Rafaella Gibbons 40th, Avery Creek Falls Short Of Goal At NXN

Florida XC 2015: Nike Cross Nationals
Todd Grasley


(Photos by Travis Miller)

The 2015 Nike Cross Nationals didn't go quite as our Florida athletes had hoped. Two-time qualifier Rafaella Gibbons was 40th after finishing 27th last year and looking for All-American honors while the Avery Creek Running Club was aiming for a top ten finish and placed 22nd. No matter the outcome though we are proud of both for representing Florida on the national stage!

Girls Recap

Park XC Club (Winter Park) sophomore Rafaella Gibbons was the lone Florida girl in Portland. Gibbons, who is the only ever individual qualifier from the Sunshine State was making a return trip to the Pacific Northwest after finishing 27th in 2014. She moved up eight spots in the final mile of the race to place 40th in 18:03.90, more than 13 seconds faster than her 18:17.00 a year ago. It will be interesting to see if she continues to do NXN the next two years or switch it up and try her hand at the Foot Locker experience.


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Boys Recap


Our MileSplit team projected that Avery Creek Running Club (Trinity Prep) could be at the back of the team standings, but the boys were hoping for a top ten finish. If history was any indicator Florida teams don't fare well in Portland finishing in the bottom three all four times. Chas Cook and Trent Mandato were the top two runners for the team finishing 109th and 110th out of 200 runners with junior Patrick Salas (pictured below) as the squad's number three runner.

Their 16:36 team average and 1-5 split of 37 seconds is impressive, but wasn't a season best for the squad and against the nation's best teams everyone had to be on their "A" game. Avery Creek Running Club finished 22nd out of 22 teams in Portland where the temperature was a blistering 45 degrees and raining. Not ideal conditions for anyone where the same temperatures that day were in the mid 70's and sunny. The good news is that Coach Vinal and company lose only two seniors in Chas Cook and Jesse Millson and will have another strong team in 2016.


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