Bale-N-Trail Championships Preview: Nease Brings Its Roy Griak Times Home, and Every Grade Race on Paper

Bale-N-Trail Championships. Bartram Trail High School, 7399 Longleaf Pine Parkway, St. Johns. Hosted by Bartram Trail. Saturday, September 26: Elite boys 7:00 a.m., Elite girls 7:25, 11th/12th grade boys 7:55, 11th/12th grade girls 8:25, 9th/10th grade boys 8:55, 9th/10th grade girls 9:25, middle school boys and girls 9:55 (3K). Spectators $7 cash or on GoFan. Times are from the meet's final information sheet, updated September 23.

The first race goes off at 7 a.m., and it has the two best boys teams in Northeast Florida in it. Nease 4A is No. 2 in the state on our list and Bolles 2A is No. 4. Both are in the Elite race, and so is almost everyone else who matters on the boys' side.

Nease is coming off a trip to St. Paul, Minnesota, where it finished third at the Roy Griak Invitational Championship with 240 points, behind Sioux Falls Lincoln (South Dakota) and Dowling Catholic (Iowa). Matthew Ishee (Jr.) was 15th in 15:13.2 and Rishi Chopra (Sr.) 24th in 15:22.8, and all five scorers broke 16:07. It is a very different Nease from the one that came to this meet a year ago. In 2025 Nease sent a JV squad to Bale-N-Trail. It finished 13th in the varsity race with 381 points, led by an 18:05.2, while Creekside won with 53 over Fleming Island's 57.

The meet has a new format this year. Fifteen invited teams per gender run the Elite race, seven runners each, plus a few invited individuals. Everyone else races by grade: 11th/12th, 9th/10th and middle school. There is no JV, and the meet says runners outside their own grade race will not be scored. Medals go to the top 20 in the Elite races and the top 10 in the grade races.

We took the meet's Elite lists and the full registration list, 41 high school boys' teams and 39 girls', plus the middle school programs and clubs, and ran every race through our Race Simulator. Each Elite team runs its best seven. Everyone else goes into the race for their grade.

About the times. Every mark in the tables is a time the runner actually ran, and the table says where. The last column shows what that time is worth at Cecil Field (the Horse Park for middle school girls, Jim Ryun for middle school boys), and the scoring uses that number. Five score and the sixth and seventh displace. A team needs five runners with a 2026 mark to score. The individual tables follow our head-to-head rule: if one runner has beaten another this fall, she stays ahead of her until they race again, whatever the seed times say.

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7:00 a.m. Elite boys: Nease, on its Minnesota times

Nease scores 23 and Bolles 61. On best times it is 21 to 61. In the team scoring Nease's five go 1-3-4-5-10, all on their Roy Griak times: Ishee, Chopra, Joseph Morley (Jr.), Austin Courson (So.) and Charles Carlson (Sr.). Bolles is a clear second at 7-8-12-15-19, led by Brantley Rigdon (Jr.), Armaan Sharma (So.) and Aidan Chandler (Sr.). The difference is Nease's front four, who all broke 15:54 in Minnesota. Morley and Courson sit lower in the individual table than in the scoring because Scharf beat Morley at Cecil Field in August, and that result stands until they meet again.

Ponte Vedra 3A is third at 132 behind Luke Ross (Sr.), No. 7 in 3A. Ross has the second-fastest leveled mark in the field, the 16:04.9 he ran at Spikes & Spurs. Creekside 4A, the defending champion, is fourth at 173 with Eli Scharf (Sr.). Scharf is third in our order, because he beat Ross at Katie Caples last Saturday, 16:19 to 16:24, and beat Morley, Strombeck and Kline earlier this fall. Bishop Kenny 3A is 175, St. Augustine 3A 207, Fleming Island 3A 215 with JP Strombeck (Sr.), and the host, Bartram Trail 4A, is next with Bryce Motycka (Sr.), fifth here last fall.

The two individual entries are both underclassmen with something to prove. Peter Curet (Atlantic Coast 4A, Fr.) ran 16:34.1 at Buchholz, worth about 16:17, and is 13th on paper. A year ago he was fourth in this meet's middle school race. Ben Serra (Stanton 3A, Jr.) ran 16:55.8 at the Horse Park.

