Mantecon, Cruz Finish 1-2 At Florida Horse Park Invitational; Annabella Tomasic Smashes Course Record To Claim Girls Title
By Ricky Quintana for DyeStat
Photo courtesy of Belen Jesuit Cross Country
OCALA, Fla. – Belen Jesuit claimed its second title of the season with a team low of 39 points as junior Marcelo Mantecon and teammate Armando Cruz went 1-2 for the second meet in a row at the Florida Horse Park Invitational Saturday morning.
“I think the guys showed up today. Cecil (first meet of the season), there was a lot of rust in there,” said Belen Head Coach Frankie Ruiz. “We saw it during the summer, but they didn’t quite understand what fitness they had.”
Everyone in the boys race was expecting a torrid pace from the Wolverines’ Mantecon and Cruz, but the pack stayed together as those two were talking and encouraging their teammates through the 2-kilometer mark.
“We talked about it as a team, and we executed it in the race,” said Mantecon of Belen’s strategy. “I’m really happy.”
Mantecon’s splits were revealing. He hit the 1k in 3:15, the mile in 5 minutes, and the 2k in 6:15 as the pack moved with him. The pace ramped up after 2k as he and Cruz went to the lead and began to press. Mantecon hit the two mile in 9:51, a 4:51 split, beginning to open a gap on Cruz to finish in 15:10.8. The time was just off his course record time of 15:06.6 set last year.
“I think my heart rate was higher than his and I was only running between spots to cheer on the team,” said Ruiz. “He is really fit right now and was talking throughout the race.”
Cruz finished second in 15:24.2. It was an improvement of 24.1 seconds over last year’s performance.
“He (Mantecon) went and I didn’t know he was going to go. I was behind this pack, so I had to go around them. I just went with him,” said Cruz. “I was expecting a lot more people to go with us, but at the two-mile mark, there was nobody there. I just did what I had to do for the team. Today was about place and not really about time.”
Belen’s Ruiz was happy with the performance. The 1-5 spread was 63 seconds, which was a minute improvement over Cecil Field Classic two weeks ago. Sophomore Nick Veloso improved 18 seconds to finish 11th, junior Jack Michalak competed finished 14th in 16:09.9 (he did not compete at Cecil Field), junior Davi Bodoh finished 17th in 16:13.7 to improve 16 seconds, and freshman David Jaramillo knocked off 37.3 seconds to finish 21st to round out the…
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