By Grant Mollett, M, ED (photos are courtesy of student-athlete Bre Peine)
East Ridge High School
The East Ridge High School girls’ cross country team did not have to travel far for this week’s race. The race was the Hawks on the Hill Invitational, hosted by Lake Minneola High School. The morning’s weather, with its cool breeze and overcast skies, made for a delightful morning for a cross country meet, and the girls were eager to set some season records. Today’s meet was also the midpoint for the Knights’ cross country season, as the team now sits just six weeks out from its district meet at the end of October.
Girls from more than 15 different schools throughout Central Florida participated in this morning’s meet. The starter’s pistol went off at 7:30, and the field of girls across the athletic fields of Lake Minneola’s campus. East Ridge’s first runner to come across the finish line was junior Mackenzie Hill. Mackenzie improved from her 2018 performance by more than a minute and a half with a finish time of 22:21 and placing 18th out of a field of 127 varsity female runners. Junior Olivia Peine came through the finish chute second for the Knights. Olivia also improved from her 2018 Hawk Invitational finish time. She finished in a time of 23:13, which was more than a minute and a half improvement from her sophomore performance. Olivia finished in 26th place this morning.
The third Knight to finish was junior Mia Vogel-Lag. Mia finished in 28th place with a finish time of 23:14. Mia improved on last week’s time by over a minute and worked hard to finish near her teammate. In fact, with an exciting track finish, Mia caught up to her teammate, Olivia, but Olivia was able to regain her lead and finish merely one second ahead. Freshman Alanis Melgar was the fourth scorer for the varsity team this morning. She placed 47th and came across the line in a time of 24:22. Alanis improved from her performance last week by nearly forty seconds! The fifth runner for the Knights was junior Heidy Castillo. She placed 60th and posted a time of 25:23, which was a season personal best by more than a minute and a half! Junior Caitlyn Cavender was the sixth runner for East Ridge this morning. Caitlyn placed 78th and finished in a time of 26:56.
The East Ridge Knights also had two participants in the girls’ junior varsity race this morning. Sophomore Maria Jose Ibanez Marin, better known as Pepa to her teammates, finished in seventh place in a field of 29 junior varsity female runners. Pepa finished in time of 28:06 in her debut as an East Ridge Knight. Additionally, sophomore Mansi Patel placed 18th overall and finished in a time of 32:18.
This morning the East Ridge girls cross country team had only underclassmen runners, which served as a bit of a preview to what next season’s team will be. East Ridge was able to fend off district rivals West Orange High School and Apopka High School, who placed ninth and thirteenth overall, respectively. Father Lopez took first overall in the team scores by placing four girls in the top ten. The overall winner for the girls’ varsity race was Ariana Jiminez from Apopka High School. She finished the race in a time of 19:28.
The girls cross country team will participate in the West Orange Invitational on Saturday, September 21 at West Orange High School in Winter Garden, Florida.
For full results from the Hawks on the Hill Invitational visit https://fl.milesplit.com/meets/341049/results/664748/raw#.XX0foyhKg2w.
