By Grant Mollett, East Ridge High School
Photos contributed by Jeff Warren and Jack Hall
Girls from five teams participated in the Lake County Championships on Saturday. The varsity girls’ race started at 8:00 am.
Junior Rhyen Foley led the Knights, as she has done in each of the meets throughout the season, and had her sights on an individual championship. Foley has gone head to head with several elite runners throughout the season, and yesterday’s County Championships pinned her against Tavares’s top girl, Cheyenne Thomas. Foley and Thomas had gone head to head in four races prior to yesterday’s County Championships, and to add to the rivalry, they had split, two wins each in those four races. Foley had gotten the better of Thomas in the FCA Preseason Invitational and the Whispering Pines Invitational back in August. However, Thomas had gotten the better of Foley at FLRunners in Lakeland and at the SSG Hammond Invitational, which was hosted at Foley’s home course. Thomas took off early to lead the field, and Foley kept her within striking distance through the first mile. However, as the lead runners closed in on the halfway point of the race, Foley had bridged the gap between herself and Thomas and took the lead. Foley’s lead, by the time she reached the two-mile mark, had grown to an approximately 25-second lead ahead of Thomas.
This time around, emerging first at the top of the final hill of the course was Foley, who continued to push the throttle! She was able to put more distance between herself and Thomas, and when Foley hit the track, she amped up her speed even more! Foley crossed the finish line in a new course record time of 18:33 to secure her first individual Lake County Championship!
Senior Hanna Warren was the second Knight to cross the finish line at the County Championships yesterday morning. Warren, running in her last regular season meet of her highly decorated high school cross country career, placed third overall and finished in a time of 19:51 – a more than a minute improvement from her performance last season at the county championships! Warren is now just one of two Knights to have broken the twenty-minute mark on East Ridge’s modern course!
Sophomore Taylor Walker- and junior Adriana Mustin ran close to each other for the entirety of the race. They both hit the track and found themselves in a tight finish with two opponents from Tavares. Walker, who overcame one of those opponents, was the third Knight to cross the finish line yesterday morning. She placed seventh overall and finished in a time of 21:21 – a more than a minute improvement from her time at last season’s County Championships! Mustin, the Knights’ fourth scorer, took ninth place, and finished in a time of 21:26 – a near-minute improvement from her performance at last year’s County Championships!
Rounding out the scoring positions for the Knights was freshman Kori Lindley. Lindley, who has put together a string of great races for herself, added one more great one to that string. Lindley placed tenth overall and finished in a time of 21:39 – her second fastest performance of the season, as well as a more than two-minute improvement from her performance at SSG Hammond Invitational last month!
Sophomore Jessie Volz was the sixth Knight to cross the finish line yesterday. Volz, who has improved immensely from last year, was able to secure the twelfth spot and finished in a time of 22:17 – her second fastest time of the season and more than a four-minute improvement from her performance at last season’s Lake County Championships! Volz’s performance enabled her to join her teammates in the medal line.
Senior Neelyanis Lugo was the seventh finisher for the Knights, as she placed sixteenth overall and finished in a time of 23:00 – a nine-second improvement from her performance last season at the Lake County Championships!
Junior Avery Post placed seventeenth overall and finished in a time of 23:23. Freshman Sara Garzon, followed Post closely throughout the track finish, and placed eighteenth overall and finished in a time of 23:25 – a more than one-minute improvement from her performance at SSG Hammond Invitational last month! Sophomore Lexi Whitehead placed 24th overall and finished in a time of 24:15 – a more than thirty-second improvement from her performance at last season’s County Championships! Senior J’Mariana Douglas placed 31st overall and finished in a time of 25:02 – a near four-minute improvement from her performance at last year’s County Championships and her second-fastest performance of the season! Freshman Daniela Garzon placed 35th overall and finished in a time of 26:22 – her second-fastest time of the season! Senior Allie McCleary placed 38th overall and finished in a time of 27:17 – her second-fastest time of the season! Junior Alyssa Schacht placed 40th overall and finished in a time of 27:42 – a near thirty-second improvement from her performance at the County Championships last season! Sophomore Yeidy Diaz placed 42nd overall and finished in a time of 28:55 – a near three-minute improvement from her performance at last season’s County Championships and her second-fastest time of the season!
The Knights successfully defended their title at yesterday’s Lake County Championships! They were able to defeat the other county rivals by placing their first six finishers in the top fifteen positions! East Ridge edged out Tavares High School by just two position points.
Kahlil Tucker and Godspeed Timing managed scoring and timing for the county championships, and they did a wonderful job.
For full results for the girls’ varsity race at the Lake County Championships visit: https://milesplit.live/meets/608462.
The girls’ cross country team will be gearing up for the Class 4A District 2 Championships on Saturday, November 2nd, which will be held at Osceola High School in Kissimmee. The girls’ race is scheduled to begin at 7:45 am that morning.
