FLORIDA STATE MEET

Caroline Wells Cruises To Course Record In Class 3A; Belen Jesuit Boys (3A), Plant Girls (4A) and Bolles Girls (2A) All Collect 12th State Titles

By Doug Binder and Todd Grasley of DyeStat Editor/Photos by Ka'Deem Wynn

Caroline Wells of Winter Springs scored what amounts to a cross country hat-trick Saturday at the Florida state championships at Appalachee Park in Tallahassee -- an individual title, a team championship and a new state meet record. 

Wells ran away from the field in the Class 3A race, winning by a full minute in 17:16.5. The junior improved by 43 seconds over last year's second-place finish and broke Valerie Lastra's 2018 course record of 17:17.6 when she captured the 3A crown during her junior year at Mater Academy. 

"It's like the best day ever," Wells said. "I get to spend it with the best team and best coach and my family and I'm just so proud of each and every member of my team."

Winter Springs won its second straight team team title with 72 points. Leon was second with 86 points. 

VIDEOS | PHOTOS BY Ka'Deem Wynn

In the Class 3A boys competition, Belen Jesuit won its record-setting 12th boys championship, including the fifth in a row, with a dominant score of 30 points. Javier Vento (15:22.2) and Aiden Villasuso (15:41.6) went 1-2 and teammates Diego Gomez (15:57.3) and Adam Magoulas (15:57.4) went 7-8. 

"The team has been undefeated all season long and that's been because they get to races with an objective to for the team win always respecting the competition," said coach Frankie Ruiz, who has coached 11 of the school's 12 championship teams.

"As far as earning the distinction of being the winningest coach, a record that stood for 33 years. I am humbly proud of the team of coaches and runners that all contributed to every single win. I am nothing without them and their hard work. I also thank Coach Brent Haley for setting the bar so high."

The 12 state championships are the most ever for a boys team in Florida and tied for the most ever. 

That's because the Tampa Plant girls (4A) and Bolles School of Jacksonville girls (2A) kept pace by also winning title No. 12. 

In Class 4A, the Plant girls put five runners across the finish line ahead of second-place Newsome's fourth. Plant scored 79 points and Newsome was next at 92. 

"What I'm most proud of though, is the consistency of our program," coach Roy Harrison said of the 12th title. "I think we've only missed the top five four or five times in the last 32 years. It's consistency. We don't have many feeder programs coming into Plant, so some of the girls that I have coming in haven't ever run before high school. We may not win every year. We won two years go, we won five years in a row at one point, but even in a down year we're going to come in fourth, fifth, or sixth."

Amber Schulz from Timber Creek won a competitive 4A race in 18:26.1, outdueling Kaleigh Scallon from Newsome (18:29.3) and Lillian Holtery from Niceville (18:29.9). 

The triumph was bigger than just a race for Schulz. 

"To me, this race was more than winning a state title," she said. "It was about breaking mental barriers and showing myself that I can absolutely accomplish anything I put my mind to no matter what others say and no matter what obstacles are thrown my way. This race and season has really shown me that we have the choice to be resilient or allow our circumstances to control us. Freshman and sophomore year I struggled up and down with and eating disorder, keeping me from my full potential so having a season where I finally was able to start tapping into my abilities. It was disheartening to get an injury right before post season, but then I reminded myself what I have gone through and that a muscle strain WILL NOT STOP ME."

Columbus edged out Viera, 84-89, for the 4A boys championship. Bartram Trail was third with 94 points. 

Up front, however, it was all about Nease. Junior Rheinhardt Harrison won the race in 15:26.9 and senior teammate Bradley Ball was second in 15:43.5. Their team, though, finished eighth.

The Florida state meet was spread over two days due to COVID restrictions and some of the state's schools did not contest fall sports for health and safety reasons. 

On Sunday, the Satellite boys, winners of the HOKA ONE ONE Postal Nationals, crushed the 2A field with a score of 26 points. The team's 79.57 total time was second only to Belen Jesuit's 79:16 a day earlier. 

Joshua Stern led a 1-3-4-5 finish for Satellite with a winning time of 15:31.5. Gabe Montague was third (15:50.8), Justin Wilson (15:56.8) was fourth and Joseph Wester (16:00.3) was fifth. 

The Bolles girls went even lower than Satellite, scoring 18 points on 1-2-3-5-7 in the team scoring. 

St. Andrews senior Eleanor Tymorek, an individual qualifier, won the race in 18:27.6. Bolles trio of Jillian Candelino, Ella Mickler and Maxine Montoya followed her. 

In Class 1A, Seffner Christian won the team title with 61 points. Oak Hill, paced by overall winner Austin Montini (15:48.8) was second with 83 points. 

"It’s special," coach Andrew Holmes said. "I’m blessed we made it through and no one got sick and that we got to compete. This year was much more difficult winning than last year just with some of the COVID challenges, injuries, and some of our kids just have had some tough times in their lives over the last year. Kids ran tough. It was a team effort. They really fought for each other and were willing to push hard when it hurt. Andrew Stowe had a 40-second PR to place 10th and Liam Perkins had a 58-second PR. I'm so glad for our seniors -- Dalin Mitchell, Blake Devisfruto, Adam Nipper, and Beau Frazier -- and that we could send them out with a state championship."

The girls team battle was decided by a sixth-runner tiebreaker after Oak Hall and Cambridge were dead even at 55 points. Oak Hall's sixth, Harrison Grooms, beat Cambridge's sixth scorer by 12 seconds and seven places in the team scoring. 

Cambridge junior Caroline Lehman and seventh-grader Eliana Black finished 1-2. Lehman's winning time was 18:07.8. 

Team champions - 

Class 4A - Columbus boys 84 points, Plant girls 79 points - RESULTS

Class 3A - Belen Jesuit boys 30 points, Winter Springs girls 72 points - RESULTS

Class 2A - Satellite boys 26 points, Bolles School girls 18 points - RESULTS

Class 1A - Seffner Christian boys 61 points, Oak Hall girls 55 points (tiebreaker) - RESULTS