By Duncan Nixon
Correspondent
The Fluvanna High School cross country team was scheduled to host a meet on Aug. 28, but it was postponed due to excessive heat. The meet was rescheduled for Sept. 4 and was held as rescheduled on a perfect afternoon for running. The Fluco cross country course is a 5K layout with some ups and downs at Pleasant Grove Park, right next to the high school. Visiting teams were the Madison County Mountaineers, the William Monroe Dragons and the Rocktown Raptors ( a new high school in Harrisonburg.)
The Fluco boys team turned in a stellar performance, winning the meet by a very wide margin, and showing impressive depth. Team scores in a cross country meet are determined by adding the finish numbers of the top five runners from each team, low score wins. The top five Fluco boys finished in 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th for a team total of 24. Second place team score was 51. All of the top five finishers for Fluvanna were underclassmen. Finishing second in a time of 17:44.50 was junior Jack Jeffries. Fellow juniors, Jonathan Gretz and Kevin Sloan finished in 4th and 5th place respectively, within a second of each other. Freshman Timothy Smeds was only five seconds behind Sloan and sophomore Chace LaRochelle was 27 seconds behind Smeds. Another Fluco freshman, Maxwell Cantagello came in 8th.
The girls race was held immediately before the boys race and the Fluco girls had two outstanding performances. In a thrilling finish, Fluco junior Ruby Frazier finished in a time of 19:19.50, half a second off the winning time. Seven seconds later Fluco senior Ana Amato crossed the finish line in third place. The Flucos had some respectable finishes after their first two, but not quite enough depth for first place. Freshman Amaris Garcia was 11th, junior Eliana Portman was 15th and junior Margeaux Cantagallo was 18th. The Fluco team finished in second place comfortably ahead of the third-place squad.
The Fluco squads ran at Monticello High on Sept. 11. They run At FUMA on Sept.14 and at Albemarle High on Sept 18. On Sept. 20 they will travel to private school Woodbury Forest in Orange.
