While last week's FSU Pre-State Invitational certainly gathered the majority of the Florida's best high school girls cross country teams in a clash to determine the current pecking order for all-classes and within each classification, there were two notable teams missing from Tallahassee in last year's 3A state champions Osceola and last year's 3A state runners-up Dillard.
The 2021 3A state champions Ponte Vedra ended up being the top finishing 3A school at FSU Pre-State Invitational finishing as the runner-up squad with 149 points behind 2A squad Bishop Kenny with 100 points.
We did not have to wait long to see Dillard and Osceola race though in a major meet as last year's state meet podium squads clashed in their first head to head encounter since last year's state meet race. The Osceola girls were coming in on a roll after two big invitational wins at the North Port Invitational and 3D Distance Classic ahead of last year's 1A state champions Cambridge Christian, who just finished 5th at the FSU Pre-State Invite.
Meanwhile, the Spanish River Invitational ended up being the Dillard girls' first major invitational race of the season two weeks ago and scored a resounding victory against the top teams in South Florida including the Our Lady of Lourdes Academy girls, who placed 8th in the elite race at FSU Pre-State Invitational.
In the Race of Champions at the flrunners.com Invitational, the Dillard girls comprising many of the girls from their state record 9:03 4x800 meter relay squad, certainly got the better hand of their 3A competition Osceola winning by a margin of 41 points with their team total tally of 100 points averaging 19:39 for their top 5 finishers as a squad.
The Osceola girls earned a runner-up team trophy with 141 points and a team average of 141 points, while Heathwood Hall from South Carolina snagged the final team trophy in third place at 198 points to put them ahead of Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart (4th, 224 pts), IMG Academy (5th, 230 pts), and Our Lady of Lourdes Academy (6th, 27 pts).
The Dillard girls were led by Christiana Coleman, who has raced well on the Holloway Park course in the past as shown two years ago when she went sub 19 minutes to finish as the runner-up in the Race of Champions behind only IMG Academy's Layla Haynes.
Coleman ran faster on the course this year with a season best 18:40 effort, but finished fourth in a race that arguably featured the state's top 3 best cross country runners in Annabella Tomasic (1st, 17:42), Eliana Black (2nd, 18:06), and Ashley Fitzgerald (3rd, 18:10) setting a torrid pace up front.
Seventh grader and teammate Miley Gill joined Coleman in the top 15 with a time of 19:33 for 15th place and five flat miler Raquel Edwards also broke 20 minutes at Holloway Park as the team's third finisher in 23rd place at 19:44.
Another seventh grader in their lineup and 2:13 half miler Shynah Collins just missed breaking 20 minutes as Dillard's fourth runner in 34th place at 20:01 and freshman Peyton Williams rounded out the team's scoring in 39th place at 20:15.
For the Osceola girls, Elle Mehltretter took over as the team's top finisher for the first time this season in 12th place at 19:25 as normal top runner Avery Latto had an off race in 14th place at 19:32. Meanwhile, Heloise Pinto gave Osceola a solid third runner under 20 minutes and amongst the top 20 places with her time of 19:43 for 20th place.
Mehltretter, Latto, and Pinto are the only returnees from last year's state champion top 7 lineup for Osceola as they have had new runners step up to fill those holes including Lily Joseph (49th, 20:31) and Nora Aldis (65th, 21:04) who ran as their squad's #4 and #5 finishers to complete their scoring at the flrunners.com Invitational.
The Osceola girls have certainly reloaded to be competitive again this year and could very well be a top 2 state meet podium team come November, but the Dillard girls without any graduation losses from their 2022 state runner-up squad are looking like not only the team to beat in the 2A classification, but could be the very best team overall in the state of Florida regardless of classification.
On average, high school girls that raced at both at FSU Pre-State Invitational and flrunners.com Invitational ran 24 seconds slower with a median of 37 seconds slower.
The Bishop Kenny girls, who also definitely have a legitimate claim to being the top ranked team in all of Florida, averaged 19:18 as a squad at FSU Pre-State Invitational and the more front loaded Ponte Vedra squad had a slightly faster average of 19:16.
Bishop Kenny and Dillard are very similar squads in focus of being more well packed rather than sending a few front runners out ahead for low sticks, but could argue that Coleman is definitely that for Dillard though as well. Unfortunately, there will likely be no head to head between the two teams and will have to rely on a results merge at the state meet when racing at different times of the day and different racing temperatures.
And certainly, the Dillard girls cannot overlook their competition that is found in 3A as they are trying to see their first state title in cross country against our last two winners in 2022 champions Osceola and 2021 champions Ponte Vedra.
The elephant in the room though that really has not been discussed openly when it comes to the Dillard girls is them also breaking down racial stereotypes when it comes to the sport of cross country.
Cross country is a sport that is dominated historically by predominantly white suburban public or private schools such as a Bishop Kenny, Bolles, Ponte Vedra and Osceola fitting that mold.
Not predominantly black or minority urban schools like Dillard found in the heart of Fort Lauderdale. Certain sports seem to gravitate in popularity for different demographics and ethnicities and for whatever reason, cross country has been a sport while still diverse cannot help to notice that the more affluent and predominantly white schools seem to enjoy success more regularly. Track and field can often be entirely different as well as other sports such as football and basketball.
Similar to when Jackie Robinson integrated baseball or when Tiger Woods took the golfing world by storm, it should be celebrated when those perceived racial barriers in sports are broken down and can show others that it can be done after trailblazers lead the way.
For those that follow the national scene regularly over the years can recall a program by the name of Eleanor Roosevelt in Maryland in the late 2000's, who shook up the scene on the national distance running landscape with a similar talented group of African American distance girls finishing top 10 as a team at the Nike Cross Nationals while winning Penn Relays 4x800 and DMR national titles on the track.
Hopefully, the rise and success of the Dillard girls not only with their 4x800 meter relay who may have a shot this spring to break not only their own state record but the first team in state history to break 9 minutes in the event but now with their cross country team in the discussion as the best team in all of Florida can see clearly the dedication and commitment of their coaches and athletes can inspire others that a group of African American girls can run with the best of them in cross country.
It is only good for the sport of cross county to celebrate and encourage the growth and celebrate team success of different backgrounds, situations, makeups, and locations. Does not even have to be related to race either and more socioeconomic levels of the school's student population play a larger role it seems in the sport's disparities as the rural schools have just as tough of an uphill climb as an inner city school when trying to compete with schools that have more resources at their disposal.
The Dillard girls certainly are doing more than just winning races this season and we are here to celebrate what they are doing.