Though considered by many to be the top girls team in the state at the season's midway point, this Lakewood Ranch team and coaches Bryan Thomas and Mary Quinn still feel like they are the underdogs."Chiles would have something to say about that," Thomas retorted, referring to their 3A rivals from Tallahassee, when asked about being ranked number one. Girls Coach Mary Quinn added, "We have to keep working hard to catch them. They've been number one for a while now and we're just the challengers... but I feel that Chiles is within reach."
The Timberwovles have certainly done their best to play the part of defending champions. After a near perfect opening act at a meet in Georgia, they stumbled a bit with a 29 point loss to Holy Trinity at Katie Caples three weeks ago. But reloaded and launched a 42-point assault at Bale-n-Trail last week, with a 19:05 team average. Lily Williams and Carly Thomas anchor the powerhouse Chiles squad with perhaps the most lethal 1-2 punch of any team in any classification, meaning they are practically only scoring three runners in most meets.
But while depth has at times been a minor liability for Chiles, it has been the strongest asset for Lakewood Ranch. Last week at the flrunners.com Invitational the Mustangs pulled off a one-point victory over upstart Estero on the back of their incredible pack. At that meet Olivia Ortiz started off the scoring for them at 18:27 and Ashley Platt wrapped it up at 19:34, giving them a 19:00 team average.
"Last year we were kind of surprised," said Coach Thomas when asked what he thought about their sudden rise last season, "we all knew Kristin (Zarrella) was going to be good because she was good in middle school. But Olivia (Oritz) and Natalie Novak came along never having run before and surprised us." In Thomas' long coaching career he said he's never had such a concentration of talent. "We've had some good runners over the years, but never so many at the same time."
The team has only one senior, seventh-runner Hailey Stoffel. Currently holding down the four-spot is Devin McDermott, a junior. The rest of the team is made up of sophomores Ortiz, Zarella, Novak, Platt, and freshman Emily Perez holds up the crucial sixth-spot.
"Emily has fit in really well with the other girls," Quinn said of the team's newest member who had a big PR at flrunners of 20:51 and followed it up with a 21:19 this week on a slower Disney course. "She is a big part of this team. We've told her how important her role could be for us... she has really been stepping it up and had a breakthrough race last week."
Coach Quinn says that she doesn't view it as a challenge coaching such a young team, as long as they keep the pressure off and let them act their age.
"We try to let them just be themselves and not pressure them too much... just let them unwind and be goofy together. They sure have fun and laugh a lot and just have a good time." Coach Quinn continued that they don't need to be reminded when it's time to get serious saying, "when it's time to practice or once they get on the starting line, it's all business."
After an all business trip to the flrunners.com Invitational, they wanted to be sure to keep this weekend light and didn't focus too much on winning or the competition going in.
"Disney was a nice win for us, but we weren't focused on it and tried not to put any pressure on the girls. We really wanted to gear up this year for flrunners and Prestate. And you never know going into the (Disney Classic)... because it's hard to know how good the out of state teams will be."
It didn't matter though how good the out-of-state teams where because Lakewood Ranch was in a league of their own on Saturday. They scored just 42 points, which was 26 points in front of a very good Harrison team that is ranked eighth in Georgia. Ortiz, Zarella, and Novak put them out front with third (19:17), fourth (19:18), and sixth (19:26) place finishes, respectively. McDermott and Platt wrapped it up by finishing tenth (19:36) and nineteeth (20:21) on the Wide World of Sports course that is not known for being PR-friendly.
Looking ahead to Prestate, Quinn can not help but remember the minor disaster that took place last year at that meet.
"We left at 5AM--and we thought that was enough time--but somehow we ended up getting there late," she reflected on the blunder that clearly still bugged her. "I think the girls may have had time to go to the bathroom," she half-laughed, "but it was basically get off the bus, put on your numbers, and line up."
The girls coach can't help but wonder if they might have run better. "We were fifth... but I think we could have run at least somewhat better if they would have had a chance to stretch and do their normal warm up routine and unwind a little... but who knows!"
Quinn, still a competitive 22-minute road racer herself, assured Florida cross country fans there would be no re-run of the incident this season.
"This week we'll be sure to be on time! We'll take separate vehicles and give them plenty of time to warm up!"
This weekend's big Prestate meet will feature six of the top seven rated teams in Florida and the expectations will be high. However, if they don't win that is just fine by them, both coaches confirmed independently.
"We just focus on improving week-by-week and running better than we did at that meet last season."