King of the Hill

Cross+country+runners++Nicolas+Viglucci%2C+Allison+Pena%2C+Alexander+Elortegui%2C+Eleonor+Bauwens+and+Caroline+Bauwens+at+the+King+of+the+Hill+Invitational.+

Cavan Wilson

Cross country runners Nicolas Viglucci, Allison Pena, Alexander Elortegui, Eleonor Bauwens and Caroline Bauwens at the King of the Hill Invitational.

Cavan Wilson, Staff Writer

On Thursday, Sept. 4, the cross country team competed in its first serious meet of the season, The King of the Hill Invitational at Tropical Park.

If you’re questioning the name, it means exactly what it sounds like. Our Cavaliers had to run the usual 5K (3.1 mi) distance and were presented with the difficult hill obstacle three quarters of the way through. In this specific type of race, the cross country team competed against schools from all over the region. Compared to the dual meet on Sept. 2, in which the team only raced against MAST Academy and Hebrew Academy, this meet’s large amount of runners was a big change for the Cavaliers.

“The hill was terrible. I sprinted up really well, but it took a lot of work to get over it,” freshman Samir Elmir said.

The girls ran a very good race and placed well, even after pushing hard against MAST Academy at their previous meet. While striving to improve individually, they hope to get a few runners back from injury sometime soon. Still, they had a great meet with sophomore Alexis Clay leading them to victory. These Cavaliers are working hard and are sure to be ready for the next meet.

“The hill was really challenging, but I pushed through and finished in 22 minutes,” sophomore Alexis Clay said.

The boys also pulled out some great performances; freshman Claudio Benneti led the boys Junior Varsity team and junior Alex Elortegui led the Varsity team. The boys are all very happy with their times and are hoping to do even better at their next meets. The team had been looking forward to the start of the season, working very hard in school practices and on their own time. This meet’s placing clearly showed how much talent they have within them.

“It was a really great job for our first invitational and I hope the whole team progresses and gets faster as the season goes on,” Coach Nelson said.

The Cavaliers are training every day to get better for the season and have their eyes set on the District titles for both the girls and boys teams. Be sure to pay attention to the cross country meet dates so you can be there to cheer on your fellow Cavaliers. However, don’t blink because you might miss these Cavaliers flashing by.