South Fork's Addison Boyer, Vero's Kenan Willard win conference title races
STUART — One of the state's top runners and an upstart to the ocal running scene raced to the top of Saturday's Treasure Lake Conference XC Championships at South Fork High School.
Bulldog junior Addison Boyer comfortably won the girls' race on her home course and Vero Beach sophomore Kenan Willard continued his strong form with a win in the boys' race as the competition slogged through a wet course.
Boyer's time of 19:03.67 in her estimation was a satisfactory mark considering the conditions and enduring a hard week of training that will hopefully pay off in the long run.
"I just wanted to go out and play with my splits a little bit for this race," Boyer said. "I started out pretty strong at 5:50 but my legs were pretty dead from this week's workout so I just kind of pushed through until the end."
Boyer, who finished seventh at last year's FHSAA 3A Championship, has a season best time of 18:26.5 and will begin the postseason with her team at Rockledge for the District 7-3A meet on Saturday, Oct. 22.
Willard turned heads by setting a new Vero Beach school record at FSU's Pre-State Invitational last Saturday with a time of 16:01.8 and despite the wet conditions came home Saturday with his second-best time of the season at 16:24.71.
Finishing almost a minute ahead of the pack, Willard is full of confidence heading into the postseason races after backing up his best race with another strong performance.
"I was happy with the time for this course, it was very muddy but I held on and I finished strong," Willard said.
Willard and Vero Beach will race both the District 6-4A meet as well as the regional meet at South County Regional Park in Boca Raton with the district race taking place next Thursday.
Sebastian River's boys and South Fork's girls brought home the team championships Saturday with the Sharks placing four of the top eight finishers for the boys and the Bulldogs making up three of the top seven finishers for the girls.
Colton Russano took second overall for Sebastian River and Caleb Wilkinson was fifth for the Sharks.
Lincoln Park Academy sophomore Jacey Lane ran a strong second in the girls' race with a time of 19:24.89 for the Greyhounds.
Emerson Brinn was third and Abby McLaughlin finished seventh for the Bulldog girls.
Treasure Lake Conference XC Championship standings and results
Boys
Sebastian River 31, South Fork 44, Vero Beach 71, Martin County 106, Okeechobee 154, Lincoln Park Academy 170, Fort Pierce Westwood 183
Top 10 individuals
1. Kenan Willard (VB) 16:24.71, 2. Colton Russano (SR) 17:17.87, 3. Carter Vigneri (SF) 17:18.63, 4. Caleb Wilkinson (SR) 17:35.21, 5. Richie Palusek (SF) 17:43.91, 6. Maxum Kornilov (SF) 17:46.31, 7. Noah McMann (SR) 17:49.13, 8. Thiago de Souza (TC) 17:51.53, 9. Alexander Perez (SR) 17:59.99, 10. Parker Layman (SF) 18:06.96
Girls
South Fork 43, Vero Beach 56, Sebastian River 67, Lincoln Park Academy 108, Pine School 126, Martin County 131, Treasure Coast Classical 208
Top 10 individuals
1. Addison Boyer (SF) 19:03.67, 2. Jacey Lane (LPA) 19:24.89, 3. Emerson Brinn (SF) 20:14.80, 4. Amelie Galbraith (PS) 21:22.55, 5. Madison Movchuk (MC) 21:32.44, 6. Anna Cobb (VB) 21:39.20, 7. Abby McLaughlin (SF) 21:56.23, 8. Daria Gibbs (SR) 22:07.07, 9. Lindsey Saucedo (O) 22:19.44, 10. Lana Kish (SR) 22:26.86
Bryan Cooney is a high school sports reporter at TCPalm, part of the USA TODAY Network. You can reach him at bcooney@gannett.com and also on Twitter at @Bryan_Cooney.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: South Fork's Boyer, Vero's Willard win XC conference title races
