BARTRAM TRAIL – Fleming Island High’s boys cross country has been sort of chomping at the bit to take on some of the tough new teams in their district, and Saturday morning, the Golden Eagles got a response from seniors Will Livesay and Kameron Wallizada as both went toe to toe against the St. Johns County-strong Bales n Trails cross country field at Bartram Trail High School.

“With Kameron, we’ve been holding back because of minor injuries, but we wanted to let him loose,” said Fleming Island head coach Chris Otero. “We knew Will would be strong. Kameron said he hit five minutes flat at the one mile mark; we want him to even that out and shoot for 5:15, 5:20 in future races to give him stronger finishes. He was way up front in that first mile.”

Won by Oak Hall’s Austin Montini, sixth in Class 1A last year, in 16 minutes, 13.81 seconds, the Bales n Trails race saw 26 runners in the 16-17 minute finishing range with Livesay third in 16:27.13 and Wallizada fifth in 16:31.25. Also with an impressive finish and with an minor injury was Oakleaf High senior Dylan Nelson who finished seventh in 16:38.37.

“I think the kids know how hard five guys under 17 minutes is in cross country team,” said Otero. “We worked them hard this week and didn’t taper much. We will taper for the Bishop Kenny meet this week (Katie Caples Invite on Sat., Sept. 21).”

Fleming Island, with newcomer coach Dave Allen, who came on board after coach Karen Moritz ended her illustrious career to take on mother duties at home, put two more runners under 17 minutes with Landon Opp finishing in 16:43.6 for 15th and Jayden Scherer at 16:50.4 for 18th. The all important fifth Fleming Island finisher, Jack McDade, finished in 17:28.0 for 47th.

“Dave has added a more analytical approach to training and racing and he is good with the numbers,” said Otero. “He has been very good at predicting where guys should be running according to their training. I get to be the ‘pusher’ of the team; motivating the guys.”

For their strong team effort, Fleming Island finished second in team scores behind Class 3A fifth place finisher in 2018 Bartram Trail’s 50 points with an 87 point team score.

The remaining team finishes included Creekside (3rd in 3A), Niceville (6th in 3A), Mandarin, Bolles (2A defending champs), Ponte Vedra (9th in 3A) and Nease (7th in 3A); all state power programs last year with all but Bolles in Fleming Island’s new distrit 1-4A.

“We talked in the beginning of the year and they know about the work needed to advance from districts,” said Otero. “We’ve run against those teams twice this year. We know it’s a climb.”

In the girls race, without top five runners Marisa Kortright with an illness and Emma Millson with an ankle injury, the Fleming Island High girls still delivered a fourth place team finish with sophomore Mei Chiang again leading the Golden Eagles with a seventh place finisher against a handful of state-ranked runners led by St. Augustine High’s Madison Niederriter, 37th in Class 3A last year in 19:56, in a very fast 18:45.01. Chiang finished in 19:21.36; a bit off from her 18:52 for 14th in Class 4A last year. Bolles, the defending Class 2A champions, snagged 2-3-4 and University Christian ace Laci Watford, fourth in Class 1A last year in 18:50, took fifth in 19:05, ahead of Nease’s Naila Etique.

Lauren Schaudel took her normal number two team slot for Fleming Island with Grace Adams close by; 20:33-20:34.3, with sophomore Morgan Erler the fourth in 20:59 for 33rd and freshman Anna Rafalski snagging a number five finish in 21:29.

Bolles dominated to the team title with Oak Hall, second in 1A last year, and Creekside, third in 3A last year, in front of Fleming Island’s fourth place finish. Fleming Island was eighth in 4A last year.

In one other competition, at Trinity Christian Academy also on Saturday, St. Johns Country Day School sophomore Matthew Stratton continued his dominance on the trails with a 16:36 win. Second place was Providence rival Steven Cartwright in 17:32. St. Johns was second to Branford for the boys team title.

Ridgeview High’s boys finished sixth with Jose Paolo Garcia ninth in 18:32 and Dominick Frietze 11th in 18:53. There were 13 teams for the boys race.

In the girls race, St. Johns took third behind Providence and St. Joseph Academy with eighth graders Sofia Conde and Sarah Robinson finishing seventh and 15th, respectively, in 22:41 and 23:28.

Ridgeview High’s girls finished eighth with senior Anna Magruder second overall in 21:59. P.K. Yonge junior Juliette Palechor won in 20:56.