Noah Carpenter won the Wild Bulldog Invitational and Will Moss won the flrunners.com Race of Champions, and the top ten in Class 2A holds its shape.
Florida Class 2A boys cross country through seven weeks: August 21-October 3, 2026
The top two both won on Saturday. Noah Carpenter of Nature Coast won the Wild Bulldog Invitational in 16:36.9 by 15 seconds, and Will Moss of Montverde Academy won the Race of Champions at the flrunners.com Invitational in Lakeland in 16:02.3 by 12 seconds, ahead of Liam Ilea, Truman Houk and Jeb Bremerman of 3A. Carpenter stays first on figure; the two have not met this season.
Aidan Alam of McKeel was third at the Harmony Longhorn Invitational in 16:19.3, behind two 3A and 4A seniors, and holds tenth. Nobody below him has beaten anyone above him since mid-September.
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 7 boys top 10 and week 7 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.
Won the Wild Bulldog Invitational on Saturday in 16:36.9 out of 149, 15 seconds ahead of Micah Oliver of Kirkland Ranch. Won his own Nature Coast meet on September 19. Fourth at Whispering Pines in August in 16:16.8.
2. Will Moss, Montverde Academy, Sr.
Won the flrunners.com Race of Champions on Saturday in 16:02.3 out of 153, 12 seconds ahead of Ilea. Second at Katie Caples on September 19 in 15:57.0, his best time this year. He and Carpenter have not met this season.
3. Brantley Rigdon, Bolles, Jr.
Did not race. Sixteenth at the Horse Park in 16:12.6 on September 5; his Bale-N-Trail run on September 26 was a non-scoring run in the grade race, and we do not count it. Top runner on the season for Bolles.
4. Adrian Iziliaev, Gulliver Prep, Sr.
Did not race. Fifth in the Spanish River Race of Champions on September 18 in 15:54.8, one place and a second ahead of his teammate Ghaffar.
5. Kayaan Ghaffar, Gulliver Prep, Jr.
Did not race. Sixth in the Spanish River Race of Champions in 15:55.7, behind Iziliaev, which is why he sits behind him.
Gear
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6. Frederick Gunther, Pensacola Catholic, So.
Did not race. Second at the Argonaut Invitational on September 26 in 16:34.7, behind Dominic Ferguson of 1A, and third at the Daphne Invitational in Alabama in 15:52.8.
7. Aidan Chandler, Bolles, Sr.
Did not race. Fourth in the Bale-N-Trail Elite race on September 26 in 15:56.5, the best time of his season, ahead of teammate Sharma.
8. Armaan Sharma, Bolles, So.
Did not race. Seventh at Bale-N-Trail in 16:09.1, behind Chandler; 34th at the adidas championship in North Carolina in 16:01.5.
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, ahead of Lucian Burns of 1A.
10. Aidan Alam, McKeel, So.
Third at the Harmony Longhorn Invitational on Saturday in 16:19.3, his best time this year, behind Brody Johnson and Luis Rivera. Second at Land O' Lakes and Mitchell in September.
Just missed
Chesley McDonald (Eastside, Jr.) was ninth at Speziale on Saturday in 17:11.6, a quarter-second ahead of his teammate Luke Engels (Sr.). Aaron Ches (Bolles, Jr.) was eighth at Bale-N-Trail in 16:13.8. Emilio Tobon (Pine Crest, Fr.) was second at South Fork on Saturday in 17:05.9. Lawson Phillips (Florida High, So.) has not raced since August.
Reader supported
Free to read, no paywall. Every Class 2A boys race this season went into this list, and every head-to-head was checked by hand. If it helps your team or your kid, you can buy us a coffee.
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 seven times, last week six, 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: head-to-heads from September 12 and earlier no longer order runners. Those races are three weeks and more old, and kids have changed since. The 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.
Every result behind this list is in the rankings section, and the full weekend is in the weekend recap.
Logo: Nature Coast Technical High School (Brooksville). Card art: Run Florida Run.