XC: Lemon Bay boys 2nd in Class 2A-District 6 meet
Dennis Maffezzoli
dennis.maffezzoli@heraldtribune.com
The Lemon Bay High boys cross country team finished second in the Class 2A-District 6 meet held recently at Bishop Verot High.
The Manta Rays finished with 87 points behind only winner LaBelle, which won with 21 points.
Sophomore Matthew Finck led the Manta Rays with a ninth-place finish in 17 minutes, 51 seconds. LaBelle's Jose Salgado won the race in 16:23.
Other scorers for Lemon Bay were Thomas Blem (15th in 18:16), Benjamin Tucker (17th in 18:17), Sean Perry (18th in 18:22) and Wade Wylie (28th in 18:59).
Cardinal Mooney ended eighth with 219 points. Booker was 11th with 282 points. The top 10 teams and first 30 individuals qualify for the regionals.
Leading the Cougars were freshman Gage Hassler, with a 14th-place finish in 18:10. Jordan Post (33rd in 19:12), Lucas Hassler (45th in 19:46), Samuel Hall (60th in 20:43) and Matthew Maloni (76th in 22:09) also scored for Cardinal Mooney.
Qualifying as an individual was Alec Bue of Booker, taking 16th in 18:16.
In the girls race, Lemon Bay and Cardinal Mooney finished third and fourth, respectively, with 90 and 96 points. Bishop Verot won the race with 63 points, Lakeland McKeel Academy was second with 75.
Leading Lemon Bay were Katelyn Ziarnicki and Kerry Matson, who took 10th and 11th, respectively, in 21:22 and 21:24. Also scoring for the Manta Rays were Charlotte Carley (15th in 21:26), Sophia Cherniak (26th in 22:26) and Olivia Gibb (61st in 27:54).
Cardinal Mooney got a fifth-place finish from Rachel Jarrett in 20:49. Madison Smithers (17th in 21:44), Jenna Santiago (24th in 22:13), Hallie Monserez (25th in 22:22) and Mallory Lumpkin (28th in 22:27) also scored for the Cougars.
Frostproof's Cristal Gomez won the race in 19:04.
The Class 2A-Region 3 meet is Saturday at Lemon Bay High. The girls race begins 9:30 a.m. followed by the boys race.