Cross Country Teams Run In Florida

The Jeff Davis cross country teams traveled to Florida Aug. 25 to participate in the Babe Zaharias Twilight Challenge hosted by Chamberlain High School.
The meet is named after Babe Zaharias, a famous female athlete who won two gold medals and a silver medal at the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles. After participating in the Olympics in track and field, she picked up golf and went on to win 10 LPGA titles. The meet was hosted at a golf course she purchased and now bears her name.
The varsity ladies braved the hot temps and high humidity to start the meet. Sophomore Ellie Kate Marchant led the way for the Lady Jackets, finishing 55th in the stacked field. Junior Rebecca Lopez ran a personal best time of 23:43 to finish just a few places behind Marchant.
The team finished 13th in a field of 21 teams, all from the Tampa area.
In the JV race freshman Aurie Taylor led the team with a time of 25:58, placing 22nd in the division. Freshman Isabella Rubio also ran a personal best time.
As the boys teams prepared to race they got more favorable conditions as cloud cover rolled in and helped the temps and humidity drop significantly. Senior Kevin Vega led the charge in the varsity race with a 47th place finish in a time of 18:19, while junior JoseLuis Mendoza ran a personal best 19:00. A solid group effort helped the team finish in 11th place out of 26 teams.
In the JV race, freshmen Mario Franco brought home the only medal of the meet finishing in 8th place with a personal record time of 19:14 and sophomore Erick Trejo ran another personal record time breaking the 20 minute barrier for the first time with a time of 19:58.
Overall it was a solid day for the Jackets as they competed against some of the best teams in the Tampa area. The coaches were proud of how they performed despite the weather and traveling almost six hours to the race. The teams stayed overnight in Tampa and enjoyed Busch Gardens theme park Saturday as a reward for their summer training.
The team will be back in action Sept. 7 when they travel to Milledgeville to run the Bulldog Dash hosted by Georgia Military College Prep.