Cross country teams state-bound again
BY JASON THOMPSON Gulf Breeze News jason@gulfbreezenews.com

Submited Photo State bound again The GBHS girls cross country, shown here with their district championship trophy, will compete in Saturday's state meet. They are (from left): Becca Violette, Meghan Kirby, Emily Tryon, Jennifer Pfeifler, coach Tom Aldridge, Katie Aldridge, Rebecca Smith, Lauren Musick and Briana Santiago.

For the second straight year, the Gulf Breeze cross country program will need a big bus to get to state, as both teams qualified with top five finishes Saturday in Tallahassee.

"I was real pleased on how both teams did," said girls coach Tom Aldridge, whose team took fourth.

The boys team took second at the 13-team meet, finishing with 78 points. Jacksonville Bishop Kenny won with 35 points, followed by three more Jacksonville schools - Bolles in third (84), Episcopal in fourth (142) and Stanton Prep fifth (152). Catholic nailed down the sixth and final spot out of Region 1 for Saturday's state meet with 187 points.

All seven Dolphin runners came in within a minute of each other, led by Will Thomas' 16:59, good for 11th out of 92 runners.

Geoffrey Brill was 12th (17:04), followed by Dylan Lee (18th - 17:29), Mark Washburn (21st - 17:33), Aber Wilson (22nd - 17:33), Tommy Gibble (28th - 17:51) and Chad Robin (30th - 17:53).

The Lady Dolphins were fourth (118 points) out of 11 teams. Jacksonville's Episcopal (25), Bishop Kenny (49) and Bolles (84) were 1-2-3, while Stanton Prep was fifth (164) and Catholic sixth (166).

Emily Tryon led the Lady Dolphins with a time of 19:37, good for 11th overall out of 79 runners.

Jen Pfeifler was 12th (19:39), followed by Rebecca Smith (31st - 21:27), Katie Aldridge (34th - 21:37), Lauren Musick (39th - 22:14), Briana Santiago (51st - 23:36) and Meghan Kirby (53rd - 23:45).

Wilson, Aldridge and Pfeifler, the program's lone freshmen, all set personal records at regionals.

The top six teams advanced to the state meet, which is Saturday in Dade City. The girls run at 9:30 a.m. eastern time, while the boys run at 10:20.