Horse Park Recap: Mantecon Opens With the Win, Gaona-Zelaya Beats Hallick and Tomasic, and Destremps Goes Under Ten

Florida cross country, Saturday, September 5, 2026

Six meets went into the database Saturday, 3,802 finishes in all, and one of them was the biggest race of the young season. The Florida Horse Park Invitational in Ocala put 544 boys and 399 girls across the line, 66 and 49 scoring teams, and it settled arguments that August only started.

Three things happened that matter. Marcelo Mantecon opened his season with a win, and Belen Jesuit ran 1-2 on the way to a team score that nobody else was within 160 points of. Natalia Gaona-Zelaya beat Lyla Hallick for the second Saturday in a row, this time with Annabella Tomasic, the girl ranked No. 1 in the state, behind both of them in her first race of the year. And in the middle school races, the two kids we rank first in Florida, RJ Destremps and Colette Heffernan, won the way No. 1s are supposed to win.

Every meet below links to its full results in our database. Times are the times that were run. Where a runner has a rank next to the name, it is from our week 2 boys, week 2 girls or week 2 middle school lists, which were written before any of this happened.

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Florida Horse Park Invitational, Ocala, hosted by Vanguard

Boys: Mantecon opens with the win, Belen goes 1-2, and 63 points in a 66-team field

Marcelo Mantecon (Belen Jesuit, Sr., 3A) had not raced in 2026. He was No. 1 on our boys list anyway, on the strength of the 15:03.3 that won the 3A title in November and the 15:10.8 that won this meet a year ago. Saturday he ran 15:22.1 and won by 2.3 seconds over his own teammate, Armando Cruz (Belen Jesuit, Sr., 3A), who has been the fastest runner in the state all August at 15:06.0. Belen 1-2 at the front, then Jack Michalak, Davi Bodoh and Dominic De Armas at 17th, 19th and 24th. Sixty-three points.

Flagler Palm Coast 4A was second at 231 on Douglas Seth (So.) fourth in 15:52.7 and Dylan Ciardi (So.) 15th. Bolles 2A was six points back at 237 with Brantley Rigdon (Jr.) 16th and Aidan Chandler (Sr.) 20th. Gulliver Prep 2A, opening its season, and Doral Academy 4A tied on 282, with Gulliver placed fourth on the tiebreak; its sophomore Kayaan Ghaffar was 14th in 16:10.5. Martin Fernandez (Sr.) led Doral in ninth. Ponte Vedra 3A was sixth. The host, Vanguard 3A, was 11th at 388, led by sophomore Trevor Berquist in 18th.

The individual race behind Belen was the best head-to-head of the season so far. Quentin Thompson (Lake Minneola, Sr., 4A), No. 3 on our list, ran 15:46.8 for third and beat Seth (No. 7), Will Moss (No. 8) and Luke Ross (No. 10) on the same day. Moss (Montverde Academy, Sr., 2A), the 2A champion, opened his season in eighth at 16:00.2. Ross (Ponte Vedra, Sr., 3A) was 11th at 16:02.8. Jonathan Kiros (Chiles, Sr., 3A), fourth in 3A last November, was tenth in 16:01.4, the same time as Fernandez.

Two more names to hold onto. Landon Watkins (Sickles, Jr., 4A), who we said last week was impossible to leave off the 4A list, ran 15:57.9 for sixth and beat Jonas Williams (Newsome, Sr., 4A) by four tenths. And Levi Howard, a junior visiting from Woodward Academy in Georgia, was fifth in 15:55.9.

Boys top ten

Pl	Athlete	School	Time
1	Marcelo Mantecon, Sr.	Belen Jesuit 3A	15:22.1
2	Armando Cruz, Sr.	Belen Jesuit 3A	15:24.4
3	Quentin Thompson, Sr.	Lake Minneola 4A	15:46.8
4	Douglas Seth, So.	Flagler Palm Coast 4A	15:52.7
5	Levi Howard, Jr.	Woodward Academy (GA)	15:55.9
6	Landon Watkins, Jr.	Sickles 4A	15:57.9
7	Jonas Williams, Sr.	Newsome 4A	15:58.3
8	Will Moss, Sr.	Montverde Academy 2A	16:00.2
9	Martin Fernandez, Sr.	Doral Academy 4A	16:01.4
10	Jonathan Kiros, Sr.	Chiles 3A	16:01.4

