With a new head coach and the departure of multiple key senior runners, the cross country team had a lot to adapt to in the offseason. With a strong regular season from the boys team, the squad secured themselves a ticket to the FHSAA Cross Country State Finals in Tallahassee.
In the end, the boys placed 26th out of 32 other schools in the tournament. While the placement may have not been ideal, take a minute to look at what the team went through.
After coaching for nearly four years in a Seahawks uniform, Head Coach Robert Berkey decided it was time to look for a change of scenery, taking his experience to Fort Myers High. It was well known that whoever took the spot of Berkey had huge holes to fill. Berkey brought his teams to nearly every single state competition and finished well in standings.
“I gotta give credit [to Berkey], he built a strong foundation for the team and he trained them very well,” said new Head Coach Christian Cabrera when it came to his first impressions on the team’s roster. “He built a very strong culture when it came to running and a lot of that showed in the team’s ability to show up for the meets and how they performed as a team.”
This is Cabrera’s first year coaching any sport, but this isn’t his first rodeo when it comes to cross country. A former runner himself, Cabrera made it his goal to use his experience to his advantage to make the team even better than Berkey left it.
“We held morning practice and ran workouts that were given,” he explained. “We did a practice run the day before so they got more familiar with the course. They did a couple strides, couple drills, and then the day of, we showed up.”
However, when preparing for the meet, the team had to factor in a huge obstacle. One difference between cross country meets in Southwest Florida and North Florida is the terrain. The more north you go, the more hills there are; the team learned this real quickly as they ran through the track.
Senior runner Nazayer Franco noted that this change caused some periods of struggle among the runners. “It was really hard cause they had you running up a wall almost,” Franco stated. “It really takes a lot out of people.”
For Franco, this was just another challenge he had to overcome as he has had his fair share of challenges this year. “During regionals, I lost my shoe,” he said. “I ran a full 5k with no shoe, which is pretty, pretty hard.”
Cabrera recalled the moment he saw Franco lose his shoe; however, he also saw the grit from Franco as well. “It was a good demonstration of that he can dig deep, get some grit, and really push hard,” said Cabrera.
“It’s hard when you’re given an obstacle where there’s a possibility that you might not make it to the finish line, and [Franco] proved that he has what it takes to push through.”
At states, Franco placed 62nd among 234 other runners. Placing 123rd was sophomore Ruben Viera De Lemos.
After the team’s performance, Lemos felt very happy with the results. “[the team] pretty good, considering our coach situation and the big change it was for all of us, I think we really persevered through the season and performed how we wanted,” Lemos explained. Lemos finished alongside senior Zander Forneris, both finishing with a time of 17:36.3.
As a sophomore, Lemos explained that his success was a large result of the leadership from his senior runners. “They’ve definitely played a huge role in my development in cross,” Lemos stated. “I look up to them a lot and I’m sad that they won’t be here next year.”
“They have given me advice and encouragement and I wouldn’t be where I am without them.”
If there is one thing the team learned throughout this experience, it is perseverance. From losing their heart and soul in Berkey and occasionally encountering track errors, the team never decided to pull out. Rather, the team decided to push deeper and make every second count which in turn made this season very successful.
