2A District 12 – Seminole Tribe Youth Ranch, Immokalee, FL – Hosted by Immokalee HS.

Cowboys and Indians and Manta Rays too!

Immokalee High School’s home course at the Seminole Tribe Youth Ranch covers the entirety of the grounds that is usually host to livestock shows and rodeos. The main field where the start and finish are located is a roughly 14 acre fenced in livestock pen with tall grass, the occasional anthill and some scattered manure piles. To begin the race you must run a loop and a half around the inside perimeter then exit the main entrance heading east along side the road. A switchback sends the path back west to the far end where the course circles a medium sized pond and heads back east to the entrance for another switchback that treks back to the main field. A half loop around the perimeter and a horizontal cut across the middle brings it to an end. Well laid out for spectators and runners alike. The weather was perfect for the 8:00am start with still air that had a slight nip to it.

The Manta Rays of Lemon Bay came into this meet as the favorites with host Immokalee a distant second.

Haley Blem, Nicole Mis and Abby Weinfeld of Lemon Bay, Amber Gonzales and Selena Velasquez of Immokalee were the girls to keep and eye on up front.

True to form, the Lemon Bay girls took control at the gun with Senior Blem leading the way with teammate Weinfeld on her shoulder. It strung out very quickly as the race continued. At the mile it was Blem, Gonzales, Mis, Weinfeld, Velasqez and Lemon Bay’s Kristen Robinson followed by a pack of LaBelle Cowgirls.

Haley was still in the lead at the twomile point followed by Nicole, Kristen, Abby and Amber in that order. At the line it was Blem for a wire to wire win followed by Mis, then Weinfeld in 3^rd. Fourth place was Velasquez with Robinson nailing down the 5 spot.

The Manta Ray’s put their scoring 5 in the top 6 for a dominant 17 point total to win the championship.

Immokalee tallied 49 for second and LaBelle had 66 for the third and final automatic transfer to the region 3 meet.

11^th place Carla Mateo of Gateway Charter and 13^th place Isabella Rodriguez of Bishop Verot qualify as individuals.

On paper it was a classic battle between Cowboys and Indians. Immokalee held a slim team lead over LaBelle based on individual season bests coming into the meet but the state series usually brings out the best in the harriers on the field.

Knowing those teams were a lock for the top two spots, the race for the last two automatic bids to region 3 was almost a dead heat between Lemon Bay, Bishop Verot and upstart Dunbar. Up front individually the guys to watch were top 2A state contender Urias Velasquez and his Immokalee teammate Alex Ruiz as well as the whole pack of interchangeable LaBelle Cowboys. The Dunbar Tigers sprinted the starting field putting all 7 up front immediately after the gun. At the mile Velasquez and Ruiz lead together followed by the Cowboy pack headed up by Omar Figueroa. The two mile had Urias and Alex with a comfortable lead over Omar and his Cowboy teammates Justin Reyes and Enrique Jimenez. At the line, Velasquez sealed the win in 16:37 with Figueroa out sprinting Ruiz for second. Jimenez and Reyes rounded out the top 5.

In the team dual the Cowboy’s pack running proved to much for the Indians as they placed 6 in the top 10 for just 25 points. Immokalee were 2^nd with a 36 total and Lemon Bay nabbed 3^rd with 97. The fourth and final auto qualifier came down to two point decision that was settled by the 5^th man on the teams.

Dunbar HS of Fort Myers earned it’s first ever regional bid over Bishop Verot with a; 13, 18, 22, 24, 30 = 105, to a; 12,19,21,25,30 = 107. John Janiak of Verot was the lone individual transfer.

~Twangster