Del Monte, Jackson, capture Freshman-Sophomore cross country titles

Posted Oct 20, 2009 by Bill Ward

Updated Oct 21, 2009 at 01:59 PM

Just three days after turning in standout performances at the Pre-State Invitational cross country meet, Chamberlain’s Max del Monte and Newsome’s Brianna Jackson ran away with the individual titles of Tuesday’s Freshman-Sophomore Championships at Al Lopez Park.

Jackson, a freshman who was the Tampa Bay area’s top finisher at the Pre-State meet (34th place in a 5-kilometer time of 19:44) didn’t match her time there but she still won with a relatively comfortable cushion. Jackson covered the Al Lopez course in 20:14 to win by 27 seconds over runner-up Colleen Doherty, a freshman at the Academy of the Holy Names. Hillsborough sophomore Katie Lutton was third in 20:51, Sickles freshman Sarah Hartman (21:00), who is rebounding from a bout with the flu, was fourth and Academy’s Cristina Snyder, a sophomore, rounded out the top five in 21:05.

The girls team title went to Academy (68), Plant (83), paced by Sophie Sanchez’s 10th-place finish, was second and Wharton (146), led by Risa Brudney’s eighth-place showing, was third.

On the boys side, Chamberlain’s super sophomore, Max del Monte, who 20th at the Pre-State meet, was the easy winner in 16:15. Riverview sophomore Michael Babinec, who won Saturday’s W.D. Johnson Invitational, was second in 17:15 and another Chamberlain sophomore, Sean Russo, earned third in 17:31. Taking fourth was Newsome sophomore Issac Baker (17:32) and the tpo freshman was fifth-place Lars Benner (17:33), also of Newsome.

Powered by Travis Christenberry (seventh) and Sam Powers (ninth), Plant won the boys team title with 56 points. Newsome (84) took second and Chamberlain (123) was third.

The area’s next major cross country meet, is the Hillsborough County Championships, Tuesday at Lake Park in North Tampa.