TALLAHASSEE - St. Johns Country Day School sophomore Matthew Stratton achieved one of two goals for the finale of his cross country season with a final mile surge that landed him a second place finish in the Class 1A cross country championships Saturday in Tallahassee.

"Matthew once again saved his best race for last and came out as the runner up at States and a new PR of 15:39," said Greg Stratton, Matthew's dad and the St. Johns coach. "It is all about peaking at the right time when it counts the most. We had four boys set personal bests and two had season bests."

In the girls Class 2A championship race, Keystone Heights High junior Camryn Williams finished off her stellar November with a 34th place finish in her first visit to the state meet course.

Stratton, who had finished second to Tallahassee Maclay's Junious Brown in their district and region races the prior two Saturdays, kept pace with the front pack in the first mile, settled into a four-man pack in the second mile, then blasted the final stretch to nearly track down eventual champion Austin Montini, a junior out of Oak Hall, who won in 15 minutes, 33.63 seconds with Stratton storming in at 15:39.45. Brown finished third in 15:48.15.

"Matthew's strategy was set in place at our District meet, and that was to hang with Junious as long as he could and be relevant which ended up being about the 1.25 mile mark," said Greg Stratton. "At regions, his strategy stayed the same and he was able to keep the pressure on him for longer this time all the way up to the 2.25 mile."

As the race progressed, Stratton continued to position himself for a strong finish.

"He knew he had to stay with the front pack and keep the pressure on and, at the first mile, the plan was flawless through a 4:49 first mile," said Stratton. "At 1.25, Montini made his move and Matthew fell back a few spots but held on to the pack. After the last climb, he found himself right on Junious' heels and that's when he made his move to take over second place. Although Matthew was unable to reel Montini, he set an all time personal best and rewrote the St. Johns Country Day record book."

Stratton finished eighth last year in 16:19 with Brown third at 16:03. Montini was sixth at 16:22.

St. Johns boys finished 16th with Seffner Christian winning the team title and Oak Hall taking second. Also finishing for the Spartan boys were Jacob Kailes, 25th in 17:12.92; Richard Nichols, 109th in 18:32.41; Samuel Hopkins, 139th in 18:59.30; James Wilson, 151st in 19:10.43; Jacob Holyer, 203rd in 20:40.94 and Luke Robinson, 207th in 20:47.72.

The St. Johns Country Day School girls, led by eighth graders Sofia Conde, 92nd in 22:08.27, and Sarah Robinson, 107th in 22:26.62, finished 22nd.

"For the girls, it was really satisfying and personal to me see them compete at the State meet for the 14th consecutive year with my daughter in tow (Rebecca Stratton, seventh grader, 186th in 24:22.66)," said Stratton. "Also knowing that we as a team kept that streak alive that Coach Jay Birmingham started so many years ago."

Also finishing for the Spartan girls were Juliet Moody (121st in 22:38.45), Jordan Noble (128th in 22:44.98), Evelyn Hanson (156th in 23:22.59), Kaitlyn Phillips (168th in 23:48.49) and Stratton.

In the girls Class 2A race, Williams, a strong third place finisher in the region 2-2A race in Lake City a week ago, doubled down on her efforts to put her name in the hopper for a stronger senior season.

"The race went well; it was a pretty low pressure race in my head just because I knew I was ready for it and there wasn't any pressure to place or anything it was more just about competing and maybe trying to PR (personal record)," said Williams, who dropped nearly two minutes from her district time with her region finish at 19:32.05. Williams was fourth in her district race at 21:14.99.

"The hills were definitely a little tougher than I had anticipated but I mostly just focused on keeping an even effort up them then picking up the pace when there were flats and downhills," said Williams, coached by Keystone Heights High coach Peyton Capper along with former Keystone Heights High star Enoch Nadler, a U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials hopeful in February 2020. "Mile one was really quick I think my split was a 5:51 which Coach Enoch and I were expecting since it is mostly downhill."

From the mile point, Williams pushed to overcome the first of the two large hills on the two-lap course to maintain contact near the front.

