The individual match up everyone wanted to see was the matchup of IMG’s Danielle Graham (3rd fastest time in state posted this year) vs. the Eagle’s Lainee Mercer (12th fastest time posted this year). The gun went off and Mercer was in third through the mile mark and overcame 2nd by the two mile. With roughly 800 meters to go Lainee set her eyes on first and never looked back overcoming Graham in the final stretch to pick up her first high school victory. It was a great, smart victory for Lainee who was 30 seconds behind the leaders at the mile marker.
The rest of her teammates faired well too. While times were expectedly slow the team did manage to pull out a 15th place out of 54 teams that toed the line. Rounding out the varsity for the Lady Eagles was Redmond, Rosario, Allen, and Hoyt. The ladies went out a bit to fast from the gun and struggled a little bit. We had a tough week of illnesses, practices, and soreness. All which were big factors; so all things considered a great performance!
The JV team also got some reinforcements from the back end of the varsity today as coach elected to run them in JV. The team finished a respectable 9th in the field today. Lead by Alondra Jimenez Capo, Evony Osorio, and Aaliyah Jackson; the JV girls ran their first hilly course of the season. Finishing up for the Eagles was Vanessa Bandini, Mollie Surak, Erin Laughlin, and Chloe Genalo. Both Evony and Erin had probably their best performances of the year. Erin set a season best and Evony had a strong showing after coming back from illness this week.
The Eagles will have an off week next weekend before traveling to Weeki Wachee the following Saturday at Sand Hill Boy Scout Reserve.
Girls Varsity - Team 15th (306 Runners)
1. Lainee Mercer - 19:11
118. Kylee Redmond - 25:45
121. Aliya Rosario - 25:48
130. Olivia Allen - 26:00
147. Alyssa Hoyt - 26:31 ** stuck in mud 1st mile
JV Girls - Team 9th (201 Runners)
40 - Alondra Jimenez Capo - 27:08
48 - Evony Osorio - 27:36
61 - Aaliyah Jackson - 28:16
132 - Vanes... Click here to read full article
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