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2 Cougar Runners Qualify For Today's State Competition

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By DAREK SHARP, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 17, 2007

PLANT CITY - John Mitchell knew it was probably going to take a better effort than his darn-good previous one to qualify for the state meet.

The Durant junior delivered.

Mitchell raced through the three-mile course at Palm Bay High School in 16 minutes, 25 seconds to finish in fifth place at the Nov. 9 Region 4A-2 cross country meet.

The result qualifies Mitchell for today's Class 4A state meet in Dade City, where he will be joined by Durant freshman Grace VanDeGrift, who was eighth in the girls race.

Mitchell and VanDeGrift competed in Melbourne as individuals because Durant did not qualify as a team. Both Cougar runners were the only individual competitors to finish in the top 20 of their races.

Mitchell's time was 36 seconds faster than the one he turned in at districts. He finished higher in the regional race than he did at districts, even though there was a bigger and tougher field at the Nov. 9 race. VanDeGrift slid down in her overall finish despite running 14 seconds faster (20:01).

Melbourne High won the girls and boys meets as a team. In the boys race, Melbourne sophomore Brian Atkinson ran 15:33, almost 30 seconds better than runner-up Derek Wehunt of Sickles.

VanDeGrift will be one of the first runners on the course this morning at Dade City's Little Everglades Ranch. The 4A girls race will be the second one to get started, scheduled for 7:55 a.m. The 3A girls start things off at 7:30.

The 4A boys begin at 8:45 a.m.

Reporter Darek Sharp can be reached at dsharp@tampa trib.com.

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