Weekend Results

On Friday, the MD teams participated in a state qualifier to determine which division our XC team will compete in at the Middle School State Championships in late October. The Boys laced up their shoes first, and flew out of the gate. When the race finished, our boys had earned their way into the Elite Division within the State MD XC Championships! With just shy of 400 runners participating in this 3K event, our boys were led by a strong trio of 7th graders – Liam Jordan, Storm Weber, and Marco Souchet. Liam-Storm-Marco placed 11th, 15th, and 21st respectively in the largest Middle School race in the state! Our 8th grade leader, Kody Stephens, ran as a strong number 4 in a fast time. Tyler Woods continued his impressive year with a great performance to round out our scoring 5. Mikey Mezack had his best race of the season to run as our number 6, while our top 6th grader Xavier Castellano rounded out our top 7 on the day. Our girls team just missed qualification into the elite division with a great effort. Kaitlyn Chan continued her great season as she lead the team with a dominant performance. Caitlin Jones, Gaby Hernandez, and Lily VanWyk continued to improve and raced well to finish as our number 2, 3, and 4 runners. Amy Kliewer and Madeline Flitman rounded out our top 7.

On Saturday, the Varsity and JV teams competed in one of the largest meets in the state of Florida. The boys team, competing in the Race of Champions Division, raced first at 7:20 in the morning. The race featured some of the best teams and individuals in the state, regardless of classification. Once the results came in, it is evident that your “Buc Boys” belong in the conversation as one of the best teams in state. The team finished 10th overall (8th among Florida teams), finishing less than 30 points behind class 1A favorite Seffner Christian. They finished as the top team in Class 2A (we are currently ranked 3rd in state), and handily defeated Astronaut HS (currently ranked 5th in state). Additionally, the team defeated notable programs such as Spanish River, Naples, Estero, Fort Myers, and St. Cloud (all currently ranked in the top 12 of their respective classes). The Boys team was led once again by Ethan Lipham. Competing in his 4th race, he earned his 4th medal with a 17th place finish among the best of the best in the state. Hudson Rowan continued to have a dominant season with another strong run to place 36th overall and record a monster personal best time on the tough Holloway course. Trey Morris continues to round into peak form with a personal best mark on the course. The team welcomed back Kirin Karver, recovering from injury, to run an amazing time in our 4th spot. The star of the day goes to Luke Doyle who crushed a lifetime PR by 19 seconds on what is considered to be a rather rough XC course, to round out our scoring 5. Wolfgang Weber and Colby Kudla had strong races to round out our placing 7. Ironman, Liam Jordan (running both the MD 3K on Friday, and Varsity 5K on Saturday) ran a huge personal best time on the course, while Alex Shear improved his course time by nearly 20 seconds. Rounding out our Varsity runners, Storm Weber (also competing in the Ironman 2-day event) ran a PR! The Girls race also proved successful, as they finished 5th in the Invitational section! Anna McDermott continued to run as our number one, with a top 30 individual finish. True to form, the “Berkeley Pack” was not too far behind as only 38 seconds separated our 1-5 runners. Heidi Hausinger got out strong to run as a solid number 2. Finley Jordan had a tremendous kick to finish just a few seconds behind Heidi. Abbey Ramos and Claire Armstrong had their best races of the season to finish as strong number 4 and 5 runners. Kylie Stephens, Macy Maiocco, Emily McDermott, and Abby Armstrong rounded out our Varsity team on the day.

In the JV races, our Boys team placed 20th. They were led by a strong race from Liam Andrews, who crushed the final mile to run a season best mark! George Smith and Diogo Santos ran as a strong number 2 and 3 to finish within 10 seconds of each other. Geno Fraifer had a fast kick to finish as our number 4, while Robert Muldrow and Miles Andrew finished next to each other to round out our scoring 5. On the girls side, Grace Barrett continues to lead the way in the JV Girls, with a 38th place finish (out of nearly 200 runners). Zara Khan and Delaney English both put forward great races to round out our JV competitors on the day.

The MD squads will be in action today in League Racing at Carrollwood Day School. The Varsity and JV squads will be in action on Thursday at the IRCS Invite at Walsingham Park in Largo. Go Bucs!