Moving on

LAKEWOOD RANCH — Ande McDonald is in an undoubtedly perfect predicament.

The Lakewood Ranch High sophomore will be vying for not one but two state championships this week. In addition to representing the Mustangs at the Class 3A Cross-Country State Championships Nov. 15, McDonald, who is a libero for Lakewood’s volleyball team, will be competing in the Final Four Nov. 14.

McDonald will begin her state championship run in the volleyball state semifinals, in Kissimmee. She then plans to travel to Tallahassee where she’ll meet up with her cross-country teammates for her final 5K of the season. And, of course, there’s always the chance McDonald will need to be back in Kissimmee later that day to play for the volleyball state championship.

McDonald is the only member of Lakewood’s cross-country team to play two sports in the same season. She made the decision to run cross-country in addition to playing volleyball, her main sport, last season, but at the time she didn’t fully grasp what she was getting herself into.

McDonald goes to volleyball practice every day after school and then goes out to meet up with the cross-country team or to complete her own cross-country workout.

“I want to say it’s fun, but it’s really difficult,” McDonald says. “It’s worth it, though, because people are starting to recognize me for what I’m doing. It makes me feel good when I’m winning races or volleyball games.”

In her second cross-country season, McDonald has developed into her own and has since become Lakewood’s No. 1 runner. McDonald finished fifth at the Class 3A-District 10 meet Oct. 30, finishing in a new personal best time of 19 minutes, 58.30 seconds to lead the Lady Mustangs to a district runner-up title.

McDonald followed up her performance with a 15th place finish (21:05.60) at the Class 3A-Region 3 meet Nov. 7, in Estero, to lead Lakewood to a third place overall finish and a berth in the Class 3A Cross-Country State Championships.

Freshmen teammates Sarah Fazio and MacKenzie Malone finished 20th in 21:13.10 and 21st in 21:14.40, respectively. Freshman Shay Lee was 39th (22:13.80), while freshman Emma Fazio was 41st (22:15.20).

“This season has gone really well,” McDonald says. “We have five freshmen on varsity, who all run close to each other. We’re a really young team, so we’re going to be good for a while.”

This weekend will mark McDonald’s first appearance in the cross-country state championships after being unable to attend last season because of volleyball.

“I think we can place pretty high,” McDonald says. “All the freshmen keep getting better. They are posting better times and running faster than I was last year as a freshman, and I thought I was running fast.”

Lakewood’s boys cross-country team also earned a berth in state championships after finishing fourth at the regional meet.

Freshman Kyle Wray led the way for the Mustangs, finishing 11th in 17:33.90. Sophomore John Rivera was 12th in 17:34.80, followed by senior Read Corley (24th, 18:12.20), sophomore Brice Easton (37th, 18:39.20) and senior George Dabbiero (43rd, 18:45.70).

“Getting to states was a big goal for us,” Wray says.

Wray, Lakewood’s No. 1 runner, may only be in his first season with the Mustangs, but he’s no stranger to the team.

Wray has been a fixture at Lakewood cross-country meets ever since he was 7 years old. Having grown up watching his two older sisters compete in the sport, Wray eagerly anticipated the day when he, too, would be able to don a Lakewood cross-country uniform.

With each passing season, the Mustangs coaches would ask Wray how long until he would be joining the team.

“I knew one day I wanted to be the guy running out there,” Wray says. “The state meet is amazing. To be able to run at a meet that’s so big and hard, how could you not want to run in a meet like that?

“It’s been really exciting to finally put on a Lakewood Ranch uniform and not just be out there watching the guys and wanting to run,” Wray says.

Wray didn’t know what to expect coming into this season, but with the guidance of his teammates, he’s been able to get his time down to 16:30 and is seeking to break 16 minutes at the state meet.

Although, more importantly, Wray is looking to help lead Lakewood to its best finish to date.

“We’ve never finished ranked higher than 10th,” Wray says. “We want to be the first guys team to finish in the top 10 in the state.”

Contact Jen Blanco at [email protected].