"After mile one you start coming up on the wall and that killed some of my momentum," said Williams."I came through mile two at like 12:27 or something and was very uncomfortable at that point which was good because it meant I was pushing myself."

Williams continued to push her own pace through the final mile with a second turn up the hill before hitting the final slightly uphill stretch to the finish line.

"My third mile was I think two seconds faster than my second which I was happy about," said Williams. "Next year I will have some bigger goals for the State race but for my first time ever racing this course it was great."

Williams was 28th in last year's region race in 21:29.49.

In the Class 4A races; boys and girls, the Fleming Island High teams took 11th and 12th respectively, with somewhat surprising finishes by both Landon Opp for the boys and Grace Adams for the girls as the Fleming Island teams have suffered through illness and injury through the final weeks of the season.

In the boys race, Opp, a senior who has been consistently the third team finisher for the Golden Eagles behind junior Kameron Wallizada and senior Will Livesay, had punched in as a legit contender the past two races with a final top team finish Saturday.

Opp, second team finisher behind Wallizada at the region race, overtook the top spot for coach Dave Allen with a final push to grab 38th place in 16:22.24.

"Landon has steadily had an improving post season since districts started," said Fleming Island coach Chris Otero. "Kameron told me his legs got heavy after the first mile; about a 4:53 mile, and he just could not shake it. The team had the best finish in school history."

Wallizada followed at 63rd in 16:41.60 with Livesay 89th in 16:53.69.

Both Wallizada and Livesay have registered finish times close to 16 minutes recently, but failed to keep that pace up Saturday.

"Will's end of season was unfortunate because he had a flu that he could not shake," said Otero. "He's been a great teammate for four years."

Up front Nease High, new to Class 4A, got a 1-2 finish from sophomore Rheinhart Harrison and junior Bradley Ball with senior Justin Tackling fourth, but the top finishes failed to secure the team title as George Steinbrenner High won with 129 points with Nease second with 140. Tampa Plant was third at 145. Fleming Island scored 322 for 11th to miss 10th place to Niceville by just two points.

In the girls Class 4A race, sophomore Grace Adams continued her front-running spot ahead of Mei Chiang, who has suffered through injury the past two weeks. Adams surged past Chiang near mid-race to lead a Fleming Island trio that included Adams, Chiang and sophomore Morgan Erler, all in at 54th, 56th and 57th, respectively in just under 20 minutes, 19:49.50 for Adams.

Last year, Chiang finished 14th in 18:52.88 with Adams, who was sick, behind second finisher Lauren Schaudel at 74th in 20:26.59. Schaudel, 44th at 19:54.70 last year, injured her foot at the Katie Caples Classic in September. Fleming Island, eighth last year, was also without Emma Millson (foot injury) who finished 82nd in 20:35.94.

Class 4A champion was Riverview High senior Alyssa Hendrix, the defending Class 4A champion, in 17:19.40. Newsome High was team champion with 99 points ahead of Chiles at 179 and Lourdes at 196 with the Golden Eagles 12th at 325.

In the Class 2A boys race, Clay High's Carlton Waiguru, a junior, finished 90th in 17:44.48 in his first state race. Waiguru bettered his 17:46.59 region time that was 15th last week.

Last year, Waiguru finished 32nd in district 4-2A in 18:59.57.

Satellite High dominated the Class 2A race with four finishers in the top six to outpoint Bolles 30-89. Satellite got a 1-2-4-6 finish with junior Gabriel Montague winning in 15:31.84.

Finishers for the Fleming Island boys were Opp, Wallizada, Livesay, Jayden Scherer (94th in 16:55.04), Jack McDade (96th in 16:56.29), Brendan Fitzgerald (114th in 17:07.01) and John Brinkman (137th in 17:15.66).

For the Fleming Island girls, finishers were Adams, Chiang, Erler, Marisa Kortright (94th in 20:17.20), Jennifer Fleiss (106th in 20:29.30), Anna Rafalski (143rd in 21:01.40) and Jordan Detwiler (163rd in 21:30.10).