Girls cross country is district runners-up

Published 8:43 am Monday, November 12, 2012

On Friday, Nov. 2, the Suwannee girls cross country team competed at the district race in Bradford. Everyone there knew Gainesville Eastside was going to win easily. Everyone also knew there would be an extremely close race for second. The spectators were surprised by just how close. Second through fourth place were only separated by five points. Only first through third place get to move on to regional competition. 
The final scores were: Eastside 18, Suwannee 92, Santa Fe 95, Ft. White 97, Baldwin 102, Newberry 112, Baker inc., Crecent City inc., Palatka inc., Bradford inc.

Last year, Suwannee did not qualify for the regional race. This helped motivate the returning members of the team to work harder this year. The team had to overcome several obstacles to avoid being disappointed again this year. Almost every member of the team was injured at some point of the season. Then a couple of the new runners decided they did not want to run anymore. Third year coach Eric Rodriguez was able to get the remaining members of the team healthy enough to have the highest finish ever for a Suwannee cross country team at the district race.

The Suwannee squad was led by Katie Stalvey who finished in eighth place with a time of 23:06. Senior Emily Hadden came in next for Suwannee in 14th place with a time of 24:31. Megan Ellis, the other returning runner, placed 20th. Freshmen Meredith Lord and Ashley Carlton were the final two scoring runners for Suwannee. Sarah Frederick from Bradford won the race with a time of 21:12. The regional competition will be held on Saturday, Nov. 10 in Tallahassee.