By Kyle LoJacono
The Wiregrass Ranch High boys and girls cross country teams were each coming off district championship performances when they claimed the Class 3A, Region 2 titles Nov. 13 at Jay B. Starkey Park.
The girls finished with 65 points, 61 better than second place King High.
“Coming in we knew if we performed like we know we can we’d be at the top,” said Bulls girls coach Don Howard. “I wasn’t surprised that they won. I’m happy with their point total, but I’m not really happy with their times. That gives us some motivation in preparing for states.”
The boys’ 40 points gave them a 70-point cushion against Land O’ Lakes High’s 117.
“We just want the seniors to go out on top the way they’re supposed to,” said Bulls boys coach Chris Loth. “They’ve worked hard the last four years and we want to put the cherry on top of their time here.”
The boys had four runners finish in the top 15 and were led by senior Josh Reilly’s time of 16 minutes and 8 seconds.
“We knew we had a chance to post a lot of good times and we showed what we can do with four guys finishing in the top 15,” Reilly said. “It feels great to know we’re creating such a legacy for Wiregrass Ranch in cross country.”
Reilly was followed by Ryan Pulsifer’s 16:17 (sixth place), Ermas Bireda’s 16:33 (10th) and Samuel Hippely 16:35 (12th).
The girls top runner was sophomore Nikita Shah, who finished in 19:51. Teammates Ariel Grey (12th place) and Marissa Tomei (13th) had times of 20:00 and 20:10 respectively.
“We have one of the best programs in the area,” Howard said of the two Wiregrass Ranch squads. “We’ll graduate eight seniors between the two teams this year and those eight have really been the core of what we’ve build the program around. Hopefully they’ve built the framework to keep it going.”
The girls team had seven runners in regionals, but someone else has been with the Bulls all year. Lexi Ulrich would have been a junior on the team this season, but she and her family were killed in a plane crash earlier this year. To remember her, the team kept her jersey from last year exactly how Ulrich left it.
“We’ve put this up at every meet,” Howard said. “The kids have dedicated the year to her. We get a number for her at all the meets because she really is still running with all of us.”
Also representing east Pasco County at the meet was Zephyrhills High sophomore Nicole Solmonson. She qualified as an individual for regionals and was running for her team.
“I just wanted to do as well as I could for them,” Solmonson said. “It wasn’t a good time, but at least I was out there running for my team.”
Solmonson finished in 21:36, good enough for 33rd place. The top 15 runners advance, along with those on the six best teams.
Howard said the Wiregrass Ranch girls want to finish in the top five at the state meet at Little Everglades Ranch in Dade City Nov. 20. The boys are just trying for their best times.
“We’ve made steady improvement,” Loth said. “Three years ago we didn’t make it out of our region, two years ago we finished eighth and last year it was sixth, so we’re hoping to keep heading north.”
The 3A girls meet is at 9:30 a.m., while the boys will take off at 10:20 a.m.
