Belen and Nease sat, Columbus scored 22 against 28 other teams at King of the Hill and is eighth, and Fort Myers won its own invitational with 47 on a course that ran a minute slow and stays behind Vanguard, who beat them at Cecil Field. East Ridge, ninth a week ago, ran Astronaut without a fourth man under 20 minutes and is gone.
The week 5 list is up: Week 5 Boys Team Top 10, built on the whole season through September 19 with the most recent race weighted highest.
Florida boys cross country team rankings through four weeks: August 21-September 12, 2026
The two teams at the top did not race, or not in a way we count. Belen Jesuit sat. Nease sent a second unit to the Buchholz varsity race, where it finished seventh with 187, and put its August five in the JV race, where they jogged 19:47 to 19:49 together and Nease's JV still won by three points. A group run is not a race, and we do not score it for them or against them. Nease is still on Cecil Field.
Below them the week did its work. Columbus 4A won King of the Hill out of 29 teams with 22 points on Thursday and is eighth. Gulliver Prep 2A ran a second group at the same meet and holds ninth on its Horse Park run. Ponte Vedra 3A is back in the ten without racing. Fort Myers 3A won its own invitational with 47 points in a 21-team field, Reed Hagen first in 16:26.6, on a course we priced a minute slow, and on the arithmetic that run is the fifth-best figure in Florida. They are thirteenth. Fort Myers lost to Vanguard by seven points at Cecil Field on opening night, the two have not met since, and a win on a slow course does not jump a team you lost to. That is a rule from this desk, not the computer, and it is at the bottom. Tavares 3A won Astronaut with 64 and Wiregrass Ranch 4A was second there with 84; both are inside sixteen. And East Ridge 4A, ninth a week ago, ran Astronaut with Axel Sallault winning and no fourth man under 20 minutes, and drops to 33rd. That is the cost of the method, and it is the right cost.
How this works, briefly. Every runner is scored on his whole season, with the most recent race counting most. A school's five best runners on that basis go into one virtual race with every other school's, scored the way cross country is scored. Times are leveled to Cecil Field through the runners who ran both the 2025 state meet and the course in question. A meet a team won is never allowed to lower its figure. Where two teams have raced each other and neither has raced since, the result on the grass orders them. A team that has not raced at all is projected from its returning five.
Points climb every week as more teams enter and are not comparable to last week's; compare the order and the averages. The averages below are converted season figures; the times next to each runner are what he actually ran. Out-of-state entries are excluded, and IMG Academy competes as an FHSAA Independent outside the state series; there is a word on them at the bottom. The individual list is here, the girls' team list is here.
1. Belen Jesuit (Miami), 3A: 128 points
Season average 15:54.4 · 1-5 spread 1:17.0 Won in week 3; that run is not held against them.
Armando Cruz 15:06.0; Jack Michalak 15:47.0; Liam Salom 15:54.0; Nicholas Veloso 16:22.0; Dominic De Armas 16:23.0.
Did not race. The Horse Park win by 168 points is left out because a win never lowers a team's figure, so the Cecil Field run ranks them, Cruz 15:06.0, Jack Michalak 15:47.0, Liam Salom 15:54.0, a 15:54.4 average that is still the only sub-16:00 team figure in Florida. Mantecon is not in the five below because the only race he has run is the one that is not counted. Add him and it gets better. They have two lineups and have needed one.
2. Nease (Ponte Vedra), 4A: 197 points
Season average 16:09.8 · 1-5 spread 0:55.0 · This week: 7th of 25 at the Buchholz Bobcats Classic (187).
Rishi Chopra 15:39.0; Matthew Ishee 15:54.0; Gideon Churchill 16:20.0; Joseph Morley 16:22.0; Colin Lasota 16:34.0.
Ran a second group in the Buchholz varsity race, seventh with 187, led by Daniel Itkin in 23rd, while Chopra sat and Ishee, Churchill, Massaglia and Lasota ran the JV race together at 19:47. Nease's JV won that race 39 to 42. None of it is scored. They are ranked on the Cecil Field run, 16:09.8 on a 0:55 spread, one real race from August 21, still the second-best figure in Florida. One of their coaches said afterward that the varsity group was not the top eleven. We believe him. We would still like to see the top five race somebody.
3. Flagler Palm Coast, 4A: 529 points
Season average 16:37.1 · 1-5 spread 1:25.8
Douglas Seth 15:51.4; Dylan Ciardi 16:18.0; Mateo Almeida 16:48.0; Enzo McGovern 16:51.0; Owen Stackpole 17:17.2.
Did not race. Second at the Horse Park with 231 and the Spikes & Spurs win before it. Douglas Seth 15:51.4 and Dylan Ciardi 16:18.0 up front, Mateo Almeida and Enzo McGovern inside 16:51, Owen Stackpole at 17:17. Third on the season figure by a distance over the teams behind them.