7:25 a.m. Elite girls: Bishop Kenny, Creekside and Ponte Vedra inside 15 points

Bishop Kenny 3A 62, Creekside 4A 69, Ponte Vedra 3A 77. Bishop Kenny is No. 3 in Florida on our list, Creekside No. 7 and Ponte Vedra No. 9, and on best times it is the same order, 52, 67, 87. Bishop Kenny has the one-two: Camila Giles (Jr.), No. 5 in 3A, and Jillian Jakab (Sr.), No. 10. Creekside has the tightest pack, four in the first eleven. Ponte Vedra has freshman Piper Ross and Savannah LaVasser (Sr.) up front, and a sixth runner at 27 who could swing it. Buchholz 4A is fourth at 123. Bolles and Episcopal, No. 3 and No. 2 in 2A, are not in this race. Both run the grade races below.

Avery Hartley (Bartram Trail 4A, So.) is the one to catch, at home. She is No. 7 in 4A, won this meet's middle school race in 2024, and was second here last fall as a freshman in 17:56.8. Her 18:13.0 at Cecil Field is the fastest mark in the field. Allison Austin (Atlantic Coast 4A, So.), No. 9 in 4A, is third in our order. She beat Eva Delaney, Emma Godfrey and Ivey Edgell of Creekside at Cecil Field and Jakab at Buchholz, and lost only to Hartley and Giles. Lauren Rosset (Middleburg 3A, So.) is the invited individual, 19:52.5 at Buchholz.

7:55 a.m. 11th/12th grade boys: Cunningham, and Nease against Bolles again

Sean Cunningham (Providence 1A, Sr.) is No. 7 in Florida on our list, and he ran 15:15.7 at the Southern Showcase last Saturday. Providence's boys are not on the Elite list and he is not one of the invited individuals, so on the meet's sheet he is in this race. On paper he wins it by about 50 seconds.

Behind him, Nease and Bolles meet again with the runners outside their Elite sevens. Nease scores 28 and Bolles 37, and on best times it is 34 to 35. Oliver Carter-Drewry (Jr.), Nease's seventh man at Roy Griak, Ayden Dixon (Sr.) and Luke Massaglia (Sr.) are all here on their Minnesota times. James Roland (Harvest Community 1A, Jr.), who won the Lake Buena Vista Invitational, is second in our order, and John William Martin (Fernandina Beach 2A, Jr.) fourth. Ponte Vedra is third at 117.

Not scored, 11th/12th grade boys. Episcopal, Middleburg, Providence, River City Science Academy and Yulee are one runner short in this grade group. 18 other registered teams have three or fewer. Baldwin has thirteen boys with a 2026 mark but no grad year for any of them, so we cannot place them in a grade race.

8:25 a.m. 11th/12th grade girls: Bolles and Episcopal, and Peyton Cerasi

With Bolles and Episcopal outside the Elite race, this becomes one of the deepest races of the morning. Bolles scores 23, four runners inside the first six, and Episcopal is second at 46. Stella Krueger (Episcopal, Jr.), No. 8 in 2A, is second in our order. Bolles counters with Palmer Edwards (Sr.), Kavya Patel and Peyton Hoover, all on their adidas XC Challenge times from North Carolina. Ponte Vedra is third at 86.

Peyton Cerasi (Matanzas 4A, Jr.) leads the field. She ran 18:53.0 at DeLand, a course that reads slow, and Matanzas does not have five girls with a mark, so she runs for herself. On paper she is 40 seconds clear of Krueger.

Not scored, 11th/12th grade girls. Father Lopez and The Covenant School of Jackson are one runner short in this grade group. 21 other registered teams have three or fewer.

8:55 a.m. 9th/10th grade boys: Bolles, Nease and Ponte Vedra inside nine points

Bolles 41, Nease 42, Ponte Vedra 50. The three best underclass groups in the area are separated by nine points on leveled times. On best times Bolles wins it more comfortably, 35 to 53. Matthew Myers (Nease, So.) leads our order. He beat Bartlett Smith (Bolles, So.) and his own teammate Daniel Itkin at Cecil Field, and those three are the first three.

Not scored, 9th/10th grade boys. Fernandina Beach, Fleming Island, Harvest Community and West Nassau are one runner short in this grade group. 13 other registered teams have three or fewer.

