BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Keystone Heights High School competed in the District 2-2A cross-country meet on Oct. 28 at Jacksonville’s Bishop Kenny High School, with Olivia Griffin, Ryder Thomas and Noah Yara qualifying for region-level competition.
The top four individuals who weren’t on regional-qualifying teams earned the right to compete at the Region 1 meet, which will be held Friday, Nov. 8, at Jacksonville’s New World Sports Complex. The girls race will begin at 7:30 a.m., followed by the boys race at 8 a.m.
Thomas was the top boys runner who wasn’t on a regional-qualifying team. He placed 20th out of 159 runners with a time of 17:44.
Yara ran a 31st-place time of 18:04. He was the third-highest runner not on a regional-qualifying team.
Griffin was top girls runner not on a regional-qualifying team and the only such runner to place in the top 40. She was 35th out of 136 with a time of 21:22.
Melody Tyre was two spots out of qualifying, placing 63rd with a time of 23:13.
A full team had to place in the top eight to advance.
The boys team placed 10th out of 18 teams, finishing behind Bolles, Bishop Kenny, Episcopal, Stanton, Eastside, Wolfson, Suwannee, Fernandina Beach and P.K. Yonge. Placing 11th through 18th were Raines, Jackson, Paxon, Ribault, West Nassau, Baldwin, Newberry and Santa Fe.
Also running for KHHS in the boys race were Jason Parales (20:56), Adam Bell (21:52), Mason Gray (22:01), Alex Mahaffey (22:49), Hunter Gray (23:37), Oliver Miller (23:42), Gavin Morford (25:51) and Eli Rabe (31:23).
The Indians placed 10th out of 15 tams in the girls race, finishing behind Bishop Kenny, Bolles, Episcopal, Fernandina Beach, Suwannee, Stanton, Eastside, Wolfson and Jackson. The 11th- through 15th-place teams were P.K. Yonge, Raines, Santa Fe, West Nassau and Baldwin.
Also running for the KHHS girls team were Cali Chamberlain (23:57), London Williams (25:44), Kenslee Phillips (26:37), Brook Graudons (26:51), Madilyn Miller (27:20) and Clara Beth Robinson (28:44).
