by Richard Wilson
The Craig Speziale Invitational cross country races were held at Ponte Vedra High
School on Saturday, September 12, 2020. Between driving rain showers on a slow course, our Spartan runners did well against teams from much larger schools. Running in races like this with very large numbers of participants provides valuable experience, especially for our younger runners.
In the Boys' Varsity event, Matthew Stratton '22 ran a great race to finish second, breaking the 16-minute barrier again and clocking just 3 seconds slower than his season-PR. Jake Kailes '21 was our second man in, followed by James Wilson '21, Adan Herrera '22, Cade Zehner '21 and Jacob Holyer '23. (Wilson, Zehner, and Holyer were all just a handful of seconds behind their season-PRs).
In the Girls’ Varsity race, Becca Stratton '25 continued her good form with her second-fastest ever time. Sarah Robinson '24 was our second young lady home, followed by Evelyn Hanson '22 (season-PR), Sofia Conde '24, and Kaitlyn Phillips '23 (season-PR).
The Boys’ JV race was packed with large schools looking for team glory, with runners who would make most Varsity teams. Our young Spartans were not intimidated in this very large field, and ran excellent races. Corbin Plunk '26 and Timmy Jackson '24 both ran season-PRs, Grade 6 students Teague Dunagan, Nathan Robinson, and Finn Kent all competed in their first competitive 5Ks and finished in under 29 minutes, and Sergio Lopez Diaz ran an all-time PR also well under the 30-minute mark.
Boys’ Varsity: 171 runners, 19 teams
2. Matthew Stratton 15:59
70. Jake Kailes 19:16
101. James Wilson 21:12
104. Adan Herrera 21:22
118. Cade Zehner 22:36
119. Jacob Holyer 22:36
Team place 13
Girls’ Varsity: 137 runners, 14 teams
56. Rebecca Stratton 23:15
63. Sarah Robinson 24:03
71. Evelyn Hanson 24:20 *
79. Sofia Conde 25:11
82. Kaitlyn Phillips 24:49 *
Team place 12
Boys’ Junior Varsity: 238 runners, 16 teams
69. Corbin Plunk 22:38 *
101. Timothy Jackson 27:52 *
102. Teague Dunagan 28:00 **
103. Nathan Robinson 28:28 **
104. Finn Kent 28:35 **
106. Sergio Lopez Diaz 29:38 **
Team place 16
(To give you an idea of what our JV boys were up against, Creekside High School won the team event with their slowest runner in at 18:29)
Congratulations to all our Spartan runners!
- Athletics