HOLIDAY — While the Class 2A, Region 3 individual champions at Anclote easily ran away with their titles Saturday, others looking to qualify for state had a harder time.
Jesuit anchor Tim O’Loughlin (17 minutes, six seconds) crossed in fifth place, only six seconds behind second place to move on to next weekend’s state championships at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee. Golden Gate’s Alex Pedraza, a region champion, took first in 16:44. O’Loughlin, a junior, will return to state for the third straight season, finishing 67th as a freshman and 17th last year.
The Tigers finished third in the team standings with 111 points behind Immokalee (83) and Cocoa Beach (96). Berkeley Prep (124) held down fourth and Robinson (134) was fifth.
O’Loughlin was followed in sixth by Berkeley Prep sophomore Max Borland (17:11), who finished 26th at state as a freshman.
Anclote senior Spencer Guerette (17:14) was seventh and is moving on for the first time since his sophomore season. Middleton freshman Daniel Dean (17:29) nabbed the 15th and final qualifying spot.
For the girls, Robinson (93) was the runnerup to runaway region champion Lemon Bay (42). Holy Names (99) — behind individual champion Claire Snyder (20:06) — took third and Berkeley Prep (117) fifth.
“We were concerned about a runner from West Shore (district champ Sarah Day), but we found after the race began that she wasn’t running because of a stress fracture,” Holy Names coach Ray Rodriguez said. “We never told Claire, and she pushed as well as I’ve seen this season.”
Robinson junior Julia DeYoung (21:00) crossed in seventh and was joined in the top 15 by fellow Knights Maddy Hull (21:21) in 12th and Madison Scanlan (21:27) in 15th.
Berkeley Prep made it to state based on solid depth. Bucs senior Georgette Price placed 11th in 21:20 to earn her first berth at state. Her older sister, Angelica, was a state qualifier in 2009.