Boys team standings, top ten of 66

Pl	Team	Score	Scorers
1	Belen Jesuit 3A	63	1-2-17-19-24
2	Flagler Palm Coast 4A	231	4-15-57-58-104
3	Bolles 2A	237	16-20-49-67-89
4	Gulliver Prep 2A	282	14-26-34-107-112
5	Doral Academy 4A	282	9-50-74-75-78
6	Ponte Vedra 3A	298	11-61-63-84-87
7	Columbus 4A	335	28-39-79-91-108
8	Creekside 4A	371	22-36-72-109-147
9	Lake Minneola 4A	372	3-29-33-47-288
10	Braddock 4A	376	30-52-93-97-118

Girls: Gaona-Zelaya by 19, Tomasic third in her opener, Bishop Moore by 42

Natalia Gaona-Zelaya (Wiregrass Ranch, Sr., 4A) came in ranked No. 4 and left with the best argument anyone has made for No. 1. She ran 18:03.8, the fastest she has run this year and quicker than the 18:06.9 that got her third in 4A last November. Lyla Hallick (Vanguard, So., 3A), No. 8, was second in 18:22.5. That is the same order as Whispering Pines a week ago, when Gaona-Zelaya beat her by 17 seconds. Saturday the gap was 19.

Annabella Tomasic (Bishop Moore, So., 3A) was third in 18:28.4. She is the 3A champion and the No. 1 girl on our list, and on this course last September she ran 17:33.3. Saturday was her first race of 2026, so read it as a first race. She was 25 seconds behind Gaona-Zelaya and six behind Hallick, and her team won by 42 points. We will know more about where she is in two weeks than we do today.

Lainee Mercer (Springstead, Jr., 3A), third at the 3A meet last fall, was fourth in 18:40.6. Nicole Lewis (Doral Academy, Jr., 4A) was fifth in 18:43.0 and Eva Delaney (Creekside, So., 4A) sixth in 18:44.8. Stella Krueger (Episcopal, Jr., 2A) opened her season in tenth, and Ella Valentina Valenzuela (Bishop Moore, Jr., 3A) was 11th in 19:05.6, which is the line that decided the team race.

Bishop Moore 3A scored 141 on Tomasic third, Valenzuela 11th, Lauren Susnis (Sr.) 16th, then 33rd and 83rd. Creekside 4A had three girls in the top 13, Delaney, Emma Godfrey (Fr.) eighth and Ivey Edgell (So.) 13th, and then nobody until 72nd, which is how you score 183 with the best front three in the meet. Ponte Vedra 3A was third at 190 on a 24-27-42-45-60 pack with no one in the top 20. Episcopal 2A, last year's champion here, was fourth in its opener. Lourdes 3A, Chiles 3A, Doral Academy 4A and Carrollton 2A filled out the top eight, and the host, Vanguard 3A, was ninth at 289.

Girls top ten

Pl	Athlete	School	Time
1	Natalia Gaona-Zelaya, Sr.	Wiregrass Ranch 4A	18:03.8
2	Lyla Hallick, So.	Vanguard 3A	18:22.5
3	Annabella Tomasic, So.	Bishop Moore 3A	18:28.4
4	Lainee Mercer, Jr.	Springstead 3A	18:40.6
5	Nicole Lewis, Jr.	Doral Academy 4A	18:43.0
6	Eva Delaney, So.	Creekside 4A	18:44.8
7	Emma-Claire Tanenbaum, So.	Chiles 3A	19:00.2
8	Emma Godfrey, Fr.	Creekside 4A	19:03.3
9	Emma Poekert, Jr.	Cypress Creek (Wesley Chapel) 3A	19:04.4
10	Stella Krueger, Jr.	Episcopal 2A	19:05.3

Girls team standings, top ten of 49

Pl	Team	Score	Scorers
1	Bishop Moore 3A	141	3-11-16-33-83
2	Creekside 4A	183	6-8-13-72-90
3	Ponte Vedra 3A	190	24-27-42-45-60
4	Episcopal 2A	215	10-23-47-68-74
5	Lourdes 3A	219	18-20-43-71-75
6	Chiles 3A	252	7-30-46-86-94
7	Doral Academy 4A	265	5-25-55-84-107
8	Carrollton 2A	275	15-39-52-56-126
9	Vanguard 3A	289	2-19-26-118-142
10	Beachside 4A	330	14-41-73-93-124

Middle school: Destremps under ten, Heffernan by 18 over Ilea

RJ Destremps (Hillsborough Harriers, 8th grade) is No. 1 on our middle school boys list, and Saturday he ran 9:53.8 for 3K. That is the first time he has been under ten minutes in our database. His best coming in was the 10:01.6 from the state meet last October; two weeks ago at the Jim Ryun Invitational he ran 10:08.4. He won by 11 seconds, and the two boys behind him were a tenth of a second apart: Colton Jobe (VCMS, 8th grade) in 10:05.2 and Aidan Moylan (Imagine Town Center, 8th grade) in 10:05.3. Jobe was sixth in the charter division at state in 10:42.7, so that is a 37-second jump in ten months. Andrew LaHayne, ranked sixth and now racing for NEXT, was fourth in 10:13.0. Drake Matyka (No. 3) was sixth and Maxwell Claypool (No. 5) seventh.

