Florida Girls End XC Season With Top FLCC Finishes


Carly McNatt, Alyssa Hendrix, and Valerie Lastra ended their 2019 cross country seasons with top finishes for the South team at Foot Locker Nationals. 
Florida's first finisher, McNatt, ended her season with an All-American title as the top freshman in the nation this year. Her eighth place, 17:32.6 finish is one of Florida's top performances in the past decade at Foot Locker. 

"My plan was to go out towards the back of the pack and work my way up and that worked really well," McNatt told MileSplit. 

The first mile for the leaders went out in a blistering 5:10 pace and McNatt stayed about 10-13 seconds behind waiting to make a strategic move. Her strategy paid off with a very strong time on a difficult course. 


Hendrix was Florida's next athlete to cross the line with her 15th place, 17:57.4 to close out her best Foot Locker finish in her career. 

"The past few years I wasn't really confident in my race. I think I've really matured as an athlete over this year and I really wanted to run my own race," Hendrix told MileSplit. 

Going into the last mile, the NC State signee was in 21st place, as she cruised to the finish she caught six places and executed her race strategy that she set out to finish with in her last high school cross country race. 

Lastra cruised through the line with a time of 18:30 to close out Florida's Foot Locker National athletes. As a two-time national qualifier from south Florida, continuing her season an extra month was up in the air after her state championship win in November.

After a tough season battling sickness, the UCF commit, continued her season with grace as she represented Florida with a top 30 National finish. 

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