Girls and Boys Varsity Cross Country teams win East Metro Championships
On Saturday, October 20th, the Timber Creek girls and boys varsity cross country teams were at West Orange High School competing in the 2018 East Metro Championships. The girls started at 8:30 am and the boys started at 9:00 am. Both teams placed first at the end of the championship. For the girls, the top three placed girls were Amber Schulz (Fr) with a time of 18:36 and placed 1st overall, Daria Cuellar-Hernandez (So) with a time of 19:54 and placed 3rd overall, and Vivian Byrnes (Fr) with a time of 20:46 placing 5th overall. For the boys, the top three placed boys were Pierce Barron (Jr) with a time of 17:19 placing 4th overall, Kyle Stella (Jr) with a time of 17:47 placing 8th overall, and Izaiah Burgos (Jr) with a time of 18:05 placing 10th overall.
The race was a 5k (3.1 miles) which can be difficult due to the Florida heat. “In my opinion the championship was both easy and hard. We went up against 10 schools I believe so it was a small meet with not too many runners. It was easy because there was really only one school to beat which was winter park,” stated Daria Cuellar (So), “But it was hard because I was alone for a good portion of the race. I knew what I was capable of running but I had to push myself to run better than that.”
Both teams did so much to prepare for the championships. Mrs. Halsey is the coach of the girls team and said, “We started June 1st so we literally trained all summer long, four days a week, having the kids run ten miles on Saturday mornings out in Clermont and having them up at 4am in the morning so we trained for months and months and months.” Even though the kids had to work super hard even on their nine weeks off of school during the summer, many of them enjoyed it and it payed of. “Over the summer we got to go on a lot of nice trail runs,” stated Cuellar, “My favorite is the clay loop in Clermont.”
At the championship, it was stressful for some during the race, including Coach Halsey. “Winter park was projected to run faster than us and to beat us, so the entire race watching the girls, and counting the score, I was trying to imagine where we were at. I thought it was close but I saw the scores on paper and I just couldn’t believe it, it was such a fantastic feeling,” stated Coach Halsey, “On the boys side, they were actually projected to win but we weren’t racing very well and one of our top 5 guys didn’t have his best race but some other boys stepped up and it was just a phenomenal feeling seeing them win on both sides.”
Looking back at the season, both teams have done very well. On October 1st, both the boys and girls teams placed top ten at the Hagerty Invitational, and on October 6th, both teams competed at the Bobcat Classic where Amber Shultz (Fr) broke a school record with a time of 17:55. The last time the boy’s team won the East Metro Championship was in 2016 and this was the girl’s first win at the championship in history. “I honestly couldn’t have asked for a better season on both sides, the athletes stepped up their performance,” stated Coach Halsey, “We have a very young team so it just blows my mind at how great they are and how great they are going to be.” The girls and boys cross country teams both took district runner-up for the 4A District Meet at West Orange High School on October 26th and will now head to Gainesville on Friday, November 3rd for the regional meet at Sante Fe College. Good luck wolves!