Emerald Coast Middle School showed they will be tough to beat in late October with a pretty decisive win in the boy’s race at the 2022 FSU Invitational. The crew from Santa Rosa Beach put 5 runners in the top 16 and had the number 1 overall finisher in Brett Peveto.
The race started off quick with Peveto (Emerald Coast) and Collin Moore of the Ocala Distance Project taking the early lead. Watches at the mile had the boys coming through just over 5:30. Followed closely behind the duo were, David Barton and Logan Phipps of Maclay, and also Alex Lammens and Jacob Rogers of the Ocala Distance Project.
As the boys emerged out of the woods, Peveto had opened up a lead on Moore and Barton. Peveto came in first with a time of 10:15, Barton edged out Moore in a 10:21 compared to 10:22 respectively. Both Maclay and the Ocala Distance Project had 3 runners each in the top 10. The boys from Maclay went 2, 4 , 10 while the boys from Ocala went 3 , 5 and 6. Neither team was able to crack the top 3, as the teams ahead of them had better depth in runners 4 and 5.
Emerald Coast scored a low 50 points, beating out the runner-ups (Red Sea Running Club) by 28 points. Red Sea had a great showing with their top 5 runners, running 11:31 or faster. Their number 2 runner, Jett Harris, had a 56-second PR allowing him to crack the 11-minute barrier for the first time in his career. Rounding out the top 3 was Ruckel Middle School from Niceville, Florida. Ruckel had a team average of 11:12 today for 3k.
