
The Buchholz girls claimed the Class 4A-District 1 Cross Country Meet championship and the boys team finished fourth at Santa Fe College on Saturday.
The Bobcats girls easily outpaced second-place Niceville and Creekside tallying a 49 score to the two runner-up’s 87.
Even though Creekside’s Alyson Johnson and Sarah Rose finished first and second overall, respectively, Buchholz junior Eleanor Whisler placed sixth with a time of 18 minutes, 52.9 seconds and juniors Ashley Hamilton took ninth (19:16.5) and Kaitlyn Goslinga finished 10th (19:27.3). Senior Maggie Whisler placed 11th (19:28.4) and two spots later, sophomore Annika Caedington took 13th (19:32.8) while senior Lucy Voss came in at 20th (20:00.9).
With the top five Bobcats all finishing within the top 13 spots compared to two for Creekside and two for Niceville, Buchholz easily won the team championship.
On the boys side, Buchholz scored 126 points, trailing Nease 924), Creekside (65) and Chiles (67).
The Bobcats’ top runners included senior Riley Smith at 15th (16:19.8), sophomore Samuel Freas at 19th (16:22.9) and senior Evan Fleming at 25th (16:30.0).
In the Class 3A-District 2 Meet held in Ponte Vedra on Saturday, the Gainesville girls team too fifth with 173 points behind Ponte Vedra (21), Fleming Island (68), Matanzas (103) and St. Augustine (103).
Sophomore Keira Forbes paced the Hurricanes with a 26th-place finish (21:38.0).
The Gainesville boys team finished 11th and was led by senior Clement Weiler’s 17th-place time of 17:18.0.