- December 4, 2025
FPC freshman Douglas Seth finishes second in his first high school cross country race. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Arianna Slaughter (second from left) placed second overall and stands between winner Eva Delaney (left) and third-place finisher Emily Kate Longmire, both from Creekside. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC freshman Brayden Murray placed 38th overall and third among the Bulldogs. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Seabreeze's Hunter Shuler holds up his medal after leading the Sandcrabs with a 33rd-place finish. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Seabreeze's Madison Wilson. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC sophomore Owen Stackpole (293) and freshman Douglas Seth, middle-school club teammates back together on their high school team. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Seabreeze's Joseph Davis (711) placed 49th and FPC's Evan Johnson (283) was 50th out of 341 boys finishers. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Arianna Slaughter placed second in the girls race with a time of 20:15.3. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Audrey Bowman (center) placed 16th out of 245 finishers in the girls race. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Seabreeze's Ava Arnold (705) and Emma Robinson. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Runners mill outside the arena at the Flagler County Fairgrounds after the races at the Spikes and Spurs Classic. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Flagler Palm Coast freshman Douglas Seth was running in his first high school cross country meet, and he said he was trying to figure out how to pace himself over a 5-kilometer distance.
“In middle school we ran 3Ks. I didn’t know how to work 5Ks,” he said.
It would be hard to convince his opponents of that as Seth placed second among 341 boys finishers in FPC's 14th annual Spikes and Spurs Classic on Saturday, Aug. 23, at the Flagler County Fairgrounds.
His time of 17:09.8 probably won’t remain his high school personal record for long. But times were slow on the muddy course after about two inches of rain drenched the area the night before. What impressed FPC coach Dave Halliday was who Seth beat out to take the runner-up medal.
Douglas beat out a couple of kids who ran 15s last year, kids who ran 16:10. He beat out some pretty strong kids.
— DAVID HALLIDAY, FPC cross country coach
“Cross country is really about beating people, and that gets lost nowadays,” Halliday said. “Douglas beat out a couple of kids who ran 15s last year, kids who ran 16:10. He beat out some pretty strong kids.”
Told to hang back early, Seth bolted from seventh place at the first split to second place by the second split.
Creekside junior Eli Scharf won the race with a time of 17:01.0. Seth and sophomore Owen Stackpole (18th at 18:10.6) led the Bulldogs to a fifth-place team finish behind Oviedo Hagerty, Creekside, Nease and Sanford Seminole.
FPC senior Arianna Slaughter finished second in the girls race behind Creekside’s Eva Delaney, who ran the only sub 20-minute time with a 19:39.3. Slaughter’s time of 20:15.3 was less than a second off her 2024 Spikes and Spurs time of 20:14.7 when she finished third to help the Bulldogs win the team title and times in general were faster.
“Ari’s workouts have been lights out. In comparison to last summer, she’s improved a bunch,” Halliday said, adding that she had a head cold the night before Saturday’s race.
Two other FPC girls finished in the top 20 to help the girls match the boys with a fifth-place team finish. Creekside won the girls team title, followed by Beachside, Ponte Vedra and Hagerty.
FPC’s Anna Grigoruk placed eighth in the girls race in 20:49.6, while Audrey Bowman was 16th in 21:47.5.
“None of us PR’d, but we ran really well for the condition the course was in,” Grigoruk said.
“Going in I was not supposed to place anywhere near where I did,” Bowman said.
Halliday said he was really happy with the trio’s performance.
“I think Anna is going to surprise people this year. I think our top three can run with anybody’s top three in (Class) 4A,” Halliday said. “They’re probably all going to be improving by close to a minute this year.”
Slaughter said the Bulldogs knew the course was going to be tough after Friday’s downpour, but they weren’t daunted.
“We were mainly going after placing, and I think we all did that,” she said. “We all tried the hardest and that’s what matters the most. We have a small team this year, but we’re definitely going to be a force to be reckoned with.”
Seabreeze placed 13th among 21 boys teams and 14th among the girls.
Senior Hunter Shuler led the Sandcrab boys with a time of 18:47.1 for 33rd place. Freshman Karli Rybicki led the Seabreeze girls with a time of 26:41.3 to finish 101st.
Also finishing among the top 50 in the boys race were FPC freshman Brayden Murray (38th, 18:51.1); Seabreeze junior Joseph Davis (49th, 19:10.1) and FPC junior Evan Johnson (50th, 19:13.9).
FPC sophomore Mateo Almeida placed 53rd with a time of 19:16.5 despite slipping and falling on the wet course.
The Bulldogs were missing some runners due to sickness, minor injuries, SAT exams and other conflicts, Halliday said.
Seth, who is team-oriented, was bummed about the Bulldogs missing some of their top runners, Halliday said. But Seth and Stackpole, close friends and former teammates with Imagine School at Town Center’s club team, were happy to be reunited.
“Last year, I was saying, ‘Next year we’ll have Douglas,’ Stackpole said. “I’ve been dreaming about this race since last year.”
“We want to be the best duo in 4A by the end of the season,” Seth said.
Halliday said it was a successful meet with about 2,000 runners and spectators on and around the course for the high school and middle school races.
“I thought we pulled off a heck of an event,” he said. “Our coaches and parents put on a great meet. It was a huge turnout. Everyone was very appreciative. I think it was a good season opener.”
