Morken Triumphs Over Stampede Loaded Gulf Coast Talent

On-Site Coverage

Boys Varsity

With three in the 15s and two more just above, it wasn't exactly a jog in the park Nicholas Morken of Niceville. But the senior was able to pull away and gapped Zachary Albright of Alabama by 12 seconds to win the Gulf Coast Stampede title in 15:39. It was a big week for Morken given his first major invitational win of the season, coupled with a Twitter acceptance of his prom date request from former Spruce Creek and UF star Mandy Perkins.

Mark Robertson of Booker T Washington joined Morken under 16-minutes with a 15:55 third place showing. It's the second personal best in as many weeks for Robertson, who is already starting off the season better than he left it last fall. Big things ahead for him!

Nick's teammate Thomas Howell finished fourth place in 16:03, helping Niceville to secure the second place trophy behind St. Paul's of Alabama and ahead of Pace. Scoreboard read 46-73-103.

Girls Varsity

The Pace boys are looking awfully good with that third place finish, but the girls are even more impressive. The upstart squad finish second place--the first Florida team--with 94 points, behind Blessed Trinity of Georgia (56) and just squeaking by Ocean Springs of Mississippi (96). The Niceville ladies were next up in 136.

Pace's runner-up position was made possible by the dynamic one-two punch of Rachel Kling and Cheyenne Andrew. The duo finished 4-5 in 19:52 and 20:01, respectively, as the top two Florida female finishers. Rachel's sister Haley King notched a tenth place finish in 20:20 and the team finished with a 20:50 top five average.

For its part, Niceville didn't quite have the firepower to grab a podium position; however, they had a pretty nice 1-5 split for this point in the year. Only 1:06 separated number one Claire Crist (20:59) and number five Annie Serpa (22:05). And they've got plenty of depth behind that. This is a team that appears on its way up as well.

Florida Bronze Elite Performances