Cross Country: Lakewood Ranch wins Manatee County division of Tri-County Meet
NOKOMIS -- The Lakewood Ranch cross country team has had enough injuries to apply for Red Cross assistance, but it hasn't stopped the Mustangs from continuing to dominate their local rivals.
Lakewood Ranch won the Manatee County Division for girls and boys in the third annual Tri-County Meet Saturday at Oscar Scherer State Park.
It was the 11th straight Manatee County title for the girls and the fifth straight year the boys have won the crown. Sarasota won the boys and girls title in the meet, which also includes Charlotte County.
Lakewood Ranch usually relies on its depth, but both its girls and boys teams are thin this season and things have been made tougher with injuries piling up.
"We are only six or seven runners deep, where in the past we have had nine or 10 quality runners," boys coach Bryan Thomas said.
The boys are usually led by John Rivera and Kyle Wray. Rivera sat out the meet because of a leg injury and Wray, also coming off injuries, used it as prep for Saturday's district meet and finished fourth.
"Those guys usually run one and two for us," Thomas said. "We knew our team performance wouldn't be as good as normally, but we did pretty well and I was pleased. It's a good tune-up for districts. Wray held back today."
Lakewood Ranch's Brice Easton made up for injuries by finishing first among the Manatee County public schools individuals and 11th overall. The junior has been the Mustangs' No. 3 runner most of the season. Ben O'Connor from IMG Academy was seventh overall.
Winning the Manatee County title is old hat for the girls. They've won every one since 2004 after Manatee took the 2003 championship.
The girls were led by freshman Katrina Trompke, who took the Manatee County individual title and finished 13th overall. Sarah Fazio finished second for the Mustangs and Andrea McDonald, who doubles as a volleyball player, was third.
"Katrina has been hurt and is coming back from an ankle injury so she did a nice job," Lakewood Ranch girls coach Kristina Bratton said. "I knew we would win (the Manatee County title), but I didn't know who would get the individual title. Andrea is our defending champion, but is heavily involved with volleyball this year and that has become her main priority."
Sarasota High's Adam Bradtmueller won the boys overall title, and the Sailors' Sage Lyons won the overall girls championship.
The Class 4A-District 8 Meet will be held at 9 a.m. Saturday at G.T. Bray Park, where a lot of these teams will meet again, along with Lakewood Ranch and Manatee.
This story was originally published October 17, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Cross Country: Lakewood Ranch wins Manatee County division of Tri-County Meet ."