Lady Mustangs take home hardware

LAKEWOOD RANCH — The Lakewood Ranch High girls 3,200-meter relay team appeared on the verge of finally capturing an elusive state championship.

The Lady Mustangs had opened up a sizeable lead on Pensacola Pine Forrest.

But with 200 meters to go in the final lap, elation turned into emotion for anchor Kristin Zarrella, whose legs began to cramp up.

Zarrella continued to push on before her legs finally gave out with about 50 meters to go. As she fell to the track, Zarrella watched Pine Forrest anchor Darroneshia Lott pass by, taking first place along with her.

But rather than letting her pain and disappointment get the best of her, Zarrella got up and pushed on, managing to cross the finish line ahead of the other six runners at the Class 3A state track and field meet May 6 in Winter Park.

“I was completely amazed at my teammates’ support,” Zarrella said. “It meant the world to me that they were 100% there for me in one of the hardest times I’ve ever been through.”

It was not the ending the Lady Mustang foursome of Zarrella, Olivia Ortiz, Devin McDermott and Ashley Platt had envisioned. The quartet had to settle for second place; but in doing so, the girls smashed their previous school record by nine seconds, finishing in 9 minutes, 22.6 seconds.

Lakewood also improved upon last year’s third-place finish. Ortiz led off the relay and by the end of her second lap, the Lady Mustangs were in control. Platt ran the second leg for Michelle Last, who replaced an injured Natalie Novak, and increased the lead. McDermott maintained the lead before handing over the baton to Zarrella, who ran her first lap in an almost unheard of 63 seconds.

“I believe that God had a plan for this team all along,” McDermott said. “I feel that it’s the heart and persistence that kept us going and that will continue to get us through whatever we have to overcome as a team next year.”

After finishing second in the relay, Zarrella, Ortiz and McDermott all moved on to their individual events.
Zarrella, who had the fastest qualifying time (2:14.80) heading into the 800, took the lead after the first lap but was unable to maintain her pace after her legs once again began to cramp up. Zarrella slowed down with about 100 meters to go as a precaution.

“It’s a disappointment going from last week’s PR to this weeks mishap,” Zarrella said. “I definitely counted on contending for the state championship title. It’s extremely hard to think about what happened, but I believe that everything happens for a reason.”

Ortiz also entered with the top qualifying times in both the 1,600 and 3,200. And although she didn’t cross the finish line first, Ortiz set personal bests in both events — 4:58.48 in the 1,600 and 11:03.97 in the 3,200 —  and won two third-place medals.

“It’s her will to win that I believe makes her so dominant,” distance coach George Dabbiero said of Ortiz.
McDermott finished eighth in the 3,200 (11:19.49).

“My goals for the 3,200 were to place in the top eight and improve my time, and I’m so blessed that I was able to accomplish that,” McDermott said.

Lakewood finished with 21 points to finish in eighth place as a team.

“So many times the state championship has been calling our names and we yearn for it so badly, so that motivates us to be the best we can be,” Zarrella said.

Contact Jen Blanco at [email protected].

ODA’s Ragone, Young earn state medals
After learning he was ranked eighth in the 300-meter hurdles, The Out-of-Door Academy junior Brian Ragone had one goal in mind heading into the Class 1A state track and field meet April 29 — to place higher.

And for Ragone, it was a goal he deemed as nothing short of doable.

“As the eighth seed, it would’ve only taken one person to knock me out of the finals, but I felt confident that running with some of the fastest kids in the state would instinctively make me run faster,” Ragone said.
Ragone finished fourth at the state meet in 40.61 seconds.

“The most difficult aspect of competing at the state meet is definitely trying to accept the fact that everyone around you is just as fast, just as athletic, and just as well-coached as you are,” Ragone said.

Ragone wasn’t the only member of the Thunder boys track team to earn a medal at the state meet. Jeff Young finished seventh in the 800 in 2:00.68.

Braden River pole-vaulter Jillian Koenig finished 13th in Class 3A with her jump of 9 feet, 6 inches.