Three Keys schools sent athletes to compete at their respective regional championships on Nov. 14 at South County Regional Park in Boca Raton. Key West’s boys and both teams from Marathon and Coral Shores qualified for the meet after fantastic showings at districts one week prior.
Coral Shores’ Ali Wheatley placed seventh overall in her race, cruising to a 19:38 finish and a ticket to states. Wheatley earned an at-large bid to run at Tallahassee’s Apalachee Regional Park on Nov. 22, making the cut in 2025 for her first appearance after missing the final at-large spot last season by mere seconds. This year, the speedy sophomore made it undeniable, securing the second of four spots allotted to individual runners.
The rest of the Lady ’Canes will cheer Wheatley on from home after finishing in 13th place overall. The top eight teams qualify, but despite missing the mark for states, the Hurricanes saw marked improvement in their times and finished their season on a strong note. Kate King finished in 22:27, followed by Aria Booton (24:36), Tess HIll (24:39), Olive Welch (24:43), Isabelle Jacobs (25:38) and Hayden Teal (26:32). Every athlete on the Lady Hurricanes’ roster will return next season to continue the success head coach Lyndie Meyers has steadily built with her program.
The Lady Fins finished 15th overall in the 1A race. Seventh-grader Molly Joly was first for the team, finishing in 32nd place with a time of 22:10. Mylana Loza (23:30) was next, followed by Ariella Dworniczak (25:34), Danaica Bessy (26:52), Kayla Skaarup (27:33), Sofia Konyk (29:37) and Natalia Perez Franco (31:07). Like the Hurricanes, every member of Marathon’s Lady Fins team will return next season under the guidance of first-year head coach Helena Bursa. Bursa stated that she could not be prouder of her team’s improvement across the season. The Dolphins struggled to field a team in the early weeks, picking up runners along the way to finish strong.
Marathon’s boys did secure a spot at the start of the big show. The Dolphins managed their 11th consecutive qualification for the state meet by running to a fifth-place team finish. Leading the charge was freshman Lucian Burns, whose 17:20 time was good for 12th place overall. Teammate Tony Bursa was right behind Burns, finishing in 13th place in 17:28.7. Allan Taylor (18:08), Caleb Shelar (18:22), Anthony Vargas (19:31), Landon Anderson (19:44) and Thomas Torres (24:13) rounded out the state-eligible finishers for Marathon.
RICK MACKENZIE/Contributed
The Hurricane boys finished 13th overall, and the senior-heavy squad had big performances for their final meet of the season. Jamie Cary led the team, finishing in 40th place with a time of 18:03. Behind Cary were Garrett Gomila (19:34), Alaric Rodriguez (19:57), Tristan Rios (19:57), Nathaniel Shugarman (19:58), Adrik Gadea (20:04) and Tristan Sanchez (20:52). Head coach Gabe Suarez will have some recruiting to do in the offseason, as his entire crew except for Sanchez, a junior, and Gomila, a sophomore, graduates.
The final team to qualify for regionals was Key West’s boys. The Conchs pulled off an upset at districts to secure the final team entry for regionals with multiple personal bests, some by large margins. To drop more time was improbable, but that’s exactly what several athletes did.
Sawyer Hill was first for the Conchs, finishing in a personal-best 18:35 – a 20-second improvement from his previous record. Next was the team’s lone senior and captain, Prometheus Delacerda, with an impressive 35-second PR. Delacerda completed the race in 18:37. Alejandro Caridad was next (21:35), followed by Colin Palomino (22:27), and Charlie Delashmit (23:55). Delashmit shaved off 45 seconds from his prior personal best for a strong finish for the Conchs, who placed 15th at the meet.
Head coach Keara McGraw led both the girls and boys of Key West in what should have been a rebuild year. But McGraw’s young teams showed that despite their youth, they have what it takes to compete amongst the best.
Wheatley and the Dolphin boys have a quick turnaround this week. They will travel to Tallahassee for the state championship meet on Nov. 22 to race against the best athletes in the state of Florida.
