Article by Grant Mollett, Photos by Dave Worthington
East Ridge High School
Inverness, Florida
The East Ridge High School girls cross country team opened the 2022 season, as they competed in the Whispering Pines Invitational at Whispering Pines Park in Inverness, Florida. It was an overcast Central Florida morning, and the temperature hovered around the mid-70s with the fog being trapped amidst the trees of the park. The morning’s conditions were humid, but a bit of a reprieve from the scorching heat of afternoon practices the past few weeks. This was the fourth time that the Knights had competed at the Whispering Pines Invitational. Last season East Ridge’s girls’ varsity team was the invitational champion, placing first out of eleven teams. So this season they were back to defend and attempt to reclaim their title!
Girls from 20 different schools throughout Central Florida participated in this morning’s meet. The gun sounded at 8:00 AM sharp, and the girls were off and running through a hazy sunrise. East Ridge’s first runner to cross the finish line was freshman Veronica Peterson! Veronica, in her debut as an East Ridge Knight, placed eleventh overall out of a field of 81 varsity female runners and finished in a swift time of 21:23! Senior Bre Peine came through the finish chute second for the Knights. Bre put up a time of 21:29 and placed twelfth overall. This was a nearly two-minute improvement from her result at Whispering Pines last season and was a career personal best by fifteen seconds! East Ridge’s third finisher was sophomore Hanna Warren. Hanna finished in fifteenth place in a time of 22:21 – an improvement by nearly one minute from her performance at this meet last season!
The fourth Knight to finish was freshman Rhyen Foley. Ryen finished in sixteenth place and posted a time of 22:33 in her first cross country meet of her high school career! The fifth finisher and final scorer for East Ridge was sophomore Madi McCormack who finished in 21st place and in a time of 22:54 in her debut race! The sixth finisher for the Knights was sophomore Neely Lugo. Neely placed 29th and posted a time of 24:31. The seventh finisher for the Knights was senior Alanis Melgar. Alanis placed 32nd and posted a time of 24:45, nearly thirty seconds faster than her result at Whispering Pines last season!
East Ridge High School ultimately took third place out of nine complete teams this morning! The Knights were able to place four of their runners in the top twenty. Oak Hall, out of Gainesville, took top honors at Whispering Pines by placing their best five runners in the top thirteen positions. Oak Hall placed third in the Class 1A FHSAA State Championships last season. East Ridge was edged out by their crosstown rival, Lake Minneola High School, who took second place by placing five runners in the top twenty-two positions. The overall individual winner for the girls’ varsity race was senior Sydney Miller from Oak Hall High School. Sydney finished the race in a swift time of 19:38.
The Knights also had ten runners participate in the girls’ junior varsity race this morning at Whispering Pines. Junior Maja Stjernstrom took second overall in the junior varsity race this morning! Maja, an exchange student from Sweden, ran in a time of 25:03 in her debut as an East Ridge Knight. Junior Lina Maldonado was the second Knight to cross the finish line in the junior varsity race. Lina placed third overall and in a time of 25:35. Sophomore J’Mariana Douglas was the third Knight to finish and she placed fourth overall in a time of 25:41 – a more than thirty-second improvement from her performance at this meet last season! Next for the Knights was senior Brenna Oliveri, who placed sixth overall and finished in a time of 26:16 – a near three-minute improvement from her performance at Whispering Pines last season! The fifth and final scorer for the junior varsity was sophomore Isabella Stuemke placed eleventh overall and finished in a time of 28:27.
Junior Sarah Tingler followed in her teammate, finishing in twelfth place in a time of 28:32 – a more than thirty-second improvement from her performance at Whispering Pines last season! Junior Kayden Page placed fifteenth overall and finished in a time of 29:00 – a two-second improvement from her performance last season! Freshman Shane George placed eighteenth overall in a time of 30:29 in her debut as a Knight. Junior Karlie Saintlot placed twentieth overall in a time of 31:45 – a new career personal best by over a minute! Senior Alexandra Dimitros came in 27th place and finished in a time of 36:52 – a four-second improvement from her result last season at Whispering Pines!
Ultimately, the girls’ junior varsity team took the honors, placing first out of four complete girls teams! The Knights took first by placing their top four runners within the first six positions of a field of 30 runners!
For full results for the girls’ varsity race at the Whispering Pines Invitational visit: https://www.arrowliveresults.com/WhisperingPinesInvitationalWomensRace.
For full results for the girls’ junior varsity race at the Whispering Pines Invitational visit: https://www.arrowliveresults.com/WhisperingPinesInvitationalJVWomensRace.
The girls’ cross country team will travel to Venetian Gardens in Leesburg on Saturday, September 3rd to participate in the Leesburg Run the Lakes Invitational.
