TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Wiregrass Ranch's Grey, Land O' Lakes' Soto Claim SAC Run Titles

ADVERTISEMENT

By LARRY BUGG, Tribune correspondent

Published: October 20, 2007

NEW PORT RICHEY - Ariel Grey won the race, but wasn't completely satisfied.

The Wiregrass Ranch freshman won the Sunshine Athletic Conference girls cross country race Friday morning at Starkey Park. She ran a 20:51 on the punishing course.

However, Grey would have liked to have beaten one more person.

Leeann Eble, the defending SAC girls champion, was in a cast due to a sprained ankle which she recently suffered playing soccer. Her coach, Pamela Lowery, said Eble will not race any more this year. Eble was a two-time district champion.

'I felt better on the course because I knew it more than last time,' Grey said. 'I didn't feel like the sand bothered me. I didn't stumble. I led from start to finish. It's very satisfying. I never thought I would do this well as a freshman. We Wiregrass Ranch are doing really good for a second-year cross country team.'

Wiregrass Ranch finished second to Gulf. Gulf had 40 points. Wiregrass Ranch had 72. Defending champion Wesley Chapel was third with 87.

'She ran about 30 seconds faster than she did three weeks ago,' said Wiregrass Ranch coach Don Howard. 'That's what we wanted her to do. It would be nice to beat her Eble but we will never know what happened. She is the conference champ. We ran well. We are happy with this.'

Wesley Chapel's Jessica Furst took second in 21:06. The sophomore surprised herself.

'The sand was kind of hard,' Furst said. 'We practiced in sand before. I was in second but four Gulf girls passed me. I had to follow them. I liked finishing second.'

Gulf's girls won the team title. Jaci Pustelnik was third in 21:17. Teammate Brittine Bennett was fourth with a 21:20 and Courtney McAuliffe was fifth with a 21:31 giving Gulf a good 'pack time.'

'We are thrilled to death,' said Gulf coach Dean Lofton said of winning the girls team title. 'We lost it to Wesley Chapel the last couple of years and we are glad to get it back. We won in 2004. We had it four straight years. They surpassed anything they had done this year. They really wanted it. It was unbelievable the way they ran today. We don't pay any attention to times. It is a brutal course with sugar sand. Don't panic when you heard that you ran 15 seconds slower than you usually do for your first mile. We practiced here.'

Felix Soto of Land O' Lakes won his second straight boys race despite suffering from a left thigh injury and ankle problems. He won in 16:56.

'I took over in the woods,' Soto said. 'I have won it twice. I wish I would have beaten him Ridgewood's Steven Landreth by more. I slowed up and he was catching me. I went to soccer tryout and hurt it the left ankle again. I never had an injury and now I get two.'

Landreth also had to battle an injury but finished second in 17:05.

'I feel good but my hip started hurting me,' said Landreth. 'I have tendinitis in my hip. It was a pretty good race for me. I know my time isn't that good. This is the best I have done in conference. Last year, Felix beat me by 30 seconds. This year, it was by nine seconds.'

'He had tendinitis and he showed what he was made of,' said Ridgewood coach J.D. Baker of Landreth. 'As a leader, you can't ask for a better leader than Landreth. This is a tough course.'

The Land O' Lakes boys finished with 42 points for their third straight SAC title. Mitchell was second with 55.

'I was real impressed with the Mitchell kid Sebastian Ruiz, third in 17:44,' said Land O' Lakes coach Kris Keppel. 'He had a great race. He Soto was ready. We had three in the top five. We had six in the top 20. You have to be tentative on this course. This is the most punishing course we have run.'

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT