Central Sets the Pace

Going into Thursday afternoon's Hernando-Citrus Classic Cross Country race, held at McKethan Lake, both the Central and Springstead's teams were eagerly looking forward eagerly to doing well today and next week.
But in the 7-team race that arrives one week before the Class 3A, District 3 meet to be held over the same course as this one, Central, led by sophomore Mikayla Bogulski, won the Classic by 11 points over Crystal River.
"Our strategy all year has been to have all five of our runners run their best in the last two meets of the year," said Central Head Coach Erin Courtney. "And we did that today; all five of my top runners ran personal bests for the year."
Central won the team title with 52 points as they had five runners finish within the top 16. Crystal River came in second with 63 points while Springstead was third with 69. Nature Coast Technical was fifth with 120 points while Hernando was seventh with 184.
Chloe Benoist of Lecanto-Seven Rivers Christian won the race in a time of 20:04.36 while Bogulski was the best finisher from Hernando County in 6th in a time of 20:50.34.
Kailey Genrich and Jackie White of Springstead finished behind Bogulski in seventh and eighth place while Central runners Melia Orrell was 11th, Caroline Northup was 12th and Anna DeAngelis was 13th.
Coach Courtney believes that having the final race of the regular season and next week's district race on the same course will help her team a lot.
"I think it's extremely important," Courtney said. "Next week there will be 16-teams here and some of them will be very tough. But our girls now are confident about how they are running. And since we've run McKethan Lake so many times, they will know where they can put on a burst. I believe they are going to have a really good day."

Final Hernando-Citrus Classic held at McKethan Lake Park in Brooksville

Team scores: 1. Central (CEN), 52; 2. Crystal River (CR), 63; 3. Springstead (SPG), 69; 4. Citrus (CIT), 81; 5. Nature Coast Technical (NCT), 120; 6. Lecanto (LEC), 125; 7. Hernando (HER), 184; Lecanto-Seven Rivers Christian (SRC), no team score.

Top 10 Finishers
1. Chloe Benoist (SRC), 20:04.36; 2. Erin Wells (CIT), 20:22.42; 3. Melissa Schmidt (CR), 20:25.21; 4. Kristen Hall (CR), 20:36.55; 5. Brandi Nichols (CIT), 20:44.08; 6. Mikayla Bogulski (CEN) 20:50.34; 7. Kailey Genrich (SPG) 20:50.56; 8. Jackie White (SPG), 20:54.46; 9. Morgan Schwall (CR), 20:55.32; 10. Heather Snyder (LEC), 21:11.60.

Central (52) - (6) Mikayla Bogulski, 20:50.34; (11) Melia Orrell, 21:19.55; (12) Caroline Northup, 21:34.51; (13) Anna DeAngelis, 21:34.78; (15) Devon Rennie, 22:03.87; (16) Bryana Eady, 22:05.10; (24) Kady McCandless, 22:34.51; (25) Breanna Warren, 22:44.86; (73) Michelle Manning, 29:19.07; (74) Courtney Taylor, 29:5260.
Springstead (69) - (7) Kailey Genrich, 20:50.56; (8) Jackie White, 20:54.46; (18) Taylor Toumey, 22:14.83; (20) Sasha Spalding, 22:18.11; (21) Mirelys Pizzaro, 22:22.51; (69) Sheralee Leonardo, 28:35.92; (72) Julia Monzo, 28:48.60.
Nature Coast Technical (120) (14) Brittany Aemisegger, 21:52.57; (22) Traci Wood, 22:24.61; (28) Solianna, Herrera 22:55. 73; (31) Candice Lopez, 23:02.62; (33) Jazmin Turney, 23:23.82; (39) Kristen Turney, 23:40.99; (40) Annette Donato, 23:49.95.
Hernando (184) - (19) Jamie Gabisch, 22:16.62; (36) Cassandra Brower, 23:38.42; (49) Kayla Bafula, 25:04.47; (58) Emi Stephens, 26:09.48; (60) Kaci Halcomb, 26:39.94; (63) Kearstin Harmon, 27:13.28.