The weekend of October 6th saw the Boca Warriors take their hardwork, favorite running shoes and dedicated Coach to the the highly competitive FLRUNNERS.COM Invitational, at scenic Holloway Park, FL.
Billed as the largest regular-season cross country meet in Florida, for the past seven years, the kids did not disappoint. There were a lot of PR's and course PR's, and everyone cheered each other on with true team spirit.
All the athletes ran well, and showed great team spirit and attitude, whether or not they podiumed or received an award! Cross Country is not for the weak of heart, and all levels of runners deserve a shout out for their hard work and consistent work ethic !
[update: check out Milesplit's recap for some nice shout-outs to Banks and the Elementary Girls' team, plus some awesome drone footage]
Coach Crate getting the Middle School Girls' team ready at the start line
The Girls
Elementary Girls' 2K
The Elementary Girls' team remains on fire with another 1st Place Team finish.
We had 5 Top 15 finishers and medalists: Ana Lucia Barba, Arielle Gorlovetzky, Faith Gladstone, Katerina Skutnik and Mila Valderrama and the Warrior Girls finished with a 26 point lead over a strong Red Sea Running club.
The rest of the girls picked up the always important points that are needed to secure that first place victory! All of the girls either set new PRs, or ran their first 2K race.
Middle School Girls 3K
The Girls' Middle School team finished 5th out of 33 scoring teams, a job well done against stiff competition.
Barbarita Jedlicka was the top girl finisher for our team, placing 14th overall, with a great time of 12:01:13.
The Guys
Elementary Boys 2K
Banks Stroup and Mark Barba paced the Boys' team with 2nd (Banks) and 10th (Mark) finishes. The Boys didn't have enough runners to field a scoring team, but that didn't stop any of these guys from giving their best.
running hard and running strong, no matter the competition
Middle School Boys 3K
Mason, again, broke the 11 minute mark with a time of 10:55:03, finishing 26th out of all middle school boys. Christian also placed well, with a time of 12:03:84.
The Homestretch
With about 3 weeks away from States, the team will now be laser focused on eating healthy, getting quality sleep, stretching and getting stronger and faster each day.
See all the individual results and team placement stats for the FLRunners race here.