St. Thomas Aquinas’ BCAA boys cross-country title streak at 9
Pines Charter senior Carlos Penaranda kicked it into another gear after the 1.5-mile mark at Markham Park on Friday and the rest of the BCAA cross-country championship field never answered.
Penaranda fought off a challenge from Aquinas’ Bryce Statham to win in 15:52 and Tomas Gimenez-Beron, the other half of the Jaguars dynamic 1-2 punch, took second in 16:11.
“After mile number one I just took it out,” Penaranda said. “A minute and 30 seconds after that, Bryce tried picking it up a little bit again. He came up right next to me. I did it on purpose. He tried sticking with me, he threw a surge for 5-10 seconds maybe but he slowed it down a little bit. When I saw him slow it down, I took it off.”
The Jaguars’ front end excellence, however, wasn’t enough to stop St. Thomas Aquinas from extending its BCAA championship run to nine consecutive boys’ titles.
Even on a day Aquinas’ best runner, Bryce Statham, finished third on his team and eighth overall in 16:58, Aquinas had enough to edge Pines Charter, 39-38, for the boys’ crown.
Douglas’ Alexander Margetts and Anthony Ramcharran finished third and fourth respectively, before Aquinas locked up the victory by going 5-6-8-9 behind Sean Breslin, Pierce Statham, Bryce Statham, Nick Rischar and Alex Dominquez.
Once Aquinas’ Alexa Cruz, the defending Class 4A state champion, won her third consecutive BCAA girls’ title, the only question was how many points the Raiders would score to extend its reign on the girls side. Aquinas, the two-time defending Class 4A state champion, was simply in a class by itself. The Raiders went 1-2-3-4 behind Cruz, Lily Kloepfer, Megan Schloss and Brianna Rischar to score 16 points, just one point off a perfect score.
“It was one of my goals to three-peat,” Cruz said. “As a defending state champion there is a little pressure but I try not to focus on it a lot. I try to stay relaxed and tell myself I want to work hard in each race. My teammates did real good today, everybody looked strong.”
BCAA Championships – Girls’ individual results: 1. Alexa Cruz (STA) 18:51, 2. L. Kloepfer (STA) 19:56, 2. Schloss (STA) 20:17, 4. Rischar (STA) 20:40, 5. Mursten (Doug) 20:51, 6. De Brigard (STA) 21:01, 7. Morgan (CG) 21:22, 8. Fuentes (STA) 21:24, 10. Oplinski (CG) 21:32. Girls’ team standings: St. Thomas Aquinas 16, Douglas 61, 3. Cardinal Gibbons 94, 4. Pines Charter 164, 5. Cooper City 189, 6. Cypress Bay 219, 7. Boyd Anderson 247, 8. South Plantation 249, 9. Northeast 267.
Boys’ individual results: 1. Carlos Penaranda (PPC) 15:52, 2. Gimenez-Tomas (PPC) 16:11, 3. Margetts (Douog) 16:16, 4. Ramcharran (Doug) 16:41, 5. Breslin (STA) 16:47, 6. P. Statham (STA) 16:50, 7. D. Penaranda (PPC) 16:53, 8. B. Statham (STA) 16:58, 9. N. Rischar (STA) 16:59, 10. Dominquez (STA) 17:17.
Boys’ team standings: 1. St. Thomas Aquinas 38, Pines Charter 39, 3. Douglas 77, 4. Cypress Bay 131.
Football
▪ Plantation American Heritage 30, Apopka 20: A mistake late in the fourth quarter swayed momentum in a tight battle between two of the state’s top football programs.
Apopka (5-3) was trailing by three when it fumbled a kickoff, lost the ball and allowed visiting Plantation American Heritage (6-2) to score the final touchdown and earn the victory.
It’s the first time since 2011, and only the third time in 12 years under coach Rick Darlington, that Apopka has lost three regular-season games.
“We fought them,” Darlington said. “We didn’t back down. We didn’t flinch. We battled.
