Marcelo Mantecon won the COROS Race of Champions in North Carolina in 14:35.9, Jaxon Kiper returns at sixth after winning Don Bishop, and Matthew Ishee, Andrew Sides and Nicholas Veloso come in after beating Sean Cunningham in Cary.
Florida boys cross country, through seven weeks: August 21-October 3, 2026
Marcelo Mantecon went to North Carolina and won the COROS Race of Champions at the Great American XC Festival in 14:35.9, beating 340 runners from all over the country. It is the fastest time by a Florida boy this year. Armando Cruz was sixth in 14:50.6 and Jack Michalak 19th. The top five do not move.
Jaxon Kiper is back. He had not raced since August, and on Saturday he won the Don Bishop Invitational in 15:24.2, 12 seconds ahead of Jonas Williams of Newsome. He comes in at sixth.
Three more boys come in off the Race of Champions in Cary. Matthew Ishee of Nease, Andrew Sides of Buchholz and Nicholas Veloso of Belen all finished ahead of Sean Cunningham there, and a loss stands until they meet again, so all three go above him. Fletcher Rodbro did not finish that race and comes out of the ten. Douglas Seth and Bryant Olson drop out too: Cunningham beat both at the Southern Showcase, and the three Cary boys beat Cunningham.
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.
1. Marcelo Mantecon, Belen Jesuit, Sr., 3A
Won the COROS Race of Champions at the Great American XC Festival in Cary, North Carolina, in 14:35.9, three seconds ahead of Ruel Newberry of Guyer, Texas. Three races this fall, three wins: the Horse Park, the Southern Showcase and now the biggest race a Florida boy has run this year. Belen was second of 40 teams.
2. Armando Cruz, Belen Jesuit, Sr., 3A
Sixth in the Race of Champions in 14:50.6, eight seconds under his own best. Second to Mantecon at the Horse Park and the Showcase, and behind him again on Saturday. He stays second until he beats his teammate.
3. Axel Sallault, East Ridge, Sr., 4A
Did not race. Won West Orange in 15:23.9 a week earlier, his fourth win in five starts, and his 15:05.9 at Hawks on the Hill on September 19 is still the best run on his card. He beat Thompson there, which is why he sits above him.
4. Quentin Thompson, Lake Minneola, Sr., 4A
Did not race. Thirteenth of 334 in the Championship race at PR'ville in Huntsville on September 26 in 15:32.7, the first Floridian across. Second to Sallault at Hawks on the Hill. He has not met Michalak or Kiper since August.
5. Jack Michalak, Belen Jesuit, Jr., 3A
Nineteenth in the Race of Champions in 15:15.5, the third Belen runner in. Third at the Showcase in 15:01.7 behind his two teammates. Six boys beat him at the Horse Park on September 5, and that race no longer orders anybody; he has beaten Ishee, Sides, Veloso and Cunningham since.
6. Jaxon Kiper, Strawberry Crest, Sr., 4A
Won the Don Bishop Invitational in Brandon in 15:24.2, 12 seconds ahead of Jonas Williams, who ran the second-best race of his season chasing him. Kiper also won Jim Ryun in 15:54.3 in August, ran an easy 18:06 a week later, and did not race again until Saturday. On those two races his season figure is the second-best in the state. We put him sixth: one race since August is a strong race, not yet a season, and he has not met the five boys above him. Next time he races one of them, the grass decides.
Gear
The watch on the Race of Champions banner.
COROS put its name on the race Mantecon won in Cary. The COROS PACE 4 is the one our readers ask about most: 32 grams, a bright AMOLED screen you can read in Florida sun, about 19 days of battery, dual-frequency GPS for accurate splits under trees, and recovery and sleep tracking in the app so you know what Saturday took out of you.
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7. Matthew Ishee, Nease, Jr., 4A
Thirty-seventh in the Race of Champions in 15:35.4, the first Florida runner home outside Belen, ahead of Sides, Veloso and Cunningham. Fifteenth at Roy Griak in Minnesota in 15:13.2 two weeks earlier. Nease was seventh of 40 teams in Cary.
