Winter Springs senior Caroline Wells sets Florida cross country record at Hagerty Invitational
WINTER SPRINGS, Fla. — Caroline Wells proved to everyone on Sept. 25 that she is one of the fastest cross-country runners in the state and possibly the nation after winning the Hagerty Invitational in record-breaking fashion.
Wells made history in this race, running the fastest 5,000-meter cross country time in Florida high school history to win the Hagerty Invitational quite handily. Running alone for almost the entirety of the race, Wells finished with a time of 16 minutes, 40.2 seconds at Hagerty High School to break a 15-year-old record that was set by former Wellington High standout Ashley Brasovan when she ran a 16:41.42. Brasovan was a high school cross country legend in her own right, winning the Foot Locker national championship a year after she set the record for the fastest 5,000-meter cross country time.
Wells finished the race by herself in the end with no one close challenging her record-breaking time. The second-place finisher of the race, Titusville Astronaut Madison Carr, ran the best time of her career at 19:03.60. It goes to show just how dominant Wells was in this race, beating the second-place finisher by almost two and a half minutes.
Wells made her college commitment two weeks ago to Stanford, where she plans to continue her cross-country success that includes her record-setting race as well as in her junior track season where she set state records for the 1,600 and 3,200 distances.
Wells’ impressive cross-country resume also includes 24 consecutive wins in Florida individual high school distance races that go back to the beginning of her sophomore year, which was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These wins include last year’s Class 3A cross-country state final as well as her 2021 track and field championships in the 1,600 and 3,200. Wells also helped Winter Springs’ relay team win the 4×800 relay at the state track meet.
Before the Hagerty Invitational, Wells’ previous cross country best time was 16:50.78 which she ran in her junior year. This season, she continued her dominance in her first race in the 3,200 after winning the Astronaut Invitational in Titusville with a time of 17:53.30.
Wells’ next big race will be at the Oct. 15-16 FSU Invitational Pre-State Meet, which is a meet at the Apalachee Regional Park course in Tallahassee where the state championships are run.
Wells has proven that she is one of the fastest cross-country runners throughout her career thus far. She has also set records in out-of-state postseason track invitationals as a junior, where she ran for times of 10:08.77 for the 3,200 and 16:16.02 for 5,000 meters.
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