By Grant Mollett, East Ridge High School
Orlando (September 18)
The East Ridge High School girls’ cross country team competed in the Lake Buena Vista Invitational at the beautiful and brand new Lake Buena Vista High School on Saturday morning. A humid September morning also came with a nice overcast sky, which helped keep the temperature around 77 degrees for the varsity race. Much like last week at St. Cloud, the course at Lake Buena Vista was characterized by a muddy terrain due to some late evening rain the previous night. The course was flat and it took the runners for three campus laps around the athletic fields. The Knights had a great showing at this inaugural meet. Six of the eight girls who ran in the varsity race had season-best performances, and because of their efforts, the team placed fourth out of eleven complete teams at Lake Buena Vista High School today.
Girls from fourteen different schools throughout Central Florida participated in the Lake Buena Vista Invitational today. The varsity girls race started at 7:30 AM. The start of the race took the girls across a practice football field, which they circled twice before running a long straightaway along the backside of the campus. For the fourth race in a row, junior Sophie Roemmen has led her team and charged the finish line as the team’s first scorer. As well, for the fourth race in a row, Sophie set a season-best time, as she finished today’s meet in a time of 20:51! Sophie placed 12th overall out of a field of 87 varsity female runners! Freshman Hanna Warren also set a season-best with a swift 22:01 performance this morning. Hanna took eighteenth place overall! Junior Bre Peine finished in 21st place and also set a new season-best with a time of 22:18!
Freshman Neely Lugo was the fourth Knight to cross the finish line this morning. She finished in 23rd place and in a time of 22:24 – a season-best performance! The fifth finisher and final scorer for East Ridge was junior Alanis Melgar. Alanis finished in 34th place and in a time of 23:15 – a season-best and a performance that was just one second shy of her career personal best! The sixth finisher for the Knights was freshman J’Mariana Douglas. J’Mariana placed 54th overall and finished in a time of 24:32 – her second-best time of the season. The seventh finisher for the Knights was senior Keira Votava who finished in 60th place and in a time of 24:58 – also her second-best time of the season. The eighth finisher for the Knights was sophomore Lina Maldonado. Lina finished in 63rd place and in a time of 25:19 – a new season personal best!
East Ridge High School placed fourth among eleven complete teams at Lake Buena Vista. District rival Olympia High School, won the Lake Buena Vista Invitational. Olympia placed their top three runners in the top ten of the race. Winter Springs High School, who also placed their top three runners in the top ten, was the runner-up at today’s meet. District rival Dr. Phillips High School, who took third place, just edged out the Knights today. However, the Knights were able to overcome Indian Hill High School, out of Cincinnati, Ohio, by one team point in spite of the fact that Indian Hill had the first and third place runners! The overall individual winner for the girls’ varsity race was senior Elizabeth Whaley from Indian Hill High School. Whaley finished today’s race in a swift time of 18:33.
The Knights also had eight runners participate in the girls’ junior varsity race this morning at Lake Buena Vista High School. Sophomore Sarah Tingler placed seventh out of a field of 41 junior varsity girls. She finished in a time of 26:39 – a new season-best by nearly an entire minute! Freshman Isabella Stuemke finished in twelfth place overall and in a time of 27:36. Sophomore Kayden Page finished in 16th place in a time of 29:00 – a new season-best by four seconds! Junior Brenna Oliveri finished in nineteenth place overall and in a time of 29:29. Sophomore Brittni Faber placed 23rd overall and finished in a time of 30:11. Sophomore Karlie Saint Lot finished in 30th place overall and in a time of 33:04 in her debut performance. Junior Alexandra Dimitros came in 33rd place and finished in a time of 33:25 – a new season-best performance by nearly twenty seconds! Freshman Brianna Romero finished in 41st place in a time of 44:38 in her debut performance as a Knight.
For full results for the girls’ varsity race at the Lake Buena Vista Invitational visit: https://fl.milesplit.com/meets/410344-lake-buena-vista-xc-invitational-2021/results/763787/formatted#.YUZN7I5Kg2w.
For full results for the girls’ junior varsity race visit: https://fl.milesplit.com/meets/410344-lake-buena-vista-xc-invitational-2021/results/763799/formatted#.YUZOCY5Kg2w.
The girls’ cross country team will travel to West Orange High School on Saturday, September 25th to participate in the West Orange Invitational. The race is set to start at 7:20 AM.
