MASCOTTE, FL—After thirteen consecutive wins, which spanned the course of four years, the Tavares varsity girls cross-country team finally came in third out of nine teams at the Gray Invitational on September 30^th.  The Tavares boys varsity, on the other hand, won the meet, taking on their 10^th consecutive win.  The TMS junior varsity also came in first by a landslide.

The Tavares girls varsity started strong on the 1.5 mile course, but were pointed in the wrong direction by a course spotter, making them run an extra two-tenths of a mile.  The accidental misdirection affected a few other teams and runners as well.

“Our runners have not trained for that extra distance,” said Coach Kevin Von Maxey.  “But I really don’t feel we would have won the meet anyways.  We just got beat today and that’s OK.  I’m proud of our streak and it is possible we may never see another streak like that again.”  Von Maxey said his girls work hard everyday and will use the loss for motivation to win the championship. 

“It’s disappointing,” said Emily Imboden, varsity runner for the Tavares girls.  “[But] what’s done is done and everyone ran great,” she added.  

Savannah Guenther and Emily Imboden finished in 9^th and 11^th with Chelsea Spears, Brooke Boynton, Kaley Smith, Casey Keough, and Caroline McLean coming in afterwards.  The TMS girls, with 77 points, still came in third behind Windy Hill, who had 45 points, and East Ridge who came in second with 71 points.  Tavares teams have never finished worse than third in any race since cross-country became a competitive sport in Lake County four years ago. 

The Tavares boys varsity won their race with 37 points, beating Gray (68 pts) and Clermont who finished with 91 points.  Five of the TMS boys came in the top 10: Brian Buckner (4^th), Cole Higginbotham (6^th), Damon Arnett (7^th), Sasha Yates (9^th), and David Buckner (10^th). 

Brian Buckner tripped at the beginning in the midst of a crowd of over 60 runners, but that fall gave him the adrenaline he needed to sprint to the end and finish in the top 5.  “It made me a bit mad,” he said “But it gave me [the energy] to finish.”  

The TMS JV easily won their race.  Carver pulled away at the beginning but lost steam; then East Ridge pulled ahead to win the top two spots with Carver coming in third. Tavares came in next with four boys as Taylor Chandler placed (4^th), Bradley Moler ( 5^th), Christian Sears ( 6^th), and Cristo Silva (7^th ). 

After the second meet of the season the Tavares cross-country teams (boys varsity, girls varsity, JV) are off to an excellent start with five wins and one third place finish.  

BOYS RESULTS: Tavares (37), Gray (68), Clermont (91), Windy Hill (100), East Ridge (114), Eustis (115), Carver (177), Carver (177), Mount Dora (NS)

GIRLS RESULTS: Windy Hill (45), East Ridge (71), Tavares (77), Gray (119), South Lake Charter (120), Mount Dora (170)