Running toward states: Maclay cross country win girls district title, place second in boys.
It was a good day for Maclay on the hills of the state course at Apalachee Regional Park.
The Marauders won the 1A District 2 girls district title and the boys finished second place behind Providence school. Individually Maclay's Caroline Couch and David Barton won both races and in the girl's, Maclay held the top four places of the race, with Susan Koeppel, Mary Clayton Soto and Lillian Koeppel placing behind Couch.
Maclay has had a lot of experience on the state course at Apalachee Regional Park, running a few races on the course and practicing once a week on it, something that head coach Angie Milford thinks gives her team confidence during meets.
"We know how important it is to run the course well," Milford said. "Today was a great confidence builder and that's what we wanted. The weather was beautiful, the course is in great shape, so it means a lot and it is setting us up well for state."
The growth of the Maclay running program as one of the Big Bend's best has come from its ability to have representation from seniors down to freshmen on the cross-country roster. Milford thinks the depth allows the Marauders to both compete on the course and allow the veteran runners to mentor those new to the team.
"We finally have seniors this year, which is great and sad at the same point," Milford said. "I think this group just getting stronger every year and we do have younger ones coming up and I think with our program we can mentor those younger middle schoolers which is great because we have such great upperclassmen."
One of the runners that Milford mentioned is Barton, who won the boy's race with a personal best time of 16:17.80, beating second place by nearly 34 seconds. The freshman was running in middle school races last season and says his transition to the high school level has gone smoothly.
"I feel great, I mean the love from the team and the support has just helped me so much," Barton said. "The transition from middle to high school was so great and I feel like we're a tight team and that helped me today, just to know that if I run well and we have each other's back I can accomplish something great."
Barton has previously placed well at Apalachee Regional Park's state course, a third-place finish in the varsity A boys Florida State pre-state invitational, and now claims his first victory on the same course that will host states in just over two weeks.
The Freshman feels the experience on the course and growing the chemistry on the team have been crucial in the Marauders' success this season. Barton said team bonding activities like team lunches/dinners and spending time together outside of practice helped the team's confidence during districts and will help as it continues a run towards states.
"There's a lot yet to come, but I feel like down the road, we got big plans," Barton said. "I feel like as a team we all really bond over our love for the sport of running and it's just great to see the outcome of that today."
District Results
Full results can be found on Milesplit.com Team Results are posted in Team name, and point total order.
The Top eight teams advance to regionals
Boys team: 1 Providence 22, 2 Maclay 63, 3 Community Christian (Tal) 94, 4 St. Joseph 99, 5 St. Johns Country Day 150, 6 Trinity Christian (Jax) 161, 7 Christ Church Academy 183, 8 Bishop Snyder 186, 9 Harvest Community 207, 10 Florida Deaf and Blind 318, 11 University Christian 344, 12 Hamilton County 356
Girls team: 1 Maclay 20, 2 Providence 41, 3 St. Johns Country Day 102, 4 Christs Church Academy 120, 5 Harvest Community 142, 6 St. John Paul Catholic 178, 7 Community Christian, 8 Bishop Snyder 190, 9 Trinity Christian 240
Boys top 15: 1 David Barton, Maclay - 16:17.80, 2 Walker White, Providence - 16:51.50, 3 Sam Loftin, Providence -16:52.50, 4 Ellis Halton, Providence - 17:14.20, 5 Ashton Akam, St. Joseph - 17:18.10, 6Donovan Drake, Providence -17:28.90, 7 Harrison Kozlowski, Providence - 17:31.20, 8 Landon Reeves, Community Christian 17:38.50, 9 Sean Cunningham, Providence -17:42.70, 10, Richard Nichols, St. Johns Country Day -17:44.70, 11 Charles Wilson, Maclay -17:49.60, 12 Tyson Manley, Christs Church Academy - 17:51.00, 13 Logan Brown, Trinity Christian -17:53.40, 14 Logan Phipps, Maclay -17:55.60, 15 Carson Freeland, Community Christian -18:06.40
Girls top 15: 1 Caroline Couch Maclay -18:19.80, 2 Susan Koeppel, Maclay -19:30.70, 3 Mary Clayton Soto, Maclay - 19:41.40, 3 Lillian Koeppel, Maclay -19:41.40, 5 Emma Akhundjanov, Providence 20:19.50, 6 Kasey Davey, Providence -20:21.20, 7 Paige Brammer, St. Joseph -20:34.10, 8 Kira Casane, St. Joseph -20:43.80, 9 Danielle Raulerson, Christs Church Academy -20:50.50, 10Katie Cunningham, Providence -20:53.40,11 Sara Palmer, Providence -20:54.90, 12 Payton Thumm Maclay -20:57.50, 13 Rebecca Stratton, St. Johns Country Day -21:00.7014 Serafina Rietow, St. John Paul Catholic -21:05.20, 15 Brooks Griffin Providence - 21:41.20
Liam Rooney covers preps sports for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at LRooney@gannett.com or on Twitter @__liamrooney
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Maclay cross country place top in girls districts, second in boys race
