Region cross country: Season ends for county competitors

LAKE CITY – While one memorable career came to an end Thursday morning, two younger runners continued to build on their cross country resumes at the Alligator Lake Park.

In the end, the seasons came to an end for both Palatka's Ymira Passmore and the Peniel Baptist Academy pair of Reed Rion and Caleb Baker as none of them could claim a non-team qualifying spot for the Florida High School Athletic Association championship next Saturday in Tallahassee.

Passmore, Palatka Junior-Senior High's four-year All-Putnam County champion and two-time regional qualifier, could never get anything going as she finished 80th in 24:11 in the Region 1-2A championship. The diminuitive and affable Passmore said her left knee was feeling the effects of running on a nearly concrete Jacksonville Bishop Kenny course on Oct. 30 in the District 2-2A championship and being pushed around by Newberry High defenders during Wednesday night's girls soccer match that Palatka lost, 7-0.

"I tried to start fast in front of the group, but 100 meters in my leg started freezing up," said Passmore, who was running in 55-degree conditions for the 8 a.m. race. "My knee has been hurt for the past few days. I tried to ice it (Wednesday) night, and it felt better (Thursday), but my leg gave me problems and I just couldn't move as well as I wanted to."

As a sophomore, Passmore came up short of a state berth. When she looks back on her stellar career, she said it will be that one part of the career she did not accomplish – a state meet berth – that will gnaw at her.

"My mind will drift back and say, 'Dang, I wish I could have done something else to work harder and get to state for my last year,'" Passmore said. "At the district meet, the concrete was so tough and it would jar my legs every time I stepped on the ground. (Thursday), I was hoping for a low 21 or 22 (minutes), get a PR (personal-best time) to end my season."

And while the only girl to ever win four All-Putnam County meet championships moves on, Warriors junior Caleb Baker and freshman Reed Rion will look to improve on Thursday's results from the Region 2-1A championship. Rion finished 53rd in a strong field, coming across in 19:01, missing on his personal-best time by 16 seconds, while Baker, running in his third consecutive region meet, was 63rd in 19:46.

"It was scary at the start because there were a lot more kids there than I thought," Rion said of his first regional race experience. "It was really just me and Caleb the whole race and I was hoping I wouldn't get hurt and he wouldn't get hurt. I almost got tripped up three times at the start, but it was fun. This race was definitely something to take my nerves away for next year, but I gave it my all and I accomplished what I wanted to. I'm thankful for being here."

Peniel Baptist coach Talisa Fletcher, the last Putnam County girl to qualify for the FHSAA championship in 2A as a senior 20 years ago when she was Talisa Bishop running for Interlachen High School, said the long season may have had a factor in her pair's running Thursday.

"It's been like our season has been extended," said Fletcher, who saw Baker run in his regional last year on Oct. 29 before he broke his leg on the Santa Fe College course. "Caleb got here and said he woke up with a really bad headache and he didn't look his best at the 1-mile mark. He's just got to break this regional curse that's on him.

"Overall, I think they both ran really well. They came out, they raced hard, they were aggressive at the beginning, which is what they needed to do, but it wasn't their day to advance on to the state meet," added Fletcher, who said she was hopeful she can start a track team this spring at Peniel. Fletcher is in her third year as Peniel's athletic director.

Individual champions in Thursday's race were Panama City North Bay Haven's Margaret Bartlow (18:27) in the Region 1-2A girls competition and Winter Park Circle Christian School's Will Neeld (16:12) in the Region 2-1A boys meet.

•  The season also came to an end for the Crescent City boys and girls teams on Thursday at the Sand Hill Scout Reservation in Brooksville in the Region 2-2A championship.

With top runner, All-Putnam County boys champion and junior Felipe Serrano-Santana ruled out with a non-running injury, the Raiders' top boys runner was his brother, eighth-grader Daniel Serrano-Santana, who was 60th in 19:18. Behind Serrano-Santana, other Raiders finishers were eighth-grader Teofilo Nunez-Santos (96th, 20:58), seventh-grader Rafael Ocampo (98th, 21:23), eighth-grader Fabian Serrano-Santana (104th, 21:49), eighth-grader Micah Allender (109th, 22:00), freshman Hector Ocampo (115th, 23:32) and freshman Rigoberto Vazquez (116th, 23:36).

In the team competition, the Raiders finished 15th out of 16 teams with 434 points as Titusville Astronaut ran away to the team title with 51 points.

The Raider boys had a smooth day compared to the Raider girls team. First, regular runner Lillian Alcibar could not compete, leaving the Raiders a four-girl team and keeping them out of the competition. And worse, they did not make the meet on time, according to first-year head coach Alex Bittinger.

"We left at 4:30 in the morning to get there (for an 8 a.m. start) and we were actually late," Bittinger said. "The race started without us, so when we got there, my girls had to hop off the bus with no warmup and run from where the race started and that put us about three minutes behind everybody else and the time we missed at the start was going to be added on at the end. So after all that happened, my message to the girls was that I was proud of them for showing up, running and doing their best."

Normally running in the 24-minute range, being late hurt top runner Abigail Medina, who was saddled with a 27:35 finish and 87th place out of 99 competitors. Behind Medina were Raiders teammates Camilla Onofre-Bravo (90th, 29:12), Nina Meza (98th, 33:53) and Natalie Malphurs (99th, 35:27).

"Overall we had a really good season," said Bittinger, who oversaw the Raiders reaching the regional meet for the second straight year. Bittinger loses only Onofre-Bravo to graduation. "Even though our journey got cut short a little bit because of the things that came up, overall I'm happy with how it went."

Individual titles went to Cocoa Beach's Isaac Cerveny (16:33) on the boys' side, and Orlando Lake Highland Prep's seventh-grader Annabella Tomasic (18:07) on the girls' side. Mount Dora edged Orlando Bishop Moore (76 points) and Montverde Academy (77) for the girls' team title with 70 points.