By Florida Catholic staff - Florida Catholic
Photographer: COURTESY | Victor Arrieta
Belen Jesuit Prep won its 14th overall championship, and sixth consecutive one, in the Class 3A division at the Florida High School Athletic Association's State Cross Country Championships, held Nov. 5, 2022 in Tallahassee.
Photographer: COURTESY | Victor Arrieta
Six Belen runners, in yellow, and St. Thomas Aquinas' Anthony Herrera (#1475) placed in the top 15 at the Boys' Class 3A Florida High School Athletic Association's State Cross Country Championships, held Nov. 5, 2022 in Tallahassee.
Photographer: COURTESY | Victor Arrieta
Runner Olivia Fraga, fifth from left, from Lourdes Academy stands next to St. Thomas Aquinas' Grace Finnerman (#1244) along with other top Class 3A finishers at the Florida High School Athletic Association's State Cross Country Championships, held Nov. 5, 2022 in Tallahassee.
Photographer: COURTESY | Victor Arrieta
St. Thomas Aquinas' Grace Finnerman (#1244) runs toward a fourth place finish in Class 3A at the Florida High School Athletic Association's State Cross Country Championships, held Nov. 5, 2022 in Tallahassee. Behind her is fifth place finisher Olivia Fraga (#1142) from Our Lady of Lourdes Academy in Miami.
Photographer: COURTESY | Victor Arrieta
Belen Jesuit Prep's Joshua Ruiz (#1280) runs toward a second place finish in Class 3A at the Florida High School Athletic Association's State Cross Country Championships, held Nov. 5, 2022 in Tallahassee.
TALLAHASSEE | Belen Jesuit continued its winning tradition in cross country, racking up its sixth consecutive state championship – something never done before – on the way to its record-breaking 14th title.
Belen won Nov. 5, 2022, the Florida High School Athletic Association’s Class 3A State Cross Country Championships, held at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, with a combined score of 34. The second-place team, Fort Myers, finished with a combined score of 125.
In cross country, the team receiving the lowest score wins. The first five runners from each team to cross the finish line receive the points that correspond to their place: one point for first, two points for second, etc.
Belen junior Joshua Ruiz came in second place with a time of 15 minutes 37 seconds in the 5,000-meter run. Sophomore Joseph Socarras (15:51) and eighth-grader Marcelo Mantecon (15:52) came in fifth and sixth, respectively, followed by junior Joseph Ruiz (16:05) in 11th place, senior Alec Torricella (16:12) in 12th, and junior Lucas Garcia (16:17) in 14th.
Belen’s coach is Frankie Ruiz (no relation to Joshua).
St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, which competes alongside Belen in Boys Class 3A, garnered a seventh place overall with a score of 274. Senior Anthony Herrera placed 10th, finishing the race in 15:59.
In Boys’ Class 4A, Christopher Columbus High School in Miami placed second statewide, with a score of 143 and a 17th-place finisher in Alejandro Romagosa, a junior who ran the race in 16:05.
Following a school-best second-place finish last year, the girls from St. Brendan High School in Miami placed third overall in their Class 2A division, scoring 164 points. Senior Emma Hencock came in fourth place in the 5,000-meter run.
Cardinal Gibbons’ girls, in the same division, wound up in 14th place overall. Senior Emily Baldwin was their top finisher, in 49th place with a time of 20:01.
In Girls’ Class 3A, St. Thomas Aquinas came in fifth overall with a score of 227. Sophomore Grace Finneran garnered an individual fourth place, finishing the race in 18:18.
Right behind her in fifth place, finishing at 18:20, was Our Lady of Lourdes Academy’s Olivia Fraga. The Miami high school came in seventh overall with a score of 270.
Photographer: COURTESY | Victor Arrieta
Christopher Columbus High School won seventh place in the Class 4A division at the Florida High School Athletic Association's State Cross Country Championships, held Nov. 5, 2022 in Tallahassee.
