LIVE OAK - St. Johns Country Day School sophomore Matthew Stratton had his target set on Tallahassee Maclay's Junious Brown in their new district 1-1A championship race and flexed just enough speed to give Brown something to think about in the duo's upcoming region championship race.

"We want to give him enough to think about how Matthew might run in the next couple of weeks," said Greg Stratton, Matthew's dad and the St. Johns cross country coach, prior to the race. "This is not the important race to have a big time, but just a look at how everyone looks."

Stratton, eighth last year in Class 1A with Brown third, blasted from the start which featured a 90 degree left turn and a parachute downhill that let the light-footed Stratton literally fly to the lead by nearly 80 yards with Brown, a much taller and longer-legged runner, biding his time.

After the pair stretched out from the rest of the chasing pack, Stratton throttled back as Brown slowly reeled in the lead and passed Stratton midway through the second lap.

From their, Brown cruised to win in 15 minutes, 41.10 minutes to win over Stratton's 16:34.90.

"We know what he can do and he knows what we can do," said Stratton. "It's all a matter of getting to state in top form."

Brown's finish fueled a team title to Maclay with the Tallahassee-based school fielding four runners in the top 10 to score 32 points. St. Johns, fourth with 130, got a boost from junior Jacob Kailes' fifth place finish in 17:09.20. Kailes, younger brother to Benjamin Kailes, who battled with Brown last year to a runnerup region finish; 15:46-15:57 with Stratton fifth in 16:32, had one of his best times of the season. Bishop Snyder finished second with St. Joseph Academy third.

"Jacob is getting the 5K distance and getting better at channeling his energy," said Stratton. "He has posted better times each week and should be in good shape the next two weeks."

St. Johns finished up with Richard Nichols, an eighth grader, at 36th in 19:18; James Wilson, a juior, at 43rd in 19:33.60; Samuel Hopkins, a freshman, 50th at 19:55.80 and Luke Robinson, a junior, in 72nd at 21:07.80.

"A lot of young and first-timers," said Stratton. "They are working hard though and next year should be stronger."

For the Lady Spartans, two eighth graders; Sophia Conde and Sarah Robinson, led the attack with 15th and 16th place finishes in 22:26.40 and 22:28.50, to put St. Johns into the region meet with their fifth place finish.

Maclay, with a late uphill pass by freshman Ella Porcher against University Christian sophomore Laci Watford, won the team title with 26 points with four runners in the top 10. Providence finished second at 55 with St. Joseph Academy third at 90. St. Johns's fifth came with 137 points.

Porcher won in 19:15.60 with Watford second at 19:28.70.

Also for St. Johns, freshman Juliet Moody finished 31st in 23:06.80; freshman Kaitlyn Phillips finished 42ns in 23:41.50; senior Jordan Noble finished 43rd in 23:49.60; sophomore Evelyn Hanson finished 48th in 24:13.50; rising superstar Rebecca Stratton, a seventh grader, finished 58th in 25:12.40 and eighth grader Cordelia Painter finished 70th in 28:21.10.