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The Junior Orange Bowl’s 22nd annual Cross-Country Invitational recently hosted 90 middle and high school teams at Larry and Penny Thompson Park in South Dade.
The top 20 runners in each race received medals, along with a plaque being awarded to the individual race champion. In addition, the top three teams in each race received a trophy and team medals.
Race logistics were led by meet co-directors: Florida National University’s director of athletics Ryan Raposo and former Miami Dade County Public Schools coach and current meet timer Larry Wooten, along with their team of volunteers.
The first three middle school races ran with great success. The final race of the morning, Boys Varsity, began after a short weather delay. At the awards ceremony immediately following the last race, officials offered congratulations to Girls Junior Varsity Champion Lainey Fernandez from Arvida with a winning time of 14:32.61, Girls Varsity Champion Arianna Roldan from Jorge Mas Canosa with a winning time of 13:32.25, Boys Junior Varsity Champion Nicholas Veloso from Belen Jesuit with a winning time of 13:01.28 and Boys Varsity Champion Marcelo Mantecon also from Belen Jesuit with a winning time of 11:35.93.
The top middle school team finishers were as follows:
Girls Junior Varsity Team
1st Place, G.W. Carver Middle School School
2nd Place, Ammons Middle
3rd Place, MAS at Zelda Glazer
Boys Junior Varsity Team
1st Place, Belen Jesuit Preparatory
2nd Place, Conchita Espinosa Academy
3rd Place, G.W. Carver Middle School
Girls Varsity Team
1st Place, Carrollton School
2nd Place, G.W. Carver Middle School
3rd Place, Conchita Espinosa Academy
Boys Varsity Team
1st Place, Belen Jesuit Preparatory School
2nd Place, Conchita Espinosa Academy
3rd Place, G.W. Carver Middle School
Full race results can be found at:
https://fl.milesplit.com/meets/436185-junior-orange-bowl-invitational-2021/results
As the middle school runners loaded their buses to depart the venue and the high school athletes arrived for check-in, the weather turned ominous with clouds and lightning. After a nearly two-hour delay in torrential rain, the weather didn’t cooperate, and all six high school races were canceled. As one of the last major invitational style meets of the season, high hopes were dashed, however coaches and athletes understood that safety always comes first.
“Unfortunately, the weather prohibited from the running of the high school division races, however the overall event received high praise from coaches and athletes alike throughout the day,” Ryan Raposo, meet co-director.
“From the refreshments to the awards, everyone was able to really see the effort put forth.
The Junior Orange Bowl’s commitment to youth athletics, especially in our cross-country community, is second to none and I hope to continue to see this event grow and become more prestigious in the future,” he added.