9:25 a.m. 9th/10th grade girls: Bolles, Creekside and Episcopal inside seven points

This one is the closest race on the schedule. Bolles 52, Creekside 56, Episcopal 59, and on best times the order flips: Episcopal 47, Creekside 52, Bolles 75. Sofie Stam (Bolles, So.), No. 5 in 2A, ran 18:20.1 at the adidas XC Challenge and is the fastest girl in any race Saturday outside of Hartley. Holland McKinney (Episcopal, So.), No. 7 in 2A, is second on the 18:56 she ran at Katie Caples, and Graziana Gowdy gives Episcopal a second runner in the top four. Creekside answers with depth, its five scoring 7-8-9-11-21. Maya Kovalcik (Fernandina Beach, So.) is third.

Not scored, 9th/10th grade girls. Baker County and Wolfson are one runner short in this grade group. 15 other registered teams have three or fewer.

9:55 a.m. Middle school boys: No Excuses RC

No Excuses RC scores 26. The club won both middle school races at this meet last fall. Elliot Lasota (7th) won the Cecil Field race outright. Landon is second at 64 and Assumption Catholic third. Aidan Moylan (Imagine Town Center, 8th), No. 9 in Florida, has the fastest actual time in the race, 10:05.3 at the Horse Park. That course is rated fast for middle school boys, so he is third on leveled times.

Not scored, middle school boys. Duval Charter at Coastal has three boys with a 3K mark. Landrum and Liberty Pines have none this fall. Lake Asbury, Pinewood Christian, St. Johns Classical, St. John's Academy, Palm Valley Academy XC Club and the Saint Johns Striders do not have a 2026 middle school result in our database.

9:55 a.m. Middle school girls: Heffernan and Motycka, a year later

Last fall's finish here was Brianna Motycka first in 10:41.7 and Colette Heffernan second in 10:59.7. They are No. 2 and No. 1 in Florida on our list now. Heffernan (7th) runs for No Excuses RC this year, and Motycka (8th) is Liberty Pines' only entry with a mark. No Excuses scores 17, with Heffernan, Amelia Flood (8th, No. 4 in the state) and Madelen Finch (7th) first, third and fourth. Imagine Town Center is second at 51 with Mia Kopcikova (8th). One caution: the Cecil Field middle school girls' marks are the timer's 3K conversion of a 2.5K race, so the leveled times in this table run fast. Use "best times" for a straighter read.

Not scored, middle school girls. Liberty Pines has one girl with a mark and Landrum none. Fruit Cove XC, Lake Asbury, Pinewood Christian, St. Johns Classical, St. John's Academy, Palm Valley Academy XC Club and the Saint Johns Striders have no 2026 middle school result in our database.

What to watch

• Nease at home in Florida. Its first race back from Minnesota, against the No. 4 team in the state.
• Hartley at home. She has won this meet's middle school race and finished second in its varsity race. The Elite title is the one left.
• Three girls teams, 15 points. Bishop Kenny, Creekside and Ponte Vedra, with Giles, Austin and Delaney chasing Hartley up front.
• The grade races are not a sideshow. Cunningham, Stam, McKinney, Krueger and Cerasi are all in them, and the 9th/10th girls' race is seven points deep.

This meet goes into our next rankings. Results will be in the Run Florida Run database as soon as Half-Mile Timing posts them.

How we built this

• The Elite teams and individuals are from the meet's final information sheet. The rest of the field is the registration list: 41 high school boys' teams, 39 girls' teams, and the middle school programs and clubs. Parsons Christian is registered and is not in our database.
• Each Elite team runs its best seven by our numbers; coaches pick their own, so the line between the Elite race and the grade races may fall differently.
• The grade races take everyone not in an Elite seven and split them by grad year: seniors and juniors in one, sophomores and freshmen in the other (plus any middle schoolers running high school). Runners with no grad year in the results cannot be placed and are left out.
• Every runner is entered on the best race he or she has run this fall, leveled to Cecil Field for high school and to the Horse Park (girls) or Jim Ryun (boys) for middle school. A dagger marks a time from a course we cannot level yet, entered as run.
• Nease's Roy Griak times count as run. The only runners we could compare on that course were Nease's own five, which is not enough to rate it.
• Head-to-heads order the individual tables: a loss stands until the two runners meet again, and where results go in a circle the most recent meeting decides. Nease's Buchholz JV race, run as a group workout, is left out. Team scores come straight from the simulator.