Nobody in the top five raced and Bryant Olson's race was called off for lightning, so the top of the list stood still. Below it, Axel Sallault won Astronaut by 24 seconds, Reed Hagen and Dylan Macias-Buenrostro went one-two at Fort Myers on a course that ran a minute slow, and both are in the ten for the first time.
Florida boys cross country, through four weeks: August 21-September 12, 2026
The week the top of the list stood still and the middle of it moved. Marcelo Mantecon, Armando Cruz, Fletcher Rodbro, Jaxon Kiper and Isaiah Howdeshell all sat out, and Bryant Olson was on the line for the HOKA Nights of Thunder varsity race when it was called off for lightning. Five of the top six did not run a step that counts.
Below them, Saturday happened. Axel Sallault won the Astronaut Invitational out of 230 in 15:57.0, 24 seconds clear of Liam Ilea of Tavares 3A, his third race and by our measure the best of them. Reed Hagen won the Fort Myers XC Invite out of 233 in 16:26.6 with Dylan Macias-Buenrostro nine seconds behind him, on a course that ran about a minute slow by the 24 boys who have also run the state meet, and both are in the ten for the first time. Gabriel Harris did not race and slid three places. Rishi Chopra, on one race from August 21, is first out.
One reading to be straight about. Fort Myers is priced from the whole sample of boys who ran it and the state meet, and that sample says a minute. The five fastest of those boys say about half that. On the harsher reading Hagen and Macias-Buenrostro sit outside the ten; on the reading we use, they are eighth and ninth. The method note at the bottom has the numbers.
Every time is weighed against where it was run, using runners who raced both that course and last November's state meet, with Cecil Field as the yardstick. A runner is ranked on his whole season, with the most recent race counting most, and a race he won never counts against him. We use the data and our own eyes, and we will get one or two wrong along the way. The girls' list is here, and the boys team rankings are here.
1. Marcelo Mantecon, Belen Jesuit, Sr., 3A
Did not race. His season is still one run, the Horse Park win out of 549 in 15:22.1 with Cruz 2.3 seconds back, and it holds first for the reasons it held first a week ago: two 3A titles, fourth at Nike Cross Nationals, runner-up at the Brooks national meet, and a head-to-head win over the only Florida boy with a comparable resume. The arithmetic alone has him fifth this week, behind two August races by Kiper and Howdeshell. He beat Cruz on the grass and Cruz has beaten everyone else. That still settles it.
2. Armando Cruz, Belen Jesuit, Sr., 3A
Did not race. 15:06.0 at Cecil Field on opening night, still the fastest raw time by an FHSAA boy this fall, and 15:24.4 at the Horse Park. Two races, both under 15:25, on two different courses, and the only boy who has beaten him lives in his locker room.
3. Fletcher Rodbro, IMG Academy, Jr.
Did not race. His 14:54.0 at IMG's Summit Challenge is the only sub-15 in Florida this season and the best converted mark on the board at 15:01. One race, on his own course, against nobody else on this page, and IMG competes outside the state series. Third, where he was, with the same caveats.
4. Jaxon Kiper, Strawberry Crest, Sr., 4A
Did not race a rated course since Jim Ryun on August 22, where he won out of 276 in 15:54.3, worth 15:16 at Cecil Field. His 18:06 at Central Hillsborough four days later came on a course we cannot rate and does not count. A missed week is never held against anyone, but he has been sitting on one number for three weeks while the boys around him have raced.
5. Isaiah Howdeshell, Largo, Sr., 3A
Did not race. 15:20.0 for third in the elite race at Cecil Field, and a Parker Valby win in 16:05.8 that is left out because a win never lowers a runner's figure. Largo dropped to 3A this year, which puts him in November's race with both Belen seniors.
6. Bryant Olson, Niceville, So., 4A
Was entered at Nights of Thunder and the varsity race never ran. His season is 15:44.0 for fifth at Cecil Field, a Pine Forest win, and the Pace Patriot win in 16:07.8 on a slow course, worth about 15:29 leveled. He beat Sallault by three seconds at Cecil, and that finish is the only reason he sits above a boy whose season figure is now two seconds better. They have not met since. The first time they do, the grass decides.
7. Axel Sallault, East Ridge, Sr., 4A
Won the Astronaut Invitational out of 230 in 15:57.0, 24 seconds ahead of Liam Ilea, on a course that reads about 30 seconds slow, so the run is worth about 15:27 at Cecil, the best of his three races. 15:47.0 for eighth at Cecil Field, 15:47.0 to win Whispering Pines, 15:57.0 to win Astronaut. Three races, two wins, and the runner-up in 4A last November has the second-best body of work in the class. He is behind Olson on the Cecil finish and nothing else.
8. Reed Hagen, Fort Myers, So., 3A
Won the Fort Myers XC Invite out of 233 in 16:26.6, 8.7 seconds ahead of Macias-Buenrostro, a week after finishing 27th at Cecil Field in 16:19.0. Fort Myers ran about a minute slow by the boys who have also run state, which makes Saturday worth about 15:23 leveled and puts a sophomore in the statewide ten for the first time. The honest caveat is in the intro: on the front-pack reading of that course the same run is worth 15:55. We use the whole sample, and we will know more the next time he races somewhere we have priced better.
