The second to last race of the day were the 4A region 4 girls. This race started off with an impressing showing from the St. Thomas Aquinas girls who had 5 girls in the top 25 for the first mile. They were ranked behind Braddock, Ferguson, and Lourdes going into this race. Bridget Alex from St. Thomas battled with her teammate Valentina House against Maria Fernandez and Rebecca Bergnes from Braddock. As the race went on, only Alex and Fernandez fought to the very end but Alex took first place to win regionals after coming runner-up at districts.
Bridget Alex talked to us and told us how she felt about the race today. Here's what she said "Today I was going into today race with a lot of fear and doubt and even during the when the Braddock girl she passed me it was really nerve wrecking to have her ahead of me. I kept thinking if I was going to be able to get her but in the end I just had to go for it and it paid off"
Bridget Alex finished with a time of 19:50.76 and beat Maria Fernandez, who was only 8 seconds away with a time of 19:58.49. The next St. Thomas runner to finish was Valentina House who ran 20:16.74 for third and Rebecca Bergnes from Braddock for fourth with a time of 20:42.20.
St. Thomas took home the team title as the under dogs. The other teams going to states are G. Holmes Braddock, Lourdes Academy, Ferguson, Coral Gables, and Cypress Bay.
Last but not least, the 4A region 4 boys took the field for the final race of the day. This race included four of the top five boys who were returning from last year's regionals. In this race was Nick Rischar from St. Thomas who won last year's regional. He quickly set off at a quick pace from the gun but he was not alone.
Deshay Fernandes from Columbus had the same idea as Rischar because he came out to race. Fernandes unfortunately suffered from injuries last year which prevented him from running at regionals but this year was different since he has been healthy and on his A game.
Rischar and Fernandes as well as a few other battled it out for most of the race but towards the end Fernandes started to slightly gap Rischar which allowed him to win the race by 4 seconds to be crowned the new regional champ.
As mentioned before Deshay Fernandes was able to win by 4 seconds to take first place with a time of 16:40.02. Nick Rischar who fought extremely hard till the end finished second with a time of 16:44.89.
Crossing the line right behind Rischar by only 3 seconds was Hunter Dobbs from Coral Reef. He ended up running 16:47.41 for third place. Last one to break 17 was Cavan Wilson from Coral Gables who got fourth and a time of 16:58.70.
Rischar didn't win regionals but with his help, St. Thomas won the boys team title and lock in their ticket to states. Christopher Columbus, Braddock, Ferguson, Coral Reef, and Miami Coral Park will be advancing as well.