Rivera leads Ranch boys to District 4A-8 cross country title
John Rivera won the boys race, leading all five Lakewood Ranch High School runners into the top 10 as the Mustangs rolled to the Class 4A District 8 title on Thursday at Taylor Park in Palm Harbor on Thursday.
Rivera crossed in 16 minutes, 40.42 seconds to hold off Sarasota’s Jordan Gonzalez, who was 2 seconds behind. St. Petersburg’s Matt Wohlwend nipped Sarasota’s Ben Hartvigsen by 27 one-hundredths of a second for third.
While the rest of the Mustangs were not as tightly bunched as that, they crossed within 5 seconds of each other to sweep seventh through 10th place.
Junior Kyle Wray led the pack in seventh in a time of 17:00.16, 1.3 seconds ahead of sophomore Jon Reid.
The Mustangs finished with 35 points. Sarasota had 52 and St. Petersburg was third with 90.
Manatee was the only other local school in the field. The Hurricanes finished fifth as a team. Their top finisher was junior Marcel Sanchez, who finished sixth in 16:59.30. Sanchez advances to regionals, but the Hurricanes do not.
Lakewood Ranch also advanced in the girls competition, finishing third (89 points) behind Sarasota Riverview (68) and Sarasota (73). The Mustangs girls also relied on a cluster finish: All five scorers finished between 13th and 23rd.
Senior Andrea McDonald led the Mustangs with a 20:41.96 time. Freshman Mason Ingallinera was 23rd in a time of 20:57.87.
Manatee failed to advance, finishing sixth, despite two top-10 finishes from Alison Ecker (4th, 19:53.44) and Raquel Lespasio (6th, 19:55.47). Both will advance to the regional meet as individuals.
In the Class 3A-District 10 meet at Largo, Braden River junior Brendan Beardsley advanced to the regional meet as an individual by finishing 12th in 17:39.10, approximately one minute behind winner James Hasell of East Lake.
Neither the Braden River nor Palmetto boys advanced. The teams finished 10th and 11th in the 11-team field, respectively. The top Palmetto runner was Nicholas Atkinson, who was 27th in 18:35.60.
In the girls competition, Palmetto finished fifth, earning a ticket to regionals, and Braden River finished seventh.
Freshman Darcy Baker led Palmetto; she finished ninth in 20:58.50. Mackenzie Sullivan finished 17th in 22:44.40.
Senior Sophie Leto led Braden River, finishing 24th in a time of 23:00.20.
Class 4A District 8 meet
BOYS
Team: 1. Lakewood Ranch 35; 2. Sarasota 52; 3. St. Petersburg 90; 4. North Port 95; 5. Manatee 121; 6. Countryside 154; 7. Sarasota Riverview 180; 8. Seminole 215; 9. Palm Harbor 226.
Individuals: 1. John Rivera (LR) 16:40.42; 2. Jordan Gonzalez (Sar) 16:42.42; 3. Matthew Wohlwend (St. Petersburg) 16:48.60; 4. Benjamin Hartvigsen (Sar) 16:48.87; 5. Stewart Vigh (C) 16:52.07; 6. Marcel Sanchez (M)16:59.30; 7. Kyle Wray (LR) 17:00.16; 8. Jonathan Reid (LR) 17:01.45; 9. Andrew Dean (LR) 17:02.49; 10. Brice Easton (LR) 17:05.61.
Lakewood Ranch: 25. Matt Srolis 18:06.07; 32. Calvin Drake 18:37.48.
Manatee: 19. Matthew Lyons 17:48.42; 26. Christopher Salas 18:10.66; 31. Trent Shackleford 18:34.79; 42. Colin Nobles 19:00.66; 47. Christopher McAleer 19:12.52; 67. Richard Davis 20:49.41; 72. Ryan Boyce 10 Manatee HS 21:54.37
GIRLS
Teams: 1. Sarasota Riverview 68; 2. Sarasota 73; 3. Lakewood Ranch 89; 4. North Port 102; 5. Palm Harbor 108; 6. Manatee 140; 7. St. Petersburg 164; 8. Seminole 165; 9. Countryside 284; 10. Pinellas Park 291.
Individuals: 1. Sage Lyons (Sar) 19:02.09; 2. Elayna Goodman (SR) 19:11.25; 3. Isabelle Jester (Sar) 19:40.33; 4. Alison Ecker (M) 19:53.44; 5. Juliana Barbaccia (PH) 19:54.46; 6. Raquel Lespasio (M) 19:55.47; 7. Julianna Lazzari (PH) 20:04.41; 8. Gabriella Hamblin (Sem) 20:17.29; 9. Grace Hamblin (Sem) 20:18.01; 10. Kaley Boethig (NP) 20:19.23.
Lakewood Ranch: 13. Andrea McDonald 20:41.96; 16. Sarah Fazio 20:45.70; 17. Katrina Trompke 20:47.84; 20. Ava Klein 20:52.76; 23. Mason Ingallinera 20:57.87; 26. Anna Stock 21:16.26; 46. Shay Lee 22:42.53.
Manatee: 40. Sara Goethe 22:29.24; 45. Abigail Lipton 22:41.04; 48. Molly Brown 22:57.88; 62. Madison Grantham 27:11.19; 66. Gianna Hager 27:52.25; 70. Victoria Walter 28:13.04; 72. Haley Colaco 30:05.42.
This story was originally published October 21, 2016 at 1:20 AM with the headline "Rivera leads Ranch boys to District 4A-8 cross country title."