Belen was second of 40 teams in the Great American Race of Champions, Nease stays second after finishing seventh there, Ponte Vedra comes in at fifth after beating Vanguard at Speziale, and Fort Myers won the flrunners.com Race of Champions.
Florida boys cross country team rankings through seven weeks: August 21-October 3, 2026
Belen Jesuit went to the Great American XC Festival in Cary, North Carolina, and finished second of 40 teams in the COROS Race of Champions with 117, behind only Christ School of North Carolina. Marcelo Mantecon won the race, Armando Cruz was sixth and Jack Michalak 19th. Belen's second seven won the Red Invitational in the same meet. Belen stays first.
Nease (4A) was seventh of 40 in the same race with 291. Two weeks after third at Roy Griak in Minnesota, that is two national-class fields in a row where Nease beat most of the country. The season figures put Bolles and Niceville ahead of Nease. We have Nease second, and that is our call.
Ponte Vedra (3A) beat Vanguard (3A) 26 to 29 at its own Craig Speziale Invitational, with Luke Ross winning in 15:59.06, and comes into the ten at fifth, directly above Vanguard. Fort Myers (3A) won the Race of Champions at the flrunners.com Invitational with 86, 25 points ahead of Tavares, and moves up to seventh. Hagerty (4A) drops out.
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 its top runners since, the result on the grass orders them. A team that has not raced at all is projected from its returning five.
Points climb 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 his season figures in Cecil Field terms. Out-of-state entries are excluded, and IMG Academy competes as an FHSAA Independent outside the state series. The individual list is here, the girls' team list is here.
1. Belen Jesuit (Miami), 3A: 128 points
Season average 15:47.6 · 1-5 spread 1:27.6
Marcelo Mantecon 15:06.4; Armando Cruz 15:21.1; Jack Michalak 15:38.8; Nicholas Veloso 16:17.9; Dominic De Armas 16:34.0.
Second of 40 in the Great American Race of Champions with 117: Mantecon first in 14:35.9, Cruz sixth, Michalak 19th, Veloso 55th, Dominic De Armas 98th. Christ School of North Carolina won with 83. Belen's next seven won the Red Invitational with 129 over 43 teams. First by more than 200 points in the virtual race.
2. Nease (Ponte Vedra), 4A: 427 points
Season average 16:37.1 · 1-5 spread 0:55.7
Matthew Ishee 16:05.8; Rishi Chopra 16:17.6; Joseph Morley 16:50.0; Charles Carlson 16:50.4; Austin Courson 17:01.6.
Seventh of 40 in the Great American Race of Champions with 291, led by Matthew Ishee in 15:35.4 and Rishi Chopra in 15:52.5. Third at Roy Griak two weeks earlier, and no Florida team but Belen has beaten its full varsity this year; it beat Bolles at Cecil Field, 158 to 236. Fourth in the virtual race. Second here by our call.
3. Bolles (Jacksonville), 2A: 361 points
Season average 16:32.5 · 1-5 spread 0:40.0
Brantley Rigdon 16:14.4; Aidan Chandler 16:24.6; Armaan Sharma 16:29.3; Aaron Ches 16:40.0; Wyatt Cleek 16:54.4.
Did not race its varsity; only the Bolles middle schoolers ran at Speziale. Won Bale-N-Trail on September 26 with 41: Aidan Chandler, Armaan Sharma, Aaron Ches, Wyatt Cleek and Vincent Barragan all in the top 13. Second in the virtual race, third here behind Nease.
4. Niceville, 4A: 367 points
Season average 16:30.8 · 1-5 spread 1:00.2
Bryant Olson 15:51.6; Brody Mathis 16:22.3; Sebastian Riemer 16:40.9; Carson Jackson 16:47.2; Reid Sadowski 16:51.8.
Won the Wildcat Invitational at the University of West Florida with 22, going one-two-three: Brody Mathis won in 17:05.5, with Brayden and Sebastian Riemer behind him. Sixth at the Southern Showcase on September 19. Third in the virtual race.
5. Ponte Vedra, 3A: 577 points
Season average 16:45.0 · 1-5 spread 1:28.0
Luke Ross 15:54.5; Aiden Killoran 16:45.0; Colin Bovee 16:46.6; Logan Hunt 16:56.3; Jasper Graham 17:22.5.
Won its own Craig Speziale Invitational with 26, three points ahead of Vanguard: Luke Ross first in 15:59.06 by 40 seconds, Aiden Killoran third, Colin Bovee fifth, Logan Hunt seventh. The two teams alternated through the top eight. New to the ten, directly above the team it beat.
Recovery
The boots you see in the team tent at big meets.
Belen and Nease raced in Cary on Saturday after a day of travel. Hyperice Normatec 3 is the air-compression boot you see in college training rooms after a hard race: seven pressure levels that squeeze from the feet up while you sit, and a Bluetooth app for presets. It is a team or family purchase, not an impulse buy.
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6. Vanguard (Ocala), 3A: 458 points
Season average 16:36.9 · 1-5 spread 0:57.9
Trevor Berquist 16:22.9; Jacob Rogers 16:24.2; Lachlan Bryniarski 16:27.0; Christopher Taylor 16:29.6; Cooper Gumpert 17:20.8.
