Charter School cross country ends on strong footing

Photo by ROGER LALONDE

Patty Poling Special to the Eagle The stress at the start of the race shows on the girls, most of them Marco Island Charter Middle School girls on the left, as they wait for the starting judge on the left. The Celtic Invitational at St. John Neumann brought together a number of top cross country programs. The Charter School girls finished second, just two points behind Canterbury School of Fort Myers.

Photo by ROGER LALONDE

Patty Poling Special to the Eagle Charter School's Kole Bartos chases a runner as he finished 11th in the Celtic Invitational.

Photo by ROGER LALONDE

Patty Poling Special to the Eagle Charter School runners keep pace in the Celtic Invitational. Emma Fernandez,left, Juila Cartwright, middle, and Hannah Hegarty, finished in the top 12 as the team came in second.

Photo by ROGER LALONDE

Patty Poling Special to the Eagle Charter School's Santiago Ruiz charges around the Celtic Invitational course, finishing 15th and helping his team to a second-place finish.

The cross country season ended for the Marco Island Charter Middle School with a strong showing at the Celtic Invitational at St. John Neumann High School last week.

In a very competitive meet, the girls finished just two points out of first to Canterbury School in Fort Myers.

The boys came in second to Belen Jesuit Preparatory of Miami, which turned in an outstanding score of 22, with all seven runners in the top 10.

Rosie Poling finished the season the way she started, winning the event in a course record 12:28 for the two-mile run, one minute, 20 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher. The top six runners were in the top 12.

Madison Bonfitto raced to seventh, Julia Cartwright, eighth, Emma Fernandez, 10th, Kelsey Halaschak, 11th, and Hannah Hegarty, 12th.

Those six, along with Adrianna Marroquin, have qualified to run in the Florida State Middle School Championships at Lakeland on Saturday. A year ago an experienced team finished seventh. This year there are no eighth graders.

“It will be a field stocked with outstanding runners,” coach Roger Raymond said. “It will be a challennge for the girls and a great experience.”

At the Celtic Invitational Josh Wagner continued his good running, finishing second in a boys school record 11:48.

Kole Bartos ran strong, finishing 11th, followed by Santiago Ruiz, 15th, Kyle Bartos, 17th, Cody Demalavez, 21st and Andrew Sprankle, 24th.

Raymond looks forward to next year when the boys and girls teams return all runners.