The East Ridge Cross Country team on Saturday returned to a course they had not run in exactly five years, Chain of Lakes Park in Titusville. The race, hosted by Astronaut High School, was an extremely popular place to run in the past history of Cross Country in the state of Florida. Chain of Lakes Park even was host to the prestigious Flrunners.com Invitational (which the Knights will also be returning to) for several years. East Ridge ran at the course consistently every year from about 2010-2019. The Knights in the past had put up some rather impressive times, but nothing like what they did on Saturday.
Despite a very competitive boys race, the Knights were just edged out by West Shore High School. This finish put them in sixth place, their best finish in the history of the course. Also, they had a team average of 17:55, the fastest team average the Knights have run at Chain of Lakes Park. The team average was four seconds faster than last week at Whispering Pines Park in Inverness, proof the Knights continue to improve upon each race. The winners of the Astronaut Invitational, however, were perennial favorites Hagerty High School, followed by runner-up Satellite High School.
The Varsity Knights’s depth proved excellent once again. Freshman Watson Dunham was one of the most impressive runners and one of only a handful that ran a personal best time at the race. Dunham completed the race in a blistering 19:14, just seconds behind fellow Freshman Aubin Sallault. Rounding out the varsity team were the efforts of Juniors James Laack and Dylan McCleary. Laack ran just under 20:00 in a time of 19:59 good for 109th. McCleary completed the race in a time of 20:21 good for 118th place.
The Junior Varsity Knights also competed finishing in eighth place. The JV Knights were led yet again by Freshman Gavan Flaugher. Flaugher continues to impress as he completed the soggy course in a time of 19:57, over 30 seconds faster than at Whispering Pines. Continuing to improve upon each week and finishing second for the JV team was Sophomore Christopher Stuemke finishing in a time of 21:38, good for 40th place. This was over 20 seconds faster than the previous week for Stuemke. Following Stuemke was fellow Sophomore Eli Parks, finishing in a time of 21:51. Fourth and Fifth for the Knights were Isaac Bori and Evan DeAnnuntis. Bori also continues to improve each week as he ran a 22:01, which shatters his personal best he set the week before at Whispering Pines by 20 seconds. DeAnnuntis completed his race in a time of 22:19.
Several other Knights on the JV squad also continue to see improvements each week. Junior Andrew Conway and Freshman Maddox Nickolaou in particular continue to improve. Conway finished the race in 23:11 while Nickolaou ran the course in 23:28. Just behind Nickolaou and Conway was Junior Scott Bori who finished in 23:45. Completing the course in a time of 24:18 was Freshman Aiden Floudiotis. Right on Floudiotis’ heels was fellow Freshman Sidney Stewart in 24:20 and Junior Daniel Baggett in 24:36. John Hall completed the race in 25:35. Jayden Ramjohn and Hunter Odom finished within seconds of each other in 28:02 and 28:07, respectively.
The Knights are back in action next week at the West Orange Invitational. The girls’ race takes off at 7:15 am followed by the boys’ varsity at 7:45. Following that race will be the JV race at 8:15 am approximately.