Second at Speziale with 29: Christopher Taylor second in 16:38.93, Jacob Rogers fourth, Lachlan Bryniarski sixth, Trevor Berquist eighth. A four-man spread of seven seconds on the season, the tightest front four in the ten. Behind Ponte Vedra on Saturday's result.
7. Fort Myers, 3A: 603 points
Season average 16:38.5 · 1-5 spread 1:58.3
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.
Won the Race of Champions at the flrunners.com Invitational in Lakeland with 86, ahead of Tavares (111), Calvary Christian of Clearwater (141), Chiles (179) and Naples. Noah Lefko and Trae Britton were 11th and 12th; Reed Hagen, the team's No. 1, was 16th. Up from 11th.
8. Braddock (Miami), 4A: 712 points
Season average 16:57.5 · 1-5 spread 0:51.0
Yanliet Gomezdelafe 16:29.4; Ian Vicente 16:54.0; Liano Lacayo 17:01.7; Jacob Castanedo 17:01.8; Lucas Knight 17:20.3.
Did not race. Won the Larry Wooten Invitational on September 26 with 23, and won the Class 4A scoring of the Spanish River Race of Champions on September 18 ahead of Columbus and Doral in the same race. Twelfth in the virtual race; eighth on that result.
9. Columbus (Miami), 4A: 680 points
Season average 16:56.0 · 1-5 spread 0:52.2
Nicholas Garcia 16:20.3; Lundin Steven 16:49.4; Lucas Saenz 17:07.5; Valerio Rodriguez 17:10.2; Bryce Barger 17:12.5.
Did not race. Second to Braddock and two points ahead of Doral in the 4A scoring of the Race of Champions on September 18. Nicholas Garcia leads the five at 16:20.3 on figure.
10. Doral Academy, 4A: 641 points
Season average 16:53.1 · 1-5 spread 0:57.6
Martin Fernandez 16:12.2; Rafaele D'Agostino 16:46.8; Javier Parker 17:07.9; Joaquin Cogo 17:08.5; Pedro Rodriguez 17:09.9.
Did not race. Third in the 4A scoring of the Race of Champions, behind Braddock and Columbus. Eighth in the virtual race and tenth on the grass. Martin Fernandez leads the five.
Just missed
Hagerty (4A) won its own Hagerty Invitational on September 26 with 95, two points ahead of Lake Highland Prep, with Camden Thompson third. It is ninth in the virtual race and 11th here, behind the three Miami teams on the Spanish River result. Flagler Palm Coast (4A) did not race; 12th. Gulliver Prep (2A) is 13th. Newsome (4A) won the Don Bishop Invitational with 47 over Wharton, Jonas Williams second to Jaxon Kiper. Buchholz (4A) was 18th of 40 in the Great American Race of Champions, with Andrew Sides running a personal best. Spanish River (4A) was 27th of 40 there and drops out of the ten. Tavares (3A) was second at flrunners.com, Liam Ilea second individually.
Where the virtual race disagrees with this list
- Ponte Vedra over Vanguard: 1st and 2nd at the Craig Speziale Invitational, and neither has raced its top runners since.
- Nease over Bolles: Our call: Nease was third of 40 at Roy Griak and seventh of 40 in the Race of Champions at the Great American, and no Florida team but Belen has beaten its full varsity; it also beat Bolles at Cecil Field, 158 to 236. Bolles is ahead in the virtual race.
- Braddock over Doral Academy: Braddock 78, Columbus 103, Doral 105 in the Class 4A scoring of the Spanish River Race of Champions on Sept. 18, the same race; none of the three has raced its top runners against the others since, and the call stands.
- Columbus over Doral Academy: Columbus beat Doral by two points in the Class 4A scoring of the Race of Champions on Sept. 18, and neither has met the other since.
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Method notes
- A team only counts as having raced when at least three of its season top seven ran. Bolles at Speziale (middle schoolers only) and Belen's Red Invitational group do not count as varsity meetings.
- Head-to-head results from September 12 and earlier no longer order teams. The times still count in the figures.
- Out-of-state teams at the Great American XC Festival, the Alexander Invitational, the Tift Invitational and the Dolphin Run are left out of the course readings and the virtual race. Florida teams' places among the full field are printed as they finished.
- Sixteen meets from September 22 to 26 that had not been in our numbers were added this week, among them the Hagerty Invitational, the South Lake Eagles Invitational and the River Ridge Invitational.
- The flrunners.com Invitational ran over two days. Saturday's Race of Champions is the team result used here; Friday's open varsity race is a separate meeting.
- Points are a virtual-race sum over more than 90 scored teams and move every time a new file enters the pool; compare order and averages, not points, week to week.
The individual list is here; last week's team list is here; every result from Saturday is in the weekend recap.
Featured image: the schools' own logos, credited to Belen Jesuit Preparatory School (Miami), Nease High School (Ponte Vedra) and The Bolles School (Jacksonville).