The Warriors capped the first 3rd of the Cross Country Season by competing in the 42nd Spanish River Invitational at South County Regional Park in Boca Raton, FL.
Following strong showings at the Season Opener at The Jim Ryun Invitational and The Indian River Invitational, the Warriors showed up big at The Spanish River Invitational, considered by many as the premier South Florida Cross Country Meet.
Underdog Boys' Middle School Team Grabs 2nd Place Overall
The Boys' Middle School Team surprised the field by placing 2nd out of 21 teams, thanks in no small part to a bunch of fast & getting faster Elementary Boys. The Boys only lost out to Belen Jesuit, a nationally ranked program.
Each one of these guy's performance was absolutely critical to achieving this team accomplishment.
To put the boys' placement into perspective, Belen finished 4th in the Nation at last year's Nike Cross Nationals & are ranked #1 in the SE U.S. & 4th again nationally this year. They are perennial State Champions in both HS & MS.
The Boys' Middle School Team has now qualified for the FLYRA MS State Championship. Individually the top 29 runners out of 289 in this meet qualified individually for States. That means Banks Stroup (21st), Will Irby (23rd) & Anthony Morris (25th) all qualified.
Banks (5th grade) & Anthony (4th grade) are still in Elementary School and will be running in the elementary 2K & have a legit shot of going 1-2 at States.
The Girls' Middle School Team Remains Unstoppable
The Middle School Girls' Team demolished the other 20 teams, taking the Team Trophy and beating the 2nd place team by the gigantic margin of 111 points. They made a statement that they are one of the best Middle School teams in all of Florida.
SPECIAL SHOUTOUT: 1st Overall Individually & New Course Record
Individually the Girls' Team was led by Makaela Morilla. Makaela had an amazing race, and came in 1st overall AND broke the Meet and Course record by 10 seconds.
Watch Makaela getting recognized for setting a new Meet & Course record
Girls Dominate the Podium as Top 15 Medalists
Barbarita Jedlicka was 2nd & she ran the 3rd fastest time - all time - on the South County 3K course.
4th grader Arielle Gorlovetzky showed why she is one of the fastest 10 year olds in the Nation, placing 4th overall.
Hannah Dohler: 6th
Haysa Ebrahim: 10th
Genesis Garcia-Colon: 12th
Elisa Stroup: 13th
Adriana Perrette: 14th
Katerina Skutnik: 15th
All of these ladies qualified for Middle School States, by finishing in the top 10% of this highly-competitive meet.
Also going to States
Rounding out the huge day and also qualifying for States were Hayden Frey (18th place) & London Ross (19th place). The top 29 out of 284 runners qualified for the State meet
Arielle, Kat, Hayden & London will all be running in the Elementary 2K at States.
Warrior Alums
A couple Boca Warrior Alumni competed at the High School 5K Events and podiumed as Top 15 Medalists.
Alex Palekar, runs for American Heritage Plantation and finished 8th overall in the Girls' Varsity 3A, with a new PR of 19:58.90.
Scott Sanok placed 15th in the Boys' Varsity 1A, with a time of 17:05:42. Scott's High School Team, Westminster Academy, took the High School Team Trophy for 1A, and is currently ranked #1 in the State for 1A.
Thanks to all the parents who took these amazing photos!
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