Week 6 Class 3A boys cross country team rankings for Florida: Belen Jesuit first again, Vanguard and Fort Myers behind, Bishop Kenny holds seventh after racing Bale-N-Trail without its No. 1, and Fleming Island comes in at tenth.
Florida Class 3A boys cross country team rankings through six weeks: August 21-September 26, 2026
Belen Jesuit is first in 3A, and nobody is close. Its second group won the STU Bobcat Invitational with 26 points on Saturday without any of the top seven, which tells you about the depth. Vanguard, Fort Myers, Tavares, Leon and Ponte Vedra all took the weekend off, and none of them lost a spot for it.
Bale-N-Trail is where 3A moved. Fleming Island was third there with 100 points, JP Strombeck won the Elite race in 15:47.9 and Luke Janke was third in 15:56.3, and Fleming Island comes into the top ten. Bishop Kenny ran Bale without its No. 1, Dayne Kimball, and finished behind Fleming Island and St. Augustine. A race without a team's top runner is not held against it, so Kenny keeps seventh. Fort Walton Beach won Argonaut and is 11th, 16 points behind Fleming Island in the virtual race.
Florida Runners is next weekend and Pre-State after that. Kenny, Fleming Island and St. Augustine will likely see each other again before November.
A team is ranked on its whole season, with the most recent race counting most, and a meet it won never counts against it. A team that sat out the weekend is not marked down for it. The virtual race behind these scores contains only Class 3A teams, so a team's place here and on the statewide list can differ. As always, this is data plus judgment, and we will miss somebody along the way. A (P) beside a team means it has not put its returning five on a starting line and is entered on what they ran last November. How we sorted it out is at the bottom.
About the times. The average on each line is the converted season figure the scoring uses, in Cecil Field terms, and so are the times beside each runner's name. Times in the write-ups are what the kids actually ran that day; the race log for every runner is on the rankings page.
The statewide lists: Week 6 boys team top 10 and Week 6 girls team top 10. The 3A boys individuals are here, and last week’s edition of this list is here. The other classes this week: 3A girls, 1A boys, 2A boys, 4A boys.
1. Belen Jesuit (Miami): 40 points
Converted average 15:42.7 · 1-5 spread 1:10.7 · finished 1-3-4-15-17 in the class
Marcelo Mantecon 15:07.1; Armando Cruz 15:24.1; Jack Michalak 15:27.2; Nicholas Veloso 16:17.2; Davi Bodoh 16:17.8.
A second group won the STU Bobcat Invitational on Saturday with 26 points; none of the top seven ran. The varsity won the Southern Showcase on Sept. 19 and the Horse Park on Sept. 5. Marcelo Mantecon, Armando Cruz and Jack Michalak are three of the best in the state, and the fourth and fifth are faster than most teams' top three. First.
2. Vanguard (Ocala): 222 points
Converted average 16:50.5 · 1-5 spread 1:25.6 · finished 14-30-34-42-102 in the class
Trevor Berquist 16:16.5; Lachlan Bryniarski 16:36.3; Jacob Rogers 16:44.0; Christopher Taylor 16:53.5; Cooper Gumpert 17:42.0.
Did not race. Won the Rockledge meet on Sept. 18 with 22, after 11th at the Horse Park. Trevor Berquist, Lachlan Bryniarski, Jacob Rogers and Christopher Taylor are inside 37 seconds on the season; the fifth man is the gap. Fort Myers scores better in the virtual race, but Vanguard beat Fort Myers at Cecil Field and the two have not met since. Second.
3. Fort Myers: 206 points
Converted average 16:38.5 · 1-5 spread 1:58.3 · finished 5-18-26-69-88 in the class
Reed Hagen 15:33.9; Trae Britton 16:20.0; Noah Lefko 16:27.9; Elijah Brown 17:18.5; Brock Jackson 17:32.2.
