St. Cloud’s Ireland Wright rallies for state middle school cross country victory

  • St. Cloud’s Ireland Wright came from behind to win the Florida Youth Running Association middle school cross country state championship in Lakeland. SUBMITTED PHOTO
    St. Cloud’s Ireland Wright came from behind to win the Florida Youth Running Association middle school cross country state championship in Lakeland. SUBMITTED PHOTO

To the high school runners of the next couple of years–and the middle school runners of next year: Ireland Wright is coming after you.

Actually, you’ll have to come after her, following her recent success on the cross country course.

Wright, a seventh-grader at St. Cloud Middle School, won two championship races in four days. She won the Osceola County Middle School Athletic Conference (OCMSAC) race over two miles in a time of 12:39, admittedly “coming out of nowhere” after shaving off a minute off her best time of the year, on Oct. 25.

Then, on the 28th, running with the Soldier City Striders running club, made up of runners from around the county, Wright won the Florida Youth Running Association middle school state championship in Lakeland, a race with 261 runners, in another personal best of 12:02. Over the last quarter mile or so, she had to rally past a couple other runners to win it.

“There was an uphill, then we’d go downhill before another hill up before the finish,” Wright said. “I knew I had to pass other runners before that last hill, and one of them was from my own team.”

Her rally to win a race she qualified for last year and finished 33rd in caught her mom, Monica Wright, by surprise.

“I mean, she said she didn’t even expect to win the county race, and then, now she’s a state champion,” she said. “We just hope she remembers this for next year and believes she can win.”

Ireland admits she only runs cross country to condition for the other sports she plays–volleyball, basketball and softball.

“Do I like it? I like volleyball and basketball,” she said. “It hasn’t sunk in that I’m a running champion.”

Wright has shown the ability to handle pressure situations in a number of sports. Her St. Cloud Little League All-Star softball team was sectional champions in 2022, and won district, area and regional competitions to qualify for the state’s free throw shooting tournament in Umatilla in the Elks Lodge Hoop Shoot basketball free throw shooting contest.