Most Improved Runner Of The Year - Jacey Lane (Lincoln Park Academy)
Jacey Lane went from running primarily in the 21 to 22-minute range in the 2021 cross country season as a freshman at Lincoln Park Academy to becoming an All-State (12th place) cross country performer as a sophomore with an 18:43 5K personal best to end her season at Apalachee Regional Park in the 2022 FHSAA 2A state race.
Even with improvements over the track season running PRs of 5:38 in the 1600 and 2:28 in the 800 could not have predicted such a significant sophomore-year leap this fall for Lane to improve by well over 2 minutes on her 5K cross country times. Few of the state's sub-19-minute performers made such a drastic improvement over a time of 12 months.
Full Rankings List: Most Improved Girls XC Runners In Florida
All-flrunners.com Most Improved Girls Team
Jessica Chappell (Pensacola Christian Academy) - Chappell went from running to 23-24 minute range for 5K last year as a junior to breaking 20 minutes this year in three races this season and stepping up to solidify the back end of her squad's top 5 lineup for one of the best teams in the state in the Pensacola Christian girls.
Annabelle Daly (Naples) - After being near the back of the field in last year's 3A state race (187th) as the #7 runner for the Naples girls, Daly really elevated her running 2022 running over 2 minutes faster including a handful of races in the 19 minute range (19:07 PR). Daly finished in the top 10 in 7 of her races this season including a third-place showing at the Collier County Championships.
Jacey Lane (Lincoln Park Academy) - See above.
Karina Martinez (St. Brendan) - Despite finishing as a state runner-up squad in 2021, St. Brendan was still vulnerable with their depth heading into this season and needed someone like Martinez to make a jump in performance to solidify their squad. After only running in the 23-minute range once and primarily over 24 minutes in 2021 and not cracking into their top 7 for the state meet, Martinez had a sophomore year in 2022 breaking out with consistent performances in the 20 minute range and then a PR run of 19:50 at her regional meet. In her first state meet, she finished 47th in the 2A state race as St. Brendan's #4 runner as their squad just fell short of being on the podium again in 3rd place.
Elle Mehltretter (Osceola) - Mehltretter went from a 21-22 minute 5K performer last year and was unable to break into the top 7 lineup for championship season for the Osceola girls to be one of their consistent performers in 2022 among their strong top 4 nucleus of runners that keyed them winning their first ever state cross country team title. Mehltretter had a season and personal best 5K time of 19:01 on the season, while also finishing 18th in the 3A state cross country after not being even fast enough to run on her team's varsity squad one year prior.
Samantha Ruiz (Coral Reef) - After the first season of high school cross country that started with her running over 24 minutes in 2021, Ruiz ultimately worked her time down under 22 minutes by the state meet with 131st place in the 4A state race at 21:53. She would have more left in the tank for her second year of cross country in 2022 dropping her 5K time by over another 2 minutes at 19:44 and ultimately finishing 32nd in the 4A state cross country race by the Coral Reef sophomore.
Ava Taylor (Charlotte) - Charlotte sophomore Ava Taylor was able to drop over 3 minutes from her time with a 22:11 season best in 2021 to running 18:57 this past cross country season as a district champion runner. She had finished 24th in her district meet in 2021 with a time of 23:59 and went onto this year to be one of the top runners in the Tri-County area including a third-place finish in the Tri-County championship race.