BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Telegraph Staff Writer
Keystone Heights High School placed seventh in both the boys and girls races at the Oct. 30 District 2-2A cross-country finals at Bishop Kenny High School in Jacksonville, qualifying both teams for region-level competition.
The top eight teams earned the right to advance to the Region 1 finals, which will be held Thursday, Nov. 9, at Lake City’s Alligator Park. The girls race starts at 8 a.m., followed by the boys race at 9 a.m.
Keystone had four runners place in the top half of the field in the boys race, earning a seventh-place score of 208 ahead of eighth-place finisher Fernandina Beach (252). This is the ninth time in 10 years a Keystone boys team has qualified for regionals.
Tyler Griffin and Ryder Thomas placed 22nd and 26th, respectively out of 138 runners, crossing the finish line with times of 18:10 and 18:22. Hunter Sheppard had a 55th-place time of 20:09, while Anthony Peak had a 63rd-place time of 20:29.
Bryce Huntley, who placed 71st, also contributed to the team score with a time of 20:55.
The Indians also had the following compete: Jaden Park (21:41), Kipton Spence (22:33), Jason Parales (23:24), Josiah Durrenberger (23:40) and Mason Gray (24:38).
Bolles won the championship with a score of 21, while Bishop Kenny was runner-up with 42 points. Placing third through sixth were Episcopal (120), Wolfson (120), Eastside (144) and Baker County (191).
The Keystone girls team qualified for regionals for the first time since 2020. The Indians had a team score of 250 and placed ahead of Raines, which also had a score of 250.
Olivia Griffin, who was an individual region qualifier last year, led Keystone with a time of 22:20, which placed her 40th out of 119. Cali Chamberlain and Melody Tyre were 54th and 63rd, respectively, with times of 24:26 and 25:219, while Brook Graudons was 83rd with a time of 27:15.
Also running for Keystone were Madilyn Miller (27:46), Alonah Neeld (28:10), Kirsten Lavin (29:22), Schiley Starling (30:13) and Clara Beth Robinson (30:27).
Bishop Kenny won the championship with a score of 27, followed by runner-up Bolles, which had a score of 34. The third- through sixth-place teams were Episcopal (82), Fernandina Beach (103), Wolfson (143) and Eastside (233).
