Article by Grant Mollett, Photos by teammate Alexandra Dimitros, East Ridge High School
September 3, 2022 – Leesburg, Florida
The East Ridge High School girls’ cross country team competed in their second meet of the season. On Saturday, September 3, the girls ran the Run The Lakes Invite at the beautiful Venetian Gardens in Leesburg, Florida. The weather conditions made for a modest mid-70s overcast morning. However, the increased amounts of rainfall that Central Florida experienced this past week made the terrain conditions a muddy mess! This was the first time in over a decade since the girls’ cross country team competed at Venetian Gardens, and so today’s race acted as a sort of rebirth of a popular race in Lake County. What better way to do that than to have the teams run along canals and waterways like the beautiful Renaissance Italian city – Florence!
Girls from 10 different schools throughout Central Florida participated in this morning’s meet. The race, originally set to start at 7:30 AM, went off at 8:00 AM to account for some unexpected course rerouting due to recent storms. East Ridge’s first runner to cross the finish line was senior Bre Peine! Bre placed second overall out of a field of 44 varsity female runners and finished in a swift time of 22:25! Freshman Veronica Peterson came through the finish chute second for the Knights. Veronica put up a time of 22:38 and placed third overall! East Ridge’s third finisher was sophomore Hanna Warren. Hanna finished in fifth place in a time of 23:00 at the Gardens!
The fourth Knight to finish was sophomore Madi McCormack. Madi finished in eighth place and posted a time of 23:41! The fifth finisher and final scorer for East Ridge was freshman Rhyen Foley who finished in twelfth place and in a time of 24:43! The sixth finisher for the Knights was sophomore Neely Lugo. Neely placed nineteenth and posted a time of 26:46. The seventh finisher for the Knights was sophomore J’Mariana Douglas. J’Mariana placed 25th and posted a time of 29:23.
East Ridge High School took the honors placing first out of five complete teams this morning! The Knights were able to place four of their runners in the top ten! East Ridge was able to edge out their crosstown rival, Lake Minneola High School, who took second place by also placing four runners in the top ten positions. The overall individual winner for the girls’ varsity race was Ava Hendrix from Lake Minneola High School. Ava finished the race in a swift time of 22:18.
The Knights also had ten runners participate in the girls’ junior varsity race this morning at Venetian Gardens. Freshman Adriana Mustin took first overall in the junior varsity race this morning! Adriana ran in a time of 25:25 in her debut as an East Ridge Knight. Junior Lina Maldonado was the second Knight to cross the finish line in the junior varsity race. Lina followed in her teammate and placed second overall and in a time of 26:17. Freshman Shane George was the third Knight to finish and she placed fifth overall in a time of 31:00. Next for the Knights was junior Sarah Tingler, who placed sixth overall and finished in a time of 31:04. The fifth and final scorer for the junior varsity was junior Brittni Faber who placed ninth overall and finished in a time of 32:22 in her first meet of the season.
Junior Karlie Saintlot was next for the Knights, finishing in eleventh place in a time of 33:13. Sophomore Isabella Stuemke placed thirteenth overall and finished in a time of 34:19. Junior Reese Phipps placed fourteenth overall in a time of 37:42 in her debut race as an East Ridge Knight. Senior Alexandra Dimitros came in seventeenth place and finished in a time of 39:48. Also, junior Bri Romero came in eighteenth place and finished in a time of 40:20 in her first meet of the season.
Ultimately, the girls’ junior varsity team was the only team who fielded a complete team, so they took the honors this morning! To earn a team score a team needs to have five finishers. Scoring is completed by adding the total positions of the first five finishers and going to a sixth finisher in the event of a tie in the team points. This is East Ridge’s largest team in school history, with 22 total girls on the current roster! This is why they are able to field such a large junior varsity team which allows for every runner to be able to compete on Saturday mornings!
For full results for the girls’ varsity race at the Run The Lakes Invite visit: https://fl.milesplit.com/meets/495117-leesburg-high-presents-run-the-lakes-2022/results/829106#.YxPH93bMI2w.
or full results for the girls’ junior varsity race at the Run The Lakes Invite visit: https://fl.milesplit.com/meets/495117-leesburg-high-presents-run-the-lakes-2022/results/829110?type=formatted#.YxPIQHbMI2w.
The girls cross country team will travel to Lake Minneola High School on Saturday September 10th to participate in the Hawks On The Hill Invitational.