4. Bolles (Jacksonville), 2A: 538 points
Season average 16:41.8 · 1-5 spread 0:57.7
Brantley Rigdon 16:14.4; Aidan Chandler 16:24.8; Armaan Sharma 16:44.0; Vincent Barragan 16:54.0; Wyatt Cleek 17:12.1.
Did not race. Third at the Horse Park with 237, six points behind Flagler. Brantley Rigdon 16:14.4, Aidan Chandler 16:24.8, Armaan Sharma 16:44.0, Vincent Barragan 16:54.0, Wyatt Cleek 17:12.1, a 0:58 spread and seven boys inside 17:19 on the season. The clear No. 1 in 2A.
5. Niceville, 4A: 670 points
Season average 16:44.4 · 1-5 spread 1:39.3
Bryant Olson 15:32.7; Sebastian Riemer 16:46.9; Brayden Riemer 17:03.6; Carson Jackson 17:06.7; Reid Sadowski 17:12.0.
Were on the line for the Nights of Thunder varsity race when it was called off for lightning; the JV race they won with 30 is not rated and not scored. Cecil Field eighth, the Pine Forest win, the Pace Patriot win with 42. Bryant Olson 15:32.7 and then Sebastian Riemer, Brayden Riemer, Carson Jackson and Reid Sadowski between 16:47 and 17:12. Fifth, where they were.
6. Doral Academy, 4A: 693 points
Season average 16:51.1 · 1-5 spread 1:03.5
Martin Fernandez 16:06.6; Rafaele D'Agostino 16:46.7; Pedro Rodriguez 17:04.2; Javier Parker 17:07.9; Joaquin Cogo 17:10.1.
Did not race. Fifth at the Horse Park with 282, tied with Gulliver and beaten on the sixth man, a week after winning the Pine Crest meet with 49. Martin Fernandez 16:06.6 and then four boys between 16:47 and 17:10. Sixth, up one as Fort Myers slid down the page.
7. Hagerty (Oviedo), 4A: 704 points
Season average 16:51.2 · 1-5 spread 1:11.9
Nate Winslow 16:19.2; Camden Thompson 16:34.4; Reid Henson 16:50.8; Wesley Lizon 17:00.5; Elijah Lizon 17:31.1.
Did not race. Three meets, two wins: Trinity Prep with 24, DeLand with 38, and third at Spikes & Spurs before that. Nate Winslow 16:19.2, Camden Thompson 16:34.4, Reid Henson 16:50.8, the Lizons at 17:00 and 17:31. Seventh.
8. Columbus (Miami), 4A: 708 points
Season average 16:52.6 · 1-5 spread 0:50.7 · This week: 1st of 29 at King of the Hill (22).
Nicholas Garcia 16:19.7; Lundin Steven 16:37.9; Lucas Saenz 17:06.9; Jose Luis Cordero 17:07.9; Valerio Rodriguez 17:10.4.
Won King of the Hill out of 29 teams with 22 points on Thursday night, Nicholas Garcia first in 16:43.1 out of 339, Lundin Steven third in 17:05.3, Jeremiah Elington fifth, Lucas Saenz sixth, Bryce Barger seventh. Seventh at the Horse Park with 335 a week earlier. The 0:50.7 spread is the tightest of any team in the top twenty, and it is the reason a team without a boy under 16:19 is eighth in Florida. From eleventh.
9. Gulliver Prep (Pinecrest), 2A: 798 points
Season average 16:54.3 · 1-5 spread 1:15.9 · This week: 6th of 29 at King of the Hill (223).
Kayaan Ghaffar 16:15.7; Adrian Iziliaev 16:33.5; Emilio Perez-Garcia 16:41.8; Tyler Keating 17:28.6; Nicolas Altaba 17:31.6.
Ran a second group at King of the Hill, sixth with 223, led by a 19:00. Not the five that finished fourth at the Horse Park with 282, and that run is still what ranks them: Kayaan Ghaffar 16:15.7, Adrian Iziliaev 16:33.5, Emilio Perez-Garcia 16:41.8, then four boys inside six seconds of each other at 17:28 to 17:34. Sixth to ninth because Columbus, Doral and Hagerty all sit above them on the season now.
10. Ponte Vedra, 3A: 841 points
Season average 16:57.3 · 1-5 spread 1:13.6
Luke Ross 16:00.3; Jack Feather 17:09.1; Aiden Killoran 17:09.5; Logan Hunt 17:13.5; Colin Bovee 17:13.9.
