Workout Wednesday visit with Florida's most successful girls cross country program in The Bolles School with a FHSAA record total of 13 past state champion teams along with their head coach in Tony Ryan, who also has the most girls cross country team state titles than any coach in state history between his time at both Bolles and Bishop Kenny.
Following their boys who did virtually the same workout from the day before on Monday afternoon, the Bolles girls gathered early on Tuesday morning after their season opening victory at the Cecil Field Summer Classic against the arguably any squad that could challenge them for the #1 overall ranking in Florida this season.
The workout was continuous intervals of 400 meters with a 3 minute actively running recovery in between each repetition that Coach Ryan as well as senior Elizabeth Csikai reiterated to her teammates before they started could not be a "Granny Shuffle" jog, but rather a solid pace that can still recover on.
A senior trio of Jillian Candelino, Ella Mickler, and Csikai completed the entire workout together from start to finish doing the most total of intervals at 12 starting out running the mid to high 80's seconds for splits and progressing to finish the workout faster running splits in the lower 80's seconds for the last set.
The program has a lot of rich traditions and consistent commitment to.summer training that has bred their annual success every fall, but the Bolles girls switched it up this year and traveled all the way out to Colorado for a week of training at altitude in July. One of the days during their out-of-state stay included a visit and chance to train with last year's national champions at RunningLane in the Niwot girls.
After their 2020 squad won a state title with a group that averaged 18:28 with their season best 5K times, the 2021 Bolles team repeated as champions as runaway winners in 2A but never got truly hitting on all cylinders running as fast with many of the same core girls returning with an 18:51 average for season bests of their top 5. Potentially the trip to the Rocky Mountains might have stirred the pot and shaken up any redundancy or boredom for a group of runners accustomed to dominance.
Candelino will certainly spearhead their squad as the reigning 2A state champion and state's fastest returnee overall with a 17:36 personal best for 5,000 meters. Their program has more than 7 girls who have also broken 20 minutes for 5K, but the biggest question is how many from that group will consistently run into the 18 minute range.
Mickler, Csikai, and sophomore Elizabeth McClure have all broken 19 minutes in the past, but rarely all run under the time in the same race. As an example, Mickler started the season on fire as the #2 runner in her second fastest time ever at 18:28 in the Cecil Field Summer Classic, while last year's #2 runner in McClure (18:54 5K best in 2021) is now working her way back into shape after a summer injury and will need some time to get back to her top form.
With some talented young runners coming up the pipeline including two assistant coach's kids with ninth grader Lexi Henderson (20:00 in elite race at Cecil Field) and sixth grader Sofia Stam (20:13 winner of JV race at Cecil Field), the upperclassmen should get a push to run fast internally on the squad to retain their varsity positions from the up and comers. Estella Bruneau and Leila Bata are also experienced varsity returnees from their 2021 squad with sub 20 credentials.
The #1 ranked squad in the entire state of Florida was on full display during their workout why year in and year out they are considered one of the premier programs for high school girls' cross country. The workout was well executed and paced by their top varsity runners. The Bolles girls will be racing this weekend at Florida Horse Parker Invitational in Ocala before taking an off on the September 10th weekend from racing
Interview with Bolles girls XC head coach Tony Ryan
Interview with Bolles senior Jillian Candelino, Ella Mickler, Elizabeth McClure