Horizon boys cross country leads area at regional meets

The Hawks' boys finished fourth at the 4A, Region 2 meet, the best finish of any area team, while Horizon girls runner Abigayle White finished an area-best fifth.

By Sam Albuquerque
| 7:00 a.m. November 11, 2024

Both Horizon High boys and girls cross country teams qualified for the Class 4A state championship meets.

Sports
High Schools

The Horizon High boys cross country team finished fourth overall in the FHSAA Class 4A, Region 2 championship meet at South County Regional Park in Boca Raton, the best finish of any West Orange and Southwest Orange County team across the different classifications, and qualified for the state championship meet in Tallahassee Saturday, Nov. 16. Foundation Academy was the only other area boys team to qualify for states, finishing fifth in the 1A, Region 2 meet at Holloway Park in Lakeland.

Hawks junior Jacob Finch was the area's top boys runner at regionals, finishing seventh with a time of 16:01.9. Finch narrowly edged out freshman teammate Maleik Lewis — who finished eighth after setting a personal best time of 16.02.7 — while West Orange High's Jaiden McKee rounded out the area's top three finishers, placing 15th at the regional meet.

Just as the boys did, only two girls teams from the area qualified for the state meets: Horizon, which was tops among area teams with a fifth-place finish and Windermere High, which finished just behind the Lady Hawks in sixth. Olympia High finished ninth, narrowly missing out on qualifying for states.

Leading the way individually for the area's girls was Horizon's Abigayle White, who set a new school record time of 18:40.2 — beating the previous record by 10 seconds — and placing fifth. Olympia's Emily Knopfle finished seventh with a time of 18:46.2, while her Titans' teammate Aubrey Frost finished ninth.

author

Sam Albuquerque

A native of João Pessoa, Brazil, Sam Albuquerque moved in 1997 to Central Florida as a kid. After earning a communications degree in 2016 from the University of Central Florida, he started his career covering sports as a producer for a local radio station, ESPN 580 Orlando. He went on to earn a master’s degree in editorial journalism from Northwestern University, before moving to South Carolina to cover local sports for the USA Today Network’s Spartanburg Herald-Journal. When he’s not working, you can find him spending time with his lovely wife, Sarah, newborn son, Noah, and dog named Skulí.