Florida Cross Country Teams Clear Major Hurdle With Successful Meet at Apalachee Regional Park

By Todd Grasley for DyeStat

Perennial Florida cross country power Belen Jesuit made a seven-hour trek to compete Saturday in the Florida State Invitational in Tallahasee

Coach Frankie Ruiz and his team had the meet circled on the calendar since May and did all it could to see the trip to fruition in this COVID-challenged cross country season.

At Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, the usual site for the Florida state championships, Belen Jesuit got a long-awaited chance to run at "Pre State" and tested itself against the best teams in the Sunshine State.

“The FSU Pre-State meet was definitely an opportunity we wanted to maximize because of the usual caliber of competition and the venue itself,” Ruiz said. “Those that know us know that we don't mind traveling all around the state. Because travel can be cumbersome, we don't take lightly any meet we travel to, so FSU-Pre State wasn't going to be any different.”

RESULTS

Belen Jesuit’s placed its top five among the first 20 finishers overall. Senior Javier Vento picked up his second win in as many weeks with a personal-best 15:21 on the 5-kilometer course, with junior teammate Adam Magoulas finishing second in 15:26. Matthew Mule of Saint Andrews and Seth Martinez crossed the line in third and fourth, respectively, as part of a group of 14 boys under 16 minutes in the elite race. 

“The guys, almost across our entire team, put it all together at Apalachee Regional Park,” Ruiz noted. “They performed well, so well that they will go down in our school XC history books as one of our fastest teams ever. The conditions for fast racing were there, as temperatures were over 40 degrees cooler than what we are used to training and racing in, so I think a bunch of the runners in the race leveled up to take advantage of how perfect it was on race morning.”

On the girls side, Winter Springs junior Caroline Wells ran away from the competition, establishing a 24-second lead at the mile and continuing to extend the gap throughout the race.

Wells, who was eighth at last year’s Pre State and the 3A runner-up at the FHSAA finals, won easily in 17:24.4. That performance is third in meet history, trailing only Valerie Lastra's course record 17:17.58 and Alyssa Hendrix's time of 17:19.4.

Her time was a minute faster than runner-up Sinkenesh Parker of Circle Christian. Parker, a Samford University signee and the reigning Class 1A champion, crossed the line in 18:31.4. Winter Springs and Circle Christian finished 1-2 in the team competition as well.

Pia Bealieu and Amber Schulz both broke 18 minutes with times of 17:45 and 17:45.4 to finish first and second in an exciting girls open race, while Simon DeVoss of Astronaut won the boys open race (for runners competing unattached) in a massive personal best of 15:39.1.

Amanda Heidecker, Senior Sales and Sports Director for Visit Tallahassee, said she couldn’t have been happier with how the event turned out and received nothing but positive feedback from athletes, coaches, trainers, spectators, volunteers and vendors. 

“It was a resounding success, albeit with a very different approach and atmosphere than last year,” she said. “The picture-perfect weather also helped put an exclamation point on the amazing experience for everyone involved.”

So what’s next?

“We look forward to hosting the FHSAA cross country championships next month for the ninth year in a row at Apalachee Regional Park,” she added.

Ruiz and his Belen Jesuit boys can’t wait for the opportunity to bring home yet another state title.

“For now, the guys are fired up to train to go for the win at state and along the way have fun with Nike's NXV,” he noted. “I think the pandemic has taught us not to take anything for granted and I will do everything I can to remind the team to train for the rest of the season with that always in mind.”