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Sebring sprints to high finishes

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Sebring's Connor Bauer placed first in the Avon Park Rotary Invitational Cross Country Meet on Thursday at Highlands Hammock State Park. Bauer finished in 16 minutes, 24 seconds, well ahead of Admiral Farragut's Blake Arnold (17:40).

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Highlands Today Staff Report

Published: October 31, 2009

SEBRING - Despite another strong run by senior Connor Bauer, the Sebring boys cross country team finished second in the Avon Park Rotary Invitational Cross Country Meet on Thursday at Highlands Hammock State Park.

"It was a great run for Connor in the heat, and he won by a minute," Sebring coach Jeff Shoemaker said. "That was a good time."

Bauer finished in 16 minutes, 24 seconds to lead the pack, but Admiral Farragut placed four runners in the top seven and came in with 33 total points. Sebring finished second with 49 points and Avon Park, led by high finishes from Charles Hubbard and Dexter Grenier, was third with 73 points.

Hubbard placed fourth overall after his time of 19:06, and Grenier's run of 19:24 was sixth-fastest. Sebring's Evan Wilburn (19:26) was eighth.

"This meet was a definitely a confidence-builder," Shoemaker said.

Meanwhile, the Sebring girls cross country team cruised to a first-place finish in the seven-team meet. Paced by Taylor Tubbs and Caitlyn Moulds, the Blue Streaks' 40-point total was well ahead of DeSoto (64). The other five teams did not have a team score.

Tubbs, who finished first in last week's meet at Lake Placid, came in second with a time of 22:25, Moulds was third in 23:36, and freshman Emily Smith rounded out the top five in 24:34.

"With the girls, everything is coming together as well as we could have expected," Shoemaker said. "I'm happy with the results, no doubt about it."

This was the final tune-up for the Class 3A-District 6 meet at Lehigh Acres in Fort Myers, where the Blue Streaks will need to contend with Naples, a perennial state contender. The top six teams and top-15 individual finishers advance to regionals.

"They're really coming together," Shoemaker said, "and the pack is close, and that's exactly what you want for that tight scoring."

The Highlands Today sports staff can be reached at 863-386-5837 or sports@highlandstoday.com

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