Hendrix, Lastra Finish Championship Season Strong at FLCCC


State champions, Alyssa Hendrix and Valerie Lastra, ended their award winning seasons with top performances at Foot Locker Nationals this weekend.

The juniors arrived in San Diego on Thursday. They had professional team New Balance athletes deliver their new gear to them, toured the course with team NB athlete and former University of Florida standout, Cory McGee, and watched fellow Floridian and Ovideo HS alumna, Jenny Simpson, be inducted into the Foot Locker Hall of Fame. 

It was an experience to say the least, as Hendrix and Lastra were able to meet with their competitors, even get their nails done in a mobile nail salon with World Champion steeple chaser, Emma Coburn, all before the race. 

The Florida standouts geared up and lined up as teammates at Balboa park. As the gun went off, the field condensed into a giant pack till the mile mark where the field started to spread. Lastra and Hendrix stayed in the chase pack behind the top 20 girls. 

The Florida ladies went out in around 2:34-2:35 for the first half mile. Lastra went through at 5:26 for 22nd place at the mile mark with Hendrix right behind in 5:27 for 30th. 

Hendrix started picking off places for the last half of the race, finishing her second Foot Locker National race in a time of 18:06.3 in 17th place -- improving her performance from last year by 18 seconds. Lastra finished her first Foot Locker National race in style with a 26th place, 18:22 performance to become the first female Miami-Dade athlete to compete in a national cross country meet.