The boys team race went to NEXT, a club that had no marks in our database before Saturday, with 56 points. Belen Jesuit's middle school program was second at 65 and the Hillsborough Harriers third at 79. Red Sea Running Club, which the simulator had two points behind the Harriers, was fifth at 111.

Colette Heffernan (7th grade, racing unattached Saturday) is No. 1 on the girls' list, and her win was the more emphatic of the two. She ran 10:17.8, 26 seconds faster than anything she had run this year, and beat Alice Ilea (Red Sea Running Club, 8th grade), our No. 2, by 18 seconds. Ilea did not run badly. Her 10:35.5 was her fastest of the season by 21 seconds. She simply ran into somebody who ran 10:17. Note the history: at last October's state meet, Ilea won the public-school race and Heffernan was third. Saturday flipped that.

Valentina Sarcos (Miami Vice Project, 8th grade) was third in 11:12.5 and Mia Kopcikova (Imagine Town Center, 8th grade) fourth. Red Sea won the girls' team race at 41, ahead of Imagine Town Center 71 and Cornerstone Classical Academy 95. That one went the way the simulator said it would: Red Sea, then daylight.

Middle school boys, top five

Pl	Athlete	Team	Time
1	RJ Destremps, 8th	Hillsborough Harriers	9:53.8
2	Colton Jobe, 8th	VCMS (Middleton)	10:05.2
3	Aidan Moylan, 8th	Imagine Town Center	10:05.3
4	Andrew LaHayne	NEXT	10:13.0
5	Joao Cardoso	NEXT	10:14.7

Middle school girls, top five

Pl	Athlete	Team	Time
1	Colette Heffernan, 7th	Unattached	10:17.8
2	Alice Ilea, 8th	Red Sea Running Club	10:35.5
3	Valentina Sarcos, 8th	Miami Vice Project	11:12.5
4	Mia Kopcikova, 8th	Imagine Town Center	11:27.2
5	Layne Schiebel	Httr Tornadoes	11:47.1

Middle school teams: Boys, NEXT 56, Belen Jesuit 65, Hillsborough Harriers 79, VCMS (Middleton) 110, Red Sea Running Club 111. Girls, Red Sea Running Club 41, Imagine Town Center 71, Cornerstone Classical Academy 95, Hillsborough Harriers 101, Episcopal 132.

What the simulator got right, and what it could not see

On Wednesday we ran the entry list through our Race Simulator. It had Belen winning the boys' race by 27 over Flagler Palm Coast, without Mantecon in the lineup. With him, the margin was 168, and Flagler was still second. It had Flagler second and Bolles fourth and said those two were the swing, depending on how you rated the Spikes & Spurs course. On the day they finished second and third, six points apart. Lake Minneola, third in the simulation, was ninth, because its fifth man was 288th.

The girls' race is where the simulator was honest about its blind spots and they all came true. It could not score Bishop Moore or Episcopal, because neither had raced. They finished first and fourth. It had Creekside winning by ten over Carrollton, with Ponte Vedra fifth on the course rating it trusted least. Creekside was second, Ponte Vedra third, and Carrollton, whose 54-second spread was the tightest thing in the simulation, was eighth. Packs are only as good as the front of them on a day when the front of the race runs 18:03.

The middle school boys' race was the one it never had a chance at. NEXT had no marks in the database, and neither did Belen's middle schoolers. They went 1-2.

JV, briefly. Columbus 4A won the boys' JV team race with 32 points over Belen's 37, a Miami 1-2 in a 59-team field, though the individual win went to JP Bracamontes (Bolles, Sr.) in 17:00.2. Creekside won the girls' JV with 39, and Grace Dashiell (Creekside, So.) won the race in 21:39.0.

