A wet and muddy course greeted the Knights’ cross country team as they arrived at this past weekend’s North Port Invitational, where the boys finished 12th out of 25 teams and the girls finished 11th out of 21.

“The race didn’t really go as expected,” said Dannys Marrero (’16), who finished 25th individually with a time of 17:27:80. “The fact that all the key spots of the course were somewhat flooded and extremely muddy was a real struggle.”

The boys, unranked in last week’s state rankings, have their sights set on a top-six finish at regionals and a run to states.

“The goal is always states, whether we make it there as individuals or a team,” said Marrero. “We want to show that we are good at what we do.”

The girls, ranked 16th in the state and sixth in the region, finished in the middle of the pack this weekend. Raegan Giberson (’17) finished 31st with a time of 21:07:72 and a 21:13:36 time from Caitlyn Stowe (’16) was good for 33rd.