“It’s just disappointing we made a mistake. [The fumble is] a glaring one, but there’s a whole lot of other ones that got us in that situation.”
Chandler Cox led the Blue Darters, No. 7 in the Super 16, with 13 carries for 102 yards and two TDs. Deshawn Massey also scored. It wasn’t enough to stave off the ground attack by Heritage quarterback Torrance Gibson, though.
The 6-foot-4, 200-pound QB led the Class 5A defending state champion Patriots with 16 carries for 151 yards and two TDs, one for 60-yards that gave American Heritage a 16-14 lead as time ran out in the third quarter. He also completed 8 of 18 passes for 65 yards and a touchdown.
The Blue Darters led 20-16 with 8 minutes left in the fourth quarter after Cox ran in a 9-yard TD off a direct snap. After a 4-yard TD pass from Gibson to Janarvis Pough on the next drive, the ensuing kickoff was high and bobbled. The Patriots recovered it at Apopka’s 15-yard line and Gibson ran 5-yards for the score with 4:10 on the clock.
Apopka started the second half with an 80-yard drive that culminated in a 20-yard TD run by Massey. The Blue Darters led for the first time 14-10.
Alicia Delgallo
FIRST – AH: Lowery 1 run (Milstien kick). SECOND – A: Cox 32 run (L’Heureux kick); AH: Milstien FG 44. THIRD – A: Massey 20 run (L’Heureux kick); AH: Gibson 60 run (kick failed). FOURTH – Cox 9 run (run failed); AH: Pough 9 pass from Gibson (Milstien kick); Gibson 5 run (Milstien kick).
GIRLS’ VOLEYBALL
▪ Late Thursday — Archbishop McCarthy d. Cypress Bay (18-25, 25-20, 25-27, 25-20, 15-12): Katie McInnis 23 points, 4 aces, 16 kills, 20 digs, 12 assists. Brooke Wilder 12 points, 9 kills, 19 digs. Sarah Wilensky 14 points, 22 assists, 10 digs. AM 12-11.
GIRLS’ SWIMMING
▪ American Heritage Plantation 119, Somerset Academy 19: 200 Medley: American Heritage Plantation 2:09.97. 200 Free: 1. Marissaa Brannan (AHP) 2:00.62. 200 IM: 1.Audrey Mason (AHP) 2:26.40. 50 Free:1. Alexandra Pacitti (AHP) 25.96. 100 fly: 1. Alexandra Pacitti (AHP) 1:05.39. 100 Free: 1. Vicky Rodriguez (SA) 58.27. 500 Free: 1.Marissaa Brannan (AHP) 5:32.87. 200 Free: 1. American Heritage Plantation 2:02.00. 100 Back: 1. Jamie Annis (AHP) 1:19.59. 100 Breast: 1.Lindsay Hay (AHP) 1:14.81. 400 Free: 1. American Heritage Plantation (4:10.22).
BOYS’ SWIMMING
▪ American Heritage Plantation 130, Somerset Academy 25: 200 Medley: 1. American Heritage Plantation (1:41.18). 200 Free: 1. Chris Garcia (AHP) 1:52.68. 200 IM: 1. Jonathan Farah (AHP) 2:01.10. 50 Free: 1.Taylor Eaddy (AHP) 22.21. 100 Fly: 1. Fernando Bohorquez (AHP)53.40. 100 Free: 1. Taylor Eaddy (AHP) 48.20. 500 Free: 1. Carlos Rodriguez (AHP) 5:03.90. 200 Free Relay: 1. American Heritage Plantation 1:44.48. 100 Back: 1. Chris Garcia (AHP) 56.28.100 Breast: 1. Diego Rodriguez (AHP) 1:07.25. 400 Free Relay: 1. American Heritage Plantation 3:18.56.
This story was originally published October 18, 2014 at 1:15 AM with the headline "St. Thomas Aquinas’ BCAA boys cross-country title streak at 9."