Don't Forget Me!

Nature Coast Technical coach Amanda Kling thought in the beginning of the season her team had an outside chance to advance to the state meet.

Thursday in the Class 2A, District 3 5K race held at McKethan Lake in Brooksville, Coach Kling watched as her team surprised even her as it finished in fifth place in the team standings to advance to next week's Region II Meet.

With her top five runners finishing in 38th place or better, the Sharks were one of six teams to advance to next Saturday's regional meet. And the best example of how shocked and surprised Coach Kling and her team were came when they found out where they had finished.

After the race was over, a group of Shark runners were walking around when a reporter told them they had finished fifth. The group let out a huge scream and ran to find their coach, who acted as surprised as her team about the news.

"I'm really happy for my girls," Kling said. "We've been working hard all year and everyone on my team has improved their times since the start of it, some by as many as six minutes."

While no one finished in the top 20 for NCT, the Sharks were consistent as they had their runners bunched up within the top 40. They also just beat out Lecanto for fifth place as NCT had 156 points to 157 for the Panthers.

Senior Brittany Aemisegger led the Sharks Thursday with a 22nd finish while Traci Wood was 31st, Solianna Herrera was 32nd, Candice Lopez came in 37th, Kristen Turney was 39th and Jazmin Turney was 46th.

Wesley Chapel-Wiregrass Ranch won the meet with 44 points, with Crystal River second with 88, followed by Pasco (99), Citrus (102) and NCT (156).

Last year, NCT also came in fifth in the district race, but according to Coach Kling, finishing in that same spot this year was a pleasant surprise.

"The thing is we have steadily improved as the year has gone on," described the first-year mentor. "I'm really happy for them. At the start of the year I knew we had a lot of work ahead of us and today it paid off."

For Hernando (10th, 254 points), senior Jaime Gabisch finished 20th in a time of 22:19.72.

Final 2A-3 Girls Cross Country Results: (top six teams advance to regionals).
1. Wiregrass Ranch (WR) 44; 2. Crystal River (CR) 88; 3. Pasco (PAS) 99; 4. Citrus (CIT) 102; 5. Nature Coast Technical (NCT) 156; 6. Lecanto (LEC) 157; 7. The Villages (TV) 193; 8. West Port (WP) 209; 9. Sunlake (SUN) 229; 10. Hernando (HER) 254; 11. Keystone Heights (KH) 271; 12. Alachua Santa Fe (ASF) 303; 13. Zephyrhills (ZH) 335; 14. Crescent City (CC) 386;

Top 15 Individuals:
1. Gretchen MacMillian, (WP) 19:07.38; 2. Ariel Grey, (WR) 19:28.44; 3. Leeann Eble, (PAS) 20:08.23; 4. Megan Ibison, (WR) 20:16.19; 5. Melisa Schmidt, (CR) 20:30.15; 6. Brandi Nichols, (CIT) 20:42.62; 7. Erin Wells, (CIT) 20:48.57; 8. Heather Snyder, (LEC) 20:57.90; 9. Kelsey Sturman, (WR) 20:58.90; 10. Kristen Hall, (CR) 21:07.53; 11. Morgan Schwall, (CR) 21:12.43; 12. Taylor Hixson, (WR) 21:30.05; 13. Teresa Christmas, (PAS) 21:40.20; 14. Thailia Menifee, (ASF) 21:45.84; 15. Brittany Lakhani, Dunnellon 21:49.51.

NATURE COAST TECHNICAL (156) - 22. Brittan Aemisegger, 22:22.65; 31. Traci Wood, 22:40.28; 32. Solianna Herrera, 22:48.53; 37. Candice Lopez, 23:28.70; 39. Kristen Turney, 23:29.44; 46. Jazmin Turney, 24:03.60; 52. Annette Donato, 24:36.06.

HERNANDO (254) - 20. Jamie Gabisch 22:19.72; 50. Marina Maier, 24:25.72; 55. Cassandra Brower, 24:51.00; 65. Kayla Bafula, 26:08.86; 70. Victoria Stackpoole, 26:51.89; 73. Kearstin Harmon, 27:11.49; 79. Kaci Halcomb 27:55.41.