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The rest of Saturday

Parker Valby Cross Country Invitational

Isaiah Howdeshell (Largo, Sr., 3A), No. 5 on our boys list, won in 16:05.8, 17 seconds clear of Truman Houk (East Lake, Sr., 3A). Antonino Pipia (Plant, Jr., 4A) was third. Dunedin 2A won the team race with 65 without a runner in the top seven, a pure pack win: 8-10-13-16-18. East Lake 3A and Palm Harbor University 4A tied at 80 behind them.

The girls' race was a top-ten head-to-head. Katherine Eudaly (Plant, Jr., 4A), No. 5, ran 18:48.7 and beat Katelin Wilcox (East Lake, Sr., 3A), No. 7, by 49 seconds. Plant 4A scored 29 with four in the top seven. East Lake was second at 100 and Northside Christian 1A third at 108.

Boys top five: Howdeshell (Largo 3A) 16:05.8, Truman Houk (East Lake 3A) 16:22.5, Antonino Pipia (Plant 4A) 16:23.8, Matthew Hood (Palm Harbor University 4A) 16:37.3, Theodore Houk (East Lake 3A) 16:51.9. Teams: Dunedin 2A 65, East Lake 3A 80, Palm Harbor University 4A 80, Plant 4A 91, Largo 3A 101.

Girls top five: Eudaly (Plant 4A) 18:48.7, Katelin Wilcox (East Lake 3A) 19:37.7, Rylee Nelson (Plant 4A) 20:37.2, Julia Ryan (Palm Harbor University 4A) 20:50.0, June Booe (Tarpon Springs 2A) 20:57.2. Teams: Plant 4A 29, East Lake 3A 100, Northside Christian 1A 108.

Deland Invitational

Hagerty 4A, No. 8 on our boys team list, won both team titles with 38 points apiece. The boys did it without the individual winner: Levi Mollica (Oviedo, Sr., 4A), 11th at the 4A meet last fall, won in 16:27.2 over Hagerty's Nate Winslow (Jr.) in 16:36.0, and Hagerty put its five in the top 14. St. Augustine 3A was second at 65 with the Parkinson brothers, Elijah and Micah, third and fifth.

Peyton Cerasi (Matanzas, Jr., 4A) won the girls' race by 56 seconds in 18:53.0. Rachel Judy (Master's Academy, Sr., 1A), fifth in 1A last November, was second in 19:49.1 and her teammate Avery Gervais (Jr.) third. Hagerty's girls scored 38 to Lake Mary's 65.

Boys top five: Mollica (Oviedo 4A) 16:27.2, Nate Winslow (Hagerty 4A) 16:36.0, Elijah Parkinson (St. Augustine 3A) 16:45.6, Camden Thompson (Hagerty 4A) 17:02.6, Micah Parkinson (St. Augustine 3A) 17:03.2. Teams: Hagerty 4A 38, St. Augustine 3A 65, Seminole (Sanford) 4A 104, Winter Springs 3A 121, Oviedo 4A 134.

Girls top five: Cerasi (Matanzas 4A) 18:53.0, Rachel Judy (Master's Academy 1A) 19:49.1, Avery Gervais (Master's Academy 1A) 20:05.3, Madison Thompson (Hagerty 4A) 20:28.7, Briella Daly (Hagerty 4A) 20:32.1. Teams: Hagerty 4A 38, Lake Mary 4A 65, St. Augustine 3A 96.

Freedom Invitational

Lake Brantley 4A swept it. Daniel Georgiev (Jr.) and Josiah Hitesman (Sr.) went 1-2 in the boys' race, 17:07.1 and 17:24.4, and the team scored 38. Mason Taylor (Ocoee, Fr., 4A) was third. On the girls' side Avalyn Thompson (Lake Brantley, Sr., 4A) ran 19:10.3 and won by more than two minutes over Jillian Davis (Apopka, Jr., 4A); Lake Brantley scored 43 to Apopka's 54.

Boys top five: Georgiev (Lake Brantley 4A) 17:07.1, Josiah Hitesman (Lake Brantley 4A) 17:24.4, Mason Taylor (Ocoee 4A) 17:44.7, Jayden Viala (East River) 17:53.9, Dwayne Rhymes (Heritage) 17:57.3. Teams: Lake Brantley 4A 38, Lake Buena Vista 4A 95, First Academy (Orlando) 2A 111.

Girls top five: Thompson (Lake Brantley 4A) 19:10.3, Jillian Davis (Apopka 4A) 21:15.0, Melissa Cange (Oak Ridge 4A) 22:08.4, Edlyne Cange (Oak Ridge 4A) 22:26.2, Stella Martin (Lake Brantley 4A) 22:50.3. Teams: Lake Brantley 4A 43, Apopka 4A 54, First Academy (Orlando) 2A 82.

