Miles of dedication lead to Sailor perfection

+Seffner Christian Invitational Results 

Sarasota Girls: first place overall with 49 points 

Sage Lyons (3rd, 20:18.60)

Allison Wright (7th, 20:37.40)

Mackenzie Brown (10th, 20:48.50)

Hadleigh Schwartz (19th, 21:22.00)

Sophie Williamson (29th, 22:05.90)

Tania Vasques (35th, 22:14.20)

Morgan Holmes (47th, 22:40.60) 

Sarasota Boys: first place overall with 53 points 

Adam Bradtmueller (1st, 15:54.10)

Brady Hill (10th, 17:21.20)

Jordan Gonzalez (12th, 17:23.10)

Cesar Pozas (19th, 17:56.60)

Tony Wachira (21st, 18:00.40)

Renier Escalona-diaz (35th, 18:26.60)

Ivan Plancarte (51st, 18:57.40) 

SARASOTA — Mackenzie Brown finds strength in her teammates’ motivation. 

As she sets off around the cross-country course, the Sarasota High junior relies on each one of her teammates for guidance. 

They are there to push one another and to pace one another. 

For the first mile of the 3.1-mile course, Lady Sailors remain in a tight pack, slowly dropping time while letting the competition begin to wear itself out. 

Over the next 2.1 miles, Brown and her teammates work off of one another, continually encouraging one another to pick up the pace until they’re in position to strike heading down the home stretch. 

“We try to block people in,” Brown says. “We are very strategic that first mile.” 

The Lady Sailors' strategy coupled with their offseason dedication have allowed them to find success early on this season. 

Sarasota has won all three of its meets so far, including the Lemon Bay Invitational Aug. 29, the Wiregrass Ranch Run with the Bulls Sept. 5 and, most recently, Saturday’s Seffner Christian Invitational, at Holloway Park, in Lakeland. 

The Lady Sailors scored 49 points to win the girls varsity elite division, finishing 15 points ahead of second-place Wharton. Junior Sage Lyons finished third overall in 20 minutes, 18.60 seconds to lead the way for Sarasota. 

On the other side of the course, the Sarasota boys cross-country team also is undefeated through the first three meets of the season. The boys scored 53 points to finish well ahead of HB Plant (75) in the boys varsity elite division. 

“They’re competitive by nature and like to compete with each other,” coach John Stevenson says. “They know that if they are the weakest link of the team, they are going to hear about it." 

Senior Adam Bradtmueller, whose junior season was hindered by a stress fracture, led the way for the Sailors, crossing the finish line first overall in 15:54.10. Bradtmueller won his third race of the season while setting a new season best time along the way. 

“It’s very relieving,” Bradtmueller says of being healthy again. “Last year, I expected it to be a very big season, but with the stress fracture that didn’t happen. I’m just looking to pick up where I was last year and achieve those goals that I set for myself and hopefully even beyond.” 

Although Sarasota boasts both talent and experience, the team’s success is due in large part to their offseason dedication. 

For 10 weeks over the summer, the boys and girls cross-country teams participated in offseason workouts, building strength and stamina in preparation for the season.

Every member of the team ran between 350 and 400 miles over the summer with Bradtmueller averaging the most at about 50 miles a week. Some weeks, he would run as much as 60 miles.  

“They came in really fit with a lot of miles on their legs, which has translated to good early season times,” Stevenson says.

Spending so much time together over the summer allowed the runners to bond and strengthened their team chemistry, which has helped power them through the first month of the season. 

“When you’re having fun, building relationships and focused on working hard for each other, that translates to team success,” Bradtmueller says. 

Sarasota is scheduled to compete in five additional meets, including this Saturday’s North Port XC Invitational, as well as the prestigious UF Mt. Dew Invitational and the FSU Invitational (Pre-State), before the Class 4A-District 8 meet Oct. 24. 

The boys and girls teams both have aspirations of returning to the state meet and improving upon last season’s performances in which the girls finished fourth and the boys finished eighth in Class 3A. 

“Our No. 1 goal is to get to the state meet healthy and to be ready to compete against the best in the state,” Stevenson says. 

“We’re definitely talented enough to get to the state meet,” Bradtmueller says. “We just have to keep our focus up and just continue to run our best races, and I think we could quite possibly do some damage.” 

Contact Jen Blanco at [email protected].