On-Site Coverage:
- Complete Results & Coverage
- Photo Album by Teri Bernhardt-Rodriguez
- Awards Photos by Coach Ryan Raposo
Junior Varsity Recap:
The 8th Annual Ferguson Falcons Invitational kicked off the cross country season in Miami this Friday afternoon, with more than 700 competitors and 31 schools in attendance. The meet got underway with the girls junior varsity race which saw the best weather of the day by far. For a good hour, clouds protected everyone from the typical sun, heat, and humidity that plagues South Florida year round, but particularly during the summer and fall seasons. The girls race saw more than 100 competitors and nine full teams finishing the race with some decent early season performances from many of the athletes. A couple of girls, that have had varsity racing experience but weren't full ready for varsity competition this season yet, dipped under 23 minutes to start the race and they made a large gap on the next pack. That pack saw six girls finishing under the 25 minute mark, four of which were from Ferguson HS. That group basically solidified the team win for Ferguson as they edged out a three-pack of Lourdes girls that ran in the low 25s. The final team scores for the top two teams was Ferguson 29 over Lourdes 39, with team averages in the mid 24's. Those squads were more than 70 points ahead of the third place team, Gulliver.
After the girls race it appeared as if the junior varsity boys were going to get the same weather luck that the junior varsity girls did, but unfortunately for them, just after many got through the first mile mark, the sun and heat came out and set the extremely hot trend for the rest of the races that afternoon. As for the competitiveness of the boys side, this race saw 25 of the over 130 athletes break the 21 minute mark, and on the team side of things, three squads really pulled away from the rest of the fifteen team field. The team race was won by Belen, as they had the best pack with five boys in the top nine, almost getting all five of them under the 20 minute mark. The final team score was 28 points, only 11 points ahead of rival Columbus who finished second with 39 points. Ferguson HS finished in a not-too-distant third earning 61 points, which was a nearly 80 point margin ahead of the fourth best team in the race.
The girls junior varsity team champions from John A. Ferguson HS.
Girls Varsity Recap:
Heading into the varsity girls race, the sun continued to blaze down on the athletes, catching many of them off guard which presented an issue at the end of their competition. Although the heat was strong, many girls went out in a strong pack through the first mile breaking the 6:15 mark, those athletes being led by Luly Brea of Lourdes Academy. Luly continued to lead by a good 20-30 meters throughout the halfway mark of the course but was taken over by Katrina Santiago of Ferguson in the final kilometer. Santiago kicked in hard, finishing strong through the line beating Brea by 25 seconds, those being the only two sub-20 performances of the day. Five other girls broke the 21 minute mark, with another twelve running in the 21's out of the field of over 170 athletes. As for the team competition, two more Ferguson athletes, Emily Hernandez and Lauren Gavulic, also finished in the top five, which helped keep the invitational win for the home school for the third consecutive year as the Ferguson girls edged Lourdes by 15 points, with a score of 54 to 69.
Girls Varsity Individual & Team Award Winners:
Girls Varsity Individual Champion: Katrina Santiago, John A. Ferguson HS (19:37.23)
Girls Varsity Team Champions: John A. Ferguson HS - 54 points
Girls Varsity Team Runner-up: Lourdes Academy - 69 points
The top '15' individual finishers in the girls varsity race.
Boys Varsity Recap:
As mentioned earlier, there was an issue at the end of the varsity girl's competition which resulted in a nearly 40 minute delay of the boy's varsity race as two athletes passed out in the final stretch of the girl's race. Fire rescue arrived on the scene and took the two girls to the hospital where they received IV's and were able to return to a state of normalcy later that evening. Unfortunately for the boys, that delay created a lot of anxiety in the field of over 220 athletes and 26 teams which resulted in not only a restart of the race due to one athlete getting trampled, but also the confusion of many of the athletes as they continued to keep racing a good 400 meters, not stopping after hearing the multiple gun fires of the race starter. Needless to say, but many of the athletes got out those initial jitters during that false start and luckily the second attempt started the race successfully.
Coming through the first mile in just around 5:00, the leaders of the pack maintained a strong presence throughout the entirety of the race. As they came through the halfway mark, Fabian Tomas of Belen, Kurt Convey of Coral Reef, and Nick Diaz of Sunset, all were vying for top positions, but when it came down to the end, your top individual finishers came in in the reverse order of how they were just mentioned, Diaz over Convey over Tomas. Those three boys also led their teams to the top of the race with Belen pulling away in typical fashion as they packed their top five boys into the top fourteen finishers of the race, beating Miami Sunset by a score of 43 to 63. Coral Reef finished just a hair behind Sunset as they earned 68 points. The next closest squad, Pembroke Pines Charter, was more than 40 points back.
Boys Varsity Individual & Team Award Winners:
Boys Varsity Individual Champion: Nick Diaz, Miami Sunset HS (16:12.96)
Boys Varsity Team Champions: Belen Jesuit - 43 points
Boys Varsity Team Runner-up: Miami Sunset HS - 63 points
The top '15' individual finishers in the boys varsity race.