Noah Carpenter and Will Moss stay one-two in Class 2A; Brantley Rigdon comes back in at fifth, Frederick Gunther runs second at Argonaut and moves up, and Bolles has three of the top ten after Bale-N-Trail.
Florida Class 2A boys cross country through six weeks: August 21-September 26, 2026
Noah Carpenter of Nature Coast, a senior, and Will Moss of Montverde Academy, a senior, did not race this week and stay first and second. The movement is underneath. Frederick Gunther of Pensacola Catholic, a sophomore, was second at the Argonaut Invitational in 16:34.7, his sixth race of the fall, and moves from eighth to sixth. Aidan Chandler of Bolles, a senior, was fourth in the Bale-N-Trail Elite race in 15:56.5, the fastest Class 2A time there. His teammate Armaan Sharma, a sophomore, was seventh in 16:09.1 and comes into the ten.
Brantley Rigdon of Bolles, a junior, is fifth. His only race on Saturday was 18:17 in the Bale 11-12 grade race, where he did not score for Bolles; we treat that as a group run and do not count it, the same way we handled Nease's pack. He beat Chandler and Adrian Iziliaev at the Horse Park, where Moss and Kayaan Ghaffar beat him.
A runner is ranked on his whole season, with the most recent race counting most, and a race he won never counts against him. This is data plus judgment, and we will miss somebody along the way. How we sorted everybody out is at the bottom.
The statewide lists: week 6 boys top 10 and week 6 girls top 10. Last week's version of this list is here. The other class lists this week: 2A girls, 1A boys, 3A boys, 4A boys.
1. Noah Carpenter, Nature Coast, Sr.
Did not race. Won the Nature Coast Shark Invitational on September 19 in 16:20.5, and fourth at Whispering Pines in August in 16:16.8, worth about 16:03 at Cecil Field. Two races, and nobody in the class has beaten him. First.
2. Will Moss, Montverde Academy, Sr.
Did not race. Second at the Katie Caples Invitational on September 19 in 15:57.0, behind Andrew Sides of Buchholz 4A, and eighth at the Horse Park in 16:00.2, where he beat Ghaffar, Rigdon, Chandler and Iziliaev. Second.
3. Adrian Iziliaev, Gulliver Prep, Sr.
Did not race. Fifth in the Spanish River Race of Champions on September 18 in 15:54.8, nine tenths ahead of his teammate Ghaffar. At the Horse Park he was 26th, behind Moss, Ghaffar, Rigdon and Chandler. Third on the newer result: he beat Ghaffar at Spanish River, and Ghaffar beat Rigdon and Chandler at the Horse Park.
4. Kayaan Ghaffar, Gulliver Prep, Jr.
Did not race. Sixth in the Spanish River Race of Champions in 15:55.7, behind Iziliaev. Fourteenth at the Horse Park in 16:10.5, ahead of Rigdon, Chandler and Iziliaev. Fourth.
5. Brantley Rigdon, Bolles, Jr.
Nineteenth at Cecil Field in 16:04.0 and 16th at the Horse Park in 16:12.6, where he beat Chandler and Iziliaev. On Saturday he ran 18:17.2 in the Bale-N-Trail 11-12 grade race and did not score for Bolles; we treat it as a group run and it does not count. Moss and Ghaffar beat him at the Horse Park. Fifth.
6. Frederick Gunther, Pensacola Catholic, So.
Second at the Argonaut Invitational on Saturday in 16:34.7, behind Dominic Ferguson of Rocky Bayou Christian 1A; Argonaut read slow, so the run is worth about 16:01 at Cecil Field. Third at the Daphne Invitational in Alabama a week earlier in 15:52.8. Six races, more than anyone in the ten, and he has not met the boys above him. Eighth to sixth.
7. Aidan Chandler, Bolles, Sr.
Fourth in the Bale-N-Trail Elite race on Saturday in 15:56.5, ahead of his teammates Sharma and Aaron Ches. Forty-seventh at the adidas championship the week before in 16:08.9, twentieth at the Horse Park in 16:18.5. Rigdon, Moss and Ghaffar beat him at the Horse Park. Seventh.
8. Armaan Sharma, Bolles, So.
Seventh in the Bale-N-Trail Elite race on Saturday in 16:09.1, three places behind Chandler; a week earlier he beat Chandler at adidas, 16:01.5 to 16:08.9. The newer result puts Chandler in front. New to the ten.
9. Michael Gomez, FAU High, Sr.
Did not race. Won the Spanish River 1A-2A race on September 18 in 16:13.3 out of 379, five seconds ahead of Lucian Burns of Marathon 1A. Third at Pine Crest in 16:22.8, a win at the Kings Academy Invitational. Ninth.
10. Luke Engels, Eastside, Sr.
Did not race. Third at the Buchholz Bobcats Classic on September 12 in 16:27.3 and 49th at Cecil Field in 16:33.0. Tenth.
Just missed
Aaron Ches (Bolles, Jr.) was eighth in the Bale-N-Trail Elite race on Saturday in 16:13.8, behind Chandler and Sharma. Aidan Alam (McKeel, So.) was second at the Mitchell Mustang Invite on September 19. Lawson Phillips (Florida High, So.) has not raced a rated course since opening night. Emilio Perez-Garcia (Gulliver Prep, Sr.) won the STU Bobcat Invitational on Saturday in 16:33.6. Wyatt Cleek (Bolles, Jr.) was eleventh at Bale.
How we ranked them
- Courses do not all run the same speed, so we do not compare raw times. Cecil Field is the yardstick; for other meets we use runners who raced both that course and last year's state meet to work out what a time was worth.
- A runner is ranked on his whole season, weighted toward the most recent race: this week counts six times, last week five, and so on back to opening weekend, which counts once. A race he won is never allowed to lower that figure.
- A head-to-head loss stands until the two runners meet again, whatever either has run elsewhere since. Where results form a loop, the most recent meeting decides. A runner who beat someone ranked above him moves up to that runner's spot.
- New this week: results from opening weekend, Cecil Field on August 21 and Jim Ryun on August 22, no longer order runners. Six weeks in, kids have improved, and a finish from the first weekend of the season should not pin anybody below a runner who beat them in August. Those times still count in the season figure.
- A missed week is never held against anyone.
- Grades and classes are 2026-27, resolved against the FHSAA classification documents.
- Rigdon's Bale-N-Trail run (18:17.2 in the 11-12 grade race, not scoring for Bolles) is left out of his figure as a group run, the same treatment as the Nease pack and the Bolles and Episcopal girls there.
- Iziliaev sits above Rigdon and Chandler, both of whom beat him at the Horse Park, because he beat Ghaffar at Spanish River on September 18 and Ghaffar beat both of them at the Horse Park. Where results loop, the newest meeting decides.
Every result behind this list is in the rankings section, and the full weekend is in the weekend recap.