Site Coverage:
- Complete Results & Coverage
- Photo Album by Teri Bernhardt-Rodriguez - Over 800 photos!!
About the Meet:
The Miami-Dade County Fair & Expo, along with the Miami-Dade Youth
Sports Championship Program, came together this year for the second year in a row to put on another great Miami-Dade County Youth Fair Cross Country Championship. Featuring close to 40 high schools for this nearly 40 year old competition, this county meet wasn't anything other than hot, humid, and extremely draining in typical Miami and Larry & Penny Thompson Park fashion.
Meet Director and Meet Timer Coach Larry Wooten helped put the event together along with myself, Chris Evans of Youth Sports, and the Youth Fair Committee. Special thanks goes out to everyone who worked the meet, helped in the finish chute, and helped clean up the park. Shout out to M, Batista, Alan, Alvarez, and Manco! It couldn't have been done without you all!
Information pertaining to the MS Youth Fair Cross Country Championship can be found here: http://fl.milesplit.com/meets/217494 as that meet is still a couple of weeks away. But before we get ahead of ourselves, here's what happened in all of the high school races this afternoon...
High School Girls Junior Varsity Recap:
The girls JV race kicked off at 3:30pm to start the competition and was the hottest race of the day. The last few years this contest has
always been a tight battle between John A. Ferguson and Lourdes Academy, but the last two years has been more of a runaway competition. This year's JV Champions got revenge for last year's defeat as Lourdes Academy won by a 35 point margin 19-54 over Ferguson, one point better than last year's margin. Lourdes did so with an amazing group of freshmen (not to mention their #4 and #7 in varsity) that finished in 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 8th places, plus one senior in 6th as well. They ran out hard from the beginning and kept the momentum the whole way though as they placed seven girls in the top ten for a big time victory.
High School Girls JV Individual & Team Award Winners:
Girls JV Individual Champion: Isabella Areces, Lourdes Academy (22:49.34)
Girls JV Team Champions: Lourdes Academy - 19 points
Girls JV Team Runner-up: John A. Ferguson HS - 54 points
The Top Ten Junior Varsity Girls Individual Finishers with Chris Evans. First through fifth on top, sixth, seventh, ninth, and tenth on the bottom.
The Junior Varsity Girls Runner-up team from John A. Ferguson HS with Chris Evans and Coach Ryan Raposo.
The Junior Varsity Girls Team Champions from Lourdes Academy with Chris Evans and Coach Rebecca Rodriguez-Michalak.
High School Boys Junior Varsity Recap:
The JV boys race also witnessed some very hot temperatures, however it did not stop the determined pack of runners seen below on their way to top ten success. Individually, Damauri Little led from beginning to end, with a chase pack of Ferguson athletes right behind. In the team race, the Ferguson boys pack led from beginning to end as they finished with a 48 second spread and placed six boys in the top ten to secure a major win of their own.
High School Boys JV Individual & Team Award Winners:
Boys JV Individual Champion: Damauri Little, Coral Reef (19:01.87)
Boys JV Team Champions: John A. Ferguson HS - 26 points
Boys JV Team Runner-up: Ransom Everglades - 60 points
The Top Ten Junior Varsity Boys Individual Finishers with Chris Evans. First through fifth on top, sixth through tenth on the bottom.
The Junior Varsity Boys Runner-up team from Ransom Everglades.
The Junior Varsity Boys Team Champions from John A. Ferguson HS along with Coach Ryan Raposo with Chris Evans.
High School Girls Varsity Recap:
Arguably the most anticipated race of the day, the girls varsity competition was set-up where any one of five different teams could have brought home the county championship. Ransom Everglades and Lourdes were the two big favorites, with Westminster Christian, Coral Reef, and Ferguson trailing in the virtual meet based off of the results of 2014 returnees. Individually, the top six returning girls was made up of three upper classmen, Quijano 11th, Ruan 12th, and Archer 12th, and three middle schoolers Mickens 7th, Andressohn 8th, Varela 8th. And similar to the team race, anyone could have possibly gotten the win on the right day.
Reflecting on the start of the individual competition, there was a three-way race between Archer, Varela, and Andressohn all running stride for stride through the mile, and the mile and a half, but the veteran senior was able to pull away in the back half of the course, securing her second straight county championship by a margin of 15 seconds as she came down the stretch. In the team race it was a heated battle the entire way through, with Lourdes and Ferguson running strong packs and Ransom a little bit strung out. In the end the top three teams were separated by only 8 points, and it was Ferguson's pack that was strong enough to secure the county victory for the fifth consecutive season.
High School Girls Varsity Individual & Team Award Winners:
Girls Varsity Individual Champion: Lauren Archer, Ransom Everglades (19:21.69)
Girls Varsity Team Champions: John A. Ferguson HS - 64 points
Girls Varsity Team Runner-up: Lourdes Academy - 68 points
The Top Ten Girls Varsity Individual Finishers. First through fifth on top, sixth through tenth on the bottom.
The Girls Varsity Runner-up team from Lourdes Academy with Coach Rebecca Rodriguez-Michalak and Chris Evans.
High School Boys Varsity Recap:
The best weather of the day took place during the varsity boys race as inclement weather appeared to be approaching, so some shade graced the course. Individually the first mile was led by four of the top five individual finishers, while during that time Columbus was pulling narrow margin of victory over Ferguson. However, but the mile and a half mark the top two boys had started to pull away and Columbus made a measurable gap over Ferguson's fourth and fifth runners. In the end, Humberto Freire of Columbus pulled away from Carlin Berryhill during the final stretch to secure the individual victory, while his teammates put five runners inside Ferguson's four to secure the team victory for Columbus, this being their first county championship since 2009.
High School Boys Varsity Individual & Team Award Winners:
Boys Varsity Individual Champion: Humberto Freire, Christopher Columbus (16:25.55)
Boys Varsity Team Champions: Christopher Columbus - 60 points
Boys Varsity Team Runner-up: John A. Ferguson HS - 26 points
The Top Ten Boys Varsity Individual Finishers with Chris Evans. First through fifth on top, sixth and eighth through tenth on the bottom.
The Boys Varsity Runner-up team from John A. Ferguson HS with Chris Evans and Coach Ryan Raposo.
Cover Photo of the John A. Ferguson team celebrating after the awards presentation:
