Telegraph Staff Writer
Tyler Griffin and Tyler Shaw led the Keystone Heights High School boys cross country team to a seventh-place, regional-qualifying finish at the District 2-2A meet, which was held Oct. 27 at Bishop Kenny in Jacksonville.
The top eight teams earned the right to move on to the Region 1 meet, which will be hosted by The Bolles School on Friday, Nov. 5, at Jacksonville’s New World Sports Complex. The boys race will begin at 8 a.m.
Keystone Head Coach Payton Capper said going into the meet, it appeared as if the boys team was looking at placing either eighth or ninth, but the result was even better, with the five runners who counted toward the team scoring averaging 20-minute races.
“Seventh was better than we expected,” Capper said. “I’m proud of the effort.”
Keystone is sending a boys team to regional competition for the seventh time in the last eight years. The Indians didn’t have a full team last season, which snapped a string of six straight regional appearances.
“This year is a little unexpected, to be honest,” Capper said. “Not that I underestimated these guys, but out of the eight runners I still have, four of them are seventh-graders. Our top runner — our best time — is only a 10th-grader.”
That 10th-grader is Griffin, who placed 36th in the 147-member field with a time of 19:03.
Shaw, the team’s lone senior, was 42nd with a time of 19:17.
Capper said a lot of credit goes to Shaw, who hasn’t been able to run a full season because of injuries. The coach felt the team needed his leadership and presence to “help drag us into that regional.”
“I have so much respect for him for sticking it out and being able to make it to districts,” Capper said. “Without him, we wouldn’t have gotten what we did. He ran a really, really aggressive, really courageous race because he hasn’t been able to put in the training he usually does.
“We really do owe a debt to him for helping us get there and dragging some of these young guys with him.”
Ryder Thomas, a seventh-grader, finished in the top half of the field as well with a 50th-place time of 19:29. Another seventh-grader, Anthony Peak, ran an 81st-place time of 21:02.
“Both of them ran very quality times,” Capper said of Thomas and Peak.
Ayden Graff, a freshman, added to the team’s score as well, placing 83rd with a time of 21:10.
The Indians also had the following participate: Will Begue (21:55), Clark Byrnes (24:29) and Beckett Capper (28:26).
Bolles topped the team standings, while Bishop Kenny was the runner-up. The rest of the top eight, in order, consisted of Eastside, Wolfson, Episcopal, Fernandina Beach, Keystone and Santa Fe.
Though he admitted the boys team’s performance was a little unexpected, it wasn’t a total surprise. Keystone may be young, but its runners do have experience, having competed in elementary school races and then middle-school races when they entered the sixth grade.
“I feel like we may have a little bit of promise if we keep this group together, if everybody stays healthy,” Capper said. “We’ve got a good nucleus of young runners.”
Speaking of being young, the oldest of the three who competed for Keystone in the girls race is a sophomore. Seventh-grader Olivia Griffin had the Indians’ best finish in the 126-member field with a 68th-place time of 24:49. Seventh-grader Alexis Taylor and sophomore Shaylyn Williams had times of 25:50 and 31:38, respectively.
