BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Keystone Heights High School’s Noah Yara placed 43rd out of 304 at Bartram Trail High School’s Bale ‘n’ Trail cross-country event, which was held Sept. 27.
The boys varsity race consisted of 31 teams, with Keystone placing 20th.
Yara, who ran a time of 17:51, was one of three Keystone runners to finish in the top half of the field. Ryder Thomas and Hunter Sheppard placed 80th and 145th, respectively, with times of 18:28 and 19:37.
Also competing were Ryeland Wahl, who had a time of 20:01, Jason Parales, who had a time of 21:19, and Oliver Miller, who had a time of 24:25.
Keystone’s Olivia Griffin finished 163rd out of 271 in the varsity girls race with a time of 25:05. Teammate Schiley Starling had a time of 35:11.
The Indians’ Ryleigh Thomas took second out of 200 in the freshman-sophomore girls race with a time of 21:40, which left her trailing Trinity Christian’s Kenzie McCollum, who had a time of 19:55.
Melody Tyre ran an eighth-place time of 22:54 for Keystone, while teammate Tessa Gray was 80th with a time of 26:42.
The following also ran in the race: Clara Beth Robinson 28:31, Bailee Morris 28:36, Kirsten Lavin 31:18 and Raina Daniel 31:23.
Keystone placed seventh out of 16 teams.
In the freshman-sophomore boys race, the Indians were 13th out of 18 in the team standings. Hunter Gray led Keystone with a time of 19:10, which placed him 17th out of 198.
Gavin Morford ran an 83rd-place time of 21:43, while the Indians also had the following results: Alex Mahaffey 22:21, Mason Gray 23:16 and Eli Rabe 23:48.
Prior to the Bale ‘n’ Trail, Keystone competed in the Sept. 27 Orange Park Raider Invite, with Yara winning the varsity boys race with a time of 18:05.
The boys race consisted of 66 runners. Besides Yara, the Indians had five finish in the top half of the field: Thomas, who was third with a time of 18:55, Hunter Gray, who was 17th with a time of 20:16, Sheppard, who was 22nd with a time of 20:54, Parales, who was 29th with a time of 21:39, and Morford, who was 31st with a time of 21:59.
Also competing were Wahl 22:34, Mason Gray 23:58, Mahaffey 24:00, Rabe 26:12 and Miller 27:20.
Keystone placed third out of six in the team standings.
The Indians were third out of five teams in the varsity girls race, led by Thomas’ second-place time of 22:08. She trailed Ridgeview’s Emily Turner, who had a time of 21:47.
Tyre and Gray placed 10th and 20th, respectively, out of 50 runners with times of 24:03 and 25:39.
Keystone also had the following results: Lavin 29:32, Morris 29:44, Baily Roberts 34:52, Daniel 34:54 and Starling 36:33.
