Girls from 31 different teams throughout Florida participated in last night’s elite division at the Summer Classic. East Ridge’s first runner to cross the finish line was junior Rhyen Foley. Foley placed tenth overall (out of a field of 245 elite varsity girls) and finished in a time of 18:56! Foley’s performance made her the first female in East Ridge’s history to break the nineteen-minute mark in August – when the weather is not its most cooperative and the season is young. Additionally, Foley’s result is now the fifth fastest time clocked by a Knight in the school’s history! The Summer Classic also gave Foley her new season best time, which was more than a thirty-second improvement from last week’s preseason race!
The second Knight to finish was junior Veronica Peterson. Peterson finished in 23rd place and posted a time of 19:41! Her performance last night was more than a minute faster than her performance at last week’s preseason meet! Peterson’s performance enabled her to join Foley in the medal line at the Summer Classic, as the top 25 finishers of the elite division received medals and a Cecil Field Summer Classic t-shirt.
The third finisher for East Ridge was senior Hanna Warren who finished in 32nd place and in a time of 19:57! Neither Warren nor Peterson had ever broken the twenty-minute mark in August in their careers until last night’s race – an indicator of their improved conditioning at the beginning of the season. Warren’s performance at the Summer Classic was a near-minute improvement from her performance at the preseason meet last week!
The fourth finisher for the Knights was junior Adriana Mustin. Mustin placed 74th overall and posted a time of 21:10 – an improvement of more than a minute from her performance at the preseason meet last week! Her new season best performance was also the first time that Mustin had ever broken the 22-minute mark in the month of August.
The fifth finisher and final scorer for the Knights was sophomore Taylor Walker. Walker placed 86th overall and posted a time of 21:40, more than a minute and a half faster than her performance at the preseason meet last week! Like Mustin, Walker had never broken the 22-minute mark in August either until last night’s meet. Senior Neelyanis Lugo was the sixth finisher for the Knights. Lugo followed in her teammate by four seconds, clocking a finish time of 21:44 and placing 91st overall. Lugo’s performance at the Summer Classic was a near two-minute improvement from her performance at the preseason meet last week!
Junior Avery Post was the seventh finisher for East Ridge, as she finished in 22:34 and placed 134th overall. Post, in the second race of her high school career, improved her time by just over two minutes from last week’s preseason meet! Sophomore Lexi Whitehead was the eighth finisher for the Knights. In her second varsity race of her high school career, Whitehead placed 161st overall and clocked a finish time of 23:12 – a new career personal best performance! Freshman Kori Lindley, in her second race of her high school career, finished in 23:32 and placed 173rd overall. Lindley’s performance last night was a near thirty-second improvement from her time last week at the preseason meet!
East Ridge High School ultimately took sixth place in the elite division of the Cecil Field Summer Classic. Medaling two runners and running a team average of 20:16 – the fastest average a team has ever had in August in East Ridge’s history – earned the Knights the third-best team place of all of the Class 4A teams at the Summer Classic last night. Creekside High School out of St. Johns, Florida, a Class 4A rival for the Knights, took the top honors by medaling three girls at the Summer Classic. East Ridge was edged out by another 4A rival, Buchholz High School out of Gainesville, Florida, who took fifth place. Buchholz was the Class 4A state champion last season. The overall individual winner for the girls’ elite division at the Summer Classic was junior Alyson Johnson from Creekside High School. Johnson finished the race in a swift time of 18:00.
The Knights also had seven runners participate in the girls’ junior varsity race last night at the Summer Classic. Sophomore Jessie Volz took 23rd place overall (out of 325 total junior varsity finishers) in the junior varsity race! Volz finished in a time of 22:56 – a new career personal best time by more than two minutes!
Freshman Sara Garzon placed 128th overall and finished in a time of 25:41 in her debut race as a Knight! Senior J’Mariana Douglas placed 147th overall and finished in a time of 26:15 – a two minute improvement from her performance at the preseason meet last week! Next for the Knights was freshman Daniela Garzon, who placed 195th overall and finished in a time of 27:39 in her debut race as a Knight! The fifth and final scorer for the junior varsity was junior Thirsa Cnossen, who placed 201st overall and finished in a time of 27:48 – a more than a minute improvement from her performance last week at the preseason meet! The sixth finisher was junior Alyssa Schacht, who placed 206th overall and finished in a time of 27:54 – a new career personal best time! Freshman Annabel Bandelin was the seventh finisher for the Knights. Bandelin placed 258th overall and finished in a time of 30:10 – a more than two-and-a-half-minute improvement from her performance last week at the preseason meet! Ultimately, the girls’ junior varsity team took eighteenth place out of 36 complete girls’ teams.
For full results for all of last night’s races at the Cecil Field Summer Classic, including the elite girls division and the junior varsity race, visit here: https://my.raceresult.com/304437/results.
The girls’ cross country team will travel to Whispering Pines Park in Inverness on Saturday, August 31st to participate in the Whispering Pines Invitational for their second regular season meet. The varsity girls race is the first race of the morning and the start time is set for 8:00 AM.
Photo credit to South Lake Photography
