North Santa Rosa

ROYALS HOST HOME CROSS COUNTRY MEET IN THE PARK

ROYALS HOST HOME CROSS COUNTRY MEET IN THE PARK

 

The Jay High School Cross Country teams played host to one of the biggest meets in its long and storied history this past weekend. In Jay’s only home meet of the year, the J.D. Mac Invitational brought over 20 teams and more than 300 runners.

Gulf Breeze High School runners ran away with both the boys and girls individual titles in the varsity races. Ryan Von Brock ran 16:45 to post the fastest time for all three races. Hannah Spooneybarger won the varsity girls race in a time of 19:11. Gulf Breeze won the overall boys team title and the Tigers of T.R. Miller won the girls team championship.

BOYS TEAM RESULTS (BY SCHOOL): Gulf Breeze 33, Crestview 93, T.R. Miller 108, Pace 166, Tate 174, Milton 182, Pensacola Christian 184, Navarre 232, Pensacola Catholic 251, Booker T. Washington 305, Escambia 309, Freeport 316, Trinitas Christian 341, Pensacola High 345, Pine Forest 363, Jay 395, Northview 415, Alethia Christian 436, East Hill Christian 489.

GIRLS TEAM RESULTS (BY SCHOOL): T.R. Miller 52, Gulf Breeze 56, Crestview 94, Pensacola Catholic 123, Navarre 142, Jay 175, Pensacola High 187, Pensacola Christian 202, Pace 222, Freeport 234, Escambia 252, South Baldwin Christian 319.

“We knew that the big field of runners required the best organization and time management we could possibly coordinate, so we used Miles & Minutes timing group to help us score the meet. It proved to be successful,” said Jay High Girls Cross Country Coach Teresa Dobson, “But I’m particularly proud of how the Lady Royals ran today. We had a couple of girls run personal best times. Finishing 6th out of 12 teams is very significant considering how young our team is.”

Jay Boys Cross Country Coach Matthew Dobson felt equally proud of his team. “We have made marked improvements since the first day of practice. Austin Lang and Jody Godwin ran their fastest times ever today, which can provide just the right kind of motivation as we get deeper into the season. We adjusted the course to accommodate other events in the park and it turned out to be even better for the runners and spectators. We now have more natural terrain as opposed to pavement and asphalt. The other teams seemed to be happy with the new course route.”

Chance Thornton led the Royals with a time of 20:34, Austin Gonzalez followed with a 21:10. Godwin was a few steps behind Gonzalez and finished in 21:19. Lang finished fourth for the Royals in 21:29. And Jimmie Ates rounded out Jay’s top 5 scoring with a time of 23:18. Jacob Gonzalez ran 24:40.

The Lady Royals were led by Jillian Thornton who finished 13th overall in 22:15. Teammate Hannah Whitlock finished in 22:45 with a 14th place finish. Junior runner, Carsen Arrant ran a personal season best time of 25:27. Emma Barrow ran a personal best time of 26:02 and continues to get faster in every race. Rounding out the scoring for the Jay Girls was Grace Gillman in 27:57. In the JV/Open race, Brett Watson, Hannah Kersey, and Kalista Hamilton all ran personal best times. Watson led Jay’s JV girl’s contingent with a time of 26:42.

The J.D. Mac Invitational is an annual high school sporting event that honors long time Jay Cross Country Coach James McDaniel. Coach “Mac” won 4 State 1-A Championships in a row in the late 80s and into the 90s. Current Jay Girls Cross Country Coach, Teresa Scott Dobson was on each of his 4 state championship teams.

The Jay High Cross Country Teams will be back in action next Saturday, October 7th in Brewton, Alabama at the T.R. Miller Invitational. GO ROYALS!

 

Posted by on Oct 2 2017. Filed under High School, Jay, Local, Sports, Top News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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