Hollins, O'Grady win Okaloosa County Cross Country crowns, Niceville sweeps team titles
NICEVILLE — It was the rare Okaloosa County Championships cross country meet where Niceville, Fort Walton Beach and Choctaw each had a slice of the title pie.
The Eagles swept the team events at the Howard Hill Soccer Complex, the product of their top five boys each finishing in the top seven and their top five girls placing no worse than ninth individually.
Fort Walton celebrated the girls' individual title, sophomore Belica O'Grady owning the girls race with a 19:12.30 that was 37.50 seconds faster than runner-up Trinity Holland of Niceville.
Meanwhile Choctaw accounted for the boys' individual crown, senior Kaleb Hollins nearly 10 seconds ahead of runner-up Grant Chastain of Fort Walton.
Four titles were spread across three teams. And big-picture, some blazing competition emerged for what appears to be a a handful of state medalist hopefuls and a contender or two to win it all.
The fastest person of the morning was easily Hollins, who likely had last year's second-place finish at county in the back of his mind. Fresh off a PR of 15:53.20 at FSU pre-state last week, the senior looks to be a shoo-in to improve on last year's 18th-place finish at state.
While Hollins' fast time won the battle, Niceville won the war despite its top runner finishing third. Alexander Buena's 17:01.30 paced the Eagles, who individually finished third, fourth, sixth, seventh and eighth. Hodge followed in 17:03.60, Gehrig Gesch in 17:14.30, Tobias Siren in 17:34.40 and Cooper Breeze in 17:37.60. Their collective 28 points easily bested runner-up Fort Walton (40 points, featuring a fifth-place finish by Luke Endt), third-place Choctaw (75), fourth-place Crestview (88) and fifth-place Rocky Bayou (145).
On the girls' side, this was O'Grady's race. Of course it was, the sophomore defending her Okaloosa title with nary a runner in her shadow. The 2021 Daily News Female Runner of the Year finished 30th at state last year as a freshman. She'll easily be in medal contention this year.
Also eying a top finish at state are the Niceville girls, whose 30 points easily topped runner-up Fort Walton (41), third-place Choctaw (76), fourth-place Crestview (93) and fifth-place Rocky Bayou (150).
Holland was second in 19:49.80, followed by Fort Walton's Tilda Brewer in 19:59, teammate Rayne Mendez in 20:05.30, Choctaw's Hayley Boyle in 20:06.20, Choctaw's Brylie Kilgore in 20:12.90 and the Niceville trio of Hailey Holtery (20:22.90), Lauryn Cooper (20:42.90) and Kate McMahon (20:55.60) in seventh through ninth.
The Eagles remain the lone team in the state to have all five girls go sub-20-minutes this year.
Next up for the area programs is districts, which take place next week at different locations.
Follow sports editor Seth Stringer on twitter at @SethSnwfdn.
This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: Niceville sweeps teams Okaloosa County titles and Hollins, O'Grady win
