Keystone has 3 total top-3 finishers, while Bradford’s Carter places 13th
BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Keystone Heights High School cross-country runners Ryder Thomas and Noah Yara placed first and second, respectively, in the boys race at the second annual KHHS Indian Invite, which was held Sept. 21 at Trinity Youth Camp.
Olivia Griffin also earned a top-10 finish for the Indians, placing third in the girls race.
Trinity Christian was the top girls team, while Ridgeview and Keystone placed second and third, respectively, followed by Middleburg, P.K. Yonge, Interlachen, Clay, Baker County and Newberry.
Keystone placed fourth as a team in the boys standings behind champion Middleburg, runner-up Baker County and Ridgeview. Placing fifth through ninth were Palatka, Trinity Christian, Newberry, P.K. Yonge and Bradford.
Thomas ran a time of 18:04 to come out on top of the 92-individual boys field. Yara’s time of 18:20 put him across the line14 seconds ahead of third-place finisher Landon Turley of St. Francis.
Bradford’s Steven Carter just missed out on a top-10 finish, shaking off getting stung by a wasp in the first mile and recording a 13th-place time of 20:24. He was 29 seconds behind 10th-place finisher Jacob Salazar of Ridgeview.
The Indians’ Jason Parales and Gavin Morford finished in the top half of the field, with Parales running a 31st-place time of 22:48 and Morford a 44th-place time of 23:40.
Keystone also had the following boys results: Alex Mahaffey 24:30, Eli Rabe 24:43, Mason Gray 26:30, Oliver Miller 27:08 and Hunter Gray 27:09.
The boys race also included Bradford runners Kayden Lee (26:19), Ethan Ainsley (27:44), Kolson Lee (31:11) and Caden Eison (39:29).
Griffin’s time of 23:02 for the Keystone girls left her trailing champion Emily Turner of Ridgeview (22:19) and runner-up Shakira Agatha Wigham of Interlachen (22:38).
Four of Griffin’s teammates placed in the top half of the 76-individual field, including Melody Tyre, who was 17th with a time of 26:10.
Cali Chamberlain and Brook Graudons placed 26th and 29th, respectively, with times of 27:18 and 27:43. Kenslee Phillips ran a 35th-place time of 28:03.
Also running for Keystone were London Williams (31:07) and Clara Beth Robinson (33:11).
Bradford’s Samaria DeSue ran a time of 38:59.
Trophies were presented to the champion boys and girls teams as well as the individual first-place finishers. Second- and third-place individual finishers received medallions, while ribbons were presented to the rest of the runners who finished in the top 10 of their respective races.
