Sumterville, Fla. – The Villages High School cross country teams battled a tough course – and some even tougher competition – Saturday during the Buffalo Invitational at Silo Oaks in Sumterville.
In its annually hosted event, VHS finished second in the boys standings and seventh in the girls team race, putting together a respectable performance amid some difficult course conditions.
With shin-high grass still soaked from morning dew, runners from the 12 schools competing also trudged through areas of saturated sand and mud at points throughout the 3.1-mile terrain. The course is primarily used year round as a wedding and events venue in rural Sumter County.
"This is probably the toughest course we've done all year," said VHS girls head coach Dr. Kelly Colley. "It isn't a running venue every single day, so the terrain is truly 'cross country' with loose sand and uneven surfaces. I think that's why we have to be especially proud of how we ran today."
The Buffalo boys finished runner-up with 80 placement points, trailing only Vanguard (Ocala) with 27. The squad was paced by Nate Burton, who placed third individually with a time of 17:07.73, while David Probola finished fifth (17:32.79) and Allister Clarke took 12th (18:15.47).
"I think we ran really well considering the course and the conditions today," said VHS boys head coach James Probola. "The times were good and the effort from the top two (Burton, Probola) at the end was great to see. I know some of our guys might be disappointed, but overall, I feel really good about where we ended up."
The VHS girls took seventh overall with 154 points, with their effort spearheaded by an 18th-place individual finish from Annison Chandler at 22:51.35. Abbi Hersh finished 23rd overall at 23:55.19 and Elenna Ventura also set a personal-record time of 25:32.26 to place 30th overall for the Buffalo, who were without the services of a top runner in Catherine Easley due to injury.
"I'm very proud of how we tackled the course today," Colley said. "You can tell our runners paid a lot of attention to our pre-race (scouting) and they also showed a lot of heart and drive. We've got a lot to be proud of, for sure."
VHS will now enjoy a week off from competition, before returning to action Oct. 5 for the 25th annual FLRunners.com Invitational in Lakeland.
Cody Hills can be reached for questions or comment at cody.hills@tvcs.org or by calling (352) 259-6890.
