While the northern part of Florida was unfortunately being hit with hurricane Hermine, south Florida was in the clear and remained the sunshine state. Thankfully the weather was sunny and made the Miami Dade County Fair HS championship a success. Over 50 schools arrived Thursday afternoon at the Larry & Penny Thompson Park ready to compete even though it was a hot day. Besides the heat, the meet had some great season openers, rewards for the top finishers/top teams, and even a famous NBA basketball player in attendance.
At 3:30 p.m. the first race to start was the girl's JV race. For the second week in a row, the top two JV runners from Lourdes Academy took the lead at the mile maker along with a runner from St. Brendan. Elizabeth McCann and Lydia Menendez from Lourdes would be the ones to take first and second with McCann's time being 23:29.94 and Lydia's being 23:37.45. This finish was somewhat similar to last week's Fleet Feet invite where Menendez came in first and McCann came in second. The girls are both shooting to make varsity as well as help their team make it to states. Overall, Lourdes Academy wouldn't just go home with the top two finishes but with a first place JV team title as well.
Next to lace up and wait for the gun was the boy's JV race. Right at the mile mark was a large group of Belen boys and in that mix was one runner from Ferguson. Throughout the course, most of Belen would be up in the front while other runners would make their way to the leaders. In the end Belen Jesuit's, Albert Fraga, would cross the line with a winning time of 19:06.14. His teammate, Eduardo Morasso, wound come behind him in second with a time of 19:23.47. Overall, missing a perfect score of 15 by nine points, Belen Jesuit's won the JV team title with a score of 24.
As the meet went on, the girl's varsity race was next up. Just as the virtual meet said, top runners Jinah Mickens-Malik from Mater Academy and Beatriz Ruan from Ransom Everglades were up in the front. To join them at the mile maker was Rahyah Andressohn from Southridge high school and Jordan Shapiro from Palmetto high school. Out of that pack, Andressohn would separate herself by 16 seconds and win with a time of 20:04. Coming behind her in second was Mickens-Malik with a time of 20:20.09 and in third was Ferguson's, Jazmyn Martinez, who ran a 20:35.84
Lastly, the boy's varsity would be the final race to go. South Florida's top performer of last week, Joshua Collins from Belen Jesuit, was ready to compete for another victory and add to his winning streak of the season. The person to challenge Collins was runner Deshay Fernandes from Christopher Columbus. At the first mile, Fernandes was on Collin's heels as they both pushed the place. Fernandes knew that he had to go with Collins in order to finish with a fast time. In the end, Fernandes would open up a lead, winning by 20 seconds with a time of 16:25.17. Collins would come in second with a time of 16:45.90 and his teammate Juan San Martin would just break 17 minutes, finishing with a 16:59.32. As a team, Belen Jesuit would win with a score of 31, taking home another team title.
More Coverage
- 2016 Miami-Dade Youth Fair Meet Page (Complete results/coverage)