Did not race. Won the North Port Invite on Sept. 19 with 84 and its own meet the week before. Reed Hagen is one of the best runners in 3A, and Trae Britton and Noah Lefko make a strong top three. Third, behind Vanguard on the Cecil Field result.
4. Tavares: 266 points
Converted average 16:54.8 · 1-5 spread 1:53.1 · finished 9-37-43-44-133 in the class · This week: 1st of 12 at the Weeki Wachee Invitational (19).
Liam Ilea 16:02.1; Navid Lozano 16:48.6; Nicholas Alvarez 16:53.7; Emiliano Lozano 16:54.3; Omar Castillo 17:55.2.
Won the Weeki Wachee Invitational on Saturday with 19: Liam Ilea first in 16:24.8, Navid Lozano second in 16:55.7, Emiliano Lozano third, Nicholas Alvarez fourth, Eric Chen ninth. Weeki Wachee does not have enough shared runners to be rated yet, so the win is not in the season figure. Second at McKinney and first at Astronaut before that. Fourth.
5. Leon (Tallahassee): 290 points
Converted average 16:58.7 · 1-5 spread 1:45.1 · finished 13-29-38-70-140 in the class
Isaiah Renn 16:13.4; Carson Weiss 16:33.9; Asher McGrew 16:49.0; Andrew Barnes 17:18.5; Sam Ito 17:58.5.
Has not raced its top five since winning Dueling Summits on Aug. 22. Isaiah Renn, Carson Weiss and Asher McGrew are a strong top three. Ponte Vedra edged ahead by two points in the virtual race without either team racing, and two points of drift is not a result. Fifth, where it was.
6. Ponte Vedra: 288 points
Converted average 17:06.7 · 1-5 spread 1:04.2 · finished 19-54-63-75-77 in the class
Luke Ross 16:21.0; Colin Bovee 17:10.9; Aiden Killoran 17:14.0; Jasper Graham 17:22.5; Logan Hunt 17:25.2.
Sent a group to Bale-N-Trail that did not include any of its top seven; it was 14th and does not count against the varsity. Second at Katie Caples on Sept. 19 and sixth at the Horse Park. Luke Ross leads, and Colin Bovee, Aiden Killoran, Jasper Graham and Logan Hunt are packed within 15 seconds. Sixth.
7. Bishop Kenny (Jacksonville): 480 points
Converted average 17:36.4 · 1-5 spread 0:47.6 · finished 62-81-96-97-144 in the class · This week: 10th of 14 at Bale-N-Trail (244).
Dayne Kimball 17:14.0; Quinn Mullaney 17:29.0; Ethan Reid 17:38.4; Brian Martinez 17:39.2; Thomas Milton 18:01.6.
Tenth at Bale-N-Trail with 244, without its No. 1, Dayne Kimball, or its No. 5, Thomas Milton: Ethan Reid 29th in 17:23.8, Quinn Mullaney 33rd in 17:25.6, Brian Martinez 48th, Jack Mosqueda 59th. Fleming Island and St. Augustine finished ahead. Kenny won the Buchholz Bobcats Classic on Sept. 12 and beat St. Augustine at Katie Caples on Sept. 19 with its full team. A race without a team's top runner is not held against it. Seventh, where it was.
8. Osceola (Seminole): 398 points
Converted average 17:20.8 · 1-5 spread 1:16.1 · finished 36-41-57-118-146 in the class · This week: 1st of 18 at the Todd Howsare Memorial (46).
Spencer Mehltretter 16:48.3; Sebastian Laviano 16:52.4; Duncan Mehltretter 17:12.0; Stone Gildner 17:46.9; Landen Whiteley 18:04.4.
Won the Todd Howsare Memorial on Saturday with 46 over Dunedin: Sebastian Laviano second in 16:27.9, Duncan Mehltretter sixth in 16:59.3, Stone Gildner tenth, Landen Whiteley 12th, Trevor Dulau 16th. Spencer Mehltretter finished well back and out of the scoring five. Four wins this season. Eighth.
