Newsom, Holguin win county XC titles (See Results, Photos)

LYNN HAVEN — Sydney Newsom equated Saturday’s weather conditions to rotisserie chicken. All of her competition had much in common with the tasty food. They were cooked.

The Mosley freshman blistered the rest of the field to win the Bay County cross country championship in 21 minutes, 17 seconds. Newsom and the rest of the girls field was able to finish in muggy conditions before the temperatures dropped and it rained briefly on the boys. Her contributions and six top-eight finishes by the Dolphin girls netted the team title.

Bay’s Gabe Holguin won the boys individual title in 17:00 after coming up short two years in a row. His efforts could only push Bay to a third-place finish, as Arnold’s boys won spurred by five Top-10 finishers.

Newsom was pleasantly surprised with her time, given the conditions. However, while some runners may not have liked the wet track and humid conditions, Newsom was right at home.

“It was actually kind of nice,” Newsom said. “I didn’t think I would do as good as I did, but I’m happy.”

Newsom said the conditions and the atmosphere not only mirrored cooking chicken, but eagerly awaiting to eat it and spend a relaxing day at home. It seemed that way on the course, as Arnold’s Mikayla Hodges, who fell down early but regrouped, finished in a distant 22:59.

With no one pushing her, Newsom had only one battle left.

“At that point you are running against the clock,” Newsom said. “That gives you extra motivation.”

Holguin’s motivation, Mosley’s Frankie Menna, stayed in stride with him for most of the boys race. Holguin was used to seeing former two-time champion Tommy Heikkinen finish ahead of him, but Saturday was the Bay senior’s day.

Holguin broke free of Menna, second in 17:08, with about a half mile remaining in the race. Holguin was 54 seconds slower than his best time of the year, but the final strides of the race were spent in a downpour to go along with spots of mud on the course.

“To be honest, I wasn’t focused on time as much as I was focused on winning,” Holguin said. “This was a race I really wanted to win.”

Unlike the girls, the boys had to deal with the changing weather elements. The clouds rolled in, it grew colder with heavier winds and the rain made for a more difficult track. Holguin said it didn’t bother him, however.

“It’s something you try not to think about,” Holguin said. “If you start thinking of those things and how it might make you slower than it will make you slower.”

Slower times weren’t a problem for the Mosley girls. Kaitlyn Blais, Anna Bauer, Courtney Muller, Lessie Skiba and Britni Templeton posted times of less than 25 minutes to help the Dolphins to 15 team points, 45 better than second-place Bay.

Arnold’s team title was bolstered by Chance Mason’s 18:04. Hector Rodriguez, Challen Hyman and Jayme Atkins finished in succession to give the Marlins 32 team points.

Honoring a fallen friend: This year’s event was named in the honor of Chad Thompson. He was a former two-time county champion and a 2002 graduate of Rutherford. He died in car accident in September in Texas, leaving behind a wife and three sons.