On-Site Coverage:
- Complete Results & Coverage
- Photo Album by Teri Bernhardt-Rodriguez - Nearly 600 photos!!
- Article on Tropical Park's New Course
About the Meet:
The King of the Hill CC Opener was a highly anticipated meet coming into this new 2014 cross country season, and the meet lived up to its excitement. The coaches and administrative staff at Christopher Columbus HS and Lourdes Academy came together to host a fine cross country meet, and although there were a couple of minor weather delays, everything ran smoothly from beginning to end. I would like to personally thank Eric Pino, Rebecca Rodriguez-Michalak, and Dominic Cabrera for helping put the event together and switching up the normal routine of how things in Miami have run in recent years. With a little help from Total Bank, SoleRunners Running Store, plus the loud music blasting over the sound system, the King of the Hill appears to be a quick favorite for many schools and hopefully becomes a staple competition for years to come. Here's a quick recap of yesterday's events...
Girls & Boys Junior Varsity:
Heading into the competition and looking at the virtual meet breakdown two schools for each gender looked to be a notch ahead of everyone else; Lourdes and Ferguson on the girls side, and Columbus and Ferguson on the boys side. In the girls race, Lourdes took off to a quick start running 1-2-3-4-5 through the first mile split, but as the heat of the day wore down on the girls, Ferguson was able to push it's pack up and inside the Lourdes group. Coming in through the finish these two squads managed to amazingly take 17of the top 20 finishing places, including all top 11. In the end it was Ferguson placing seven girls inside the Lourdes #5 runner to get the victory on the day. In the boys race Columbus was set to possibly win big in the JV race, possibly runnering a perfect score based off of returning athletes PRs, but nothing ever comes that easy in cross country. While the Ferguson boys challenged for the first two miles, along with a strong pack showing from Coral Reef, Columbus was just too much to handle and brought home the win with six finishers in the top 12, five of them freshmen! A young and talented group with a bright future!
HS Girls JV Award Winners:
Junior Varsity Individual Champion: Jeannie Estevez, Lourdes Academy (22:35.22)
Junior Varsity Team Champions: John A. Ferguson HS - 27 points
Junior Varsity Team Runner-up: Lourdes Academy - 31 points
The Junior Varsity Girls Champions from John A. Ferguson HS.
The Junior Varsity Girls Runner-up from Lourdes Academy.
HS Boys JV Award Winners:
Junior Varsity Individual Champion: Alejandro Gonzalez, Christopher Columbus HS (18:50.18)
Junior Varsity Team Champions: Christopher Columbus HS - 32 points
Junior Varsity Team Runner-up: John A. Ferguson HS - 44 points
The Junior Varsity Boys Champions from Christopher Columbus.
The Junior Varsity Boys Runner-up from John A. Ferguson HS.
Girls Varsity Race:
On paper this competition looked to be a solid meet with three front running teams, all of whom finished in the top seven at the 4A State Meet last year, Ferguson (3rd), Lourdes (4th), and Coral Reef (7th). And while there was definitely solid competition throughout for the teams, three individual girls really pulled away from the pack. Your leaders through the first mile were Alyssa Pujals of Gulliver and Lauren Gavulic of Ferguson, but a fast first mile eventually caught up with the girls and the pace slowed drastically into the second mile. While Pujals pulled away into a solid lead, Gavulic's slower pace allowed for Sabrina Quijano of Lourdes to sneak in during the final straight away to earn the runner-up honors, Gavulic finishing third. It was more than 50 seconds that passed before the pack started rolling in, and the majority of that pack were lady Bobcats from Lourdes Academy who ran away with the championship by placing six girls in the top eleven places. Coral Reef edged out Ferguson for second place honors by four points, both squads missing their #1 returning runners from last year's squads, although even had they both raced, neither team could have brought home the W versus a very dominant Lourdes team.
Girls Varsity Award Winners:
Varsity Individual Champion: Alyssa Pujals, Gulliver Prep (19:48.81)
Varsity Team Champions: Lourdes Academy - 33 points
Varsity Team Runner-up: Coral Reef HS - 75 points
The Varsity Girls Top Ten Finishers. Back row 6tth through 10th places, front row 1st through 5th places.
The Varsity Girls Champions from Lourdes Academy.
The Varsity Girls Runner-up from Coral Reef HS.
Boys Varsity Race:
Not to be outdone, the boys race was stacked in it's own right. Not just multiple teams who were ten top at the 4A State Finals, and/or teams projected to be top ten contenders this year, but individually is where a lot of the hype was generated. Coming off of a stellar year in both XC and TF, defending XC State Champion Nick Diaz was going head-to-head with the fantastic state medalist duo in Kurt Convey and Carlin Berryhill from Coral Reef. These three boys are currently ranked first, third, and fourth respectively in Class 4A based on last year's season bests. While the Barracuda duo tried their hardest to catch Diaz the entire time, Nick pulled away for the definite win beating Convey by 4 seconds and dropping Carlin by 20 seconds. Looking towards the team race based on top returning performers from last year, Columbus and Coral Reef appeared to be the favorites with Sunset and Ferguson chasing, but a couple of team suspensions for Columbus, and a weak fifth man for Coral Reef allowing for Sunset to come home with the 11 point victory over Ferguson, who edged Coral Reef by a single point. It appears that the championship races in Miami for these GMAC teams will be a bit closer than originally anticipated, but it looks to be great for the competitve nature for all of the hard-working programs involved.
Boys Varsity Award Winners:
Varsity Individual Champion: Nick Diaz, Miami Sunset (16:00.49)
Varsity Team Champions: Miami Sunset HS - 56 points
Varsity Team Runner-up: John A. Ferguson HS - 67 points
The Varsity Girls Top Ten Finishers. Front row 10tth through 6th places, back row 5th through 1st places.
The Varsity Boys Champions from Miami Sunset.
The Varsity Boys Runner-up from John A. Ferguson HS.