Jesuit senior Connor Revord was at the Tigers’ preseason football game Friday night against Chamberlain. But since he has decided not to put on the pads for the Tigers this fall, he was watching from the stands, not the sidelines.

“I saw a place or two during the game where I thought I might have been able to help them,” Revord said of the Tigers’ 35-20 loss to Chamberlain. “But I’ve made the decision to run cross country so I have to put all that to rest.”

Revord certainly did that Saturday morning when he won the Red Mule 5-kilometer road race in Brooksville with an impressive time of 15 minutes, 37 seconds. He was followed by Land O’Lakes senior Felix Soto (15:43), Jesuit teammate Jordan Schilit (15:45, a personal best), former Land O’Lakes standout Lee Stephens (15:46) and Plant star Trenor Wilkins (15:53).

At the conclusion of last spring’s prep track season, Revord had decided he would finish his senior year at Jesuit by playing football this fall. It had been something burning in him for several years. But after a summer of thinking about his future—a future that he has focused much of the past four years on one day running college track for a Division I school—Revord has opted to run his fourth season of cross country.

For the past three years, Revord has earned all-state honors in cross country. This fall, he is one of the contenders for the Class 2A state individual crown and could help lead the Tigers to the team title. Despite a bout with a viral infection in his lungs earlier this summer, Revord says he is back with about seven weeks of solid training under his belt and logging more than 50 miles a week. He and the Tigers officially open the cross country season Sept. 20 in Gainesville at the University of Florida Invitational.

“There’s a part of me that wants to be playing football but some of the college [track] coaches I’ve talked to really want me to do both cross country and track when I get there,” Revord said. “That’s another reason why I decided it was probably best not to play football this year.”

In the women’s division, Port Richey’s Jacki Wachtel, a former standout for River Ridge, was the overall winner in 17:46. Another River Ridge product, Kayla Bratcher, was third in 20:08. The top high school finisher was Alyssa Franks, fifth in 20:24. She recently transferred to Wharton from Freedom.

The next prep female was sixth-place Alyssa Brandt (20:40) while Wharton’s Shannon Meggs earned seventh in the same time as Brandt. Wharton also had eighth and ninth with Abby Ritter (20:48) and Erin Bailey (20:54).