The Pine Crest girls and Trinity Prep boys haven't shown up on the Flo 50 national rankings yet, but after a strong performances at FLR16 in the girls and boys Race of Champions respectively they definitely deserve recognition.
Girls Team Of The Week: Pine Crest
(Photos by Teri Bernhardt-Rodriguez)
The two common factors in both teams is that they've won every single team competition in 2015. Pine Crest came into FLR 16 as the clear favorite to repeat, but the impressive aspect was that they did it without one of their top runners Madhere Yared who is out with a leg injury. Defending state champion and meet champion Tsion Yared was third with senior teammate Alyssa Pujals by her side. Fellow senior Julia Montgomery was 12th while Simone Vreeland gave the Panthers four in the top 21. PC dominated with a 126 point victory over runner-up Ft. Myers and the rest of the field. Coach Baur had this to say about his team's performance.
"Our top three are really coming along and responding well to training. Simone Vreeland and Jamie (Zipper) are quietly stepping up big time and are our difference makers. They are super focused and worked harder than anyone this summer. Also, Amanda Schwartz has a lot more in her and Sarah Walker is really coming along. I'm really excited for the back of our pack as well.
Boys Team Of The Week: Trinity Prep
The Saints are good, but not many people had them ending Belen Jesuit's six year run as champions at the flrunners.com Invitational or upending St. Anthony's who was ranked in the top twenty in the country. Coach Vinal's team had five in the top 27 and EIGHT in the top 53 which really shows the depth of this program. Their pack style running paid off as they tallied a 1-5 split of just 27 seconds and a team average of 16:19, tied for the fastest in the field. Vinal called this team one of the best he's coached and right up there with the 2010 state championship squad.
Watch the Workout Wednesday that gave them confidence for FLR16.
Up Next: Both teams will be in Tallahassee this weekend for the FSU Invitational/Pre-State. Pine Crest's biggest challenges will come from defending 2A champions and rivals Bolles as well as defending 4A state champion and nationally ranked Winter Park. Two teams they have yet to face this season. For Trinity Prep, they will have a rematch with Belen Jesuit and test their strength against some of Georgia's top teams who due to weather switched their plans from Great American to the FSU Invitational/Pre-State.