In Her Own Words: Olivia Ortiz

This past Saturday I finally ran very close to home in the Manatee County Championship which included sven other local high schools. I was very excited to have a race finally in Lakewood Ranch; making it very convenient for family and friends to watch. Coming into the county meet, I had a feeling it might be a little different race compared to the other highly competitive races during this cross country season. From the beginning, it was a race against the clock and I wanted to be able to continue to push myself since I was alone up front. I never take anything for granted, and throughout the race wanted to keep a brisk pace. The race was on a completely new course we had never ran before; which made the race even more fun and interesting while taking in the overall new course experience. The majority of the course was on a flat grass surface and did include a hill we ran up twice which

added a twist to the race. My goal was to run under 18 minutes and thankfully I finished first with a time of 17:49. Overall, I was pleased with my performance. I wanted to use Saturday’s run as another opportunity to prepare for the big races of the season still to come with great competition.

 

Counties was a success for all of Lakewood Ranch teams on both the girls and boys varsity and junior varsity sides. As a team, Lakewood Ranch Varsity Girls ran a perfect score by finishing in the top seven places. Our Varsity boys and both boys/ girls junior varsity teams also placed first making the counties a huge success for all of the Lakewood Ranch XC teams. We bring back four 1st place trophies to our school Monday. We were all really excited to win against our local high schools. Because this was the last local meet for our seniors we planned a way to celebrate this special moment of their high school career. We made posters, had some balloons, flowers and special goodies for them. They all loved the attention and acknowledgement of their hard work and success with being a part of cross country.

 

Lastly, I believe the county meet was a solid race leading to Districts this Friday that will take place at Estero. I will need to continue to train hard in preparation for districts and focus on one race at a time while never getting ahead of myself. My goal is to learn from each and every race in order to improve each run. I look forward to Districts on Friday racing against tough competition. Best of luck to everyone at Districts this week and “Happy Halloween!”


More On Olivia

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  In Her Own Words: Olivia Ortiz (Article)

  

  As I knew it would be, this past Saturday morning was intense facing the best competition in the state. Stepping off the bus, about an hour before race time there was a crisp chill in the air making it perfect racing weather similar to last year’s chilly conditions. The Pre State Invitational is a great opportunity to run the state course. - 2011-10-17 13:01:00

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  In Her Own Words: Olivia Ortiz (Article)

  

  Wow! What an exciting past two weekends filled with cross country! Last weekend, I raced in the Flrunners.com Invitational in Titusville. Going into the race I was faced with a bad head cold, but I was determined not to let it bring me down.  - 2011-10-10 10:43:00

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  In Her Own Words: Olivia Ortiz (Article)

  

  What a great cross country weekend! This weekend the Lakewood Ranch team and I ran in the Mountain Dew Invitational at the University of Florida. We all stayed in a hotel the night before since Gainesville is a three hour drive from Lakewood Ranch. That always makes for great fun and bonding time as a team. I was very excited and focused about this race throughout this week. As a team, we were excited about racing on the Gator campus again and then the opportunity to watch the college races, which is really inspiring before the start of our race. - 2011-09-26 10:20:00

 

 

 

 

 

In Her Own Words: Olivia Ortiz (Article)

 

 

My name is Olivia Ortiz and I am a junior at Lakewood Ranch. First, I want to say thank you to flrunners for letting me contribute to their incredible website! What a great opportunity and honor to be apart of. What an amazing start to the 2011 season with the first two races having intense competition, forcing everyone to get into race mode. Opening race last week was the Déjà vu Invitational in Tampa also know as the “mudfest”.  - 2011-09-19 11:40:00

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Olivia's Athlete Profile