Telegraph Staff Writer
The Keystone Heights High School boys cross country team and girls team member Olivia Griffin competed at the Oct. 28 Region 1-2A finals, with Tyler Griffin coming closest to qualifying for state.
To advance to state, a team had to place in the top eight. The top three individuals not on those teams earned the right to advance as well.
Tyler Griffin had the 13th-best time among individuals not on the top eight finishing teams, placing 54th overall in the 110-runner field with a time of 18:18. He improved upon last year’s region-level performance by nine seconds.
Keystone placed 15th out of 16 in the boys team standings, with Bolles, South Walton, Bishop Kenny, West Florida, North Bay Haven, Eastside, Episcopal and Suwannee earning state berths.
The same top eight teams finished in the top eight last season as well. Bolles and Bishop Kenny have combined for 11 state championships and state runner-up finishes the last 13 years.
Still, Keystone got personal-record times from each of its boys runners with the exception of Griffin. Two of those runners — Anthony Peak and Ryder Thomas — are eighth-graders.
Thomas ran a 59th-place time of 18:28, shaving 2:23 off his region time from last year. Shepherd Rozier and Peak ran times of 18:55 and 19:10, respectively, with Peak’s time being 1:49 lower than what he ran at the region level in 2021.
Jaden Park finished with a time of 19:58, while Josiah Durrenberger and Liam Callahan had times of 20:46 and 22:45, respectively.
The top three boys individuals not on one of the state-qualifying teams were Wolfson’s Andrew Marello (16:01, third overall), Florida High’s Xander McLaughlin (16:38, 10th) and Wakulla’s Henry Lewis (16:47, 12th).
In the 112-member girls race, eighth-grader Olivia Griffin placed 70th with a time of 22:52. She had the 19th-best score among individuals not on the following state-qualifying teams: Bolles, Bishop Kenny, Episcopal, North Bay Haven, South Walton, Wakulla, Tocoi Creek and Fernandina Beach.
The top three individuals not on those teams were Florida High’s Niya Coleman (19:20, seventh), Wolfson’s Addison Sharp (20:27, 24th) and West Florida’s Jennifer Mims (20:31, 25th).
