Junior Natalie Varela of Gulliver Prep, and freshman Adam Magoulas of Belen Jesuit, coming down the final stretch to each earn their first individual Miami-Dade County Cross Country Championship.
Friday afternoon marked this year's Miami-Dade County Youth Fair Cross Country Championship where a couple of teams continued to show their dominance, while a couple of individuals got to bring home their first individual county crowns.
Held at the notable Larry & Penny Thompson Park, the weather was uncharacteristically reasonable being mostly overcast and not very hot, although slightly humid. Interestingly enough, this was the second week in a row where better weather was displayed for one of the state's more difficult and historically steamy venues.
Here are the race recaps.
Junior Varsity Race Recaps:
In the girls JV race there was a couple of strong packs pushing through the mile mark into the halfway point of the course by both Lourdes and Carrollton.
As the girls came down the final stretch it appeared as if Carrollton had picked up the win as their top three girls finished in 2-3-4 overall, however the gap to their 4-5 runners was too much as Lourdes not only picked up the individual win, but staggered five inside the Carrollton number four, to pick up the tight four-point victory. Lourdes not only picked up the victory, but once again showed strength in numbers as their 47 girls made up 34% of the field.
The boys JV race this year, which has been dominated by Belen for quite some time, was the most dominant that we have seen in both county history and in Belen's rich XC history.
From start to finish there was a gold streak leading the race and when it was all said and done Belen finished first through 18th, eleven of which were in the 18s, followed by eight more of their boys in the 19s. A perfect score, 18 second spread, and a 75-point margin of victory, with ten of their top eighteen being underclassmen; seven freshmen and three sophomores!
Girls JV Individual Champion: Ane Guerrero, 9 - Lourdes Academy (23:56.07)
Girls JV Team Champions: Lourdes Academy - 27 points (24:55.70 avg)
Boys JV Individual Champion: John Lee, 11 - Belen Jesuit (18:07.49)
Boys JV Team Champions: Belen Jesuit - 15 points (18:15.08 avg)
The top ten girls junior varsity individuals; individual champion Ane Guerrero is top left.
The girls junior varsity team super squad / champions, Lourdes Academy.
The top ten boys junior varsity individuals; individual champion John Lee is top left.
The most dominant boys junior varsity team champions ever, Belen Jesuit.
Girls Varsity Race Recap:
In the girls varsity race there was a tight pack pushing through the lead mile. Jordan Shapiro of Palmetto was leading the way with Rahyah Andressohn of South Dade on one shoulder and Natalie Varela of Gulliver Prep on the other shoulder.
By the halfway mark of the course Varela had taken a small lead over Shapiro and they were followed by the Braddock two-pack of Rebecca Bergnes and Lisa Adjouadi. That same line-up did not change all the way through the second half of the race as Natalie Varela picked up her first individual county championship for cross country, which complements her 1600m and 3200m county championships from this past spring's track & field season.
In the team race it was no surprise which team was the favorite going in, Braddock, particularly considering that the two other top teams in town that would give chase, were not racing in the meet or not racing their A-team; St. Brendan and Lourdes respectively.
Braddock placed five in the top twelve for the solid win for the second year in a row and in their school history; still only being the third school to win the county championship since the late 90s.
A close battle for second place ensued between Carrollton and Gulliver. Although Gulliver placed three inside Carrollton's number one, their strong pack placed seven before the Gulliver number four to give Carrollton the second place finish by just three points. These second and third place finishes were the best in their respective school histories since 2010 and 2011 for the two small private schools.
Girls Varsity Award Winners:
Girls Varsity Individual Champion: Natalie Varela, 11 - Gulliver Prep (19:24.56)
Girls Varsity Individual Runner-up: Jordan Shapiro, 11 - Miami Palmetto (19:28.22)
Girls Varsity Team Champions: G. Holmes Braddock HS - 32 points (20:39.73 avg)
Girls Varsity Team Runner-up: Carrollton School - 127 points (22:28.83 avg)
Girls Varsity Team 3rd Place: Gulliver Prep - 130 points (22:12.70 avg)
The top ten girls varsity individuals; individual county champion Natalie Varela is top left
The third place girls varsity team, Gulliver Prep
The runner-up girls varsity team, Carrollton School
The girls varsity county champions, G. Holmes Braddock HS
Boys Varsity Race Recap:
The individual race for the boys championship appeared to be tight through the mile mark as a handful of Belen runners, along with Deiondre Williams of Homestead, pushed through.
By the halfway point of the course it was apparent that the high-profile Belen freshman, Adam Magoulas, was going to pull away from the pack, including two of his sub-17 teammates Sebastian Roa and Diego Gomez who finished second and third respectively.
This was Magoulas' first county championship; he finished 10th last season as an eighth grader. Note that this past spring at the FLYRA's MS Track & Field State Championship, he placed third in the 800m, 2nd in the 1500m, and won the 3000m in 9:11.20 smashing the old MS state record.
For the boys varsity team race, although not quite as amazingly dominant as the JV race, Belen's perfect score would have only been broken up by Williams, had he been a member of a full team. Since he was only an individual, Belen picked up the perfect 15 with a 37 second spread, an 85 point margin of victory, and with seven of the top nine places. This marked Belen's third consecutive county victory (they did not attend in 2015), 8th in a row where they've made an appearance, 10 of the past 12, and 19th overall.
The race for second place was a tightly contested battle between Columbus, Coral Park, and Ransom Everglades, at least through their first few runners, but in traditional form with depth, Columbus was able to pack in the back half of their squad placing their seventh inside the other school's fifth runner to pick up the 15 point margin for the runner-up finish.
Boys Varsity Award Winners:
Boys Varsity Individual Champion: Adam Magoulas, 9 - Belen Jesuit (16:29.29)
Boys Varsity Individual Runner-up: Sebastian Roa, 12 - Belen Jesuit (16:48.05)
Boys Varsity Team Champions: Belen Jesuit Prep - 15 points (16:52.19 avg)
Boys Varsity Team Runner-up: Christopher Columbus HS - 100 points (17:50.39 avg)
Boys Varsity Team 3rd Place: Miami Coral Park - 115 points (17:58.52 avg)
The top ten boys varsity individuals; individual county champion Adam Magoulas is top left.
The third place boys varsity team, Miami Coral Park.
The runner-up boys varsity team, Christopher Columbus.
The boys varsity county champions, Belen Jesuit.