Florida's Girl Foot Locker Qualifiers-Foot Locker Nationals 2011

How They Got Here

Olivia Ortiz - Junior - Lakewood Ranch - 5th Foot Locker South

Junior Olivia Ortiz used to consider herself a 2 sport athlete for the most playing competitive soccer and also being a distance runner.  After 3rd place finishes at the 2011 State Track meet in the 1600 and 3200 in 4:58/11:03 respectively, Olivia made a statement at the 2011 Golden South Classic winning the 3200 in 10:59 and a post-season PR. 

With a determined focus and solid summer of training behind her, Olivia entered her Junior season as one of the top ranked girls in Florida.

Her first meet of the Fall Cross-Country season was the Deja Vu 3 Mile Meet held under the lights at Ed Radice and the race became an instant classic as she hung on to a game Kacy Smith as they rounded the soccer fields at Ed Radice, always in contention for a late race charge.  A mad sprint to the finish saw Kacy just slightly better than Olivia on this given night with Olivia finishing 2nd in 18:26 on the sloppy, mud logged course.  It would be the only race where she finished 2nd all year during the regular season.

Along the way to the post season and Foot Locker Nationals, Olivia would rack up wins at the 19th Annual Canes Classic in 18:49, the Ft Myers Optimist Invitational in 18:37, UF Mt Dew Invitational in 18:28, Flrunners.com 12 presented by Nike in 17:35, Disney Classic in 17:56, Pre-State in 17:41, and the Manatee County Championship in 17:49.

Olivia entered the State series with several high profile wins to her credit and was one of the favorites to contend for a State championship in the highly contested FHSAA 3A classification.

She continued her winning ways, capturing wins at Districts in 18:25, Regionals in 17:49, and her first State Championship over fellow Foot Locker finalist, Lily Williams from Chiles in 17:39.

The post-season didn't disappoint but it also wasn't without intrepidation. 

Although a Junior, Olivia had never run a race at McAlpine Park, home for the Foot Locker South Regional, a course where experience pays benefits with a fast start, narrow winding trails, a significant uphill climb followed by a steep downhill and a wide figure 8 berth to the finish. 

Once again, Olivia's ascent as one of the Nation's rising stars proved as no fluke as she was Florida's first girl finisher and secured her ticket to San Diego with a 5th place finish in the Foot Locker South Regional, recording a 22 second PR and finishing in 17:13.

Bridget Blake - Junior - Dr. Phillips HS - 7th Foot Locker South

If you have ever been to a big cross country race the past two seasons, odds are you came across the name Bridget Blake at least once if not more. Even if you haven’t been to a race but at least follow cross country, you have heard the name Bridget Blake.  She is one of the best female runners in the state of Florida and a Foot Locker Finalist in San Diego, CA!

The Junior from Dr. Phillips HS from Orlando, FL, has had a very successful high school career.  She won the 2010 FHSAA 4A State Cross Country Championship with a time of 17:52.  Also, she had a great race against Mary Kate Ponder out of Mandarin HS and won the 2011 FHSAA 4A State Track Meet in the 1600m with an amazing time of 4:59.48. 

After a great summers work, she was ready to repeat as 4A State Cross Country Champion in Florida albeit it was decided she would start off slow at the beginning of the season with the hope of extending her season well past the State Meet and into the post season. 

She started off the 2011 season at the UF Mountain Dew Invite where she placed 5th with a time of 18:57.  She continued her successful Junior season with a runner-up finish at Flrunners 12 presented by Nike in 17:42 to fellow Foot Locker finalist Olivia Ortiz, a 19:25 win at the Southeast XC Showdown in Hoover, Alabama, followed by a win at the 12th Holy Trinity Fall Classic in 17:27. 

Brigdet continued her winning ways at the Metro West Conference in 18:33 and entered the post-season looking very fit and ready to run fast. 

In the post season, she easily won her District meet in 18:06.26.  She eased her way through the Region winning with a time of 18:20.92.  By the time the 2011 FHSAA 4A State Championship rolled around at Little Everglades Ranch, she was determined to repeat and she certainly did not disappoint.  She won the State Meet with a time of 18:05.62, 5th fastest amongst all finishers at the State meet that day.  

Her success would continue as she made the long 8 ½ to 9 hour drive to Charlotte, NC, where the Footlocker South Regional was taking place.  After an entire season of races, speed workouts, and countless long runs, Bridget was about to potentially race her final cross country race of her Junior season.

Racing with passion and heart, Bridget ran an outstanding race in North Carolina and placed 7th with a time of 17:26, a huge PR for the Junior and what a better race to do it at.  Signing the papers for Footlocker Nationals must have been an incredible feeling that cannot be put into words. 

Bridget will run her last high school cross country meet this season leaving everything on the course and going out with a strong performance we all have come to expect from her.  Is there a better way can you think of than running in a National Meet with the other top 39 runners in the United States? I don’t think so.

Lily Williams - Junior - Chiles HS - 10th Foot Locker South

If you live in Florida and follow the high school running scene then you’ve heard the name Lily Williams. If you’ve run cross country in the state of Florida, then you’ve feared the name Lily Williams. If you knew she was running Nike Cross Regional’s then happened to look at Foot Locker results you probably stared surprisingly at the name Lily Williams. If you’re lost at where I’m going with this, we’re talking about none other than Lily Williams. 

Lily’s journey to this race wasn’t an easy one. Follow along as we look back on her season and see what it took for her to get here.

Lily opened up her season with a win at the Bob Hans Invitational at Ridgeview High school by running 18:09, beating her teammates Carly Thomas and Rachel Givens for 2^nd and 3^rd.  Lily followed up her win at Ridgeview with a win at the FSU Invitational in her home town of Tallahassee. Lily continued her winning ways when her girls squad traveled out to the Jessie Owens Classic in Oakville, Alabama and she ran a course record time 17:29!

Lily’s first challenge came this year when she made a trip down to Dade City for the Pre-State Invitational. In the girls elite race Lily saw her first defeat, finishing in 2^nd about 5 seconds back from Olivia Ortiz. Lily bounced back from Pre-State by winning her next three races; the Panhandle Championship, and both her District and Regional meet.

In her final meet running cross country for her high school team, Lily made the trip back to Dade City to once again race Olivia Ortiz. Much like their first meeting Olivia proved to be a little bit too tough and Lily ended up placing 2^nd about 5 seconds ahead of her teammate Carly Thomas who came in at 3^rd.

Lily didn’t let her state race go to her head when she decided to forgo racing Nike Cross Regionals in order to test her luck at Foot Locker South. Most of us covering the race didn’t realize that she would be there considering her team had run at Nike Southeast the last few years.

Lily’s decision to run Foot Locker South proved to pay off when she placed 10^th, stamping her ticket to be 1 of 40 girls to be competing for the title of Foot Locker National Champion. Lily also goes down in history as being the first athlete for legendary coach Scott Gowan to make the big dance or what he calls, the “Superbowl” of the running world.

To follow Olivia, Bridget and Lily and the rest of the Footlocker finalists make sure you tune in to www.DistancepPreps.com tomorrow at 11:30 EST as we bring to you a live feed of the race, a blog with updates on position and splits, and a bunch of race photos and athlete interviews.