Lady Mustangs win North Port meet

The Lakewood Ranch High School girls cross country team took first place out of 15 schools at the North Port Invitational Sept. 25.

Five Lady Mustangs placed in the top 10 during the meet: Olivia Ortiz earned third (18:59), Kristin Zarella fourth (19:01), Natalie Novak fifth (19:37), Devin McDermott sixth (19:39) and Ashley Platt eighth (20:22). Emily Perez placed 22nd (22:10).

Ortiz, Zarrella, Novak and McDermott all ran National Elite times.

The team will return to action at the Flrunners.com Invitaional Oct. 2 in Titusville.

The Lakewood boys varsity team finished in seventh place with 199 points. Top finishers for the Mustangs included Evan Dipsiner (24th place, 18:10), Luke Moeckle (50th place, 18:29), Quintin Wampler (51st place, 19:21) and Mitch Arnold (55th place, 19:23).

The JV boys, led by Chris Branch and Ben Comes earned second place.