FPC cross country teams survive 'district of doom'

Palm Coast Observer
Sports

Flagler Palm Coast's cross country teams survived the "district of doom" to advance to regionals.

Seabreeze and Father Lopez also qualified both of their teams for the Oct. 29 regional meets. Mainland's girls team also qualified.

FPC's girls team finished seventh at the District 1-4A meet Oct. 22 at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee with sophomore Cassidy De Young leading the way with a time of 19:46.0 for a seventh-place individual finish. The FPC boys finished fifth with four Bulldogs running sub-17-minute times, led by junior Justin Gilliam's 16:28.6 for 14th place.

The FPC boys finished fifth with four Bulldogs running sub-17-minute times, led by junior Justin Gilliam's 16:28.6 for 14th place.

Making it through the district as one of eight qualifying teams is no easy feat. Six District 1-4A girls teams finished among the top 14 at state last year, including state champ Gainesville Buchholz. The district boys teams were even more dominant with six teams finishing among the top 10 at state in 2021.

Barak Olago (16:47.2, 24th place), Hayden Herndon (16:48.1, 26th) and Brandon Kalasnik (16:57.9, 30th) also ran under 17 minutes for the Bulldogs. Jack Gilvary (17:25.7) and Peyton Woodward (17:26.5) finished in 57th and 58th place. Rounding out FPC's girls scoring were Arianna Slaughter (21:03.7, 36th place), Genesis Epstein (21:31.2, 43rd), Kayleigh Johnson (21:35.7, 45th) and Mimi Jeffers (21:54.7, 56th).

The Bullodgs will run in the regional meet at Santa Fe College in Gainesville on Saturday, Oct. 29. If they finish among the top eight teams they will be returning to Apalachee Park on Nov. 5 for the state championships.

Seabreeze's boys finished fourth and the girls placed fifth at the District 3-3A meet at Central Winds Park in Winter Springs. Tyler Lewis led the Sandcrab boys runners with a 13th-place finish (18:01.4). Hunter Shuler (18:18.9) was 24th.

Seabreeze's Mackenzie Roy finished second overall in the girls race with a time of 19:24.4. Ariana Roy finished fourth with a time of 19:51.2, and Nickole Dane also finished among the top 10 for the Sandcrabs with a time of 20:56.5. Mainland's girls finished seventh with sophomore Kiera Williams (22:09.20, 20th) and senior Molly Bronson (22:20.4) leading the way. The Region 1-3A meet will also be at Santa Fe on Oct. 29.

Father Lopez's Andrew Gazzoli placed fourth with a time of 16:38.4 at the District 4-1A meet at Lopez. The Green Wave boys finished third as a team as Talan Spires (17:20.7, 12th), Matthew Gazzoli (17:27.5) and Felipe Paredes (17:48.9) also finished in the top 20. The Lopez girls finished eighth. Anna Nugent was 23rd with a time of 22:01.6.