VHS boys finish 2nd at Lake-Sumter cross-country championship

By KEITH PEARLMAN, DAILY SUN

Friday, October 30, 2009 12:28 AM EDT

MOUNT DORA — The members of The Villages High school cross-country teams are not particularly fond of running at Mount Dora Bible.

But the VHS boys team found the course more to its liking on Thursday at the Lake-Sumter championship meet. The Buffalo boys, in their third meet at MDB this season, turned in their best showing at the annual meet by finishing in second place.

Mount Dora won the boys championship with 68 points, while the Buffalo finished with 86 team points.

The course did take its toll on the Buffalo however.

James Galusha had two falls, but still managed to finish 10th in 19:34 to lead the way for VHS.

Jake Falcon pulled up at the finish line with what VHS boys head coach Keith Baumann said appeared to be a strained quadriceps muscle.

“It looks like we suffered a few casualties today,” Baumann said. “But we still managed to have three kids run sub-20 (minutes). This is always the toughest course we run. There’s the hills and there’s a lot of roots in the wooded areas. We always feel if we can survive this course, everywhere else becomes easier.”

Galusha, who was covered with dirt nearly from head to toe after the race, admitted the course got the better of him Thursday.

“I took a beating out there today,” Galusha said. “The first time I fell, I accidentally cut off a kid and he clipped my ankle from behind and we both went down. Then as you approach one of the big downhill areas you have a 90-degree turn and a 60-degree slope and I just caught a root and slid all the way down.”

Galusha was one of three VHS boys to earn all-county honors. Justin Hall finished 13th in 19:47 with Tim Rohan right behind in 14th place in 19:52. The top 14 runners are designated as all-county performers.

Jovani Cintron (20:26), Tyler DeSantis (21:06), Falcon (21:13) and Austin Sullivan (21:44) also ran strong for the Buffalo.

Blaine Ramsdell of host Mount Dora Bible was the boys winner in 17:56.

The boys were fortunate to run in better conditions as the skies became overcast before their race started.

The girls were not as lucky. Running under the blazing sun, the heat added another element of difficulty to the course.

The Villages girls finished in eighth place in the team standings with 178 points.

Haley Laufersky and Kelsey Harris led the way for the Buffalo, finishing in 29th and 30th place, respectively. Both Laufersky (27:33) and Harris (27:34) turned in personal best times at the MDB course.

VHS girls head coach Kristan Liner said she was pleased with the effort from the girls.

“Our girls are tough,” Liner said. “Yes, it’s hot out here. But we’ve been running in the heat all season. They have learned not to get fixated on that. We were honestly more worried about the hills on the course, but we still had girls set (personal records) here.”

Aubrey Yoder (28:04), Jordan Baker (28:20), Kyleigh Smith (31:22) and Kaitlyn Steepy (31:52) also ran for the Buffalo.

South Lake won the girls team championship with 44 points. Ciara Hopkins, of Montverde Academy, was the girls individual winner, finishing in 21:19.

VHS has a little more than a week to prepare for the Class A-District 3 championship meet Nov. 7 at Winter Park Trinity Prep.