victory here

The new varsity girls cross country team celebrated their team victory.

HALFWAY THROUGH, sophomore Gaelle Timmer reaches the one-and-a-half mile mark. Timmer kept pushing through the race as the team had big chances of placing on top. “I had a positive mentality and told myself to keep going while trying to catch up to my teammates to close the gap,” Timmer said.

Junior Olivia Johnson and sophomore Alessandra Di Mise gave each other a hug to celebrate their girls cross country team’s first place win of the season. The team won the Miami-Dade County Youth Fair Championship with the lowest score of 60 points on Sept. 9. Last season, the team consisted of mostly seniors, but this season, the team consisted of many young athletes. This victory meant a lot, since it was the first victory ever for the new runners who joined the team this year.

“I felt very proud of my performance, and my teammates’, and extremely grateful for the runners who make up this amazing team. This meet’s win motivates us to keep working hard every day at practice to reach states,” Johnson said.

Freshman Tara Menon heavily contributed to the team’s first victory of the season. Menon rapidly adapted to the training and became one of the top runners in a short time.

“I had a very positive experience in my first season in high school. It was extremely exciting to compete against some great competition. Knowing that as a team we came in first place gave me a lot of encouragement for the rest of the season,” Menon said.

Head coach David Suarez trained the group since the beginning of the summer to condition and prepare for the season. Suarez, along with alumna Natalie Varela, guided the girls to reach their full potential despite the team being very young.

“The girls’ commitment early on has given them results that have resulted from that commitment. This team has a lot of potential, and this early victory adds on to that,” Suarez said.

Having a strong leader was essential. Senior Ines Ferreiro was the only senior on the team. Ferreiro’s guidance inspired the rest of the girls to believe in one another.

“I am aware my teammates look up to me, especially my two younger sisters, Andrea Ferreiro, and Lucia Ferreiro, so I try to push myself harder each race to give my younger teammates a good example to follow and to show them they can also become better runners as the season progresses,” Ferreiro said.

Story by Valeria Castillo

AFTER MANY CONSISTENT RACES, sophomore Alessandra Di Mise maintains her pace throughout the race. Di Mise is one of the top runners in the varsity team this year. “When I finish races, I always feel a sense of accomplishment. My teammates and the people cheering always make the pain of racing worth it,” Di Mise said.

“WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS,” are the words the girls shouted when they received their team trophy. Excitement showed in their faces, knowing they came in first place as a team early on in the season.

“I heard everyone around me cheering as soon as we heard our school’s name being called to the podium to receive our trophy, which gave me so much energy,” junior Andrea Ferreiro said. Photo by Valeria Castillo hereThe team shared their eunplaces to complete their long-distance runs on Saturdays.

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