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Sebring Sweeps Cross Country Meet

Mark Pinson/Highlands Today

The boys get off to a quick start during Thursday's four-team cross country meet at Lake Placid High School.

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By Mark  Pinson | Highlands Today

Published: September 29, 2007

LAKE PLACID –– Coming on strong.
Led by sophomore speedster Connor Bauer, who finished first by more than two minutes over his nearest competitor, Sebring's boys team won Thursday's four-team high school cross country meet.

The Blue Streaks finished first with 22 points, while Hardee placed second with 36, Lake Placid came in third with 53 and DeSoto did not record a team score.

Bauer's time of 17 minutes, 46 seconds is even more impressive when factoring in the hilly course and the hot, humid conditions.

"Conner just keeps getting faster as the season goes on," Sebring coach Jeff Shoemaker said. "He is a natural runner, a hard worker and a pleasure to coach."

The top five runners count for each team and Sebring junior David Ontermaa came in fourth with a 20:54 and teammate Alex Kennedy claimed sixth with a 21:41.

Daniel Lee finished 11th with a 23:11 and Alex Wheaton came in 14th at 23:46 to round out the team scoring.

The win improved the Class 1A Blue Streaks to 15-7 on the season, with a big meet set for today in Frostproof.

"I'm pleased with our effort and the kids are coming on strong," Shoemaker said. "There is going to be some tough competition at the Frostproof meet and that should give us an idea of how we stack up with some of the other teams in our district."

Hardee was led by Gilbert Gutietrez, who placed second with a 19:44 and Wildcat Pete Solis finished third in 20:23.

Lake Placid was paced by Logan Morris, who finished fifth with a 21:15, while Green Dragon Vicente Ramos claimed eighth in 22:21.

In the girls meet, Sebring finished first with 28 points, while Lake Placid came in second with 34, Hardee took third with 59 and DeSoto did not record a team score.

Junior Heather McIntyre led the way for the Blue Streaks with a second-place finish in 24:30, while teammate Maxime Copley finished third in 25:15 and senior Sydney Ruble claimed fifth in 26:40.
The win improved Sebring to an impressive 21-1 on the season.

"The girls are starting to come together and all the hard work is paying off," Shoemaker said. "We continue to lower our times and we want to be hitting our peak at the district meet."

Lake Placid junior Erica Resendiz won the girls meet with a time of 22:55, which was almost two minutes faster than the runner-up.

Resendiz has had quite a week as the Green Dragon runner broke the school record on Tuesday against LaBelle with a time of 21:28.

The record was set by Kay Fort as a freshman last year.
"Erica continues to impress," Lake Placid coach Dennis Berard said. "She is a natural runner and is working hard to lower her times."

Green Dragon Thalia Espinosa came in fourth with a 26:23, Fort came in seventh with a time of 28:30 and teammate Brandy Landers finished 11th in 31:26.

"This is a great bunch of girls to work with," Berard said. "They have great attitudes, work hard and the best part is most of them are underclassmen and they'll be back next year."

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