TALLAHASSEE — Despite the hilly racecourse at Tallahassee's Appalachee Regional Park, three South Fork high girls set personal best times for the 5-kilometer race as the Bulldogs ran to a 12th place finish in the Class 3A Florida High School Athletic Association's state cross country champion Saturday.

The Bulldogs posted the best finish among the six area boys and girls teams that competed in four classes.

Estero High School won the girls Class-3A meet with 42 points. South Fork collected 309 points in 12th and Martin County was 23rd with 565 points.

"It was a great day," said South Fork coach Bonnie Gladys. "The weather was perfect and the course was perfect. We had a lot of runners step up to the plate today."

Sophomore Bethany Hardcastle led the Bulldogs with a 33rd place finish (19:47.57). Senior Laurie Scott was two places back, finishing in 19:51.91.

Freshman Emily Elkins was South Fork's third finisher in 42nd with a new personal best of 20:01.05.