The Quarter

Lee County high school cross country has rolled through a quarter of the season and the surprise thus far are there are no major surprises.   

Girls are ruling the scene this fall.  A quartet of girls stand out far above the roster of runners.  MacKenzie De Lisle of Bishop Verot and Riverdale's Ansley Kelly are at the tip top of Southwest Florida cross country and are among the best girls in the entire state.

De Lisle has joined a handful of girls who have broken 18 minutes for a cross country 5K in county history.  It wouldn't be surprising to see Kelly joins De Lisle in that select group before seasons end.

Gianna Del Pizzo of Lehigh and Jazlyn Forbes of Oasis are both having strong starts to their seasons as well.  This weekend's meet at North Port will be the first time when these four runners will face off, assuming they all run in the elite division.

As for the best girls team in the county, Bishop Verot remains the gold standard for the second year in a row.  Coach Tyler Stowell has put together a team that could be a real powerhouse in another year.

Fort Myers remains the team to beat on the boys side.  Troy Britton has stepped in as a solid third man for a team that boasts two of the top runners in the area, Jojo Koraya and Junior Allard.  But for the Green Wave to climb the podium again at State senior Keaton Roberts needs to step it up.

We were remiss in not mention SFCA's boys in our last blog.  The Kings are a tough squad despite the loss of Hayden Tank.  Jack Gifford leads a squad that could make another run to State.

The same can be said about the boy's team at Bishop Verot. Juniors Andrew Marino and Zach Zielke lead a Viking squad that should find itself in Tallassee for State.