Destin finishes strong in cross country

The Destin Marlin cross country teams finished in the top three in the Okaloosa County Middle School Class 1A Cross Country Meet held at Fort Walton Beach Municipal Golf Course earlier this week.

In the girls competition, Destin finished in second place overall behind Liza Jackson. Meigs Middle School took third, St. Mary’s fourth and Baker took fifth.

Top two for the Lady Marlins was Kaeden Stilla, who was third overall, and MJ Toth, seventh overall.

In the boys event, Liza Jackson again was first with Meigs coming in second. Destin finished third, just a scant of four points away from second place. St. Mary’s took fourth and Freeport fifth.

Although the Marlin boys finished as a team in third, Destin’s Cason Larocque was first overall with Connor Rising taking third overall for Destin.

“We had a good year,” said Destin Coach Demetris Stevens. “Our season was one of transition, but I’m proud of the work we accomplished. The leaders took a young group of runners and molded them into a team that was competitive at the county level.

“Any time you bring home hardware, it’s a good season. Especially when three of the teams top 10 runners are in the fifth grade,” he said.

Stevens said most of the runners for Destin either ran their personal best times or close to them at the county meet.

“I couldn’t ask anything more of them,” he said.