasquilla, Leon 16:30.00

92. Jackson Rowe, Chiles 16:42.10

111.  Kasey Mick, Chiles 16:54.20

121. William Springer, Leon 16:57.40

130. Cadden Maxwell, Leon 17:00.70

135. William Winsor, Leon 17:04.80

138. Colin Dunphy, Chiles 17:06.10

155. Owen Franklin, Chiles 17:12.80

Elite girls 

Team: Maclay - 248 points (3rd); Leon -  280 points (6th) 

14. Lillee Tang, Leon 18:26.90

23. Lily Moore, Leon 18:43.00

32. Gracie Koeppel, Maclay 18:56.50

43.  Lillian Koeppel, Maclay 19.09.10

47. Caroline Couch, Maclay 19:19.10

72. Mallory Robinson, Leon 19:43.60

96.  Mary Clayton Soto, Maclay 20:02.90

99.  Kassidy Moninger, Maclay 20:05.00

105. Stella Lewis, Leon 20:11.30

126. Madi Sims, Leon 20:31.50

Select boys 

Team: Maclay - 552 points (25th) 

22. Clayton Knox, Maclay 16:43.70

59. Lucas Mauch, Maclay 17:15.60

131. Charles Wilson, Malcay 18:31.60

187. Logan Price, Maclay 18:51.20

204. Lucas Gomez, Maclay 19:08.70

Select girls 

Team: Chiles - 350 (12th); Florida High - 410 (14th) 

19. Niya Coleman, Florida High 19:54.70

38. Maddie Morris, Chiles 20:37.40

44. Sophia Youngberg, Chiles 20:49.00

47. London Mellen, Chiles 20:54.50

107. Leah Boutwell, Florida High 21:58.70

109. Ryleigh Gunter, Florida High 22:01.10

110. Leah Keller, Florida High 22:01.20

111. Madeleine Byrd, Florida High 22:01.80

122. Molly Duggan, Chiles 22:14.00

145. Madison McNeill, Chiles 22:48.30

Varsity boys 

Team: Chiles B - 324 points (10th);  Florida High - 409 points (17th) 

17. Xavier England, Florida High 17:31.30

25. Carter Rothell, Florida High 17:44.50

38. Jonah Blay, Chiles 18:00.60

70. Gabriel Edwards, Chiles 18:34.20

77. Matthew Miralles, Chiles 18:42.40

78. Ben Middleton, Chiles  18:42.80

92. Jackson Beener, Chiles 18:50.00

122. Evan Poole, Florida High 19:14.50

130. Yoshi Hutt, Florida High 19:19.30

150. Cadan Recek, Florida High 19:33.60

Jack Williams covers prep sports for Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at jwilliams@tallahassee.com or on Twitter @jackgwilliams. 

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Leon's Patrick Koon breaks Apalachee Regional record; Maclay girls continue to climb