All’s Wells that ends well
Winter Springs senior faced strong competition in 3A region races
Racing against a state champion brought out the best in Winter Springs senior Caroline Wells on Friday night, and the timing couldn’t have been more perfect.
Wells, who last year won the Class 3A state title in the 1600and 3200-meter runs, beat Lake Minneola’s Lily Henne to win both events in the Class 3A, Region 2 meet at East River High School.
Henne, the 2021 Class 2A champ in the 1,600 while enrolled at Montverde Academy, finished second in both events as both girls earned automatic berths to next week’s state meet at the University of Florida.
Wells also ran on the winning 4x800 relay team with Grace Mason, Naomi Flowers and
Ella Giambalvo combining for a 9:40.00 time to help the Bears edge Ocala Vanguard, 59-58, for the team title.
“It was all about getting points for the team,” said Wells, a Stanford signee. “This was a good workout.”
Wells clocked 4 minutes, 54.56 seconds to win the 1,600, beating Henne (5:03.30) by more than 8 seconds. Wells was even more decisive in the 3200 with 10:52.01. Henne was an easy runner-up at 11:09.78.
“I was super excited to race Caroline,” said Henne after the 1,600 run. “I’ve never been in race with two runners with sub-five-minute time [capability] at the same time. I would have loved to beat my PR [personal record] from last week. But I’m really happy. This is what I had.”
In the sprints, Kissimmee Gateway’s Amela Johnson made up for a sub-par race in the 100 by winning the 400-meter dash (58.61).
“I felt I got out really fast,” she said. “Coming off the turn, the backstretch. It was strategy, strategy, strategy.”
In the boys’ meet, Lake Minneola senior Valentino Rudolph won the 100 and 200 races, taking the latter in 21.09 seconds in a dramatic finish with Auburndale’s Christopher Donaldson (21.38).
“I’m really happy to run a 21.09,” Rudolph said. “I feel good about winning it, good enough for state.”
His 100 time (10.60) is best of all four 3A region meets
Lake Minneola won the boys title, beating Daytona Mainland, 77 to 69.5. Tyshone Bolden won the high jump with a 6-feet, 3½inches clearance for the Hawks, and the 4x800 relay team of Lash Bradshaw, Tavin Bradshaw, Emmanuel Carrillo and Quinn Niemann took first at 8:05.58.
Jones senior Lorenzo Laurenzano captured the boys 800 with a 1:56.30 time.