Two of Florida's top senior distance recruits and childhood friends and high school teammates are heading to the same college destination. Bolles seniors and state champion runners Jillian Candelino and Aidan Ryan verbally committed simultaneously on Tuesday night that they will be attending the University of Tennessee in Knoxville together to run next year for the Volunteers.
Candelino, a two-time state champion in cross country (2021 2A) and track (2022 2A 1600 meters), is the state's top returning senior distance runner with personal bests of 17:36 5K, 10:29 3200 meters, and 4:57 1600 meters. Candelino ranks among the top 50 returnees in the country this year for 3200 meter run.
Ryan, a two-time state champion on the track (2022 1600 and 3200 meters), is the state's fastest returning miler (4:12 PR) and has incredible range with bests of 1:52 in the 800, 9:10 in the 3200, and 15:35 in the 5K. Ryan also ranks among the top 50 returnees in the nation for the mile and 1600 meter run.
With the college decision out of the way, both stars can revert their focus back to running as Candelino and Ryan are looking to not only leading their teams back to winning 2A state team titles but individual titles this fall with Candelino as the reigning champion and Ryan as the state runner-up last fall.
Candelino and Ryan will be joining a University of Tennessee program that had a complete overhaul of their coaching staff over the summer with some impressive hires including Sean Carlson to head up the distance and cross country program coming over from Notre Dame University.
And heading the entire Tennessee track & field program as the Director of Track & Field is former North Carolina A&T University coach Duane Ross, who had turned the HBCU into one of the premier Division 1 programs in recent years, and has put together a stellar staff around him in Tennessee including Carlson to guide the distance crew.