Warmup mishap doesn’t stop girls’ cross-country runner from Lourdes despite late start
Blood was gushing from Olivia Fraga’s face.
Fraga, a junior cross-country standout at Miami Lourdes Academy, was half a football field away from the starting line when the gun went off to begin this past Saturday’s Flrunners.com Invitational in Lakeland.
Here’s what happened in what became one of the most amazing races:
Prior to the start of the race, the girls were stretching. But Fraga, who is new to cross-country this year, got a little too close to teammate Johanna Diez.
That’s when Diez’s backward stretch/kick accidentally connected with Fraga’s face.
“It was super painful,” Fraga said. “Johanna was apologetic, but I felt super sick. I had a headache.
“I didn’t realize I was bleeding until someone was staring at me with a shock face.”
Javier Jove, Lourdes’ third-year cross-country coach, hustled over and got Fraga a towel. He then took Fraga to the Lourdes tent — which was 100 meters from the starting line — for further treatment.
“Johanna’s face had turned white [from shock and concern],” Jove said. “Olivia was crying.
“I told Johanna to keep during her warmup drills. Olivia had a [vertical] gash just above her right eyebrow. The blood was trickling into her eye. It was a [mess].”
Jove got a bandage on Fraga and calmed her down. But as they walked back toward the starting line, the gun went off.
Ready or not, it was race time.
“What do I do?” Fraga screamed at her coach.
“Run!” he yelled back.
With almost all of the state’s best runners competing, Fraga had inadvertently given them a 50-meter head start.
“There were more than 200 runners,” Jove said. “It was a sea of people, and she was in last place.”
Not for long, though.
“I was thinking, ‘How am I going to catch all these people?’” Fraga said. “I just ran as fast as I could until I ran out of breath.”
At that point, Fraga started to pace herself, but she kept passing runners, including all of her teammates.
“Every time I passed a teammate, I tapped them on the back to motivate them,” Fraga said. “I don’t think they even knew I was running after what happened.”
Miraculously, Lourdes, which competes in Class 3A, finished second as a team. Only Newsome, a 4A power, beat Lourdes.
Fraga, meanwhile, came in 13th — a stunning finish under the circumstances. Her time for the 5K was 19:15, just short of her personal best, which is 18:51.
Then again, she ran an extra 50 meters.
“She is remarkable,” Jove said.
The same can be said of the entire Lourdes team, which is ranked third in the state in Class 3A behind Kissimmee Osceola and Ponte Vedra. However, Lourdes finished ahead of Osceola in Lakeland while Ponte Vedra was not entered.
Jove believes Lourdes could win its first state title since 2004.
In order, Lourdes’ top five runners are Fraga, Diez, freshman Olivia Rodriguez, senior Sofi Martinez and junior Paola Garcia.
Diez, a senior, made All-Dade first team as a sophomore in 2019. But then she sustained a knee injury (torn ACL) while skiing in February of 2020. She is now healthy.
Garcia made second-team All-Dade last year but Saturday was only her third race since recovering from Achilles tendinitis.
Fraga finished seventh at state as a sophomore last season, competing in the 3,200 relay.
Following that success, Jove convinced her to try out for cross-country. Fraga ditched volleyball and became an immediate star. Of her first five races, she won twice, finished second twice and came in third once.
Had she not gotten kicked in the face on Saturday, another top-three finish was possible.
“I could’ve done a lot better,” said Fraga, who wants to run in college and also study architecture, possibly at the University of Florida. “I’ve beaten a lot of the girls who finished in the top five.”
Jove was just relieved at the happy ending.
“It could’ve been horrific had Olivia been hit in the eye,” Jove said. “It ended up being the craziest race I’ve ever seen.”
THIS AND THAT
▪ Miami Belen won the boys’ race in Lakeland. In the 22-year history of the prestigious Flrunners.com Invitational, this is Belen’s 10th win.
Adam Magoulas, a Belen senior, won the individual race with a course-record time of 15:30. After the race, Magoulas committed to run for the Florida Gators, where he will join ex-Belen teammates Javier Vento and Aiden Villasuso.
▪ The top Broward girls’ finisher was Fort Lauderdale Dillard sophomore Christina Coleman, who finished second with a time of 18:56. Coral Park’s Penelope Sosa, who finished fourth, was the top Miami girl (18:58).
▪ With 1,335 athletes entered, the Flrunners.com Invitational is the largest cross-country meet in Florida.