It was a hot afternoon in Lake Mary, Florida where four local cross country teams came out to give the Lake Mary Prep School course a try. The food stand and music set up the environment for a fun day that would consist of three races.
Just after 3:30, the combined boys and girls JV race set off with only 13 boys and two girls, both from West Orange. After touring the streets surrounding Lake Mary Prep, Gerry Perales finished first for the boys and Cassie Countryman won for the girls. Both of these runners attend West Orange High School.
At the completion of the JV race, the varsity girls lined up for the start of their run. Up in front were West Orange’s Nicole Kvitauskas and Kate Kiely of Windermere Prep. With an average mile of 7:23.0, Kvitauskas won the race in 22:56.19 which allowed her team to get the win with 25 points, 9 less than Windermere Prep’s 34 that was led by Kiely who finished second in 23:18.78.
The final race of the day ended up being the largest one, pitting 27 area runners against each other in the boys’ varsity run. The pace was quick for the start as all the athletes were trying to establish top positioning from early on. By the first mile, it was clear that Windermere Prep’s Franco Martins had a commanding lead over the remainder of the group. Martins built upon his lead and finished strongly in 17:40.52. Andrew Wilson of Orangewood Christian came in second with a time of 18:29.83. West Orange easily came out on top 23-54 over Lake Mary Prep.
Although the weather was hot and humid, this afternoon meet was fun, interesting, and entertaining for all who attended.