9. Chiles (Tallahassee): 408 points
Converted average 17:17.4 · 1-5 spread 2:21.5 · finished 8-51-68-98-183 in the class
Jonathan Kiros 16:01.9; Jack Nottingham 17:05.2; Emerson Gandy 17:17.0; Noah Olson 17:39.6; Camp Andrews 18:23.4.
Has not raced its top five since the Horse Park on Sept. 5, where it was 14th. Jonathan Kiros is a front runner few teams in 3A can match; Jack Nottingham and Emerson Gandy are next. Ninth.
10. Fleming Island: 427 points
Converted average 17:18.0 · 1-5 spread 1:48.0 · finished 20-24-78-148-157 in the class · This week: 3rd of 14 at Bale-N-Trail (100).
JP Strombeck 16:21.6; Luke Janke 16:27.6; Ryder Muyres 17:26.0; Jack Loehr 18:05.3; Andrew Lou 18:09.6.
Third at Bale-N-Trail on Saturday with 100: JP Strombeck won the Elite race in 15:47.9, Luke Janke third in 15:56.3, Ryder Muyres 17th in 16:43.5, then Jack Loehr 40th and Andrew Lou 44th. Strombeck and Janke are as good a one-two as anyone's in 3A outside Belen. New at tenth.
Just missed
11. Fort Walton Beach (443) won Argonaut on Saturday with 68, seven runners inside 1:12, and falls from tenth on a 16-point gap to Fleming Island; the two have not met. 12. Lincoln (454, P) has not put its returning five on a line. 13. St. Augustine (491) was fifth at Bale-N-Trail, ahead of a Bishop Kenny team missing its No. 1. 14. Rockledge (514) did not race.
Where the virtual race disagrees with this list
- Leon over Ponte Vedra: Leon holds fifth as published: neither team has raced its top runners since, and a two-point swing in the pool is not a race (2026-09-29).
- Bishop Kenny over Osceola: Bishop Kenny holds seventh: its No. 1, Dayne Kimball, did not run Bale-N-Trail, where Kenny finished behind St. Augustine and Fleming Island; a short-handed race is not held against the team (Darrin, 2026-09-29).
- Vanguard over Fort Myers: Fort Myers lost to Vanguard by seven points at Cecil Field and the two have not met since; a win on a course priced a minute slow does not jump a team it lost to (Darrin, 2026-09-13).
How we ranked them
- Every mark is converted to a Cecil Field equivalent through the runners who ran both that course and last year's state meet.
- Each runner is scored 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 never lowers that figure, and a meet a team won never lowers the team's. A school's five best runners on that basis are its team.
- Those five, with a sixth and seventh where they exist, go into one virtual race against every other Class 3A team, scored the way cross country is scored. 114 3A boys teams cleared the bar; 1 of them is a projection. Points climb as more teams enter and are not comparable to last week's; compare the order.
- Where two teams in this class have raced each other with at least three of their scoring seven, the team that won ranks ahead of the team it beat. New this week: a win keeps counting when the winner races again, and a team that sat out the weekend does not lose ground to a team that beat nobody it had to beat. A race run without a team's No. 1 or without two of its scoring five is not held against it.
- A team whose returning five have not raced is entered on last November's state times and marked (P).
- Classes are 2026-27, resolved against the FHSAA classification documents.
- Bishop Kenny's Bale-N-Trail result does not order it against St. Augustine or Fleming Island: Kenny ran without its No. 1, Dayne Kimball (Darrin's call, Sept. 29).
Florida Runners is next weekend, then Pre-State, and the Great American is on the way. Every result behind this list is in the rankings section, and the full weekend is in the weekend recap.
Featured image: logos of Belen Jesuit Preparatory School, The Vanguard School and Fort Myers High School, restyled by Run Florida Run.