Photos by Jeff Warren, South Lake Photography
The East Ridge High School girls cross country team competed in the Second Annual SSG Hammond Invitational on Saturday morning. Saturday’s meet was in honor of the late Abraham Hammond, a Staff Sergeant in the United States Army. SSG Hammond served his nation with valor whose awards and decorations included Meritorious Service Medal (Posthumous); Army Commendation Medal (4); Army Achievement Medal (1); Army Good Conduct Medal (3); National Defense Service Medal; Global War on Terrorism Service Medal; Korean Defense Service Medal; NCO Professional Development Ribbon (2); Army Service Ribbon; Overseas Ribbon; North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Medal; Certificate of Achievement; and Recruiting Badge. SSG Hammond passed away in February of 2022 at the age of 27. Members of SSG Hammond’s family were in attendance at Saturday’s meet. Coaches, athletes, and spectators participated in a memorial walk around East Ridge’s track to commemorate Hammond’s life.
The start of the race took the girls across the football field and out of the stadium and onto the grassy and hilly campus of East Ridge High School. The course ran the perimeter of a lot of the campus, and ascended a large hill affectionately known as the “Green Monster.” Then the course normalized with some flat straightaways, making one big loop around a portion of the campus. The field of runners merged back into the “Green Monster,” but this time to descend it, and re-ran the perimeter, and back into the football stadium, and then ended with an approximately 300M track finish.
Girls from seventeen different schools participated in the SSG Hammond Invitational on Saturday. The varsity girls’ race started at 8:00 AM. Junior Rhyen Foley led the Knights’ charge, as she battled it out against one of her county rivals, Cheyenne Thomas from Tavares High School. Thomas pushed the tempo, and scaled the Green Monster, as Foley stuck close to her through the first mile. Eventually, Foley surged past Thomas in the second mile, as she was spotted approximately four seconds ahead of Thomas as the pair neared the two-mile marker. During the third mile, Thomas would, once again, amp up the tempo, to surge past Foley. As she made her way onto the track, Foley pushed hard for the final 300M and finished as the runner-up. She clocked a swift finish time of 19:06 – a near thirty-second improvement from last season’s county championships that were held at the same course as yesterday’s race!
Foley and Thomas have had some spectacular head-to-head battles throughout their high school careers, and Saturday’s race was a showcase of that rivalry. In fact, Saturday was the sixth time that Foley and Thomas went head to head. Foley has gotten the better of Thomas in four of those six races, including this season’s FCA Preseason Invitational and Whispering Pines Invitational.
Senior Hanna Warren was the second Knight to cross the finish line on Saturday morning, as she finished in a time of 20:08 – an improvement of a minute-and-a-half from her performance last year’s Hammond Invitational! Warren found herself running in no man’s land for a large part of the race, but still pushed herself to secure third place overall and a new course-best performance!
Sophomore Taylor Walker was the third Knight to cross the finish line at SSG Hammond. Walker placed twelfth overall and finished in a time of 21:52 – a more than thirty-second improvement from her time at Hammond last season!
The fourth finisher for the Knights was senior Neelyanis Lugo. Lugo placed sixteenth overall and finished in a time of 22:11 – a more than forty-second improvement from her time at Hammond last season! Junior Adriana Mustin was the fifth finisher and final scorer for the Knights. Mustin followed in her teammate and placed seventeenth overall. She finished in a time of 22:17 – an improvement of more than thirty seconds from her result at Hammond last season!
Rounding out the varsity for the Knights were junior Avery Post and Freshman Kori Lindley. Post placed 23rd overall and finished in a time of 23:06 in her first race on East Ridge’s course. Lindley placed 31st overall and finished in a time of 24:01 in what was also her first race on East Ridge’s course.
The Knights successfully defended their home course, as they earned the team championship title at Hammond! The Knights were able to do so, as they placed their five scorers in the top seventeen positions! With their win, East Ridge was able to defeat four 4A District 3 teams, including Windermere, Horizon, Celebration, and Freedom. Windermere High School was the team runner-up, as they placed their five scorers in the top 28 positions.
The Knights also had eight runners participate in the girls’ junior varsity race this morning at the Hammond. Sophomore Jessie Volz took the top individual honors as she defeated 36 other runners in the junior varsity race! She finished in a time of 23:58 – an improvement of more than four minutes from her performance at Hammond last season! Freshman Sara Garzon took third place overall and finished in a time of 24:42 – a new career personal best performance! Sophomore Lexi Whitehead took fourth place and finished in a time of 25:44. Freshman Daniela Garzon finished in fifth place overall and in a time of 26:10 – a new career personal best performance!
Junior Thirsa Cnossen placed tenth overall and finished in a time of 27:33, which enabled her to join her teammates in the junior varsity medal line! Senior Allie McCleary took fifteenth place and finished in a time of 29:45. Sophomore Yeidy Diaz finished in eighteenth place in a time of 30:55 – a near thirty-second improvement from her performance at Hammond last year! Senior J’Mariana Douglass placed nineteenth overall and finished in 31:12.
Scoring and Timing was managed by Khalil Tucker and Godspeed Timing who did a wonderful job in managing the Hammond Invitational.
For full results for the Second SSG Hammond Invitational visit: https://milesplit.live/meets/608461/events.
The girls cross country team will have their bye week but will be back in action for the FL. Runners Invitational on Saturday, October 5th, which will be held at Holloway Park in Lakeland. The meet managers for the FL. Runners Invitational will be announcing the team placements over the next couple of weeks.
Hosting a cross-country meet is quite an undertaking that involves the efforts of dozens of people to make it successful. Coach Ferrell and Coach Mollett would like to thank the people for their help in making the Second Annual SSG Hammond Invitational a success this weekend!
Thank you to the following parent volunteers: Marcus Mustin, Giovanna Mustin, Angela Foley, Ryan Foley, Stacy Laack, Nanette Whitehead, Brian Whitehead, Jill McCleary, Terrence McCleary, Joel Ertel, Cristy Ertel, Mayleen Lugo, Zaida Vargas, JurJuan Walker, Christine Warren, Jeff Warren, Mike Volz, Sean Parks, Ivy Parks, Amelia Lindley, and John Hall.
Thank you to the following alumni, alumni parents, community, and student volunteers: Nyomi Mustin, Hansel Lugo, Ethan Laack, Jamie Volz, Tim Hancock, Jeremy Arguelles, SSG Luis Carrasco, SFC Aquawn Alexander, 1LT Joshua Forbes, Willow Parks and the UCF Knight Runners: Darin Hinshaw, Taylor Moler, Carson Scohera, Baily McClain, Simon Gutierrez, Adam Berriz, Nathan Hicks, Nick Porcelli, Ty Burrows, Grace Hernandez, Malik Ghareeb, Taylor Velazquez, McKenna Mock, Teaghan Connolly, and Lauren Vasello.
Thank you to the following staff members: Seth Delaney, Rick Everett, Ty Ensor, Monica Braswell, Brandon Braswell, Lee Fouraker and his Television Production students, John Watson, Olivia Tolson, Jasmin Cruz, Jeseira Cartagena, Sarah Klosterman and her Spirit Club members, Eileen Antmann, Monica Arizpe, Virginia Walker, David Bentz, Julie Robinson-Lueallen, Keith Hunt, and Eric Calabrese.
Thank you to our sponsor – The Association of the United States Army (AUSA) Sunshine Chapter out of Orlando, Florida.
