Workout Wednesday with the Niceville boys and girls cross country team as they enter the final stretch of their season as currently the #2 ranked team in the 4A classification for girls, while the boys squad is part of a traffic jam of squads battling for the next spots in 4A after the favorites from Creekside. The teams will compete this weekend in the well known "Region of Death" known as 4A Region 1 at Santa Fe College in Gainesville.
The Niceville track & field program has been hugely successfully the last few years winning state titles relying heavily on their strong throws program as well as other technical events, but the distance program has been on the rise under the direction of head coaches Becky Holtery and assistant coach Tim Siren.
The coaching duo both have dual roles with also having some of their own kids running for the Niceville program currently as well in the past. Coach Holtery seems to take the lead in designing the workouts, while Coach Siren serves an important support role in motivating the athletes.
The Niceville girls in particular have a realistic shot of state title and at least a state runner-up podium finishes after trading wins in the last meets with the defending state champions Buchholz finishing ahead of them at the FSU Pre-State Invitational before finishing just 14 points behind them at the district meet this past weekend on the state meet course in Tallahassee at Apalachee Regional Park. The top two ranked 4A squads will clash again with Buchholz favored and having the advantage of racing on their home course in Gainesville at Santa Fe College.
Niceville has 5 girls who have broken 20 minutes for 5K this season including Trinity Holland (18:51), Rayne Mendez (19:32), Kaylin Olivarez (19:40), Hailey Holtery (19:46), and Lauryn Cooper (19:49) as most races this season have been able to keep their top 5 spread under 60 seconds. Their team is currently ranked #2 in the 4A classification and #5 overall in the state regardless of classification.
Meanwhile, the Niceville boys have a total of six runners who have broken 17 minutes for 5K this season including William Jeton (16:09), Seamus Hodge (16:15), Alexander Buena (16:25), Tobias Siren (16:36), Gehrig Gesch (16:43), and Alexzander Querns (16:59) with a seventh runner Noah Hunter at 17:04. Their squad has been ranked among the top 10 in the state regardless of class at various stages of the season and currently ranks #13 overall and #8 in a very deep 4A classification.
Their squad could easily leapfrog several of the teams ranked ahead of them at the state meet and finish as high as second with the margin of error very small between the top ranked teams in 4A.
The workout visit during the mid-season point of the season included their athletes runnng anywhere from 4 to 6 repeats of 600 meters at VO2max pace with 400 meter jog recovery followed by hitting 3 hill repeats anywhere from 400 to 800 meter race pace to finish up their practice.
It was a sweltering hot day for the runners with temperatures pushing 90 degrees, but the athletes handled it well and got assistance from Coach Holtery squirting them with water guns as they went by as well.
Certainly can recall that workout if they face unseasonably warm weather in their final two races of the FHSAA championship season as they make the podium push.