Consistency paying off for Hernando boys

Cheering for the Hernando boys cross country team is becoming pretty easy.

This would have been the drill Saturday at the Citrus Invitational: show up at the finish line as the race approached the 18-minute mark. Yell like crazy for a minute and a half, then stop and go home.

You would have seen the entire team.

The Leopards' internal competition continues to be strong, with just 36 seconds separating the team's first and fifth runners at Whispering Pines Park. Throw in the Nos. 6 and 7 runners and the entire team was separated by just 1:26.

With such consistency, and good consistency at that, Hernando is having success in team standings. The Leopards won the boys team title at Citrus with 65 points as its top five finished ninth (Mike Laird, 17:56), 12th (Ben Martucci, 18:07), 13th (Logan Emerson, 18:20), 15th (Bret Chatman, 18:25), 16th (Andrew Martucci, 18:32).

"We ran in the pack, which is good in some instances," Hernando coach Ernie Chatman said. "It was able to carry some people along, but at the same time we need to get some people out front."

Hernando will try to duplicate the weekend's success at Saturday's Gulf Coast Athletic Conference championship, though Ernie Chatman still wants some runners to catch up to last year's efforts. Laird's best time last season was 16:43 and Emerson's was 17:00.

WAIT 'TIL NEXT YEAR: Hernando Christian Academy closed out its inaugural season at the Citrus Invitational and coach Sue Murphy may have found a new talent for next year.

Sophomore Kaitlin Sauskosus (sas-KOI-us) trained sporadically with the Lions during the season but had scheduling conflicts with most of the weekend races. At Citrus she competed for the first time and clocked 24:12, finishing in the top half of the field and sixth among county runners.

Murphy said her other girls improved throughout the season, most notably sixth grader Alex Livengood, who shaved four minutes off her time by season's end. The Lions' foursome of boys runners also improved while balancing cross country with soccer.

"I'm hoping to get some more runners next year that just want to run," Murphy said.

HCA competed this season as an independent and is expected to begin state series play next year.

FAMILIAR FACE: Magen Loew's heroism at last month's Lecanto Invitational earned national media attention this week with a spot in Sports Illustrated's "Faces in the Crowd" feature.

The Central sophomore stopped in the middle of the race to help a competitor having an asthma attack. Loew carried the runner on her back to an official and then ran to retrieve the girl's inhaler.

Loew's feat is certainly the most impressive of the week's "Faces", which include a volleyball player winning conference player-of-the-week honors, a golfer winning tournaments on consecutive days and a football player scoring two touchdowns and catching three passes in a game.

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