IMGA XC Summit Challenge, Bradenton

The fastest times of the day anywhere in Florida were run at IMG Academy's home meet. IMG competes as an FHSAA independent, so it does not run in a class. Fletcher Rodbro (IMG Academy, Jr.) ran 14:54.0, and Emma Balaban (IMG Academy, Jr.) ran 17:14.1. Both are quicker than anything in our database this season, and both came on a course we have not rated yet, because nobody has run both it and a state meet. So take them for what they are: the fastest 5Ks any high schooler has run in the state this year, on a course we cannot compare to anywhere else yet. IMG scored 16 in both races. Eli Domico (Indian Rocks Christian, Fr., 1A) was the first non-IMG boy in fifth at 16:11.2, and Naeha Akella (St. Stephens Episcopal, Sr., 1A) the first non-IMG girl, also fifth, in 18:38.6.

Boys top five: Rodbro (IMG Academy) 14:54.0, James Pfuhl (IMG Academy) 15:37.4, Jose Cedeno-Barrera (IMG Academy) 15:58.5, Jackson Hawkins (IMG Academy) 16:09.6, Eli Domico (Indian Rocks Christian 1A) 16:11.2. Teams: IMG Academy 16, Hardee 2A 59, Indian Rocks Christian 1A 71.

Girls top five: Balaban (IMG Academy) 17:14.1, Sydney Johnson (IMG Academy) 18:01.0, Rashida Reinhardt (IMG Academy) 18:16.1, Brooklyn Brown (IMG Academy) 18:35.0, Naeha Akella (St. Stephens Episcopal 1A) 18:38.6. Teams: IMG Academy 16, Indian Rocks Christian 1A 61, St. Stephens Episcopal 1A 87.

Grayling Memorial Invitational

Calvary Christian (Clearwater) 2A won both team races, 39 and 34, but the individual wins went elsewhere. Jacob Sackenheim (Robinson, Sr., 3A) ran 16:25.5, 27 seconds better than anything he had run in August, and beat Calvary's Luke LaHaye (Jr.) by 17. Lydia Vincent (Zephyrhills, Sr., 3A), No. 9 on our girls list, ran 18:40.0 and won by 1:46, her third straight race between 18:34 and 18:41.

Boys top five: Sackenheim (Robinson 3A) 16:25.5, Luke LaHaye (Calvary Christian 2A) 16:42.2, Logan Milo (Calvary Christian 2A) 17:06.4, Eliades Miranda (Classical Prep 1A) 17:17.0, Dominic Sadonis (Angeline Academy 2A) 17:18.5. Teams: Calvary Christian (Clearwater) 2A 39, Robinson 3A 72, Riverview 4A 84.

Girls top five: Vincent (Zephyrhills 3A) 18:40.0, Abigail Cooper (Tampa Bay HEAT) 20:26.4, Malina Bunwat (Angeline Academy 2A) 20:32.9, Mirena Hagan (Calvary Christian 2A) 21:31.1, Kai Ellis (Calvary Christian 2A) 21:31.2. Teams: Calvary Christian (Clearwater) 2A 34, Riverview 4A 82, Gaither 3A 83.

The middle school races went to Tampa Bay HEAT's Noah Chandler (10:33.2) and Heidi Eason (13:49.8) for 3K; HEAT won the boys' team race with 20 and Florida College Academy the girls' with 25.

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What Saturday does to the rankings

On the boys' side: Mantecon and Cruz are 1-2 on our list and finished 1-2 on the grass, so nothing moves at the top. Thompson beat three ranked runners in one race and stays a clear No. 3. Howdeshell won his race. Moss opened; his 16:00 says nothing about November yet. Watkins, already on our 4A list, beat Williams and finished ahead of every 4A runner in the field except Thompson and Seth. Belen at No. 1 needs no more evidence. Bolles beat Gulliver Prep head to head in what is, on paper, the 2A team race, and Hagerty backed up its spot with two team titles.

On the girls' side: Gaona-Zelaya has now beaten Hallick twice and Tomasic once, and she did it in 18:03. The argument for No. 4 is gone. What she has not done is race Arabella Duffell or Madison Muller, and neither has anyone else. Tomasic's first race gets a first-race allowance and nothing more. Eudaly beat Wilcox by 49 seconds and Vincent ran 18:40 again. On the team side, Bishop Moore beat Creekside, Episcopal, