Melbourne HS cross country team continuing strong season
MELBOURNE, Fla. — The Melbourne High School Cross Country team, coached by Renee Clary and Ron Bowen has been pushing the early mornings and long miles to improve their team鈥檚 overall performance. Over the past 4 years they have been developing a progressive program for the boys and girls. Melbourne has now advanced BOTH teams to the State Championships since 2009, under the training of Coach Woodbury. This new Bulldog team has committed to getting back to the State level once again!
Beachside and Downtown residents can see these athletes out logging in the long miles every day. They worked hard conditioning 7 days a week beginning in the summer to build a base for the start of the season. As with all fall sports the cross-country season opened before the school year began. Their first race of the season was the Wickham Park Jamboree hosted by the running community鈥檚 well-known Doug Butler. This race kicked off the season with nearly every school in Brevard County and many neighboring county schools all coming together to strut their stuff. Melbourne performed well against the locals with their best finish in years: 2nd place Girls and 3rd place Boys.
The girls continued their strong pursuit with a win at the District Championship on October 22nd with the best race of their season. The girls dominated that event right from the starting line. All 8 girls, Aubrey Orcutt, Caroline Bergstrom, Hannah Harris, Katelyn Apotsos, Sarah Harper, Bryce Travers, Emma Hanus, and alternate Lauren Deal ran personal bests and surprised the field of contenders with a clear victory in an extremely competitive district. The team faced an even broader scope of talent in Boca Raton on October 28th for the Regional competition and won a 3rd place finish. The boys, Jaiden Martingano, Trent Riley, Jackson Wangensteen, Chase Riley, Wesley Knoblock, Devin Snyder, Isaiah Turner, and alternate Adryan Harper also took 3rd at District and 3rd at Regionals.
After thousands of miles and years of training, the whole team of boys and girls accomplished exactly what they had committed to doing; they advanced Back-to-Back to the State Championship races! On November 5, 2022, on the hilly trails of the Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, the boys team stayed steady with a 17th place finish, just as they had done in 2021. The girls team improved from 24th place in 2021 to a 10th place finish this year! This group of talented young women set their goal high and committed to becoming a TOP TEN team way back at the beginning of summer and they stayed true to their training and saw their dream become a reality.
The team is once again recognized in the competitive community as a state-level team and these runners have earned respect in the cross-country world.
The team will run one more race this season in North Carolina before they start conditioning for the outdoor track season. The athletes will all be competing on the many new Brevard County high school tracks with race distances of 800m, 1600m and 3200m. Mel Hi will surely continue their developing success as they take on those shorter but faster distances.
Good luck to the Bulldog runners as they continue to improve their training, build their program and climb their way back up to the State Championship Podium.
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