The second-place finish of Hernando High's Jonathan Britton highlighted the effort of Hernando County runners at the Foot Locker 5K regional cross-country championships last Saturday in Charlotte, N.C.
Britton finished the boys freshman race in 16 minutes, 46 seconds, crossing the 3-mile mark in a personal-best 16:10.
Also medaling by finishing among the top 24 in their respective races were Hernando High seniors Cassie Nowicki, 14th in the unseeded 5K girls race with a time of 20:22, and Philip Borozny, 24th among a 264-runner field with a time of 16:48 in the unseeded boys event.
Hernando High runners Shawnn O'Connor, Andrew Malcolm, Jay Gregory and John Toombs all finished behind Borozny in the unseeded race. Vanessa Nowicki, Melissa Hancock, Stephanie Poe and Erin Chatman all ran but did not place in the freshman-sophomore girls race, and Jessica Peterson did the same in the unseeded girls race. Hancock's time of 21:25 was 2:48 faster than her time on the same course last year.