South Florida Competes On Revamped Course To See Who Will Be Crowned King Of The Hill

The 2014 South Florida cross country season kicks off this September 4th on the familiar grounds of Tropical Park. It has been quite some time since Tropical Park hosted a high school cross country invitational. but after some persistence from the running community in Miami, the parks department has stepped up and created a true cross country course. 750 athletes and 29 teams will welcome back the park into the Miami running scene. Don't expect fast times though, this is a true XC course--mulch, packed shells, grass, roots, and Miami's only hill. It should be a great day of running in the South Florida sun. Check out the preview below and how the computers think it will play out in a "virtual meet". Don't forget to check back with flrunners.com who will be on-site with photos, results, and a complete recap of all the action. 

 

On the boy's side you will have three of the top seven boys in 4A going at it, Nick Diaz, Kurt Convey, and Carlin Berryhill. It should be an exciting race. Berryhill has had enough time to mature as a runner and will probably try to throw his weight around with the two favorites as he should. After the top three, expect a gap with 21 of the next 22 runners coming from either Columbus, Reef, Ferguson,or Sunset. On the team side you also have two of the top five 4A programs going at it between Coral Reef & Columbus. Reef has the two front runners which gives them a slight edge. The race, as usual, will come down to the 5th runners. Ferguson and Sunset should fight it out for 3rd and 4th followed by Calvary Christian and a slew of other teams.

 

For the girls, there are three teams that will be fighting it out to be the "King of the Hill". Coral Reef seems to be the favorite, but long standing 4A contenders Lourdes and Fergusonhave a chance of upsetting if everything stacks up correctly. Ferguson has two solid front runners and the Lourdes pack will see how much damage they can do by minimizing their 1-5 split.

 

On the individual side of the race, those same three teams will be looking for their lead runners to come out victorious. Look for familiar names like Aylwyn Hernandez and Lauren Gavulic from Ferguson, Sabrina Quijano & Lianna Fernesi (Doral Transfer) from Lourdes, and Rachael Osman & Veronica Barreiro of Coral Reef to perhaps come out victorious. The team with the better lead two performance may be the champion.

 

Tropical Park will once again be littered with runners; a sight that has long been sought after in Miami. Congratulations to the Parks Department and the people who worked to make this possible.

 

	Place	Athlete	Yr	Team	Time	Points
	1	Lianna Farnesi	11	Doral Academy Charter HS	18:56.26	1
	2	Aylwyn Hernandez	11	John A. Ferguson HS	19:05.77	2
	3	Sabrina Quijano	9	Our Lady of Lourdes Academy	19:25.26	3
	4	Lauren Gavulic	11	John A. Ferguson HS	19:30.99	4
	5	Veronica Barreiro	9	Coral Reef HS	19:43.69	5
	6	Rachael Osman	9	Coral Reef HS	19:48.98	6
	7	Meylin Muniz	9	Doral Academy Charter HS	19:52.78	7
	8	Alyssa Pujals	10	Gulliver Prep HS	19:54.68	8
	9	Carla Rodriguez	11	Coral Reef HS	20:01.16	9
	10	Madison Fernandez	11	Our Lady of Lourdes Academy	20:13.33	10
	11	Calyope Ortega	9	Our Lady of Lourdes Academy	20:13.62	11
	12	Anna Ballate	11	Coral Reef HS	20:18.70	12
	13	Lauren Garcia	10	Our Lady of Lourdes Academy	20:26.19	13
	14	Nicole Taggart	9	Calvary Christian Academy (Ft. Lauderdale)	20:29.31	14
	15	Andrea Gongora	10	Our Lady of Lourdes Academy	20:40.84	15