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Highlands Today

Resendiz Races Into Regionals

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By MARK PINSON Highlands Today

Published: November 9, 2008

FORT MYERS - Despite having to battle her way out of a mass of runners, Lake Placid senior Erica Resendiz managed to finish seventh in Friday's Class 2A-District 6 cross country meet at Estero Park in Fort Myers.

Resendiz's time of 22:00 placed her in the top 15 runners who moved on to next Saturday's regional competition.

"I'm really proud of Erica," said Green Dragon girls coach Dennis Berard. "There were 99 runners at the meet and she got caught in the middle of the pack at the start of the race.

"But she kept her composure, ran her race and made up a lot of ground as the race progressed."

Lake Placid finished 10th with 267 points, while Naples won with 51, Lemon Bay placed second at 70 and Immokalee came in third with 87.

Green Dragon sophomore Thalia Espinoza finished in 25:24, junior Jessica Landers had a 26:35, sophomore Micaela Martinez finished with a 26:57 and junior Brandy Landers rounded out the team scoring with a time of 30:16.

"I'm proud of all the girls," Berard said. "We lose Erica to graduation but the rest of the group is coming back and that gives us a solid nucleus to build around."

This was the first time any of the Lake Placid runners had seen the Estero Park course, which will be the site of next Saturday's regional meet.

"Now that we've seen the course we know that Erica has to get off to a quick start and get to the front of the pack quickly," Berard said. "She can't afford to get crunched up in the middle of the pack again.

"We know the competition is going to be tougher at the regional meet, but if Erica stays focused and runs her race she has a good chance to qualify for the state meet."

The Lake Placid boys were paced by junior Vicente Ramos who finished 42nd with a time of 19:35.

"Vicente was disappointed with his finish," said Green Dragon boys coach Scott Morgan. "He started out way to fast and it caught up with him at the end of the race.

"He got a little excited at the start because a bunch of runners took off like rabbits, but he has to learn to not worry about the other guys and just run his race."

Junior Emmanuel Pinillos ran a 21:26 and Julian Martinez finished with a 25:59 to round out the Lake Placid scoring.

The Green Dragons did not have enough runners to record a team score in the meet, which was won by Immokalee with 50 points.

Estero placed second at 59 and Naples took third with 90.

"It's disappointing to not have enough runners to get a team score," said Morgan. "But all three of our guys are coming back and that's encouraging.

"The kids worked hard, we had a lot of fun this season and we're looking forward to next year."

Mark Pinson can be reached at 863-386-5837 or mpinson@highlandstoday.com

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