The Ponte Vedra Boys and Girls Cross Country teams travelled to the Embry Riddle University in Daytona for one of the hardest cross-country courses in Florida. This meet is a great race preparation for JV Championships this week, and to also dial in the varsity teams in time for district, region and state meets in the following week. The teams travelled down Friday afternoon to get acquainted with the course by running it a few times before enjoying an overnight stay.
The girls’ team went into the race as a “training run” for the top four girls. Its shows the success of the squad this year by still coming away with the overall team victory by a hefty margin. Claire Moritz continued her great season and finished second overall. Lydia Reimer got her little legs into overdrive and came home in fifth place, beating sixth place by 0.1 of a second. Sarah Reimer, Ana Raymaker and Madison Santore all finished in top 20 overall to round out the top five scorers. The varsity ladies now get a rest week in preparation for varsity championships ahead over the next month.
The boys’ team was coming back after an “ok” performance at pre-state the week before. Fueled by hard week of training, ranked as distant fourth placed team and with something to prove, they stepped up a team to show what they are capable of. The top five starters all finished in top 20, led by Junior Perry Bechtel with sixth place finish. David Angelo, Mark Davey (back from sickness), Palmer Mowlam and Andrew Kessler all had outstanding efforts. The team finished second overall and now sit prepared for the upcoming races.
The girls’ junior varsity teams stepped up to make their own statement and had 5 finishers in the top 25. Logan Gillespie and Emily Purvis finished fifth and sixth respectively. Fallon Farrell in 10th with Olivia Williams and Haley Henderson bringing home the team to second place overall. The girls raced perfectly through the whole race, moved through the field continually and kept getting stronger as it progressed. The future for Ponte Vedra High School ladies cross country team is bright for many years ahead.
The junior varsity boys decided that it was their time to shine. Not only did they win the team event, Justin Knight won overall and Cameron Rumsey and Ryan Quintal placed third and fourth. Olek Kolodzeijski and Matthew Quintal were sixth and seventh.
But it didn’t stop there. Sixteen out of the top 22 were all wearing the PV running singlets. It was a sight to behold at the awards ceremony, which looked more like a team photo then a podium finish.
Congratulations to everyone for a great week of racing. This week, the junior varsity team is racing for the last time this season at the junior varsity championships, hosted at Bishop Kenny on Saturday morning.
