Thunder hosts first district meet

LAKEWOOD RANCH — At this time last year, the thought of running cross country was the furthest thing from The Out-of-Door Academy sophomore Jordy Moran’s mind.

But after playing tennis for the Thunder this past spring, Moran decided to join the cross country team as a way to build his endurance for the upcoming tennis season. Now three months later, Moran is one of the top runners on ODA’s boys cross country team.

“I decided to do cross country to benefit my endurance for tennis, and I found out I was good at it,” Moran said. “Coach (Joe Runge) says I have a natural stride, and I just kept getting better.”

On Nov. 4, Moran helped lead the Thunder to a fifth-place finish at the Class 1A-District 6 Cross Country Meet, which was held on ODA’s campus for the first time. The familiar terrain proved to be beneficial for the Thunder, who battled inclement weather throughout the 3.1-mile race.

Freshman Peter Runge led the way for ODA, finishing ninth in 18:02.38. Moran finished 22nd in 18:53.35 followed by Zach Lang (24th) in 19:00.25; Taitum Lystad (30th) in 19:22.07; Joshua Lovin (32nd) in 19:25.37; Joshua Kennon (39th) in 20:13.89 and Mitchell Hudson (41st) in 20:21.46.

“I think we did pretty well (because) our district is bigger and more competitive this year,” Runge said. “(Because) it was our own course we knew the terrain better. We knew everyone else was in the same conditions, so we weren’t completely worried about the weather at the time.”

With their fifth-place finish, the Thunder also earned a spot in the Class 1A-Region 3 Cross Country Meet Nov. 12 at Estero Community Park in Estero.

“Our team strength is finally figuring out how to train and run together as a team,” coach Joe Runge said. “Cross country is not always about fast times. … Each course is radically different from one another, but being able to clump your runners to finish close to one another. Previously, our runners were too spread out on the race course, which cost us too many points in previous meets.”

This year marked the first year the Thunder hosted the district meet. After seeing the completion of their new track and athletic facilities earlier this year, ODA hosted its first invitational — the ODA Invitational — Oct. 16 where both the boys and girls teams finished as the runner-up to Lemon Bay.

The ability to train on its own track has allowed ODA to develop both physically and mentally for the season. This season, ODA has increased the intensity of its workouts, including adding 400-, 800- and-1600-meter interval circuits.

“Being able to host an invitational and the district meet is obviously an advantage for our runners,” Joe Runge said. “They know the course exceptionally well — areas that are fast, slow, or where the acute angles of the turf are.

“Also, being able to train on the new track has afforded the team exact distance speed workouts to supplement the road work,” he said. “We previously did not have a facility and we used to run around the campus lake, through the football field and around the softball stadium.  It was at the very best inaccurate and at the very worst confusing.”

The hard work has paid off for the Thunder, as the team is having its best season in school history. With a team comprised of veteran athletes — many of which have been running together since seventh grade — ODA has its sights set on advancing to the state meet. Last season, Peter Runge advanced individually, but this season he is hoping to get back to the state meet with his whole team.

“It would be great if the whole team can move on to states,” Peter Runge said. “I think it would be in everyone’s best interest.”

So what does the Thunder have to do to get there? The answer is simple. Train harder than their competition.

“We need to train harder than the people that are going to states,” Peter Runge said. “We need to keep the mentality of ‘What are they doing right now?’ and train harder than them.”

“These are our last practices of the season, and everything has lead up to this race,” Moran said.

Contact Jen Blanco at [email protected].

+ Lady Thunder finishes eighth
The Out-of-Door Academy girls cross country team scored 183 points to finish eighth at the Class 1A-District 6 Cross Country Meet Nov. 4.

Sophomore Caitlyn Durfee led the way for the Lady Thunder, finishing 24th in 23:08.89. Juliet Onufrak finished 27th with a time of 23:18.33 followed by Alyssa Mason (39th) in 24:13.06; Julia Bellanger (46th) in 25:07.53; and Sarah Balades (58th) in 27:49.27.