Spruce Creek twins Mackenzie, Arianna Roy sweep Joe McKinney Classic, set sights on states
PORT ORANGE — Jogging back and forth in a sloped, grassy area near Spruce Creek High School's parking lot, Volusia County's fastest female distance runners push one another side by side. It's rare to see them apart from one another during practice, or anywhere for that matter.
But Hawks coach Stephon Gallon split 16-year-old twin sisters Arianna and Mackenzie Roy into separate packs during practice this week, preparing the pair to run alone or alongside other competitors in more prestigious races throughout the fall.
"I have a motto — train hard, win easy. And they push themselves to a good limit," Gallon said. "It's a good example for everyone else, and that spills over to a great workout session for everybody."
Newcomers to the program after transferring this summer from Seabreeze, the Roy sisters both hold top-20 statewide 5K times in the opening month of the season. Mackenzie (18:20.30) and Arianna (18:37.60) set new personal bests Saturday at the Coach Joe McKinney Classic in New Smyrna Beach, finishing first and second respectively. Their times rank them ninth and 13th throughout Florida.
'It's great practice': DeLand, Seabreeze tie behind non-local team in 9-Hole Challenge
Distance running, at first, was a means to an end for the twins. Beginning in the fourth grade, they wanted to improve stamina and speed on the soccer field, playing for their hometown club in Ormond Beach.
"We kind of just fell in love with running," Arianna said. "After we put so much hard work into it, we got better and better every year. We realized we were good enough to get to the next level."
The sisters qualified for the Florida High School Athletic Association's Class 3A meet in each of their previous two seasons. As freshmen, they posted near-identical times, Mackenzie crossed the finish line exactly two seconds faster than Arianna at Tallahassee's Apalachee Regional Park to crack the top-30 in their classification.
They reached states during the outdoor track and field season, as well. Mackenzie scored a fourth-place finish in the Class 3A 1,600-meter run (5:06.93) after sweeping district and regional titles, Ariana placed 14th in the same event and the twins comprised half of the Sandcrabs' 4x800-meter relay team which took fifth.
"Cross country helped us build endurance in order to be able to run the mile, or the 800 faster than we would have before," Arianna said. "Track helped us decrease our mile times because we knew we could run faster for a longer period of time."
Switching schools in the summer, Mackenzie described Spruce Creek as a "really good environment, and a really good team." Gallon eventually plans to count on the Roys as leaders of the group, but wants them to adapt first.
"One of the things I'm most impressed with is that they're like babies that sponge up all the information you give — from the running technique, to the reason why we're running hills, to what we call August the first-mile month or September the two-mile month," Gallon said.
Both girls already achieved their first goals for the season Saturday; Arianna sought to break 19 minutes, and Mackenzie aimed to finish in under 18½. Of course, the ultimate mission is another trip to the state meet — competing in Class 4A this time — and to make the top 15.
Patience with the process in place, Gallon believes, is what will eventually get them there.
"Build off not just each other — they're twins, you can see that competitiveness with each other all the time — but being competitive with others," Gallon said. "Learning to do that will ultimately make them stronger."
While the Roy sisters swept the girls individual race, Lake Mary took home the girls team title with a score of 53, bettering second-place St. Augustine by 16 and third-place Boone by 24. The Yellow Jackets' tandem of Lauren Voutour (19:31) and Rylan Holmquist (19:48.4) came home third and fourth respectively with University's Morgan Harvill (19:56.6) rounding out the top five.
On the boys side, Boone claimed a team victory with a score of 47. Lake Mary (67) was second, edging third-place St. Augustine by a single point. The Rams' Connor Stromberg was the individual race winner with a time of 16:03.1, beating Boone's Dylan Mauldin (16:03.2) and Lake Mary teammate Nathan Henning (16:03.5) by less than a second to the line.
Joe McKinney Classic results
Girls team standings: 1. Lake Mary 53; 2. St. Augustine 69; 3. Boone 77; 4. Spruce Creek 101; 5 Matanzas 106; 6. New Smyrna Beach 184; 7. Mainland 226; 8. Father Lopez 230; 9. Seabreeze 235; 10. University 242; 11. Taylor 291
Girls individual results: 1. Mackenzie Roy, SC 18:20.3; 2. Arianna Roy, SC 18:37.6; 3. Lauren Voutour, SA 19:31; 4. Rylan Holmquist, SA 19:48.4; 5. Morgan Harvill, Univ. 19:56.6; 6. Camryn Barrett, LM 20:22.1; 7. Ebony Herndon, Boone 20:22.5; 8. Sara Povlick, LM 20:27.3; 9. Sierra Howard, Mat. 20:33.8; 10. Marian Gates, SA 20:45.9
Boys team standings: 1. Boone 47; 2. Lake Mary 67; 3. St. Augustine 68; 4. New Smyrna Beach 112; 5. Matanzas 151; 6. Seabreeze 157; 7. Deltona 174; 8. Spruce Creek 208; 9. University 225; 10. Mainland 267; 11. First Baptist Christian Academy 296; 12. Burns Sci-Tech Charter 362
Boys individual results: 1. Connor Stromberg, LM 16:03.1; 2. Dylan Mauldin, Boone 16:03.2; 3. Nathan Henning, LM 16:03.5; 4. Corey Johnson, LM 16:08.2. 5. Dylan Cannella, Boone 16:13.9; 6. Cole Sweeney, SA 16:20.2; 7. Brandon McNulty, Boone 16:24.9; 8. Carlos Cerrud, Delt. 16:57.8; 9. Hunter Shuler, Sea. 16:59.8; 10. Canyon Lowes, SA 17:03.1
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: High school cross country: Creek's Roy sisters win Joe McKinney Classic
