First Coast Varsity Weekly: Bishop Kenny girls end long wait in Katie Caples cross country

Saturday will go down as a red-letter day for the red and black of Bishop Kenny.

A volleyball sweep against formerly-perfect state challenger Tallahassee Chiles. Five new event records in swimming. And a home-course triumph in girls cross country, leading the pack along the St. Johns River in the 25-year anniversary edition of the Katie Caples Invitational.

Balance boosted the Crusaders. Led by Tessa Massa (19:21) and Emily Wheldon (19:24), five Bishop Kenny girls broke 20:15 to tally 68 points, enough to overcome runner-up Ponte Vedra at 82 for the school's first girls team title in the home meet since 2000.

Northeast Florida's streak in the elite girls race stretched to 10 years: Bolles won every season from 2014 to 2020, while Ponte Vedra won in 2021 and 2022.

In the boys race, Bolles bounded to the top, led by Chris Joost in 15:59 with Parker Adams, Alexander Ruge, Will Morales and Jack Camp also under 16:50. The Bulldogs' 81 points edged out Gainesville Buchholz, which continued its Katie Caples success.

Buchholz's Riley Smith moved to the front early and dropped Fleming Island's Graham Myers and Bolles' Joost near the end to win in 15:50, while teammate Evan Fleming surged late to make it a Bobcats 1-2.

Previously, Buchholz's Emerson Miller won the boys race in 2022, and Buchholz's Kate Drummond placed first among girls in 2021.

"It's my first time really focusing on cross season, putting the miles in and stuff," Smith said. "I came out here just hoping to pace myself well, let people go out fast, and a lot of people started dropping off that front pack. It probably gave me a little bit of a confidence boost when I was able to keep that pace."

Lake Highland Prep's Annabella Tomasic made her first appearance at the Katie Caples one to remember. Still in seventh grade, Tomasic broke away from the pack inside the opening mile and won by nearly a minute margin in 17:48.82 for the girls individual title and second-fastest Florida high school time for 2023.

"[The pace] was a little bit on the edge," she said. "I've had some good times lately."

Ponte Vedra's Lindy White placed second, with Creekside's Alyson Johnson third.

Principal Todd Orlando and athletic director Mark Thorson also presented a commemorative plaque to former coach Steve Lyons, who is scheduled for induction into the Florida Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Lyons coached cross country at Bishop Kenny and later Nease and Ponte Vedra.

Cross country isn't slowing down: Heading this week's schedule is Saturday's Bale-N-Trail Original at Bartram Trail.

BK swimmers set five meet records

While the Bishop Kenny runners were lifting a trophy on home turf, the Crusaders' swimmers were rewriting record books in Orlando.

Bishop Kenny set five event records at the Florida Catholic Invitational Meet, on the way to a first-place boys team finish and second place in the girls overall standings.

Smashing records were the boys 200 freestyle relay of Matt Leitheiser, Angelo Candelora, Evan Gardner and Owen Kerkezi (1:27.74); the boys 400 free relay of Graham Evans, Kerkezi, Leitheiser and Carter Wright (3:11.89); Kerkezi in the boys 200 free (1:41.92); Wright in the boys 100 backstroke (51.19); and Rachel Howard in the girls 100 butterfly (56.56).

The Crusaders also got wins from Howard in the girls 50 free, Gardner in the boys 50 free, Kerkezi in the boys 100 free and the boys 200 medley relay team, boosting hopes for a program that won Class 2A boys state championships in 2021 and 2022.

While Jacksonville's rising Class 2A power was excelling in Central Florida, Class 1A giant Bolles was also stamping its name in the win column at home. Bolles won two weekend meets in both boys and girls swimming, topping Miami Braddock and Beachside on Friday and then winning the Plapp Invitational on Saturday.

Frank Holleman meet set for Saturday

Where are Northeast Florida's top swimmers going this weekend? For a few hundred of them, the answer will be Saturday's Frank Holleman Invitational at Planet Swim near Ponte Vedra.

In all, 20 schools are scheduled to race at what has become one of the area's most prominent regular season meets. All eight St. Johns County public schools are expected, in addition to Bolles, Fleming Island and several others.

Unlike most regular season events, the invitational is divided into preliminaries in the morning beginning at 8:30 a.m. and finals in the afternoon starting at 4:30 p.m.

At the 2022 meet, Raymond Prosinski won the 200 free and 100 back to lead Bartram Trail to first place, while Ponte Vedra lifted the girls trophy after victories by Annabelle MacAdams, Penny Zarczynski and Times-Union swimmer of the year Annie Wohlgemuth.

Ryan rockets onto all-time list

The time: 15:02.90.

That's how fast Nease senior Matt Ryan ran Saturday at the adidas XC Challenge in Cary, N.C., a time that launches the 2022 state champion ever higher on the list of Northeast Florida's fastest ever in cross country.

Only a handful of Jacksonville-area runners have gone below 15 minutes in high school cross country, including former Nease star Rheinhardt Harrison at New World Golf two years ago in 14:45. Colin Barker (Bishop Kenny), Jimmy Clark (Creekside) and Charles Hicks (Bolles) are the area's only other runners on record to go lower than Ryan's 15:02.

Nease placed second to Maryland's Calvert Hall College with 202 points, placing Sai Jayaraman, Finn Thomas, Nate Corkran and Wyatt Pittman under 16:22 along with Ryan.

A reloaded Bolles girls team fared well in North Carolina as well, placing eighth with a young roster. Seventh-grader Sofie Stam finished 27th in 18:44.6, best among locals, with junior Estella Bruneau also inside 19 minutes.

While the Katie Caples drew most of the area's top teams, some runners also scored high in other meets. St. Johns Country Day's Rebecca Stratton took second in the girls race at the Embry-Riddle Classic in Daytona Beach, followed by St. Joseph's Paige Brammer and Kira Casane.

In Lake City, Columbia's Nolan Martin (18:00) and Joshua Thompson ran 1-2 to lead the hosts' boys team to victory. Bishop Snyder took second in both boys and girls team standings.

Broncos sweep at Carrie Prewitt Gymnasium

This volleyball season might not see a match with more milestones than last Thursday's Clay County clash between Fleming Island and Middleburg.

Middleburg dedicated its gym in honor of longtime coach Carrie Prewitt, who led the Broncos' program for 38 seasons and 632 victories through her retirement last October, as the Broncos went on to the 25-18, 25-7, 25-23 victory.

Junior attacker Brooke Forkum reached the 500-kill mark for her Middleburg career, while setter Olivia Callipo tallied her 500th assist on the same night.

Not to be ignored was Fleming Island setter Hazel Williams, who recorded her 500th assist.

Trinity's Harris stars for USA Baseball

Looks like Trinity Christian outfielder Brady Harris is ready for the red, white and blue.

Lining up for USA Baseball's 15U team in the five-game International Friendly Series in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Harris put up some dream numbers while leading the United States to the victory.

The sophomore batted .571 (8 for 14) with a double, five stolen bases and eight RBI, good for an OPS of 1.327.

He recorded a hit in every game and made one of the defensive plays of the final, chasing down a fly in foul territory and firing a strike to the plate to double up a Puerto Rico runner attempting to score.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: High school cross country: Bishop Kenny girls win Katie Caples meet