Canes, Conchs make the cross-country regional
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Coral Shores sophomore Joanna McCoy continued her running dominance, and the girls and boys teams from both Coral Shores and Key West kept their seasons alive, with impressive performances at Wednesday's district cross-country meet at Larry and Penny Thompson Park in Miami.
The Hurricanes and Conchs will move on to the Region 4-2A meet, which will begin at 4:30 p.m. Friday at Mills Pond Park in Fort Lauderdale.
McCoy won the 5K (3.1 miles) girls race in 18 minutes, 50 seconds, 22 seconds ahead of Ransom Everglades' Nicole Carpio, a three-time Miami Herald runner of the year.
Coral Shores senior Mike Hampson was second in the boys race, finishing in 17:40, 23 seconds behind Ransom's Robert Figueroa-Downing.
"It's the first time we've ever had a first at the districts, and the first time we've ever had a second," said Coral Shores athletic director Rich Russell.
The Key West teams had their best district finish in the 10-year history of the cross-country program. The boys were second behind Ransom and the girls were fourth with a school-record best average time of 22:57.
"I didn't see second place coming," said Key West coach Terence White. "I knew we had run well, but when we heard that we were second, everybody was floored. It was a powerful moment."
The Conch boys were led by senior Zach Harden, who finished sixth in 18:05. He was followed by sophomore Aeschton Tomita (10th in 18:27), Keiran Campbell (15th, 18:53), Jamel McNeill (19th, 19:04), Justin Hamilton (28th, 19:39), Julian Kuntzmann (31st, 19:41) and Mike LaBounty (32nd, 19:43).
"We had three medalists in the top 15," White said. "We usually have only one."
For the Conch girls, who did not advance to the regional last season, Morgan Nelson came in ninth in 21:18. She was followed by Jayci Hall (22nd, 23:60), Kendall Galvan (25th, 23:15), Patricia Welzien (29th, 23:26), Marlene Thurber (33rd, 23:46), Marlie Gil (46th, 25:29) and Paige Graham (54th, 26:09.
Welzien broke her school freshman record for the second consecutive race, and the average team time of 22:57 also broke a school record.
The second-leading Hurricane girl was Andrea Cockerham, who was eighth in 21:13. She was followed by Charity Noble (31st, 23:31), Alexa Frink (40th, 25:10), Mary Anne Self (42nd, 25:24) and Anais Diaz (50th, 25:48).
For the Coral Shores boys, Charles Augustus was 20th in 19:13, Storm Mendez 26th in 19:30, Joseph Wear 35th in 19:56, Jonathon Bogue 42nd in 20:33, Will Mulkeen 49th in 21:03 and John Perrotti 72nd in 23:46.
