Alyssa Fletcher helped spearhead a sweep by the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School girls cross country team at the 22nd annual Bofshever/Northwest Community Cross Country Classic at Tradewinds Park in Coconut Creek.
Fletcher, 17, a senior, ran a winning time of 21:28.80 over the 5K layout and won by 42 seconds over freshman teammate Michele Berndt, who clocked a 22:10.59.
“My mentality going into any race is, ‘I got this,” Fletcher said. “I wanted to cross the finish line knowing that I gave it my all and I had nothing left, and I did that today. My PR (personal best time) is 20:03, so in the back of my head, I am always thinking about beating my PR, but the goal is to move up my season PR and ultimately I will reach my end goal.”
Her time in the meet was just one second off her season-best time of 21:27.
“I felt good,” Fletcher said. “I was worried about the heat and once I stopped thinking about the heat I was able to feel good and just ran the race.”
Fletcher began running cross country when she was a freshman to train for other sports. She said she is applying to schools both in and out of the state.
“When I first started running, it was to physically train for other sports,” said Fletcher, of Parkland, who won the event that began in 1996. “Now, I do it because it is a positive team environment to be a part of. Everyone is really nice and it is an awesome mentality of relieving stress and bringing out the competitive side of me to do the best I could.
“I take hard courses and I get a lot of homework,” Fletcher said. “Running is a way not to think about anything, just focus on yourself and your own mindset to improve your time. You are also around people who support you throughout the process.”
Some runners will do training runs and listen to music, but Fletcher said when she began she was taught to train without music.
“Normally, when I practice on my own, I never listen to music,” she said. “I learned to just take in nature and focus on your mentality because listening to music takes away from thinking about what your ultimate goal is.”
Douglas placed six girls in the top 10, including seniors Gabriella Rumasuglia (third, 22:44.43), Jesika van Welie (fourth, 22:53.76) and Kayla Sanseverino (fifth, 22:58.42). The Eagles’ Ariana Perez, a freshman, was ninth in 24:23.25.
Stoneman Douglas finished with 15 points as a team to defeat Coral Springs Charter and Coral Springs High schools, which finished with 54 and 63 points, respectively.
Coral Springs Charter placed two girls in the top 10, including eighth-grader Mya Berndt (sixth, 23:12.23) and freshman Katie Foster (10th, 24:55.42). Coral Springs High’s Yasmeen Hammad (seventh, 23:13.11) and Monarch High School sophomore Isabella Hanna (eighth, 23:15.84) rounded out the top-10 finishers for the girls’ competition.
The boys’ race was close with just four seconds separating the top three runners. Coral Springs High School senior Isaac Louigene won with a time of 18:00.67. Douglas High School senior Josh Charo (18:02.56) was second, while Coral Glades senior Enrique Lara (18:04.51) was third.
“They were right on my tail throughout the entire race,” said Louigene, 17, of Coral Springs. “Every time I would pick up they would do the same thing, and during the last mile, it was me, Coral Glades and Douglas; it came down to a kick between the three of us but I was pushing very hard and I won.
“I was confident on winning the race and my plan was to lead the race from the start,” said Louigene, whose goals for the season include making it to the state meet and running a “low 16 (-minute) 5K. “Winning with that time showed me that I have a lot of work to do. I am going to slowly increase my mileage and train at a faster pace while getting more rest.”
The Douglas boys cross country also won the boys title that featured athletes from Coral Springs, Monarch, Taravella, Coral Springs Charter, Coral Glades, and Coconut Creek high schools. The Eagles wound up with 31 points, while Coral Glades was second with 60. Monarch (87), Coral Springs (93), Coral Springs Charter (102), Coconut Creek (162) and Taravella (172) rounded out the other boys’ teams that scored in the meet.
Other boys who finished in the top-10 included Douglas senior Austin Freese (4th, 18:22.66), Coral Glades senior Joseph Closs (5th, 18:57.87), Coral Springs High junior Braxton Patterson (6th, 19:09.67), Douglas junior Jorge Zapata (7th, 19:15.02), Douglas sophomore Alexander Miller (8th, 19:23.91), Coconut Creek senior Godknow Pierre (9th, 19:53.61) and Douglas junior Leo Scopino (19:54.64).
