Workout Wednesday visit with the G. Holmes Braddock cross country squad out of Miami. The Braddock girls are one of the top teams contending for two podium spots in the 4A classification behind the defending state champions from Buchholz, while the boys team has a young squad with a trio of juniors and larger park of freshmen as part of the Miami Vice Project club that feeds many athletes into the program from the middle school rankings.
The FL #9 ranked Braddock girls opened their season with a runner-up finish at the Florida Horse Park Invitational over Labor Day Weekend behind only the 2A state champions and Florida's #1 ranked squad in Bolles. Led by Annabella Cardona (10:52 3200, 18:25 5K), the Braddock girls have 5 girls returning that have run sub 21 minutes for 5K including Jada Garcia, Kayla Feeney, Marlie Gonzalez, and Jazmine Trotz.
The only major concern with their team is their depth as there is a significant time gap after their five, so can't afford to lose any of their top runners to injury, illness, or off races down the stretch of the season while trying to bring up their remaining two varsity girls to solidify the #6 and #7 spots.
Their next big race is this weekend at the Spanish River Invitational where they will be considered one of the top contenders to win the team competition in the 3A/4A schools combined race on Saturday morning at South Regional Park in Boca Raton.
The Braddock boys might be a year away from really making some noise in 4A, but certainly should qualify onto the state meet this year and should be the top challenger to Christopher Columbus later this season at the 4A Region 4 Meet. Michael Gongora, Andres Canas, and Aidan Mendoza are all part of their 2024 class that serve in the leadership role.
Meanwhile, Mauricio Escalona and Andre Santos are the top runners amongst their freshman pack that ran for Miami Vice Project club in middle school as FLYRA state champions in the 4x800 meter relay last spring and third place at last fall's FLYRA Middle School State Championships.
The workout was a fairly intense workout on the track at Miami-Dade College's Kendall Campus track in which they only had 4 reps, but all high quality in a 1600 meter interval at goal 5K race pace, 1200 meter interval at 10 seconds faster than race pace, 800 meter interval at a much more aggressive pace (simulating the finish of an XC race) then a 400 meter rep at an all out effort while fatigued at the end.
In between each repeat, the athletes had a minute of strength work exercises to the side (example: pushups) followed by another minute of rest before jumping into the next interval.
The workout certainly was demanding on the athletes as can see the aftermath following the final repeat in the 400 meter interval sprawled out over the track.
Coach Alex Shaw and Coach Carlos Cano administered the workout for the Braddock high school team, while simultaneously Miami Vice Project coach Gino Gonzalez was running his middle school youth athletes through a workout as well.
