On Friday, September 9, the junior varsity and varsity cross country teams raced at Larry and Penny Thompson Park for the Florida National University Invitational.
Both teams brought home a win, with freshman Alessandra Perez leading the varsity team with a time of 19:49 and placing first overall.
“It felt great to win this challenging race for Lourdes,” Perez said. “Our team has been working extremely hard all summer and it’s great to see our hard work pay off.”
The girls have been practicing in the off season since early June and participated in a hardcore training week, the girls termed, Hell Week, in which the girls stay in Orlando for a week and really focus in on perfecting their form, strengthening their muscles, and improving their times.
“Hell Week is physically very strenuous because pretty much all you do is run and train, but the trade off is worth it because it gets you well prepared for the upcoming season and it’s like a week-long sleepover with all your best friends,” senior Ines Saudino said.
Their hard work appears to have paid off with five varsity members ranking in the girls top ten overall. Junior Olivia Rodriguez placed sixth with a time of 20:28, junior Christina Sanchez placed seventh with a time of 20:38, sophomore Daniella Fraga placed eighth with a time of 20:50, and senior Carolina Timiraos placed tenth with a time of 21:13.
“It’s really amazing to see everyone performing well early in the season and it’s encouraging for future races, ” Timiraos said. “I think it’s great that there’s so many talented and dedicated underclassmen on the team because they’ll only get better and continue to lead a successful team after the seniors graduate.”
The girls junior varsity team also had a successful day with five of the girls holding top ten spots for their race. Freshman Victoria Biggs placed second and ran a time of 24:17, junior Cecilia de Solo placed third and ran a time of 24:46, freshman Jianna Bustamante placed eighth and ran a time of 25:37, sophomore Eva Pozo placed ninth and ran a time of 25:38, and senior Emily Barreto placed tenth and ran a time of 25:50.
While none of the girls set new personal records, they all felt very good about their performances, and are optimistic about the next race.
“I think there is something to be said about the strength of our team though, because while none of us set new PRs, we still had lots of girls finish in the top ten of their respective races, and we won overall.” de Solo said. “I think the team this year has so much potential and we’ll only get better from here!”
The team has run many races at Larry and Penny Thompson Park throughout past seasons, so the returning members are familiar with it and know the grounds.
“I think it’s really helpful running a course you’ve run before, because you know where you’re going and you can calculate the pace you need to be at when you reach a certain part of the course in order to hit your target time,” Barreto said.
The girls have the Spanish River Invitational, in Boca Raton, on Saturday, September 23, and expect it to be their best race yet.
“Many of us have run that course before and in the past the majority of the team has always PR’d there, so the future is looking bright,” senior Comas-Sanchez said.
