Let’s take a look at the freshman class and see who is this week's FROSH of the week!

Boys Freshman Rankings     Girls Freshman Rankings

Nick Strange (Crescent City High School)

Taking the top spot this week is Crescent City’s Nick Strange!

Congratulations Nick!

Nick had an impressive run at the University of North Florida XC Invitational, running a personal-best of 17:27 to finish 11th overall in a very tight field. Now ranked third behind Kayamo and Mamush Galloway from Trinity Prep, this was a tremendous drop from his previous performance of 29:21 at the Spikes and Spurs Classic.

Either Nick just had an incredibly terrible debut race, or he was deciding whether he really wanted to run cross country or not.

It’s safe to say we all know what his choice was.

Natalie Varela (Gulliver Prep High School)

This week’s winner on the girl’s side, like last week, has had her name whispered a few times over the last year or so, and now she says it’s time to stop the whispering!

Natalie Varela takes the top spot after her class-leading run of 18:29, a new personal-best, at the King of the Hill Invitational, winning the girl’s race by 20 seconds!

“I had the honor of first meeting this young lady while she was in middle school,” says Gulliver Prep coach, Jesus Batista. “Upon seeing her improve meet to meet I knew she was going to be special.”

Batista adds that once they met, they knew she was capable of being a Lady Raider, and Natalie came in ready to fill the hole left by Alyssa Pujals, who transferred to Pine Crest in an attempt to win a team title only to become the 2A state champion with Pine Crest finishing second. Oddly enough, Natalie finished fourth in the same race behind Alyssa last year, almost as if to say “I’m coming for you.”

In track last season, she kept driving, finishing second in both the 2A 1600 and 3200 meters at the state meet.

“She has a never-give-up attitude even against strong opponents,” says Batista.

It appears that Natalie is about ready to sound off. But we have a feeling that we have yet to scratch the surface of her journey.

Natalie describes her season so far by stating, "So basically I decided to skip summer track, to focus on my freshman season ahead. It was a tough decision. After falling short at states in the 1600 and 3200 to Caitlin Collier, I passed up the chance at winning the middle school double.

I won the Middle School National’s in cross country at Dansville, Alabama, and would have been one of the favorites to win one in Track and Field as well.

This summer has been interesting. My mileage wasn’t as high as most high school girls. We have been taking it slowly to prevent any injuries or any chance of burning out. Most of my mileage consists of long runs consist of 6 or 7 miles, with some 4 to 5 mile slow runs in between.

Most weeks total from 25 to 30 miles.

Our first race was the Maverick challenge stampede. I won on a tough course with a time of 18:59. Last week we ran the King of the Hill Invitational which featured some of the top runners in the state. This is my home course so I had some extra incentive to defend it.

The course is considered very challenging and the weather in Miami this time of year is in the 90’s. All went well came in first with a course record of 18:29, 44 seconds faster than the previous record. All three top girls broke the old record.

This year my goals are to try to break into the 17’s. Currently we are working on some speed work to keep my foot speed up to par. I will need that come States to challenge some of the big guns . It’s going to be tricky staying fresh all the way through States.

2A districts and regionals feature what I believe is the hardest Road to State. So far I’m 2 for 2 this year and hoping to continue to improve as the season progresses. There are some really talented girls out there that can make for a real fun XC season. So train hard and stay healthy as we all strive to achieve our goals."

Congratulations to all of our freshman runners who competed this weekend! We hope you ran a personal-best, or maybe even won the race! Run fast, trust your training, and keep an eye out to see who will be next week’s DyeStat Florida Freshman Of The Week!

Remember, The Future Runs Now.