LAKE CITY - Keystone Heights junior cross country runner Camryn Williams powered to her best time ever on a cross countrhy 5K (3.1 miles) course with a third place finish at the region 2-2A championships while St. Johns Country Day School sophomore Matthew Stratton set up a wild state meet clash with with a region runnerup finish to a well-known rival in the region 1-1A cross country championships, also held Saturday at the Oaks Equestrian Center in Lake City.

"It all counts on Saturday," said Stratton, second to Tallahassee Maclay's Junious Brown in both the district and region races this year. "We wanted to stay with him as long as comfortable and then see what happens."

In the region 1-2A boys race, Clay High junior Carlton Waiguru got the final 15th spot to put his name on the Class 2A state list next week. Clay's Madisyn Blackburn finished 42nd in 23:09.19 for the Lady Blue Devils solo runner in region 1-2A.

In the girls 2-2A race, Williams a fourth place finisher in last week's district race at Santa Fe Community College in 21:14.99, served notice with her 19:32.04 finish with a final surge to beat Citrus High's Mackenzie Scordato by one second.

"She beat me last week at districts and I wanted to key off her," said Williams, who finished fourth in a distant 21:14.99 to Scordato's winning 20:21.31 for the district title last week. "I knew I had more to go last week and this was one of my best races ever. One more to go. This week, we work on hills."

Citrus' second finisher, sophomore Taylor Koon, who third ahead of Williams in the district race, finished a distant 24th at the region race in 21:21.85.

For Keystone Heights coach Payton Capper, the Keystone Heights High running program is benefiting from a rebirth of sorts in his lower school programs.

"We just had the top finisher in the youth cross country race here a week ago," said Capper. "Races like that prepare kids for races like this."

In the region 1-1A clash, Brown and Stratton took out a big lead from the starter's gun with Blountstown's Xander Peacock giving chase about 200 yards off the pace with St. Johns' Jacob Kailes among a huge second pace about 30 seconds from the front.

Stratton followed Brown, winning in 15;59.95, in second in 16:19.16 with Kailes hanging with his pack to finish eighth in 17:29.61. The St. Johns boys finished fifth with 157 points just behind St. Joseph's 153. Maclay won with 70 points; nine ahead of Pensacola Christian.

Note: For boys, in region 1-1A, just three runners finished under 17 minutes. In region 2-1A, top runner was Austin Montini of Oak Hall at 16:24.77 with four under 17. In region 3-1A, Reed Legg of Cambridge Christian won at 16:20 with five under 17 minutes. In region 4-1A, winner was 17:12; two runners under 18 minutes.

In the girls region 1-1A race, the Lady Spartans continued a 10-plus year tradition under former coach Jay Birmingham with first year coach Greg Stratton answering the call with his girls finishing seventh behind top finishes from eighth graders Sofia Conde and Sarah Robinson; 18th and 21st in 21:57.01 and 22:07.75.

In region 1-4A, the Fleming Island High boys and girls teams both advanced via strong performance up front and depth in the back with the boys being led by junior Kameron Wallizada's 16:03.7 to put the Golden Eagles on a bus to state with a seventh place finish.

Note: For boys, region 2-4A had four runners under 16 minutes; winner Jake Turner of Armwood at 15:38.7. In region 3-4A, two runners were under 16; winner Zachary Cloud of St. Cloud at 15:37.21, top 31 under 17 minutes. In region 4-4A, no runners under 16 minutes; top 11 under 17 minutes.

For the Fleming Island girls, with top runner Mei Chiang answering with shin splints with a third on team finish, got a stellar up front race from sophomore Grace Adams, who finished 17th in 19:48 with sophomore teammate Morgan Erler leading Chiang in at 29th and 30, respectively, in 20:14.1 and 20:15, to put the Lady Eagles on the same state bus in seventh place behind former 3A powers Chiles and Creekside; at 1-3 around Mandarin, with Niceville, Oviedo and Buchholz ahead of Fleming Island.

Note: For girls, Region 2-4A featured nine runners under 19 minutes with three under 18; winner Parker Valby at 17:07.9. Region 3-4A had top two runners under 19 minutes; 18:22 and 18:56. Region 4-4A's top two runners were 19:28 and 19:38.

Fleming Island was still without numbers two and three runners; Lauren Schaudel and Emma Millson with Marisa Kortright, senior Jennifer Fliess and freshman Anna Rafalski, who was second finisher at last week's district 1-4A race in 20:44.60 slipping to a 21:24.9 region finish, fielding the top five runners for coach Suzanne Baker.

Top runner in the girls race was Ashley Klingenbrg of Lake Brantley, a 4A power, in 18:20 with Chiles posting seconds and thirds from Caitlin Wilkey and Alyson Churchill, all three seniors, in 18:25.5 and 18:27.9. Top six placers were under 19 minutes.

In the boys region 1-4A race, Fleming Island junior Kameron Wallizada got another oh-so-close 16 minute finish; 16:03.7, to stay within striking distance of four runners in the 15:50-plus range to take 10th place and put the Golden Eagles at fifth behind former 3A-powers Bartram Trail and Nease, who went 1-2-3 15:29.6 and two runners at 15:36.7, with Oviedo and Niceville finishing out the top five spots with scores of 66, 69, 107, 134 and 144.

Again, as in the district 1-4A race, senior Landon Opp was Fleming Island's second finisher; 13th in 16:20.7, with junior Jack McDade storming in ahead of senior Will Livesay with a 16:49.5 effort for 34th. Livesay, 41st at 16:54.8, is hopeful to be full strength; a 16:07 late in the season, at the upcoming state meet. Senior John Brinkman was fifth man at 17:03.0.

For Oakleaf, 12th in team points, seniors Dylan Nelson and Ajani Stokes both finished in the top 30, with top 15 going to state with Nelson at 18th in 16:29 and Stokes at 25th in 16:41.8 as 46 runners stayed under 17 minutes.

In other region races, Keystone Heights boys team was 19th in region 2-2A with senior Jerry Payne finishing just ahead of sophomore Tyler Shaw, the top finisher at the district race, with a 90th place 19:05.99. Payne's twin brother, Jay, was 93rd in 19:13.18. Shaw was 12th at the district race in 18:18.06.

In region 1-3A, Middleburg High junior Emma Mussante was two spots off the top 15 to state with her 17th in 20:53.18 finish as the Lady Broncos finished 18th. Ridgeview High senior Anna Magruder finished her cross country career with a 30th in 21:21.31. Orange Park senior Emma Brown ran in her first region race; finishing 45th in 21:45.97.

Also, in region 1-3A, Middleburg finished a slot ahead of Ridgeview, 17-18, with Ridgeview High junior Dominick Frietze topping 3A area runners with a 38th place finish in 17:36.98. Frietze finished at 18:22.73 at the district 2-3A race last week. Middleburg was led by junior Noah Carson's 75th place in 18:25.90. Carson ran a 19:32 in districts last week. Senior John Scholz, top Bronco at the district race in 17:46.77, finished 82nd in 18:36.63.