Bulls boys take third
By Kyle LoJacono
The Wiregrass Ranch girls cross country team had little trouble claiming their third regional championship in four years Nov. 10 at Lecanto High.
The Bulls totaled 71 points, 36 better than second-place Sarasota. The seventh-year program earned the crown without freshman Madison Conway, one of its top four, because of bronchitis.
Wiregrass Ranch was paced by senior Nikita Shah. The Harvard University commit won her first individual regional title by completing the 5-kilomter course in 18 minutes 32 seconds.
“Not a half-bad time,” Shah said. She added, “There’re some steep hills on this course, and those do take a lot out of you and you have to recover after the hills. It’s all about who can recover first and continue at a race pace. I won’t say it’s the toughest course in the world, but it’s a pretty tough course; one of the harder in Florida I’d say.”
Shah will be one of a handful of girls with a legitimate shot at hoisting the Class 3A state title Nov. 17 at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee. Her best time this year is a 17:48, which is her personal record (PR) and the second-fastest performance in the classification this season.
“Today I just wanted to set the pace and not worry about the time,” Shah said. “Next week at states I’ll be going for maybe a PR and hopefully beating all the other girls there. … I have a positive attitude going into that race. I’m going to go into that race just being confident knowing I’m going to put my hardest race in (and) see where that gets me. I’m going to go for a state championship hopefully.”
Fellow Bulls senior Berlin Waters took sixth at the meet by running a 19:41. Waters was 28th at the same meet last season.
“I was hoping for top 10 at least,” Waters said. “Knowing that I got sixth, I’m just so proud of myself.”
Waters started running with the program last season and said she had little expectations other than it improving her cardiovascular performance for soccer, her primary sport.
“I didn’t think I’d come close to being top 10 at regionals, especially after last year,” Waters said. “When I was third at conference I saw that I could really step it up. Now that I’m getting sub 20s I’m really confident.”
Waters played a soccer game the night before regionals and still managed the sixth-place showing.
“This was the first meet she hasn’t had to leave right after to go to a soccer game too,” said seventh-year Wiregrass Ranch coach Don Howard. “She played last night, came here this morning and finished sixth place in the cross country regional running a sub 20. That’s not any easy thing to do.”
Besides Shah and Waters, Howard said the 23rd and 30th finishes by sophomore Addie Cornwell (20:39) and senior Chelsea Davis (20:49), respectively, helped carry them to victory.
Howard said the goal is a top-five performance at states, which would be the best finish in program history.
“I have really high hopes for Wiregrass this year,” Shah said.
As for the boys, the Bulls finished third with 113 points, 72 behind the championship pace of Sarasota.
Wiregrass Ranch ends a string of three straight regional titles, but the squad lost two of its top runners Ermias Bireda and Patrick Hill for most of the first half of the year with shin inflammation. Ben Hall also missed the Sunshine State Conference meet in October after undergoing surgery.
“It was the first time we had everybody run in their correct slots with Ermias one, Ben (Hall) two, Thor (Alastre), Patrick (Hill) and Andy (Hippely),” said sixth-year Bulls coach Chris Loth. “It’s taken us awhile to get there. … We’re as healthy as we’ve ever been, and it’s at the right time. Everybody worked hard enough during the summer to where we missed some time during the year and we’re fit at the end.”
Bireda, the squad’s top runner, finished seventh with a 16:19. The senior pulled a muscle in his back at districts the week before.
“That back still isn’t healed,” Bireda said. “The last mile it started acting up on me.”
Bireda finished 15th at states last year when he set his PR of 16:09.
“This season is not where I wanted it to be, but it’s not bad,” Bireda said. “I still have one more meet to make up for everything. I want to go out big. It’s my last race of high school. Cardio is great and my legs feel strong. As long as my shins and back hold up I should have a good run. … We have a physical trainer at our school Ms. Jen (Stollery), and I’ll be seeing her every day this week.”
Loth said Bireda’s ability to return after a tough season shows the kind of talent he has.
“To miss so much time and still be seventh at a very tough region shows he’s an elite athlete,” Loth said. “He’s the highest caliber kid I’ve ever coached, aerobically.”
—Follow Kyle LoJacono on Twitter: @Kyle_Laker
