Belen’s Ruiz, Ransom’s Serra, St. Brendan’s Hencock are Dade cross-country runners of the year
Belen Jesuit’s Joshua Ruiz has been in this position before. Emma Hencock had been trending toward it during the course of her four years at St. Brendan. And Ransom Everglades’ David “Chuli” Serra had a breakout first season on the cross-country course to get here.
The trio are the Miami Herald’s Miami-Dade cross-country runners of the year for the 2022 season. Ruiz and Serra are splitting the boys’ title, while Hencock won the girls’ title outright.
Ruiz, a junior and one of the Herald’s Dade boys’ co-runners of the year for a second consecutive season, was the engine for Belen Jesuit’s latest title defense. He had a season-best time of 15 minutes 16 seconds and finished as the Class 3A individual state runner-up for a second consecutive season.
Ruiz spent the past two seasons learning from some of Belen’s past greats such as Javier Vento and Adam Magoulas, both former cross-country runners of the year in their own right.
This year, Ruiz was the guy pacing the team as he helped guide Belen not just to another state title but to a spot in the Nike National Cross-Country Championship in Portland, Oregon, for just the second time in school history.
“At least the years that I’ve been on the team, our leadership has been super good,” Ruiz said. “They taught me how to lead. And now I’m here leading.”
Serra, also a junior, dominated during his first cross-country season. His time of 15:27 at state put him in second place in the Class 2A race and was the fastest time among any area runners in Tallahassee. He grew up playing soccer, which helped him with his running endurance.
“That for sure translated to cross-country and track,” Serra said.
But Serra said it took him until about midseason before he started getting comfortable. He admitted that he “didn’t really know what was going on” during his first three races. As the season progressed, he began adapting and having a better understanding of the strategy that goes into running a successful cross-country race.
“You need to pace yourself and know how to understand and read your body,” Serra said. “That way you have enough left in the tank to really survive that last mile and give it all you have.”
Ransom Everglades coach Don Kappelman said he saw Serra’s potential last spring when he broke the school record in the 800-yard run during track and field season with a time of 1:56.33.
“Pretty remarkable,” Kappelman said.
As for Hencock, she finished her high school cross-country career on a high note. Her fourth-place finish and her time of 18:04.4 in the 5K race were both the best marks of her career and more than a full minute faster than her freshman season.
“I feel like I left it all and I did everything I could,” Hencock said. “I was really happy with my placement and how I did.”
Hencock still has the track and field season to look forward to before heading off to college (she’s still uncommitted) and hopes to run for the under-20 team for Uruguay, which is where her mother is from.
“It would mean a lot to me,” Hencock said about running for Uruguay, “just because it’s not something that everyone can do on a daily basis. It’s kind of really important for me and a new experience.”
