MAST Academy’s cross country teams attend King of the Hill Invitational

Season bests established by Makos boys and girls at Tropical Park

Sasha Chernikov, Staff Writer

September 18, 2023

MAST Academy senior Mia Corbo runs in the King of the Hill Invitational at Tropical Park on Sept. 18, 2023.

MAST Academy’s cross country teams competed at the King of the Hill Invitational last Wednesday afternoon, an event hosted by Christopher Columbus High at Tropical Park.

The meet concluded with Robert Luiz Garcia from the boys’ varsity team finishing at 20th place, running a 17:46.62 and the overall best time for the Makos. Trailing Garcia was Jeronimo Virgil from the boys’ varsity team, who finished 62nd place while running a 19:17.41.

For boys’ junior varsity, Hugo Medina finished with a time of 23:51.70 and in 57th place with his season best. Nicolas Peralta was second-best, crossing the finish line at 24:38.00 in 81st place.

On girls’ varsity, Mercedes Haliburton had the best time, running a 24:57.70 and finishing in 76th place. Paz Olivero had the next best time of 26:11.56 in 99th place. All girls on the varsity team had reached their season’s best in this race as well.

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For the JV girls’ squad, the best time came from Laina Issa, who ended with a time of 27:22.10 and landed in 30th place. Sofia Guiffera crossed the finish line at 28:54.20 with her finishing at 52nd place. Similar to the girls’ varsity team, all of the girls’ JV had their season-best in this race.

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About the Contributors

Sasha Chernikov, Staff Writer

Sasha Chernikov is a freshman student excited to write for The Beacon. Chernikov previously attended Ponce de Leon Middle and although MAST Academy is intimidating to her, she is, “happy to be here.” Journalism is interesting to her because she loves informative writing and looks forward to “reinterpreting” stories. She would consider a career in journalism in the future. One thing you can expect from her as a reader is that she will “deliver the truth”, Chernikov says. You can also expect some sports profiles from her as she loves interviewing people and anything athletic.

Mercedes Halliburton, Managing Editor

Mercedes Halliburton is a senior at MAST Academy. She is in her fourth year at the school, arriving in 2019 from St. Theresa Catholic School. Halliburton enjoys MAST more than her previous school because she believes that there is more freedom. Halliburton likes MAST because she enjoys swimming and water. She also enjoys reading and writing, saying that it is her favorite subject. Her least favorite subject is math, and her hardest year was junior year. She doesn’t have a least favorite teacher and she likes most of the teachers. She also likes MAST because it has a nice view and is so close to the beach. Even though MAST is fun, Halliburton claims it is also a challenging school with many hard classes.