Girls cross-country: Pope John Paul II takes top two spots

Thursday, November 05, 2009

Special to The Palm Beach Post

Pope John Paul II's Stephanie Schappert and Olivia Fay finished first and second at the District 7-2A meet Thursday at Mills Pond Park.

Schappert, the defending state champion in Class 2A, ran the 3.1-mile course in 18 minutes and 20 seconds. Fay finished in 19:23 to help the Eagles advance to the Region 4 meet Nov. 13. The Eagles finished fourth with 96 points.

Fay transferred to Pope this summer from Rhode Island and said the change has helped her improve as a runner.

"Having people around me and a whole team that's really supportive and coaches that I know are going to do a great job — it's been really encouraging," she said.

Both of Lincoln Park's teams finished third. The girls (90 points) finished behind host Fort Lauderdale-Cardinal Gibbons (67) and Fort Lauderdale-Pine Crest (75), while the boys (83) trailed Fort Lauderdale-Archbishop McCarthy (23) and Pine Crest (77).

"Both teams wanted to have three in the top 15," Lincoln Park coach Jamie Spooner said, "and our fourths and fifths just had to be more aggressive today, and they were."

The girls were led by sophomores Kelly Hensley (20:05; fourth place), Shelby Hitsman (20:36; 10th) and Tia-Rose Raymond (20:41; 12th). Sophomore Austin Cox (17:08; seventh) led the boys, followed by seniors Landon Meyer (17:36; 11th) and Nicholas Wright (17:37; 12th.)

Edward Mulder (17:03; sixth) and Brian Diener (17:39; 13th) led St. Andrew's (150) to a fifth-place showing, and Pope John Paul (172) finished sixth and beat out Jensen Beach (183) for the final regional qualifying berth. Suncoast senior Daniel Friedman (17:27; eighth) advanced as an individual.

Although eighth-grader Kimberly Schmutz (20:14; sixth) and freshman Catalina Perez (20:21; seventh) had impressive performances, it wasn't enough for St. Andrew's (184) to qualify as a team. Jensen Beach (192) placed eighth and Falcons junior Lauren Ricchiuti (20:50; 14th) was two seconds ahead of the 16th-place finisher to advance as an individual.