American Heritage’s Fitzgerald poised to challenge for a state championship
The first time Ashley Fitzgerald ran a race, she got lost.
Now, she knows exactly where to go – to the finish line and then the medals podium.
Fitzgerald, a 16-year-old junior at American Heritage, is one of the top cross-country runners in Florida.
Last year, she finished second at the state Class 3A meet. The only girl who beat her was Caroline Wells, a superstar runner who is now competing for Stanford University.
Fitzgerald said she kept Wells within sight for about one-third through last year’s state final, a 3.1-mile race in Tallahassee.
After that, the only ones who could keep up with Wells was the guy driving the golf cart that the runners follow.
But that was OK with Fitzgerald.
“You always want to think, ‘I can win this,’” Fitzgerald said. “But I went into that race thinking that second place is first place.”
To get second, though, Fitzgerald would have to fight off Dillard’s Christiana Coleman, who also returns for her junior season this year.
“Christiana is an amazing runner,” Fitzgerald said. “We were in a pack of three or four girls until the last 800 meters.
“Then it was about strategy. I’ve been racing (Coleman) for years, and, typically, she has a faster kick than I do.
“I was trying to decide when to go, and I went on a full-out sprint the final 200 meters.”
Fitzgerald’s plan worked as she ran a personal-best time of 18:13, beating third-place Coleman by seven seconds.
This year, Fitzgerald is hoping to climb one rung higher on the medals podium on Nov. 5, when the state finals return to Tallahassee.
American Heritage coach Thomas Johnson said he believes Fitzgerald will get Power Five scholarship offers before her prep career ends.
“She’s got a great work ethic,” Johnson said, “and she’s very coachable.”
Fitzgerald, though, hasn’t always listened to direction.
She ran her first race when she was 10 years old. She and her father, Matt, were invited to participate in a 5K road race at Cleveland Clinic in Weston.
Matt, a Pompano Beach firefighter who ran marathons in his younger years, told his daughter to jog with him.
Of course, Ashley Fitzgerald, full of youthful exuberance, bolted away.
“He said stay with me,” Ashley Fitzgerald said, “and I said, ‘See you later.’”
But there was just one problem.
At some point, she took a wrong turn and was “missing” for about 15 minutes.
“My parents were freaking out,” Fitzgerald said. “When they found me, they said: ‘You’re never racing again.’”
As it turns out, Fitzgerald took an extra loop, making her race longer. Even so, she finished first in her age group.
“That’s a family folklore story,” said Ashley’s mother, Amy. “She didn’t understand the course, and she ran an extra mile or two.
“When she wasn’t with my husband, and we couldn’t find her, my heart stopped. I think it took some years off my life.
“I guess we didn’t expect her to be that fast.”
Fitzgerald wants to get even faster, however, which is why she spent the past three-plus weeks training in Mount Rainier, Washington, running in elevation of 4,000 to 6,000 feet.
The weather in the Pacific Northwest for her visit was ideal for running, usually in the 50s to 60s.
But running uphill?
“That was a wake-up call,” said Fitzgerald, who has run for American Heritage’s varsity since she was in the sixth grade. “All of a sudden, I wasn’t jogging in a straight line with palm trees all around.
“When I was constantly going uphill, I was thinking, ‘Why am I doing this?’”
Fitzgerald, who aspires to become a physician’s assistant, now realizes that her hard work will pay off this season.
She also wants to get stronger. Fitzgerald is 5-7 and 94 pounds, and she spent the summer working on her hips.
“Strength is speed,” she said, “and I’m a tiny beanstalk.”
That may be, but she now knows the way around a course … and where to pick up her medals.
THIS AND THAT
▪ Key dates - Monday: Regular season meets can begin; Sept. 2: King of the Hill Invitational (Tropical Park); Sept. 9: Youth Fair Invitational (Larry and Penny Thompson Park); Sept. 16: Spanish River Invitational (Boca Raton); Sept. 23: GMAC championship (Thompson); Sept. 29: Larry Wooten Invitational (Thompson); Oct. 6: BCAA championships at Tradewinds; Oct. 7-8: Pre-State FSU Invitational (Tallahassee); Oct. 14: Junior Orange Bowl Invitational (Thompson); Oct. 17-22: Districts; Oct. 26-29: Regionals; Nov. 5: State meet at Apalachee Regional Park (Tallahassee).
▪ In addition to Fitzgerald, Heritage will have some depth at the top of its lineup with sophomore sophomore Sienna Alvarez and seventh-grader Aniyah Parker leading the way.
▪ Pine Crest will be led by junior Brooke Harper (18:39), who finished fourth at state last year, second at regionals and won a district championship.
▪ Carrollton’s top runner, freshman Arianna Garcia (20:37), finished third at state in the 200-meter hurdles. As a team, Carrollton finished sixth at state last year, and seven of its top 10 runners return.
▪ Braddock figures to be Dade County’s top team among Class 4A squads led by junior Bella Cardona, who is ranked second in the state in 4A, along with sophomores Kayla Feeney, Jasmine Trotz, junior Jada Garcia and senior Marlie Gonzalez.
▪ Lourdes is aiming to be back among the state’s best led by senior Olivia Fraga, who finished sixth at state last season. The Bobcats also return state-qualifying sophomores Olivia Rodriguez and Lucia Castillo-Rios.
▪ Calvary Christian will be led by junior Isabella Del Busto (19:46).
▪ Westminster Academy’s Claire Chanon (20:32) was the second-fastest sixth-grader at state last year. As a team, WA returns every runner from last year, when the squad finished fifth at regionals and 17th at state.
▪ Cardinal Gibbons is led by seniors Sydney Sinclair (19:28), Emily Baldwin (20:39) and Cheyenne Burns (21:58).
▪ Archbishop McCarty is led by junior Helen Ribas.
▪ Divine Senior is led by senior Hannan Olave (21:22).
▪ Miami Country Day is led by junior Isabella Galofre (22:05).
▪ Pembroke Pines Charter is led by senior Gabriella Kinsley (23:02).
▪ Flanagan is led by sophomore Melania Hernaiz (23:15).
▪ North Broward Prep is led by freshman Katie Heggerrick.
▪ Coral Park is led by junior Asley Merein (24:22).
▪ Terra is led by senior Gaby Latorre-Lagos.
This story was originally published August 17, 2022 at 12:00 PM.