FWB paces field, takes county cross country titles from Niceville (PHOTO GALLERY)
FORT WALTON BEACH — The Niceville cross country team’s reign atop the county heap is no more.
Fort Walton Beach carried over scorching years on the boys and girls sides to snatch away the Okaloosa County titles from Niceville in the six-team county meet on Saturday at Timberlake. The Eagles, who finished second in both, had won the girls title six straight years and took the boys title in the last two.
PHOTOS: Click to view a photo gallery of the boys and girls cross country runners
“We knew coming in that we had a chance of being county champs on the girls and boys side, it was just a matter of them running the way that they needed to run,” Vikings coach Lissette Moller-Fields said.
The Vikings have been running strong all year, and Saturday was an extension of that area dominance. The Vikings girls and boys turned in twin 21s to beat out Niceville, which scored a 55 on the girls side and a 43 on the boys side.
Niceville coach Sherman Eller said the Vikings were just too strong to beat this year, especially the girls team, which is ranked No. 2 in the state.
“Fort Walton is the team to beat and they’re really good this year, boys and girls,” Eller said.
The boys’ lead pack consisted of Fort Walton Beach’s Luc Lawrence and Matt Bevil as well as Crestview’s Jacob Gourlie. Lawrence led for most of the race but Bevil, the 2009 Daily News boys track athlete of the year, turned on the jets over the final mile to leg out the overall win at 16:29. Gourlie finished hot on his heels at 16:32 and Lawrence crossed a second later for third.
“We ran well as a team for about the first two miles and then from there it was a good mile race back, that’s where most of the stuff happened,” Bevil said. “But the times are decent, so it’s good placement for the state series coming up.”
The Vikings also placed the top two runners on the girls side, as Holly Stanton crossed first at 19:33 and Iolani Scanlan finished second at 19:35. Niceville had the next two in Laura Nelson (19:41) and freshman Marsel Mosley (19:52).
“We warmed up together with some of the teams, but that doesn’t change the competition level when they’re finishing or kicking in, they’re still competing,” Vikings coach Jeff Fields said.
There were five team finishers on the boys side and four for the girls. Bolstered by Gourlie’s big day, Crestview finished third for the boys (68) and came in third on the girls side (79) as well with Lauren Day the top finisher at No. 9 overall. Choctawhatchee came in fourth in boys (135) and girls (96), while the Baker boys finished fifth with a 143.
Overall team results
Boys
1. Fort Walton Beach 21, 2. Niceville 43, 3. Crestview 68, 4. Choctawhatchee 135, 5. Baker 143
Girls
1. Fort Walton Beach 21, 2. Niceville 55, 3. Crestview 79, 4. Choctawhatchee 96
Individual results
Boys
Baker: No. 19 John Scott 18:55, No. 21 Dylan Scott 19:52, No. 32 Austin Stanton 21:32, No. 35 Justin Shaw 25:21, No. 36 Wilder Kersey 25:30, No. 37 Tim Smith 25:57; Choctaw: No. 25 Aric Hall 21:11, No. 26 Alec Herrera 21:14, No. 27 Christian Saludez 21:14.5, No. 28 Blake Sheffler 21:15, No. 29 Tim Maney 21:16, No. 30 David VanSteenbergen 21:16.8, No. 31 Hakeem Tarpley 21:17; Crestview: No. 2 Jacob Gourlie 16:32, No. 14 Marshall Conner 17:29, No. 15 Cameron Sanchez 17:38, No. 17 Dylon Brown 18:13, No. 20 James Rossel 19:39, No. 22 Tyler Carter 19:53, No. 23 Jonathan McTyre 20:23; FWB: No. 1 Matt Bevil 16:29, No. 3 Luc Lawrence 16:33, No. 4 Sam Ammons 17:02, No. 5 Chris Douglas 17:04, No. 8 Brian Day 17:19, No. 12 Brian Stanton 17:27, No. 13 Alex Godfrey 17:28; Niceville: No. 6 Robert Burnett 17:09, No. 7 Joseph Bernier 17:17, No. 9 Patrick Lacombe 17:22, No. 10 Jason Riggs 17:23, No. 11 Cullen Fralix 17:25, No. 16 Cody Skarupa 17:40, No. 18 Michael Cooper 18:36; Rocky Bayou: No. 33 Cooper Eaves 24:35, No. 34 Steven Wills 25:05, No. 38 Matt McDorman 26:26.
Girls
Baker: No. 26 London Theissen 26:58; Choctaw: No. 14 Brooke McSheehy 21:45, No. 16 Sarah Fraser 21:55, No. 19 Lisa Spikes 22:13, No. 23 Kristen Petresky 24:59, No. 24 Randee Harvell 25:00; Crestview: No. 9 Lauren Day 20:19, No. 10 Katrina Silva 20:59, No. 11 Taylor Polk 21:17, No. 22 Elise Jenkins 24:01, No. 27 Jessica Lilly 32:43; FWB: No. 1 Holly Stanton 19:33, No. 2 Iolani Scanlan 19:35, No. 5 Sarah deVaux 20:02, No. 6 Ivy Chastain 20:02.6, No. 7 Brittany Long 20:05, No. 8 Melissa Radford 20:13, No. 12 Lizzy Gallagher 21:22; Niceville: No. 3 Laura Nelson 19:41, No. 4 Marsel Mosley 19:52, No. 13 Abby McCool 21:37, No. 17 Casey Luzius 22:10, No. 18 Taylor Adams 22:12, No. 20 Kristen Denison 22:15, No. 21 Sam Zimmerman 23:07; Rocky Bayou: No. 15 Christy Allen 21:53, No. 25 Jessica Maney 26:16.
