November 22, 2025 – Tallahassee, Florida
On Saturday morning, the East Ridge High School girls cross country season came to an end with the conclusion of the Class 4A State Championships at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee. The meet was a showcase of all of the elite female runners in the entire state of Florida. This was the fourth consecutive season that the Knights have qualified for the state championships and the fifth time in the school’s 24 year history. This year’s team made program history over the past couple of weeks when they earned their fourth consecutive district championship and secured the program’s first regional team runner-up trophy. At this year’s state championships, with the Class 4A competition better than it has ever been, the Knights sought one more opportunity to make some school history!
The Course: The venue for the state championships was Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee. This has been the venue for the state championships since 2012. The Knights actually competed at Apalachee for the Pre-State Meet back in October. The park has a challenging cross country course with a diversity of terrains and undulating hills. About half of the course is grass, which has some flat straightaways and some gradual downhills. The other half of the course is tightly packed gravel on sand, and it features a lengthy uphill, affectionately known as “the Wall,” that runners must complete twice within the course. Runners get a scenic view through some wooded areas and spectators and coaches get multiple great views of their athletes with the course’s two loops. In the middle of the loop is a cut-through for coaches and spectators to move along in order to see their athletes multiple times throughout the race. The fog began to lift and the sun began to show itself right as the Class 4A girls race was starting. The humidity was thick and the temperature climbed quickly into the 70s.
Girls from 32 different state-qualifying teams and sixteen qualifying individuals competed Saturday morning in the Class 4A State Championships. The girls race went off at 9:00 AM – the fifth of eight races of the day. Assigned in box 34, left of the course’s right boundary, East Ridge’s girls team made final preparations by stretching, striding, and sipping water, before the race. The official called the runners to their marks, and fired the starting pistol. With that, the Knights, amidst 233 elite runners, took off across the grassy straightaway into a rising sun.
East Ridge’s Pink Wave stormed the starting area and put themselves in the top 20% of the large field of runners! In fact, through the first mile, East Ridge was in second place – just a few points behind Creekside, the defending 4A champions. Senior Rhyen Foley and freshman Hortance Sallault led East Ridge’s Pink Wave for the entirety of the race! Racing in close proximity to familiar District 3 and Region 2 rivals, the duo settled into their second mile pace in an effort to secure their favorable positions. In the third mile, separated by a few seconds, both Foley and Sallault rushed “the Wall” for the second time of the race. They hit the long straightaway and charged the finish line trying desperately to catch girls and also trying to not be caught. Foley, racing in her fourth and final state championship race, and Sallault, racing in her first state championship race, claimed finishing positions 38 and 39, respectively! Foley finished in 19:46 – the eighth fastest state performance by a Knight in East Ridge’s 24 year history!
Sallault finished in 19:50 – the ninth fastest state performance by a Knight in East Ridge’s history! For Sallault, her 19:50 on Saturday tied the fastest state performance by a freshman in East Ridge’s history – a record she now co-holds with her senior teammate Veronica Peterson!
Speaking of Peterson, she was next up for the Pink Wave! In fact, her and junior Jessie Volz raced near each other and kept themselves in close proximity to Foley and Sallault. Peterson and Volz were separated by just a few seconds at each of the mile checkpoints throughout the race. In the third mile, the separation widened to ten seconds and nine positions between the two. Peterson, racing in her fourth and final state championship race, placed 53rd overall and finished in a time of 20:05. Peterson’s performance on Saturday is now the tenth fastest state performance by a Knight in the school’s history! In fact, Peterson currently owns four of the top ten state performances in the school’s history!
Volz secured the 62nd place and finished in a time of 20:15 – the now eleventh fastest state performance by a Knight in the school’s history! Furthermore, Volz’s performance on Saturday was just over a minute faster than her performance at the state championships last year!
Sophomore Helen Robertson and juniors Taylor Walker and Lexi Whitehead were the closers for the Pink Wave on Saturday. Robertson, who nearly matched her performance at Pre-State which was raced in far better weather conditions, secured the fifth scoring position for the Knights! She placed 96th overall and finished in a time of 20:57! Robertson’s performance on Saturday is now the fifteenth fastest state performance by a Knight!
Walker pushed herself as hard as she could down the long straightaway to the finish line. She placed 105th overall and finished in a time of 21:01.
Whitehead placed 138th overall and finished in a time of 21:46.
East Ridge High School took fourth place out of 32 complete teams at Saturday’s FHSAA Class 4A State Championships in Tallahassee! This was the highest team finishing position at the state meet for the Knights in the school’s history! Creekside High School out of St. John’s County won the state championship – their second consecutive state title. Spanish River High School out of Boca Raton was the team runner up. The overall individual state champion was sophomore Madison Muller from Riverview (Sarasota) High School. Muller finished the state race in a swift time of 17:37.
For full results for the Class 4A Girls State Championships race visit: https://fl.milesplit.com/meets/698030-fhsaa-cross-country-state-finals-2025/results/1242849/formatted/.
Continuing to look ahead, East Ridge’s lone varsity sophomore, Helen Robertson had a fantastic debut season as a Knight! Robertson earned herself three medals this season, including two individual championships at the junior varsity level at Whispering Pines Invitational and the Ocoee Invitational. She also earned a place medal at the varsity level at the Green Monster Invitational. Robertson improved by nearly three minutes from her first race this season. She ended her sophomore season as the fourteenth fastest girl in school history with a personal best of 20:26, which she set at the Region 2 Championships in Boca last week. Helen will join her teammates at Brooks next Saturday.
East Ridge’s junior runners, who had stellar performances this season, will carry the torch to lead next season’s team. Lexi Whitehead, who medaled at the Green Monster Invitational, had more than a three minute improvement from her first race this season! She ended her junior season as the eleventh fastest girl in school history with a personal best of 20:17, which she set at the Hawks Last Chance in October. Taylor Walker medaled in four races this season, including the FCA Preseason Meet, the Whispering Pines Invitational, and both of East Ridge’s home meets, SSG Hammond and Green Monster. Taylor improved by more than two and a half minutes since her first race of the season. She ended her junior season as the seventh fastest girl in school history with a personal best time of 19:48, which she set at the Region 2 Championships last week. Taylor is one of just eight girls in the school’s history to break the twenty minute mark. Jessie Volz also medaled in four meets in her junior year, including both home meets, Hawks Last Chance, and the Region 2 Championships. She improved by more than four minutes from her first race this season. Jessie ended her junior season as the fifth fastest girl in school history with a personal best of 19:14.65, which she set at the Region 2 Championships last week. Jessie, Taylor, and Lexi are all set to race at Brooks next Saturday, as well.
