FHSAA 3A Cross Country State Girls Race Individual Preview

Caroline Wells is not only in a class of her own from all her fellow competitors in the 3A classification, but the entire state of Florida and all the runners who ran high school cross country prior to her in Florida. Florida's fastest all-time at the 5K distance in cross country (16:40) as well as track (16:16), Wells could go after another sub 17 effort at the state meet as the current course record holder at 17:10 from the FSU Pre-State Invitational earlier this season.

The Winter Springs senior won last year's 3A state title in a 17:16 effort, which is the fastest time ever run at the FHSAA State Finals while hosted at Apalachee Regional Park. The fastest 5K performance ever in a past FHSAA State Finals for cross country at another site belongs to Jenny Barringer Simpson at 16:55 from her 2003 performance at Ed Radice Park in Tampa. 

The Stanford commit could potentially win the race by over a two-minute margin, which has been a norm in most of her races this cross country season. Between Rheinhardt Harrison in the 4A boys race and Caroline Wells in the 3A girls race, arguably two of Florida's best ever in high school cross country could be racing on the same day on Friday in Tallahassee.

It will be a treat to watch Wells compete likely her last time on Florida soil as a high school cross country runner. Her post-season plans include the Eastbay (formerly Foot Locker) South Regional qualifier and hopefully earning a ticket to compete at the Eastbay Nationals in San Diego. 

The next runner to likely cross the line after Wells in the 3A race might not be the state champion this year, but could be in line to be the state champion for the next 3 years in Ponte Vedra freshman Sofia Bushkell. Bushkell's season took off after a fourth-place finish at the Katie Caples Invite in 19:04 when the following week she rolled a huge personal best time drop of 18:17 to win the New World Fall Spectacular.

Since that performance, Bushkell has stayed consistently under 18:30 including an 18:27 performance at Apalachee Regional Park for the FSU Pre-State Invitational with a sixth place showing in the elite race then clocking an 18:16 PR victory at her district meet as well as another dominant win at the 3A Region 1 Meet in Panama City at 18:23.  

Down much further south in Florida at the 3A Region 4 Meet in South Fork, four of the 3A's fastest proved their speed rolling to season-best times across the board between a group of sophomores in Addison Boyer of South, Christiana Coleman of Dillard, Ashley Fitzgerald of American Heritage, and Olivia Fraga of Our Lady of Lourdes. 

Boyer won the race on her home course with a 5K personal best time of 18:15 just holding off Coleman (18:15) in second, while able to shake off Fitzgerald (3rd, 18:18) and Fraga (4th, 18:31). At the FSU Pre-State Invite, Boyer had been the third-highest finisher 3A runner in the elite race with a 15th place finish of 18:57. The sophomore has vastly improved from her freshmen year when she had a 5K season-best of 20:11 from a 29th place finish in the 2020 FHSAA State Finals 3A race. She broke 19 minutes in a handful of races this season and was the Treasure Lakes Conference champion.

The Broward County champion Christiana Coleman of Dillard has raced well in every big race that she has been put in this season including runner-up finishes in the Race of Champions at the flrunners.com Invite (18:56) and Spanish River Invite (18:52). Last year, she did not get a chance the compete in the state meet but two years ago as an eighth-grader finished 6th in the 3A state race with a time of 18:24 at Apalachee Regional Park.  She will be anxious to race once again in an FHSAA Cross Country State Finals again. 

American Heritage's Fitzgerald is a returning All-State finisher from 2020 with a 9th place run last year in the 3A state race, has steadily been one of the top runners this season from South Florida including four invitational victories. She was third in her district and regional race, so is looking to upgrade her place in the pecking order among the other top runners from her area at the state meet. The sophomore Fitzgerald traveled up to Tallahassee for the FSU Pre-State Invite this season and finished 17th in the elite race with a time of 19:01.

Olivia Fraga is running her first season of cross country as a sophomore after running the sprints during the track season last spring. She has proven to be more than capable to have the range to run up to the 5K distance this year as the top runner for state title-contending squad Our Lady of Lourdes Academy. Fraga has broken 19 minutes several times season including her 18:31 PR at the regional meet. She actually won her district title over the likes of Coleman and Fitzgerald. One of her biggest earlier season wins came at the Spanish River Invitational in 18:51 holding off Coleman.

Sofia Bushkell is not the only impactful freshman in the 3A girls' race. Ocala Vanguard ninth-grader Pippa Worden was the 3A Region 2 runner-up behind only Caroline Wells with an 18:35 personal best 5K performance this past Saturday in Kissimmee. Worden has not had the opportunity to race on many fast courses this season, so the regional meet was her first sub 19-minute performance ever. It still was a big step-up performance from her district meet when she finished 42 seconds behind last spring's 2A state champion at 1600 meters in Lily Henne of Lake Minneola. 

Speaking of Henne, she is the only runner in the race besides Wells with state championship credentials after changing schools over the summer from Montverde Academy to Lake Minneola. The University of Alabama commit has been a fairly consistent performer finishing no worse than third place in any race including 4 sub 19-minute races with the exception of 11th place finisher in a deeper field in the Race of Champions at the flrunners.com Invite.  Henne was fifth in last year's 2A state cross country race while at Montverde Academy, but is now moved up to 3A at Lake Minneola.

Leon's Lillee Tang has been one of the best cross country runners in the Northwest Florida corridor of the state this season including 3 race victories and twice breaking 19 minutes at New World Fall Spectacular (18:48) as well as a runner-up finish behind Bushkell in the 3A Region 1 meet (18:49). Tang was an All-State 13th place finisher in last year's 3A state race.  

Lake Wales senior Cristal Gomez completes our list of 10 runners to watch in the 3A girls as Gomez is the Polk County champ and possesses a 5K personal best at 18:39. She just missed another sub 19 minute clocking in a fourth-place effort of 19:02 at the 3A Region 2 Meet.