South Florida's best competed at the 37th Annual Spanish River Invitational this weekend and they did not disappoint.
Tymorek, Anderton Win Small School Division With Ease
On Friday the small schools and middle schools gathered. With the outskirts of a tropical storm bringing strong winds on the South County Regional Park, teams knew it would be a fight.
The boys were up first and Joseph "Jack" Anderton was the first off the line, pushing the pace up front by himself. The goal was sub-16 and he just missed it by six seconds, running a 16:05.78 with Saint Andrew's, Ian Noble right behind in a time of 16:29.
Jonathan Pitchford was the next to cross the finish line in a time of 16:38 with King's Academy duo, Cameron Dunn and Colton Lawson coming in shortly after as the final two to break the 17-minute barrier.
On the girls side, it was Eleanor "Ellie" Tymorek and Natalie Varela out at the front of the pack. Tymorek pulled away from Varela towards the second half of the race kicking off her strong junior season in a winning time of 18:08.45.
Her new summer training plan paid off with a new PR and a back to back win at Spanish River, nearly over 50 seconds faster than last year.
Varela broke the 19-minute barrier after her season opener at King of the Hill and after a state championship win in the 1600m at the state finals in May. She's looking to apply her middle distance speed to her cross country races this season to challenge the top at the state meet come November.
King's Academy eighth grader, Avery Fronrath, was the next to cross the line in a new PR of 19:18.60 with Maya Beleznay (19:32.60) and Emma Hencock (19:47.17) taking the next places.
1A needs to keep their eye out for Cecily Anderton of South Florida HEAT. She broke the 20 minute barrier for the first time this weekend, running a time of 19:58, over 45 seconds faster than her season opener at Fleet Feet back in August.
Fiore Moves Up From Last Year, Lastra Defends Spanish River Title
Last year, Michael Fiore was the third person to cross the finish line in the large school boys race. This year, Fiore dominated the win in a time of 16:02 -- the fastest time of the meet.
Belen duo, Aiden Villasuso and Diego Gomez were the next to gross the line in 16:11.63 and 16:13.23. John Lesh of Dwyer HS broke up the Belen boys with his 16:13.37 finish ahead of Adam Magoulas' 16:16.54 performance.
Fiore led 23 boys sub 17 minutes, a stronger depth in field compared to last year. Belen took the boys 3A title with an impressive 17 points, while Christopher Columbus won the stacked 4A boys title with 93 points.
On the girls side, right from the gun it was Valerie Lastra, Krystal Rodriguez, and Rylee Pustilnik.
Coming off a few weeks of sickness, Lastra took the win in a strong time of 18:20 with Rodriguez right on her tail in a huge PR of 18:29.
With Hurricane Dorian pushing back many Palm Beach and Boca schools' meets the past few weeks, Pustilnik's opener was this weekend in a time of 19:42, with Dillard eighth grader, Christiana Coleman, coming in fourth in a time of 19:46.38.
4A needs to keep their eye out for Coral Reef's Rodriguez and Boone freshman, Megan Dolan, both of these ladies are having very strong progressions throughout their season and could surprise the field over the next few months.
The Braddock ladies took home the 4A win with Jordan Ford leading the way in a time of 19:55, these ladies have been on a mission and continue their success from the Horse Park Invitational last weekend.
Dillard took the 3A girls team win with a very impressive 18 points and 1:37 1-5 split.