Tomasic, Black, & Fitzgerald To Clash At flrunners Invite

Annabella Tomasic and Eliana Black in their last head to head at Holloway Park at the 2021 FLYRA Middle School State Championships

WATCH LIVE: flrunners.com XC Invitational

This weekend's flrunners.com Invitational will have an epic clash in store for the Race of Champions girls race between two runners who arguably can lay claim to being the best cross country runner in the state of Florida between recent FSU Pre-State Invitational champion in Lake Highland Prep seventh grader Annabella Tomasic and arguably last year's #1 ranked runner all season long in Eliana Black, now a sophomore at IMG Academy.

Black and Tomasic have a racing history together and actually at the Holloway Park course going back to the 2022 FLYRA Middle School State Championships when Black was presumed as the overwhelming favorite to repeat as a state champion while a dominant performer at the high school level for Cambridge Christian, but a relatively unknown fifth grader competing unattached in Tomasic scored a resounding upset victory in a 3K course record time of 10:26. Black finished 10 seconds back as the runner-up with a 10:36 performance.

Similar to Black, who won state titles last year in cross country and outdoor track as a eighth grader as well as running incredible times against high school competition as a seventh grader including sub 5 in the 1600, sub 11 in the 3200, and sub 18 for 5K, Annabella Tomasic is not waiting for her ninth grade year to make her name known to the high school running community.

After a runner-up finish to Bishop Verot's Mackenzie De Lisle in her season opener at the Cecil Field Summer Classic in 18:15, Tomasic has reeled off four straight invitational victories and sub 18 minute 5K performances in all of her wins including the most recent being a 17:35 victory against virtually all of Florida's top ranked runners on the state meet course at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee for the FSU Pre-State meet.

One of the lone exceptions and absences from the FSU Pre-State Invitational in terms of Florida's very best was Black, who won last year at FSU Pre-State while attending Cambridge Christian but her new school IMG Academy was not in attendance this year in Tallahassee. And Black will not be at the FHSAA State Cross Country Finals in November after winning the 1A state title last year at Cambridge Christian to see who is the fastest runner overall on the day since IMG Academy does not compete in the FHSAA championship series. 

Thus, this weekend's race at the flrunners.com Invitational between Tomasic and Black might be their only encounter this season unless they end up in post-season races against one another. Black has already raced once this season at Holloway Park in her IMG Academy and season debut at the Seffner Christian Invitational with a course PR run of 17:54. 

Certainly, a 17:54 at Holloway Park ranks just as impressive if not more than impressive than Tomasic's 17:35 run on a faster Apalachee Regional Park course but expect both to go faster this weekend in the Race of Champions and move up the course all-time list. Only 8 high school runners have ever broken 18 minutes at Holloway Park with the course record at 17:19 from Carly McNatt's 2019 victory at the flrunners.com Invitational and second fastest performer all-time in Valerie Lastra at 17:45 from the 2018 flrunners.com Invitational. 

McNatt's course record is daunting and sometimes viewed as unbelievable, but would not be surprised to see both Black and Tomasic to possibly push themselves into the #2 and #3 positions on the course's all-time performance list.

And not to be counted out in the race between Black and Tomasic with certainly the ability to beat one if not both runners is American Heritage senior Ashley Fitzgerald, who is coming off a 5K personal best effort of 17:40 to finish as the FSU Pre-State Invitational elite race runner-up by only five seconds to Tomasic. The University of Florida commit Fitzgerald has already broken 18 minutes twice this season including a 17:55 victory at the Spanish River Invitational. 

This will be Fitzgerald's first time racing at the flrunners.com Invitational and Holloway Park, so she is hoping to make a great first impression in Lakeland as the 3A state title favorite will have a great opportunity to pulled along to another potential and more impressive sub 18 race if she can stick with Black and Tomasic till the late stages of the races.

She has broken 11 minutes for 3200 meters on the track in a total of 5 races to make her one of Florida's top distance runners and certainly one of the South Florida area. Another top 10 finisher from South Florida and sub 11 minute performer in the 3200 will be making the trip up to Lakeland this weekend in Avery Fronrath of The King's Academy, who ran a season best 5K time of 18:28 this past Saturday to finish 8th in the elite race at the FSU Pre-State Invitational.

The Osceola girls who will be battling it out with the Dillard girls in a rare face off between last year's top 2 finishing teams in the 3A girls state race will both be represented with several runners pushing for top 10 to 15 places individually in the Race of Champions. Osceola has a stellar duo in Avery Latto and Elle Mehltretter with season best times of 17:48 and 18:06 respectively from the North Port Invitational.

The Osceola girls are very familiar with the Holloway Park course as Latto was the runner-up in last year's Race of Champions with a time of 19:11 after the meet was rescheduled two weeks later due to Hurricane Ian and finished third earlier this season at the Seffner Christian Invitational in 19:01 behind only Eliana Black and Cardinal Mooney's Addison Dempsey. Both Latto and teammate Mehltretter will be seeking their first sub 19 minute races at Holloway Park this weekend. 

Meanwhile, the Dillard girls were well packed up in the last race to win the Spanish River Invitational with the likes of Christiana Coleman at 18:41 and Peyton Williams at 18:49. Two years ago at the flrunners.com Invitational, Coleman ran an exception race as a sophomore to finish as the individual runner-up in the Race of Champions outkicking a pack of runners behind the race champion in IMG Academy's Layla Haynes with a sub 19 effort at Holloway in 18:58. 

Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart freshman Daniela Hernandez impressed us in her last performance clocking an 18:44 5K best in the heat and humidity on a Friday afternoon in Boca Raton for the Spanish River Invitational's 1A/2A schools varsity race two weekends ago. She will have much cooler conditions this Saturday morning (lows in the upper 60s/lower 70s) for the Race of Champions and could show why she is considered a rising star to watch out of South Florida for years to come in cross country.

Lehigh senior Gianna Del Pizzo is one of four girls in the race including Tomasic, Fitzgerald, and Black who have broken 18 minutes this season from her 17:50 fourth place showing at the North Port Invitational on September 23rd. Last weekend, Del Pizzo competed at the FSU Pre-State Invitational in the elite race but unfortunately collapsed in exhaustion on the final straightaway and did not finish the race. Hopefully, she has recovered physically and mentally from that incident and able to bounce back in a strong way as her team's lone individual racing at the flrunners.com Invitational in the elite race representing the Southwest Florida area that is loaded with talent this season. 

A total of 16 of Florida's top 50 fastest runners and all under 18:50 will be competing in the Race of Champions. Amongst those 16 elite girls others to watch include local rooting favorite for the Lakeland area in George Jenkins senior Jaade McBride with an 18:40 season best and Wiregrass Ranch's Ava Schmitt who rolled to a 18:17 best and top 10 finish at North Port Invite two weekends ago. Berkeley Prep's Hannah Latif seems to race better on tougher courses as was the runner-up at the Florida Horse Park Invitational and will be looking to run at the level again this weekend after a 15th place finish at North Port and 20th place finish at FSU Pre-State.

A notable runner not amongst the top 50 times right now in the state, but showed just this past weekend why she is considered one of the state's top returnees is Olympia junior Emily Knopfle, who finished 16th in the elite race at FSU Pre-State Invitational with a time of 18:57. Knopfle, a national caliber triathlete, was the 4A state runner-up in cross country last fall and has a personal best at the 5K distance of 18:26. This weekend will be a great opportunity for her to remind others that why she should still be considered a state title contender in the 4A classification.