Marathon traveled to Indian River Fairgrounds for the FHSAA 1A Region 4 finals held on Oct. 29. The runners and school vans will get little rest, as the Fins have already returned home just in time to turn around and head to Tallahassee on Nov. 2 for the Nov. 5 state championship.
Coming off a decisive district title, Vance Bursa took fourth place overall in the regional race, leading his team to a third-place finish and an automatic entry to states. Coach Jim Murphy noted that the start of the boys race was unusually fast, with the first 400 meters of the race looking “more like a track race than cross country” in his eyes.
Traveling with Bursa are brothers Jakub and Tony, along with Mason Buxton, Dillon Shelar, Emmitt Merryman and Jack Dunn. This season marks the eighth consecutive year the smallest school in the Keys has earned an invite to the state meet.
Murphy’s team isn’t traveling alone, as the Lady Fins and coach Darby Sheehan also earned an invite to states. This will be the fourth trip in a row for the girls team, which ran an average time of 23:30 to claim the eighth and final spot qualifying for states. Marathon’s top seven making the trip are Maeve Merryman, Madelyn Thornton, Ella Dunn, Rain Banks, Mikkel Ross, Sara Robinson and Rilynn Richards.
Key West ran its regional race on Oct. 27 in Boca Raton. Caylaa Makimaa ran a personal best 20:36 to lead the Lady Conchs, but the team missed qualifying for states, finishing 15th in its division. Girls coach Keara McGraw called the race a “great effort from the girls.” She added that though there would be no state meet for her crew this year, it was still a fantastic season for the relatively young team. Representing the Key West boys was Colbin Hill, whose respectable 18:48 time was good for 42nd place in the FHSAA 2A Region 4 event but not quite fast enough to move on.
Joining Key West on Oct. 27 were the Coral Shores’ boys team and Kai Guth, who qualified for the girls race individually. Simon Gutierrez led the Hurricanes with a 17:53 24th-place finish. The boys team ended in 14th place, marking the end of their season. Gutierrez was one place shy of making a state appearance as an individual.
