Wells waits and wins 3A state title after weather delay

GAINESVILLE — Caroline Wells had to wait out a 2½-hour lightning delay before she could race on Friday night.

But once she finally took the track, it was smooth sailing for Winter Springs High School’s state record holder at Percy Beard Track at the University of Florida.

Wells repeated as the Class 3A state champion in the girls 1,600meter run to add a sixth state championship to her resume. She took charge from the start with a 67-second opening lap and remained undefeated for the season with a winning time of 4 minutes, 50.56 seconds.

“I just stayed focused and in the moment,” Wells said of the long weather delay. “I knew my race would come. “I just wanted to stay loose and have a competitive mindset.”

Lake Minneola senior Lily Henne stayed in range of Wells — no easy feat — and finished strong to place second with a career-best time of 4:52.74.

Stanford signee Wells was primed to collect her seventh state title in a 3,200 final later on Friday.

Wells won both distance titles a year ago and also earned a gold medal with a stirring anchor leg in the 4x800 relay. She claimed 3A cross country state titles as a junior and senior.

Wells set state records for the 3,200 (10:08.77) and 5,000 meters (16:16.02) in national invitationals last summer.

Edgewater sophomore Amaya Bien-Aime and Lake Minneola junior Valentino Rudoph also scored second-place finishes in events completed shortly after the interruption.

Bien-Aime cleared 5 feet,

7¾ inches, a career best, just before the lightning delay was announced and competitors and spectators were asked to leave the stadium and take cover under the concrete bleachers or in cars or buses.

That marked tied her for second with Molie Jean Baptiste of Naples but Bien-Aime , who turned 16 Thursday, said the stoppage hurt her chances to go higher. She missed her three attempts at 5-9¾, which would

have broken Edgewater’s school record.

“I wasn’t feeling as energetic after waiting that long,” BienAime said. “I feel like I could have gotten it.”

Bien-Aime had never highjumped until a former Edgewater coach saw her play basketball as a ninth-grader and convinced her to try her leaping ability in a spring sport.

Miami Southridge senior Alyssa Jones, another Stanford signee, cleared 5-9¾ to win as part of a huge night. She also won the 100-meter dash (11.70 seconds) and broke a Florida High School Athletic Association all-classes state meet with a winning 20-11¾ long jump.

Bien-Aime is continuing Edgewater’s recent legacy of elite high jumpers. Clarissa Cutliff, who earned NCAA indoors All-American recognition in 2017, 2018 and 2019 for FIU, cleared 5-8 as an Edgewater senior. Her best as a high school sophomore was 5-4.

The Orlando area record for the event is 5-10, set by Ann Larsen of Evans in 2001 and equaled two years ago by Amaya Ugarte of Windermere High, who is now a sophomore on Ohio State’s roster.

Rudolph ran a 10.56 time in the 100-meter dash for second behind Fort Lauderdale Dillard’s Chris Johnson (10.45). Like Wells, Rudolph had another championship still to come in the 200.

Lake Minneola’s boys 4x800 foursome chopped five seconds off its previous season best to finish fifth in 8:00.59. That’s the best area time in the event this year.

Fort Lauderdale Dillard broke a 39-year old state all-time best with a searing 9:03.27 time for the 4x800 relay. That time, ranked third nationally for 2022, eclipsed the 9:03.42 state standard set by Orange Park in a 1983 USA Junior Olympics meet.