Did not race. Sixth at the Horse Park with 298, the first 3A team behind Belen in that race: Luke Ross 16:00.3, then Jack Feather, Aiden Killoran, Logan Hunt and Colin Bovee inside five seconds of each other from 17:09 to 17:14. Back in the ten at tenth as Fort Myers moved down the page.
Just missed
Spanish River (895) is first out and has not raced since winning the Dr. Garcia Bulldog Invite. Vanguard (Ocala) (913) sat. Tavares (914) won the Astronaut Invitational with 64 in a 32-team field, Liam Ilea second in 16:21.5, Navid Lozano and Nicholas Alvarez eighth and ninth; a win is not held against them, so they are still ranked on Whispering Pines. St. Cloud (916) sent a second group to the JT Memorial, fourth with 152. Wiregrass Ranch (916) was second at Astronaut with 84 behind Tavares, Avi Bhatia sixth in 16:57.8, and has the same score as St. Cloud and a worse average.
Fort Myers (667 on the figures) is thirteenth, directly behind Vanguard. They won their own invitational with 47, Hagen first, Noah Lefko fourth, on a course priced a minute slow, and the arithmetic alone would put them fifth. Vanguard beat them 351 to 358 at Cecil Field on August 21 and the two have not raced since. Until they do, or until Fort Myers beats a team ranked above it, the Cecil result holds. Leon (941) was entered at Nights of Thunder and never ran; still on Dueling Summits. Lake Minneola (987) and Creekside (990) did not race. Bishop Kenny (3A) won the Buchholz Bobcats Classic with 138 over Buchholz 4A's 147, Dayne Kimball and Quinn Mullaney seventh and eighth in 16:46.0 and 16:48.8, and is 30th here; the fourth and fifth men were 17:51 and 18:02. East Ridge (4A) was ninth a week ago and is 33rd. Sallault won Astronaut and Aubin Sallault was seventh, then Anthony Murphy 24th in 17:37.0 and nobody else under 20:12. Weighted four to one against their earlier races, the fourth man decides it.
Where the virtual race disagrees with this list
- 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)
Method notes
- One virtual race, Cecil Field equivalents, top five score, sixth and seventh displace, five finishers required. Every runner is scored on his whole season, weighted toward the most recent race: his best converted time from each week he raced, averaged with week four counting four times, week three three times, week two twice and week one once. A race a runner won is never allowed to lower his figure, and a meet a team won is never allowed to lower the team's. A school's five best runners on that basis are its team. Where two ranked teams have raced each other with at least three of their scoring seven, and neither has raced since, the result orders them. 435 scoreable teams, five of them projected.
- Nease's August five ran the Buchholz JV race together as a group; that division is not scored for Nease. Their second unit's varsity result stands in the meet's results and counts for nothing here.
- A head-to-head loss stands until the two teams meet again. Fort Myers lost to Vanguard at Cecil Field and is ranked behind them, thirteenth, even though its Fort Myers Invite win rates fifth on the figures; a win on a slow course does not jump a team you lost to. Applied by name this week, because applied to every pair it loops (Chiles beat St. Thomas Aquinas, who beat Lourdes, who beat Chiles) and buries Niceville under Lake Minneola's August 21 finish.
- Scores inflate as more teams enter and are not comparable across weeks. Order and averages are.
- Projections (P) enter on their returning five's 2025 state times. No projected team is in the top ten.
- Seventy-four courses are in the season and 45 can be rated for the boys. Thirteen week-four courses could not be and rank nobody. Fort Myers was priced from its whole sample, about a minute slow; on the front-pack reading the course is half that.
- Out-of-state schools are excluded. Non-FHSAA programs are named and not scored.
- Classes are 2026-27, resolved against the FHSAA classification documents.
- This edition was updated on Sunday, September 13 to add the Seffner Christian XC Invitational, whose timing file arrived after the morning edition. That course reads about 16 seconds slow for boys and 44 seconds slow for girls against the runners who have also run the state meet.
A word on IMG Academy
IMG Academy in Bradenton is an FHSAA member that competes as an Independent, which means no district meet, no regional and no state meet in November, and it is not scored on this list. IMG did not race this week. Its Summit Challenge run, Fletcher Rodbro 14:54.0, James Pfuhl 15:37.4, Jose Cedeno-Barrera 15:58.5, Jackson Hawkins 16:09.6 and Maddi Duke 16:13.3, is a converted average of 15:53.8, within a few points of Belen either way in the virtual race. On one race in a six-team field on their own course, against a Belen team that has won two deep races, we would still put them second in Florida.
Every result behind this page is in the rankings section, the individual list is here, and the full Saturday is in the weekend recap. Where this started: the week 3 boys team rankings.
Photo: Nease's boys under the tent at Santa Fe College on Saturday, sent in by Alejandro through our cross country photos page.