DANE FUELLING
WZBD.com
The first girls’ cross country meet of the season for the Heritage Patriots ended with a third-place finish in a field of five teams, but more importantly, the team ran with a full stable of seven runners for the first time in years when they ran their first 5K at Northfield Monday.
The meet, which was originally scheduled for Saturday but was rained out, was a rare Monday evening run, but the Patriots showed just how much better they will be in 2025 than they were in 2024 with their finishes.
Rosalinda Medina and Emily High fought for the top finishing spot for the team, with Medina’s experience winning out. Her improvement over the last 12 months is noticeable. Medina began last season with a time over 27 minutes. When she crossed the line in fourth Monday, she was clocked at 24:26.
High finished two placement spots and 29 seconds behind Medina. Her time of 24:55 was not reached last season until Mid-October.
The meet was also the first high school 5K for new runners Ava Gerber, Audrey Meyer, Addison Smith and Addie Bacon.
The Patriots will be back in action on a normal Saturday when they run at the South Side Invite in Fort Wayne in a much bigger meet than Monday’s five-team field.
Team Scores: 1st-Southwood 27; 2nd-Wabash 43; 3rd-Heritage 50; 4th-Northfield; 5th-Bishop Luers
Top Five Individuals
1st-Kaleigh Rice-Northfield 22:46.14
2nd-Paige Nelson-Southwood 23:50.24
3rd-Hailey Collins-Southwood 23:54.14
4th-Andrea Wideman-Southwood 24:22.14
5th-Rosalinda Medina-Heritage 24:26.12
Heritage Times: Rosalinda Medina 24:26.12; Emily High 24:55.48; Elise Hissong 28:28.85; Ava Gerber 30:46.44; Audrey Meyer 31:37.08; Addison Smith 32:02.43; Addie Bacon 32:59.23
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