Oak Hall takes girls team title at Bobcat Classic cross country meet
Oak Hall senior Sydney Miller finished third leading the Eagles girls team to an upset win over the shorthanded Buchholz Bobcats Saturday at the Bobcat Classic at Santa Fe College NW Campus.
Miller started off slowly and trailed the leaders that included last year’s Sun runner of the year Kate Drummond of Buchholz. The conditions were not the best and Miller wanted to make sure she didn’t overextend herself.
“I was tired from the beginning. As soon as we went through the mud, I was like ‘Oh gosh,’” said Miller. “I hadn’t run in these conditions since regionals last year. I just tried to stay relaxed not go out too fast and die in the end.”
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For the second week in a row, Drummond ran on a muddy course. Something she doesn’t favor. She battled for the lead, but ran into trouble in the later stages of the race.
“It wasn’t my finest race, but that’s OK,” said Drummond. “I ran the first mile of the race, but then I was pretty mentally out of it. I had some hard workouts this week. My legs were tired and a lot of our team were not here. It’s hard to push yourself when two of your best runners were not behind you.”
The Bobcats’ junior duo of Lucy Voss and Emma White sat out the race due to an illness that has run rampant through Buchholz High. Drummond also was a bit hoarse, but didn’t make any excuses.
“What can you do,” she said. “I tried my best, but it didn’t work too well. It happens. You got to keep going forward and move on.”
For Miller, it was the first time she has beaten Drummond in cross country in her career. Her time was 20:03.8.
“As I got to the two mile, I tried to push and get to the end," Miller said. "I was really happy that I accomplished that.”
Spruce Creek senior Olivia Niewald was the individual winner in a time of 19:51.9.
Oak Hall scored 65 points to edge out Fleming Island (80 points). Despite the muddy conditions, Oak Hall eight grader Valeria Beaver ran a personal-best time of 20:50.9 to finish seventh. Fellow eighth grader Lola Murfee followed her across the line in 12th in 21:20.4. Eagle junior Mackenzie Klein finished 13th in 21:21.3 and eighth grader Karsyn Goslinga rounded out the scoring for the Eagles with 33rd place showing (23:19.3).
Bobcat Classic Invitational
Saturday, Sept 10; Santa Fe College, NW Campus. Distance: 5.0K.
Team Scores
1. Oak Hall, 65; 2. Fleming Island, 80; 3. Mandarin, 99; 4. Buchholz, 103; 5. Spruce Creek, 133; 6. GHS, 191; 7. P.K. Yonge, 205; 10. St. John Lutheran, 258; 11. St. Francis, 264; 12. West Port, 283; 13 Santa Fe, 304; 14. Forest, 346; 15. Eastside, 397; 17. Bell, 485; Redeemer Christian, 528. (Trinity Catholic, Columbia, Fort White, North Marion, and Peniel Baptist did not have the required five scorers to post a team score.)
Individuals
1. Olivia Niewald, Spruce Creek, 19:51.9; 2. Delaney Stephens, Spruce Creek, 20:00.7; 3. Sydney Miller, Oak Hall, 20:03.3; 4. Kate Drummond, BHS, 20:09.2; 5. Eleanor Whisler, BHS, 20:14.9; 7. Valeria Beaver, Oak Hall, 20:50.9; 12. Lola Murfree, Oak Hall, 21:20.4; 13. Mackenzie Klein, Oak Hall, 21:21.3; 16. Mia White, West Port, 21:33.2; 20. Cat Romero, St. Francis, 21:49.3; 21. Paulina Cervantes, PKY, 21:54.5; 25. Nicole Webber, GHS, 22:18.7; 26. Kaitlyn Goslinga, BHS, 22:27.2; 31. Annika Caedington, BHS, 23:11.1; 33. Karsyn Goslinga, Oak Hall, 23:19.8; 34. Natalie Nelson, West Port, 23:30.0; 36. Mya Forbes, GHS, 23:33.7; 38. Payton Nazzari, St. John Lutheran, 23:35.1; 40. Audrey Fender, Columbia, 23:37.2; 41. Katie Webber, GHS, 23:42.9; 43. Reese Beaser, St. John Lutheran, 23:50.4; 44. Emma Reese, St. John Lutheran, 23:53.3; 46. Kaeden Roselle, GHS, 24:08.7; 48. Leila Ceilley, Santa Fe, 24:09.3.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: High school cross country: Oak Hall girls win Bobcat Classic
