- April 29, 2024
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Seniors Chloe Irving (11th place), Nina Rodriguez (eighth place) and Sierra Howard (fourth place) led the Pirates to a runner-up finish at Run Matanzas. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Matanzas sophomore Blaine Vogel placed sixth with a time of 18:13.26. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Junior Kiera Williams led Mainland with a 22nd-place finish. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Matanzas senior Nina Rodriguez rests after finishing eighth on the water-logged Run Matanzas course on Sept. 30. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Matanzas' Chloe Irving, who placed 11th, runs behind Oakleaf's Morgan Wade and Keystone Heights' Olivia Griffin down the stretch. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Father Lopez's Matthew Gazzoli (left) placed third behind New Smyrna Beach's Sam McDuffie. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Matanzas' Blaine Vogel and Christian Norfolk finished sixth and ninth. Photo by Brent Woronoff
The runners were slipping and sliding through the mud, and they were enjoying every minute of it.
After several days of rain, the Matanzas High School’s cross country course was a mess for the Pirates’ annual Run Matanzas meet on Saturday, Sept. 30.
Immediately after the girls and boys high school races, the skies opened again. But at least it wasn’t hot, the runners said.
“There was a bunch of water and pits of mud everywhere,” Mainland’s Kiera Williams said. “But a good breeze came out of nowhere, and it kind of dried you off.”
Matanzas sophomore Blaine Vogel, who placed sixth in the boys 5-kilometer race, said it was fun.
“It was the first race I had in a long time where I could get wet and muddy,” he said. “If you come out of a race muddy, you’re happy because it means you had a fun time getting dirty.”
The times were slow, but that was expected.
“I wasn’t stressing about the mud,” Matanzas senior Sierra Howard said. “I went in with the mindset that I’m just going to have fun.”
Howard finished fourth in the girls race with a time of 21 minutes, 43.39 seconds to help the Pirates place second behind The Master’s Academy. Four Matanzas runners finished among the top 20, with Nina Rodriguez placing eighth in 22:00.25, Chloe Irving 11th in 22:15.99 and Lupita Galeano 18th with a time of 23:11.59.
Irving finished less than a second behind 10th-place Morgan Wade of Oakleaf, who crossed the finish at 22:15.13. Ava Wyant of The Master’s Academy won the girls race by 35 seconds with a time of 20:42.48. University’s Hannah Judge (21:13.37) and Morgan Harville (21:35.39) placed second and third.
“Maybe half the race I was right behind (the leaders),” Howard said. “Then we started spreading out a little more. A lot of the race it was me and Nina going back and forth.”
Mainland’s Williams placed 22nd with a time of 23:31.74. She said the Bucs’ plan was for each runner to run with a runner from New Smyrna Beach, the only team at the meet that will also be at their district meet. Williams and teammate Taliyah Nixon (27th, 23:53.98) finished ahead of New Smyrna’s top two runners.
New Smyrna Beach won the boys title, with Matanzas placing fourth. Troy Winkler of Baker County took home the first-place medal with a time of 17:18.06. NSB’s Sam McDuffie was second in 17:47.69, just ahead of Ormond Beach’s Matthew Gazzoli of Father Lopez, who was third in 17:48.44.
Carlos Cerrud of Deltona (17:49.84) placed fourth; Felipe Paredes of Father Lopez (17:50.63) was fifth.
The Pirates had two top-10 runners, with Vogel (18:13.26) placing sixth and Christian Norfolk (18:26.67) finishing ninth. First Baptist’s Chris Murdock was 15th with a time of 18:56.61.
There were 19 teams and 203 runners competing in the boys race, while the girls race had 12 teams and 141 runners.
Matanzas seniors Howard, Rodriguez and Irving said the meet meant a lot to them.
“We will be hosting the region meet, but this was our last fun meet at home,” Howard said.
