Seeking an opportunity to race against some Class 4A state rivals, the East Ridge Knights traveled to Jacksonville to compete in the Fall Spectacular held at New World Sports Complex.

East Ridge is no stranger to New World, as they have now competed at this venue five times in the last three seasons. New World presented a flat and fast course while October in northern Florida presented crisp fall temperatures. Couple those things with state level competition and you get some fantastic performances.

At New World, results for the Knights produced one current season second best performance, two current season best performances, and six career personal best performances!

348 total girls and forty complete teams competed Saturday morning in the New World Fall Spectacular. The elite girls race went off at 7:30 AM.

The first Knight to come across the finish line was senior Rhyen Foley.  Rhyen, who is continuing to work hard to regain her leg strength and her conditioning, led her team with a 19:06 performance. This was a near 45 second improvement from her performance at the Cecil Field Summer Classic in August at New World.

This was Rhyen’s second fastest performance of the current season and is now the seventh fastest result clocked at New World by a Knight. She will continue to prepare herself over the next few weeks in an effort to have her best performances late in the season.

The second Knight through the chute was junior Jessie Volz. Jessie, last season’s recipient of the team’s most improved award, decided that she was due for even more improvement this season. New World presented itself to be her opportunity, as she rounded the first loop of the course in close proximity to Rhyen. Jessie trusted her training and conditioning, and pushed herself to race at a faster pace than she had been used to previously. She retained her pace, as she completed the second loop, and charged the long straightaway to the finish line.

Jessie finished in an impressive 19:28. This was a near two minute improvement from her performance at New World last season. She is now just the sixth girl to break the elusive 20:00 5K finish. Her performance on Saturday has made her the fourth fastest girl in the school’s twenty-four year history.

The third Knight to finish was senior Veronica Peterson. Veronica, also one of East Ridge’s most decorated runners in the school’s history, pushed to a season best performance at New World. She finished in a time of 19:43, which was a near forty second improvement from her performance at the Cecil Field Summer Classic in August earlier this season.

Up next was East Ridge’s talented pack of runners who have been the bane for many opponents’ this season. Leading the pack was freshman Hortance Sallault, who pushed herself to a new career personal best performance when she clocked a 20:01 finish time at New World. Hortance’s performance on Saturday was more than a minute improvement from her performance at Cecil Field earlier in the season. Her performance also made her the eighth fastest girl in the school’s history.

Rushing the finish line in close proximity to Sallault was junior Taylor Walker. Taylor rounded out the Knights’ scoring positions by clocking a 20:05 finish time. This was Taylor’s new career personal best performance and she improved on her time at New World last season by nearly thirty seconds.