by Coach Grant Mollett, East Ridge High School
The East Ridge High School girls cross country team participated in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) Preseason Invitational on August 17 at the scenic property of Southern Hill Farms in Clermont. Weather forecasters called for a “cool front” for Friday night and Saturday morning, which is a welcomed anomaly by anyone tasked to run a 5K. Of course, the temperature at race time was nearly twenty degrees cooler than what the Knights have been practicing in the past few weeks. However, the sun revealed itself fairly early into the first race, and the weather forecasters’ calls for a “cool front” were quickly forgotten at Southern Hill. This was the second time that the Knights had competed in a preseason race, as well as the first time they had competed in a meet at Southern Hill.
The cross-country course at the farm begins with an approximately 100M start that merges into a long stone straightaway to the back of the farm’s property. After that, the course becomes a grass and dirt terrain through the field roads of the property. Numerous grass and dirt straightaways led the runners back to the long stone straightaway for a swift finish line approach.
Girls from twelve complete teams throughout Central Florida participated in this morning’s preseason meet. East Ridge’s first runner to cross the finish line was junior Rhyen Foley! Foley took the top individual honors as she held off Lake County rivals throughout the race! Spotted at the first-mile marker to be a single step ahead of Tavares High School’s Cheyenne Thomas, Foley sought to push the pace to test her summer conditioning. At the two-mile mark, Foley had extended her lead to about a five to six-second time gap in front of Thomas. As she made her final turn onto the stone straightaway, Foley picked up the pace again and finished in a time of 19:28 – nearly thirty seconds ahead of Thomas. This was Foley’s first individual championship in her high school career and was a 24-second improvement from her time at last year’s preseason race at the National Training Center.
The second Knight to finish was senior Hanna Warren. Warren finished in fourth place and posted a time of 20:46! Her performance today was more than a thirty-second improvement from her result at the preseason meet last year at the NTC. Her teammate, junior Veronica Peterson, ran in tandem with Warren for most of the race. A little bit of separation occurred in the third mile, as Peterson finished in fifth place in a time of 20:57! Both Warren and Peterson joined Foley in the medal line, securing three of the top five places in a field of 110 varsity runners!
The fourth finisher for the Knights was junior Adriana Mustin. Mustin placed sixteenth overall and posted a time of 22:15 – a near minute and a half improvement from her result at the preseason race at NTC a year ago! The fifth finisher and final scorer for the Knights was sophomore Taylor Walker. Walker placed 32nd and posted a time of 23:18. Senior Neelyanis Lugo was the sixth finisher for the Knights, as she placed 37th overall in a time of 23:34 – a fourteen-second improvement from her result at NTC last year!
Freshman Kori Lindley, the team’s seventh finisher, made her debut as an East Ridge Knight, placing 41st overall and finishing in a time of 23:56! The eighth finisher for the Knights was junior Avery Post, who took 53rd place overall and finished in a time of 24:35 in her debut race as a Knight! The ninth finisher for the Knights was sophomore Lexi Whitehead, who took 57th place and finished in a time of 24:46 – a more than four-minute improvement from her performance at last year’s preseason meet at the NTC! The tenth finisher for the Knights was senior J’Mariana Douglas. Douglas placed 95th overall and finished in a time of 28:15.
East Ridge High School ultimately took the top honors this morning, winning the meet against eleven other teams! The Knights were able to place four of their runners in the top twenty. One of East Ridge’s Lake County rivals, Tavares High School, was the team runner up, as they placed three runners in the top twenty. Tavares placed eighteenth in the Class 3A FHSAA State Championships last season. The Knights were also able to hold off some district rivals, including Horizon, Lake Minneola, Windermere, West Orange, and Celebration!
The Knights also had six runners participate in the girls junior varsity race this morning at the FCA Preseason Invitational. Sophomore Jessie Volz took third out of sixty total runners in the junior varsity race this morning! Volz, who only competed in two races last season, finished in a time of 25:02 – a more than a minute-and-a-half improvement from her fastest time last year!
Senior Allie McCleary was the second Knight to cross the finish line in the junior varsity race. McCleary placed 21st overall in a time of 28:13 in her debut race. Junior Thirsa Cnossen, an exchange student from the Netherlands, was the third Knight to finish and she placed 24th overall in a time of 29:06. Next for the Knights was junior Alyssa Schacht, who placed 26th overall and finished in a time of 29:37. The fifth and final scorer for the junior varsity was sophomore Yeidy Diaz who placed 35th overall and finished in a time of 31:30. The sixth finisher for the Knights was freshman Annabel Bandelin, who placed 40th overall and finished in a time of 32:50 in her debut as a Knight. Ultimately, the girls junior varsity team took third place out of seven complete girls’ teams.
Rhyen Foley, Hanna Warren, and Veronica Peterson in the medal line after the varsity race.For full results for the girls varsity race at the FCA Preseason Invitational visit: https://milesplit.live/meets/608458/events/1/results/F/F. For full results for the girls’ junior varsity race at the FCA Preseason Invitational visit: https://milesplit.live/meets/608458/events/203/results/F/F. The girls cross country team will travel to New World Sports Complex in Jacksonville on Friday, August 23rd to participate in the Cecil Field Summer Classic for their regular season opener. credited to the photographers John Watson and Jeff from South Lake Photography
