By Grant Mollett
Photos contributed by Mr. Jeff Warren, South Lake Photography
October 18, 2025 – Minneola, Florida
The East Ridge High School girls cross country team competed in the Hawks Last Chance XC Open, hosted by Lake Minneola High School. The morning’s temperature was a balmy 65 degrees as the sun emerged just before race time. The race offered more than a good temperature, but an opportunity for some season best, career best performances! The Knights competed in Hawks Last Chance last year, when they split their roster and half the team competed in Jacksonville at New World and the other half of the team competed at Lake Minneola. Last season, competing with mostly junior varsity runners, the Knights placed sixteenth out of eighteen teams in the varsity race at Hawks Last Chance. This time around, the Knights had most of their varsity runners available to compete at Hawks Last Chance, which resulted in an immense improvement in the team results. Saturday’s race also presented a glimpse of the team’s potential for next season, as seven of the eight varsity runners at Hawks Last Chance were underclassmen.
Girls from twenty complete teams throughout Central Florida participated in Saturday morning’s meet. The course at Lake Minneola is a two loop course that begins with an approximately 250m long start across an athletic field and then bends left around the baseball and softball complexes. The course then brings the runners out to the perimeter of the campus for a long straightaway. The path brings the runners back toward the buildings, behind the starting boxes, and out to the large parking lots. One lap around the large parking lot and then the course puts the runners just past the halfway point, where it leads them to begin their second loop. The runners headed back to the long straightaway along the campus perimeter, past the starting boxes again, and one more time around the large parking lots and then into a fast track finish at Lake Minneola’s football stadium.
East Ridge’s first finisher was freshman Hortance Sallault! Sallault quickly put herself with the frontrunners of the race, clocking a near 6:00 first mile. She settled in during the second mile, retained her position, and kept her pace under her goal pace. Sallault had been chasing the elusive sub-20:00 5K for weeks and had come up short by merely two seconds last week at New World. Sallault knew that if she could stay close to that 6:24/mi. pace she’d give herself a chance to do it. She hit the track with her body upright, her arms pumping, and her stride lengthened – confident she would shatter her goal. Sallault placed seventh overall out of a field of 172 varsity runners and finished in a swift time of 19:14 – a new career personal best performance! This was the second time this season that Sallault finished first for the Knights. Beyond that, her performance made her just the seventh girl in the school’s 24 year history to break the 20:00 mark! She also broke the school’s freshman 5K record of 19:33, which was previously held by her teammate, senior Veronica Peterson! Sallault’s 19:14 has now placed her as the fourth fastest girl in East Ridge’s history!
The second Knight to finish was junior Jessie Volz. Volz, who ran in close proximity to her teammate for the entire race, put down another spectacular performance! Last week at New World, Volz cracked the highly coveted sub-20:00 mark. Knowing what it took to get her to that point, she pushed herself at practice even more this week – running reps much faster than her goal pace and embracing tough hill workouts! With that, Volz finished in ninth place and clocked a finish time of 19:36 at Hawks Last Chance – a current season second best performance!
Finishing third for the Knights was junior Taylor Walker. Walker, who came off a career best performance at New World a week ago, took the opportunity at Lake Minneola to try for another career best! She placed seventeenth overall and finished in a time of 20:02 – a new career personal best performance by three seconds! Walker’s performance was a near two minute improvement from her performance at the Hawks on the Hill Invitational at Lake Minneola during her freshman season in 2023!
The fourth Knight to finish was junior Lexi Whitehead. Whitehead finished in 22nd place with a finish time of 20:17 – a new career personal best performance by more than thirty seconds! The last time Whitehead ran the course at Lake Minneola was when she was a freshman in 2023 at the Hawks on the Hill Invitational. That year, she ran in the junior varsity race and finished in 28:03. Saturday’s performance was a near six minute improvement for Whitehead from her freshman performance at Lake Minneola! She is now the eleventh fastest runner in the school’s history!
The fifth Knight and final scorer for the team was sophomore Helen Robertson. Robertson followed in her teammate, taking 23rd place and finishing in a time of 20:28 – a new career personal best performance by one second!
Senior Adriana Mustin placed 26th overall and finished in a time of 20:38.
Freshman Jamie Volz placed 39th overall and finished in a time of 21:23 – a new career personal best performance by three seconds! Volz has set new career personal best times in her last seven consecutive races!
The eighth finisher for the Knights was junior Yeidy Diaz. Diaz placed 129th overall and finished in a time of 25:01 – a new career personal best performance by more than two minutes! Diaz’s performance on Saturday was more than a three minute improvement from her performance at Hawks Last Chance last year!
In a morning characterized by six career personal best performances and five Knights finishing in the top 23 positions, the varsity team took the top honors at Hawks Last Chance! The overall winner for the girls varsity race was Rachel Judy from The Master’s Academy. Judy finished the race in a swift time of 18:19.
The East Ridge Knights also had seven participants in the girls junior varsity race this morning. Sophomore Sara Garzon placed seventh overall and finished in a time of 23:49 – a new current season personal best performance.
Sophomore Daniela Garzon, the second finisher for the Knights, placed sixteenth overall, and finished in a time of 25:07 – a new current season personal best by nearly thirty seconds! Garzon’s performance on Saturday was a near two-minute improvement from her performance at Hawks Last Chance last year! The third runner in was freshman Gabriel Paul who placed 24th overall and finished in a time of 26:25 – a new career personal best performance by more than three minutes! Junior Livia Chouinard was the fourth finisher for the Knights.
Chouinard placed 27th overall and finished in a time of 26:39 – a new career personal best performance by more than a minute and a half! Junior Marietta Aguirre Rincon was the fifth and final scorer for the junior varsity team this morning. She placed 30th overall and finished in a time of 26:51 – a new career personal best performance by over two and a half minutes! Freshman Annabelle Baggett was the sixth finisher for the Knights. Baggett placed 57th overall and finished in a time of 30:19 – a new career personal best performance by nearly fifty seconds! Junior Alexa Puello was the seventh finisher for East Ridge. Puello placed 76th overall and finished in a time of 37:39 – a new career personal best performance by more than a minute!
For full results of the races at the Hawks Last Chance XC Open visit: https://fl.milesplit.com/meets/665564-2025-hawks-last-chance-open-2025/results.
The girls cross country team will participate in the Pre-State Meet on Saturday October 25th at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee. The meet director will announce the team division placements later this week.
