Lakewood Ranch hopes to continue winning ways at Tri-County Cross Country race

Lakewood Ranch High School will try to continue its domination against Manatee County teams, but catching Sarasota at the Fourth Annual Tri-County Cross Country Meet Saturday at G.T. Bray Park would be a big feather in the Mustangs’ cap.

The Lakewood Ranch girls and boys teams have finished ahead of the other Manatee County teams each year, but they haven’t been able to top Sarasota High, which has won all the girls and boys team titles in the event, which also includes Charlotte County. The Lakewood Ranch girls have won 11 consecutive Manatee County titles and its boys have won five in a row.

This year’s Lakewood Ranch girls squad is led by Andrea McDonald and Sarah Fazio. In 2014 McDonald was second and Fazio fourth when the Mustangs placed second. Last year Lakewood Ranch finished fourth.

“I hope we can kind of nub them (Sarasota) this year. Their team is young and they are rebuilding, but they always have a strong group of girls,” Lakewood Ranch girls coach Kristina Bratton said. “We have (three) people hurt who were in our top five and have been plagued by injuries. Andrea has been leading the team. Her best time is 20:09 and has been running fast all season. She got a medal every time except once, and Sarah has been right behind her.”

The Lakewood Ranch boys, led by John Rivera and Brice Easton, are having a good season, winning the St. Cloud and the Seffner Christian invitationals.

“If we win tri-county, it would be a good confidence builder going into districts. We have had a drought of wins with girls team and it would help,” Bratton said.

The Manatee girls, who won county titles in 2003 and ’04, are led by junior Raquel Lespasio, who qualified for regionals last year, was the top runner among the Manatee County girls at this year’s Bradenton Runners Club Invitational and she won the 2016 county track championship in the 1,600 and 3,200 meters. Alison Ecker is also being counted on to finish in the top 10.

The Manatee High boys are led by Marcel Sanchez, who was the top runner among the Manatee County boys at this year’s Bradenton Runners Club Invitational.

Last year at the Tri-County race, the Lakewood Ranch girls were led by freshman Katrina Trompke, who took the Manatee County individual title and finished 13th overall.

The Lakewood Ranch girls turned in their best performance in 2014 when the Mustangs were second, 17 points behind Sarasota, and received a stellar performance from McDonald, who finished second.

The Lakewood Ranch boys were third last year. They almost won the boys title in 2014 when they placed second only three points behind Sarasota High. Kyle Wray, a freshman that year, led the way with a third-place finish.

This story was originally published October 14, 2016 at 12:17 AM with the headline "Lakewood Ranch hopes to continue winning ways at Tri-County Cross Country race."