Peachtree Ridge looks to shake things up in Florida

by Darrin DeTorres

Tomorrow morning, Saturday, Florida teams will test their summer fitness in what will be one of the first major invitationals of the Florida Cross Country season.  Teams from Central and North Florida, as well as Georgia, will be present at the 3rd Annual Spikes and Spurs Classic.

Spikes and Spurs, hosted by Flagler Palm Coast, boasts a unique racing situation where there is 1 race for boys and 1 race for girls. This type of race is great for many JV runners as it allows those on the cusp of Varsity an opportunity to snag one of the top 7 spots on their team.

Tomorrow’s races will be highly competitive as they will feature many of the top ranked Florida Teams in both the boys and girls races. Also in attendance will be the very talented Peachtree Ridge of Lawrenceville, Georgia.

We are really excited to preview some of the predicted action in tomorrow’s races.

Guys

The guys race looks like it is Peachtree Ridge (PRHS) well ahead of everyone else.

Last year, PRHS finished 2nd in the Georgia 6A state meet. This strong squad only lost two seniors from the 2013 season. When speaking with Coach Adams earlier today, he said his team is looking to do something special this season. With only 2 seniors and a bunch of juniors, they are hoping to continue their strong tradition.

The Florida trip is a reward for all the hard work that they put in over the summer, and they will use Spikes and Spurs as a benchmark for what they can expect this season.

At DistancePreps we believe a race isn’t decided until it happens.

That being said, there are a handful of boys teams looking to take the top honors. One of which being Bartram Trail High School of St. John’s, Florida. Bartram recently hosted a pre-season quad meet where they managed to take the top honors by 4 pts over Vanguard High School of Ocala, Florida.

Also, looking to be in the mix will be Dr. Phillips and Lake Mary High School.

In the race for individual honors, look for Isaac Penman of Peachtree Ridge to be the race favorite. With a PR of 15:28 for 5k, Isaac should have some room between him and the competition. Expect Ryan DeGale of Lake Mary, 2nd at last week's Mike Gibson Summertime Run in 16:34, Nate Reichard of Peachtree Ridge and Ryan Aponte of St. Augustine to mix it up with Penman early on.  Another runner to keep an eye on will be freshmen Joey Fitzpatrick of Vanguard, as he won the Bartram Quad meet by over 16 seconds.

Girls

Much like the guys team, the Peachtree Ridge girls will be in the hunt for an overall team title. Last year’s Georgia 6A state team champions will be looking to their young talent to step up as they lost a lot of seniors from the 2013 squad.

Looking to challenge Peachtree Ridge for top team honors will be 3A rivals; Seabreeze High School of Daytona Beach and Vanguard High School of Ocala. Seabreeze returns 6 of the top 7 runners who placed an impressive 3rd in the FHSAA 3A State Championship. They will be ones to watch as this race could set up, what may prove to be, a historical season for their program.

Vanguard, who also returns 6 of their top 7, will be another team looking for top honors as they went back and forth with Seabreeze during the 2013 XC season.

In the individual girls race, Audrey Carpenter of Vanguard comes in as the favorite but keep an eye out for Lake Brantley's Sinclaire Johnson who impressed last week winning at Mike Gibson. Both Carpenter and Johnson won their respective meets last week by impressive margins.  Carpenter by over a minute and Johnson by 31 seconds.  Audrey has the fastest 5k PR from the 2013 season going 18:55 at Alligator Lake. 

We see Audrey and Sinclaire being challenged by Kianna Bonnet of Seabreeze, Meghan Peel of Peachtree Ridge, Fatema Jaffer of Lake Mary, Alyssa Bayliff of Seabreeze and Elizabeth Mulford of Vanguard.  On any given day, all could have a shot of taking home the "W".

Make sure to check out DistancePreps.com tomorrow and throughout this busy weekend of XC as we bring you some of the best coverage from across the State!