North runner leads young cross-country team
By CHUCK?BALLARO
The North Fort Myers High School boys and girls cross-country team has a lot of growing to do. With many freshmen and sophomores with little, if any, running experience, they are a group that is definitely in need of direction.
They do, however, have a runner they can look up to. Junior Kayla Easterly has been the shining star for an otherwise rebuilding program.
The junior runner continues to blaze trails wherever she runs, and that continued last week at the Optimist Cross-Country Invitational in Lehigh Acres where she placed second in one of the elite events in Southwest Florida.
“I didn’t think I could do it at first, but I threw a few surges in there and got some confidence and I was able to pull it off,” Easterly said.
Easterly hung back early in the far reaches of the top 10, picking runners off as she made her surges on the hill, which she trained on in preparation for the meet.
First-year North cross-country coach Bryan Duffy said he didn’t expect anything less from Easterly.
“She was strong, as usual. I really like to watch her race. She picks it up in the end and always stays far up front,” Duffy said. “It’s nice to have a runner like her.”
The North girls, who went to the state meet two years ago when Easterly was a freshman and surprised many by going to regionals last year, have a hard road ahead for a repeat as the freshman-laden team doesn’t have enough runners to qualify for a team score.
That means their only ticket to regionals is if a runner cracks the Top 15 as an individual, which Easterly is very capable of, having finished fifth last year at the District 3A-11 meet.
But perhaps her biggest strength is the encouragement she gives to the other runners, boy or girl, Duffy said.
“She encourages the other runners, she picks up speed at the right points on the course, she knows the courses, having run them for a while,” Duffy said. “She teaches me as much as I teach her.”
There seems to be a great future for North running. Peter Joseph and Michael Johnson are the top boys, while Megan Fonock is next closest to Kayla in terms of talent.
Easterly said she hopes to maintain her progress, thanks to advanced training, and believes that some of the top girls weren’t at their best last week.
“I’d like to maintain and keep myself in the Top 5,” Easterly said. I’ve learned running strategies so the courses are getting easier for me to run,” Easterly said.
Easterly said she hopes to advance her career beyond high school and run at a Division I school in cross-country and track.