8. Andrew Sides, Buchholz, Jr., 4A
Forty-fifth in the Race of Champions in 15:39.8, a personal best by nine seconds on a day when almost no one ran one, ahead of Veloso and Cunningham. Won the Katie Caples Elite race on September 19 in 15:53.0, ahead of Will Moss, Gabriel Harris and Luke Ross. His one rough day, 17th at his own Buchholz meet on September 12, is old enough that it no longer orders anybody.
9. Nicholas Veloso, Belen Jesuit, Jr., 3A
Fifty-fifth in the Race of Champions in 15:47.3, 3.5 seconds ahead of Cunningham. Seth, Olson, Jonathan Kiros and David Barton beat him at the Showcase on September 19, and Cunningham beat all four of them that day. Now Veloso has beaten Cunningham. When results go round in a circle like that, the newest one decides, and Saturday is the newest.
10. Sean Cunningham, Providence, Sr., 1A
Fifty-ninth in the Race of Champions in 15:50.8, behind Ishee, Sides and Veloso, which is why they are above him. Eleventh at the Showcase in 15:15.7, still the fastest time by a 1A boy this year, ahead of Seth, Olson, Rodbro and Kiros; that keeps him above all four.
Just missed
Douglas Seth (Flagler Palm Coast, So., 4A) and Bryant Olson (Niceville, So., 4A) did not race. Both were in the ten last week, and both lost to Cunningham at the Showcase, so they go below him and out. Fletcher Rodbro (IMG Academy, Jr.) did not finish the Race of Champions. A DNF is not a loss, and his 14:54.0 at the IMGA Summit is still the fastest time run on a Florida course this year, but one finish since September 5 is not enough to hold a spot in the ten. Luis Rivera (St. Cloud, Sr., 4A) was second at the Harmony Longhorn Invitational, half a second behind Brody Johnson of Rockledge (16:08.8 to 16:09.2), and is 11th. Isaiah Howdeshell (Largo, Sr., 3A) stays out until he is racing again after his injury. David Barton (Maclay, Sr., 1A) ran 15:29.0 for tenth of 341 at the Alexander Invitational in Georgia, the second-fastest time by a 1A boy this year.
Reader supported
Free to read, no paywall. Every pair of the state's top 60 boys gets checked against each other before this list goes up, from 46 new meets this week. If it helps your team or your kid, you can buy us a coffee.
Method notes
- A head-to-head loss stands until the two runners meet again. Where results form a loop, the most recent meeting decides. Every pair among the top 60 on the season board was checked.
- New this week: head-to-heads from September 12 and earlier no longer order runners. Those races are three weeks and more old, and the kids have changed since. The times still count in the season figure. Opening weekend (Cecil Field and Jim Ryun) expired last week. That is why Sides, 17th at Buchholz on September 12, and Michalak, behind six boys at the Horse Park on September 5, are not held below the boys who beat them then.
- Three calls that are not rule outcomes: Kiper sixth, although his season figure is second in the state, because he has raced once since August; Rodbro out after a DNF, although he has no loss to anyone below him; Howdeshell out until he races again after an injury.
- Out-of-state runners at the Great American XC Festival and the Alexander Invitational are left out of the course readings and the rankings. Florida runners' places among the full field are printed as they finished.
- The Fletcher Nor'Eastern Classic is not rated: its runners finished 5 to 9 minutes slower than their usual 5K times, so it was not a standard 5K. Places there still count.
- 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, the River Ridge Invitational and the AVE Invite. None of them moved anyone in the ten.
- A race a runner won never lowers his figure. Kiper's Don Bishop win and Mantecon's Cary win are listed and not held against them.
Every result behind this list is on the site in the rankings section, and the full weekend is in the weekend recap. Last week: the week 6 boys list.
Featured image: the Belen Jesuit shield, the school's own logo, credited to Belen Jesuit Preparatory School (Miami).