By Vincent Jackson

On Sep. 2, the Ponte Vedra High School cross country team took on the Bob Hans invitational, hosted by Ridgeview High School. 

     The PVHS girls started off their season with a close win on this tough course, edging out Bishop Kenny High School with a score of 32 points. The girls leading the pack for PVHS were junior, Daisy Ross, who came out with the overall win and a time of 19:18, senior, Lindy White and senior, Hilaree Vega came in second and third overall with solid times of 19:27 and 19:28. Junior, Sofia Bushkell and sophomore, Ella McGowan came in a couple minutes later to round out the top five runners for PVHS and solidified a win in the first varsity meet of the season. 

     The PVHS boys had a solid first varsity meet as well, coming second place to Nease High School with a score of 43 points. Davis Brown, a senior at PVHS stated, “We are building, and it was just the start to the best Ponte Vedra Cross Country season in history.” The new kids on the block were leading the charge for PVHS, sophomore, Miles Wicks and freshman, Luke Ross came in 17:00 and 17:02, which placed them number six and seven overall in this strong field. The next athletes that came in for the sharks were senior, Davis Brown, junior, Tanner Andrade-Brinsko and senior, Richard “Ricky” Circelli, who all rounded out the top five for PVHS and secured them a second-place finish.

     On Sep. 16, PVHS went back out for their second varsity meet of the 2023 season at the Katie Caples Invitational, hosted by Bishop Kenny High School. 

     The PVHS girls had a strong meet, coming in second place to the home team BKHS with a score of 82 points. The individual leading the charge for PVHS was senior, Lindy White, who placed second overall with a time of 18:48, rounding out the top three for the sharks were junior, Daisy ross and senior, Hilaree Vega who came in fifth and sixth overall in this meet out of 165 athletes.      The PVHS boys also had a successful meet, placing seventh among this strong field of racers. The sophomore prodigy, Miles Wicks had himself another impressive run, clocking a time of 16:25, placing 11overall out of 161 runners and first overall for sophomores. To round out the top three for PVHS, senior Davis Brown had himself another solid race, placing 22 with a time of 16:45 and freshman, Luke Ross, is put on an impressive freshman campaign, coming through with a 16:59 and placed first for all freshmen in the field

Pictured: Luke Ross (9) turning the corner on the first turn of the Katie Caples Classic