Freshman Moore turns heads for Branford on way to state meet, plus six more make the all-area team
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Branford’s Anna Moore is the LCR’s Girls Runner of the Year. (COURTESY)
BRANFORD — While teaching summer school this past summer, Branford coach Stefani Santos received a bonus.
Rising freshman Anna Moore was one of her students and fresh off an all-area track season in the spring, Moore decided she wanted to try her hand — or legs — at cross country, too.
“Running has always been something I’ve really enjoyed so I thought I would try cross country,” Moore said.
Santos, knowing what Moore accomplished during track — winning five meets and advancing to regionals with a school-record time in the 400 hurdles, while also being a member of the school-record-setting 4x400 relay team that qualified for state — was excited to add Moore to the girls cross country team, which returned a number of key runners.
“I was just excited,” Santos said. “She made the comment about wanting to run cross country and we were like, ‘Come on, let’s see how it goes.’”
Needless to say it went well. Better than any of them could have imagined. And the success started almost immediately.
Branford’s season began at Bell on Sept. 9 and Moore won the meet, finishing in 19:58, two minutes ahead of the runner-up.
She never slowed down from there, earning herself the title of Lake City Reporter Girls Runner of the Year.
“When we had that first meet, we were just pleasantly surprised,” Santos said of her and fellow coach Michelle Richards’ reaction to their star pupil. “We were like, ‘Holy crap, we’ve got a shot this year with the girls team as a whole.’”
They weren’t the only ones shocked by Moore’s instant taking to the sport. Moore didn’t know what to expect either, even though she had always enjoyed running.
For starters, while she always enjoyed the act of running she had never really ran in competition prior to competing in track last spring. Even then, she was mainly a hurdler and ran shorter distances like the 400 meters.
“I thought I was going to be dead every time,” Moore said of instead running long distances for cross country. “I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to run that far, but I did.”
Santos, too, said the coaches didn’t really have any expectations on her because running five kilometers (3.1 miles) for a cross country meet isn’t for everybody.
That all changed, though, with that first meet.
“She placed first and she wasn’t even tired,” Santos recalled.
From there, she kept pushing and kept improving. Moore credits that improvement to Santos and Richards, as well as running extra on her own in an attempt to add endurance and get better.
Santos added that Moore has a great work ethic, always ready for whatever the workout was at practice. That willingness to practice and her ability helped make the entire program better, Santos said, including the BHS boys team.
“She really pushed our boys this year too,” Santos said.
But one thing that Moore didn’t get, at all, throughout the year, Santos believes, is a sense of how good she really is. A shy girl, Santos said Moore is also humble, never going into a meet overconfident.
At the District 3-1A meet, Moore placed fourth in 20:02.8, finishing behind a trio of Oak Hall runners, who Santos said would box Moore in to help themselves place higher.
She followed that with a sixth-place finish at the Region 2-1A meet in 19:39.3, breaking her own school mark.
“She just kept breaking her record every meet,” Santos said.
That wasn’t the goal, though, Moore insists. Rather, she was just trying to lower her time every meet out. It just so happened, the school record kept lowering as a result.
Still, heading into the state meet at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, Santos said the coaches, Leah Moore (Anna’s mother) and Moore were enjoying dinner the night before the race, talking about the amazing season she’d had and the big race the next day.
Moore didn’t seem fazed or nervous about any of it.
“I told her, ‘I don’t think you understand how good you are,’” Santos recalled. “She was just like, ‘I just like to run.’ She said she was pretty nervous.
“We said we weren’t putting any pressure on her, she was representing Branford and we’re so proud of you and how far she came. Anything that happens is just a bonus on your season.”
That bonus turned out to be another new school record time of 19:08.6 and a 12th place finish.
“Then she was like, ‘I’m not even tired. I probably could have done better,’” Santos said.
Moore added: “I was just there to have fun. I was not expecting to come in 12th.”
ALL-AREA TEAM
Anna Moore
Branford, freshman
The LCR’s Girls Runner of the Year set a new program record of 19:08.60 to place 12th at the Class 1A state meet following a sixth-place finish in Region 2-1A (19:39.30) and fourth-place finish in District 3-1A (20:02.80), where the Buccaneers finished third to qualify for regionals as a team. Also won the Bell Invitational and the Tiger Run, posted top-five finishes at the Suwannee County Invitational (runner-up), Alligator Lake Invitational (third) and Branford Invitational (fourth).
Kayleigh Wardle
Branford, sophomore
Ran a season-best 21:47.20 to place 13th in District 3-1A and went on to place 42nd in Region 2-1A (22:27.50). Also won the Branford Invitational, was runner-up at the Bell Invitational and placed third at the Tiger Run.
Kelbie Snider
Branford, 8th grade
Ran a season-best 22:12.00 to finish runner-up at the Branford Invitational. Placed 18th in District 3-1A (23:14.10) and then 54th in Region 2-1A (22:39.50). Also placed fourth at the Bell Invitational.
Ryleigh Hermanson
Suwannee, sophomore
Set a new program record of 19:48.20 to place second at the North Florida Classic. Placed fifth in District 1-2A (20:05.80) and then 18th in Region 1-2A (19:52.00) to become the first SHS girls runner ever to qualify for state, where she finished 52nd in Class 2A (20:24.00) to cap off a season where she also had top-10 finishes at the Suwannee County Invitational (sixth) and Clay County Invitational (seventh).
Montana Lewis
Suwannee, junior
Ran a season-best 21:31.70 to place fifth at the North Florida Classic. Placed 18th in District 1-2A (22:43.00) and went on to finish 53rd in Region 1-2A (22:30.50).
Brianna Woods
Suwannee, sophomore
Ran a season-best 21:52.00 to place 10th at the North Florida Classic. Placed 27th in District 1-2A (23:29.70) and went on to finish 51st in Region 1-2A (22:16.00).
Sadie Siemon
Suwannee, freshman
Ran a season-best 22:11.80 to place 11th at the North Florida Classic. Placed 17th in District 1-2A (22:20.90) and went on to finish 57th in Region 1-2A (22:43.90).
COACH OF THE YEAR
Amy Bullock, Suwannee
Led the Bulldogs to regionals thanks to a third-place finish at the District 1-2A meet, and her top runner Ryleigh Hermanson became the first girls runner in program history to qualify for state. Her squad just missed qualifying for state as a team with a ninth-place finish in Region 1-2A in a year where SHS was runner-up at the Clay County Invitational and North Florida Classic as well as third at the Suwannee County Invitational.
HONORABLE MENTION: Columbia: Abigail Candler, Morgan Golden; Suwannee: Maddie McMillan, Arwen Haley, Lydia Gunter; Branford: Ella Harris, Delilah Poore