The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School girls’ and boys’ cross-country season completed on Saturday, Nov. 16. The girls’ varsity team participated in a total of 12 meets and the boys’ team participated in nine. The girls’ team placed at districts and regionals, qualifying them to compete at states, where their season came to an end.
The season started with conditioning over the summer in preparation for the intense meets ahead. The cross-country players met every Saturday morning for a long run at Liberty Park, and as the first day of school approached, they added weekly team runs in the afternoon to their schedules as well.
Over the span of four months, the team of 27 boys and 31 girls practiced from 3-4 p.m. everyday. Their practices varied, and they did everything from working out on the track to running long distances outside of school down Holmberg Road.
“You have to have fun with running in order to compete good,” junior Cecilia Gago said. “That’s why I love track; I make it fun.”
On Sept. 21, the girls’ and boys’ cross-country teams competed at the Spanish River Cross-Country Invitational for their first meet of the season. The fastest varsity girls were sophomore Caroline Schwartz with a time of 23:42, junior Sparta Koumoutsakis with a time of 23:36 and Gago with a time of 23:49. The fastest boys were junior Matthew Rosenburg with a time of 17:55, senior Coby Alhadeff with a time of 19:50 and junior Alexander Spadaccini with a time of 20:33.
“The meet was very competitive, even though it was an invitational meet,” Schwartz said. “That course is very challenging, but it was fun to push myself. I enjoyed competing with my friends and teammates.”
The cross-country team competed at a total of seven meets this season: three regular meets, one invitational meet and three advanced competitions, which were the Northwest XC championships, regionals and states.
The girls’ varsity team met their district goal of averaging a 23:30 time in the five-kilometer race and advanced to regionals. Regionals took place at Tropical Park in Miami. Both the boys’ and the girls’ teams competed in the five-thousand-meter race.
The fastest boy that competed was senior Nolan Alba with a time of 17:32, placing 24th, and the fastest girl was sophomore Sophia Zengotita with a time of 23:03, placing 47th. The varsity girls placed third out of 10.
“We have a big tradition to make it to states,” head Coach Michael Mauro said. “We’ve made it to states three out of the last four years, and the one year we missed, we barely missed.”
This year marks the first time ever that the boys’ cross-country team did not advance to states due to multiple player injuries, according to Mauro.
The girls’ regional excellence qualified them to head to Tallahassee, Florida, for states on Nov. 16. Student athletes Zengotita, Koumoutsakis, Schwartz, Gago and sophomores Olympia Koumoutsakis, Noa Nierman and Jada Pfingsten competed.
“The best moment of the season was when we were all at regionals, refreshing the results sheet, and just hearing the coach’s voice saying we made it to states,” Nierman said. “We were all screaming and crying and were so happy.”
At states, Koumoutsakis ran a time of 23:56.5, Schwartz a 23:41, Zengotita a 22:38, Sparta Koumoutsakis a 23:06, Nierman a 23:58, Pfingsten a 24:42 and Gago a 24:54. They placed last at states.
“Some of the girls were a little disappointed saying ‘we got last in state,’” Mauro said. “You have to understand, just to make it to state in Florida cross-country, you’re one of the top 3% of schools in the state.”
The girls’ cross-country team is maintaining their goal of going to states and possibly winning at regionals next year. Many of the athletes on the team improved their five-kilometer times this season, and they strive to continue making improvements in the future. With the high of the past season waning, the girls and boys are ready for track season to start up again this spring.
