Father-daughter duo runs the cross country program at Lakewood Ranch High

It was a common occurrence in the 2000s, a young girl dashing across the East Manatee Bulldogs' football practice field at Lakewood Ranch Park. 

It was obvious the girl loved to run, and that she was fast. So fast Bulldogs offensive coordinator Bill Zarrella would challenge his players to race her.

The boys figured they would beat her, but only about 15% of them could. Zarrella was happy because it made his athletes want to work harder. On the inside, he also was proud of the girl — his daughter, Kristin — for showing the boys how it was done. 

Kristin Zarrella-Wikstrom, now 24, never stopped running. She ran cross country and track at Lakewood Ranch High, where she still holds the individual school record in the 800-meter dash (2:14.06). She ran at the University of Southern Mississippi and set the mile indoor record there (4:49.98), which was eventually broken.

Through it all, no matter where her career went, she knew she wanted to end up in coaching, just like her dad. In 2018, when Zarrella-Wikstrom was offered the cross country coaching position, both boys and girls, at Lakewood Ranch High, she jumped at it. 

Fast forward a year and Zarrella-Wikstrom has learned a lot. She said paperwork is 90% of the job. It was a tall task for someone in her first year of teaching and she was a bit overwhelmed doing the boys and the girls. She thought her second year would go better if she had some help with a new coach taking over the boys team. 

She knew who to ask.

“I’m so excited,” Bill Zarrella said of his new position as the Mustangs boys cross country coach. 

He now has the chance to coach alongside his daughter and it isn't exactly foreign territory. In addition to coaching youth football, Zarrella served as the cross country coach at Norwell and Bridgewater-Raynham Regional high schools in Massachusetts for eight years before the family moved to Lakewood Ranch in 1997.

He also coached his daughter when she first began taking running seriously, helping her reach the 2007 AAU Junior Olympics in Knoxville, Tenn. They would turn national meets into family vacations, and those competitions remain some of Zarrella-Wikstrom’s favorite memories. 

In July, Bill Zarrella retired from the Manatee County Sheriff’s Department after 22 years. Zarrella said he knew he wanted something to do after retirement, and getting back into coaching seemed like the perfect fit. 

To do it alongside his daughter is a bonus.

“I always tell my kids, just try your best,” Zarrella said. “That’s the main thing. If you do, you’ll advance far.” 

Zarrella-Wikstrom said her father gave her some wonderful advice when she was young. When the starting gun goes off, go. Don’t hesitate. It’s simple, she said, but she reminds her runners of it often.

Bill Zarrella has been with the team for summer workouts, and his daughter said the boys already think of him as “the best coach ever.” He’s a great role model for them, she said, just like he was for her.

Bill Zarrella doesn’t drink, smoke — or even curse, she said. He’s all about encouragement and making sure the athletes don’t forget they are students first and foremost. 

“You need to have empathy,” Zarrella-Wikstrom said. “These kids have so much going on, with clubs and personal things. Mental health is as important as physical health.”

Bill Zarrella said he plans to coach alongside his daughter as long as she’s there (and as long as the school will have him), and Zarrella-Wikstrom said she could envision staying at the school for the rest of her career. 

That would mean a lot of instruction from a school legend along with the man who helped her become one.