9. Dylan Macias-Buenrostro, Mariner, Jr., 3A
Three races, two wins and a second. He won Cape Coral in 16:34.7 and the 3D Sommers Invitational in 16:25.3, neither of which counts against him, and was second at Fort Myers on Saturday in 16:35.3, worth about 15:31 leveled on the same reading as Hagen. Eighth in 3A at state last year. He is behind Hagen because Hagen beat him, and behind nobody else in Southwest Florida.
10. Gabriel Harris, Lake Wales, Sr., 3A
Did not race. Third at Jim Ryun in 16:21.1 and second at the St. Cloud Invitational in 15:43.8, three tenths behind Luis Rivera on a course that runs a little slow. Two races that say 15:43 and 15:33, both getting older, and three boys ran past him on Saturday. Tenth, from seventh, without doing anything wrong.
Just missed
Rishi Chopra (Nease, Sr., 4A) is first out, on 15:39.0 for fourth at Cecil Field and nothing since. He did not run at Buchholz on Saturday, where Nease's August five jogged the JV race together, and one race from August 21 is now behind three boys who have raced three times. Jeb Bremerman (Naples, So., 3A) was third at Fort Myers in 16:44.3, worth about 15:40, three weeks after winning Lehigh; he is twelfth and the third Southwest Florida boy inside 15:41. Luis Rivera (St. Cloud, Sr., 4A) has not raced since winning his own invitational and is thirteenth. Quentin Thompson (Lake Minneola, Sr., 4A) is on his 15:16.0 from Cecil and his third at the Horse Park, fourteenth. James Pfuhl (IMG Academy, Sr.) ran 15:37.4 behind Rodbro and has not raced since.
Dominic Ferguson (Rocky Bayou Christian, Sr., 1A) was entered at Nights of Thunder and never got a gun; he is on his Pace run. Douglas Seth (Flagler Palm Coast, So., 4A) and Matthew Ishee (Nease, Jr., 4A) sat, Ishee in the sense that he ran 19:47 in a pack in the Buchholz JV race, which we do not count for or against him. Jonas Williams (Newsome, Sr., 4A) is on Lake Region and the Horse Park. Ryder Dempsey (Geneva Classical Academy, So., Independent) won Frostproof in 16:33.3 on a course we could not rate and sits twentieth on his Jim Ryun and Lake Region runs.
Liam Ilea (Tavares, Jr., 3A) was second to Sallault at Astronaut in 16:21.5, his fourth race and worth 15:51. Brody Johnson and Noah Childrey of Rockledge 3A were third and fourth there in 16:32.8 and 16:33.8. Nicholas Garcia (Columbus, Jr., 4A) won King of the Hill out of 339 on Thursday in 16:43.1, worth about 16:09. Logan Haley (Branford, Jr., 1A) won the Buchholz Bobcats Classic out of 203 in 16:17.9 on a course that reads a shade fast. Skylar Manatt (Cypress Creek, Sr., 3A) won Land O' Lakes in 16:13.4 and Daniel Georgiev (Lake Brantley, Jr., 4A) won Spruce Creek in 16:47.1, his third win in three starts. Owen Tucker (Gulf Breeze, Jr., 3A) was the first Florida boy at the Gulf Coast Stampede, fourth in 16:26.4.
Method notes
- Times are weighed against the course they were run on, using athletes who ran both the 2025 FHSAA state meet and that course, matched on name and school, with Cecil Field as the neutral reference.
- A runner's mark is 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 runner who has raced once is on that race. A race he won is never allowed to lower that figure; if it would, it is left out. A returner who has not raced on a rated course is projected from his 2025 state time.
- A head-to-head result orders two runners until one of them races again. Olson over Sallault is the Cecil Field finish; Mantecon over Cruz is the Horse Park. Once either runner in a pair races, the season figures take over.
- Seventy-three courses are in the season so far and 44 of them can be rated for the boys. Thirteen of the 21 week-four meets could not be, on too few runners in common with the state meet: BCAA Heritage Park, Lightning Invites, Lincoln Park, SHS, BCAA Tradewinds, Graceville, Zak Lukas, Benjamin, Frostproof, Kings Academy, Tiger Open, Wildwood and Nights of Thunder, whose varsity races did not run. Marks run there are reported raw and rank nobody.
- Fort Myers reads +64 seconds on the mean of 24 runners and +58 on the median; the five returners who ran state under 17:00 read +31. We use the mean, which is what puts Hagen and Macias-Buenrostro eighth and ninth; at +31 both are outside the ten. Astronaut reads +30 on the mean and +20 on the median; at the median Sallault's Saturday is worth 15:37 and he sits about tenth instead of seventh. Buchholz reads about ten seconds fast on the mean and 27 on the median; we used the mean, the less generous reading.
- Out-of-state entries are excluded. IMG Academy is an FHSAA member school that competes as an Independent, so it belongs to no class and does not enter the district, regional or state series; its runners are ranked as individuals and its team is named in the team rankings but not scored.
- Grades and classes are 2026-27, resolved against the FHSAA classification documents where the returner files are silent.
Every result behind this list is on the site: the rankings section carries the week 4 lists next to weeks 1 through 3, and the full Saturday is in the weekend recap. Where this started: the week 3 boys list.
The middle schoolers have their own lists: Week 4 FLYRA Middle School Top 10s, boys and girls.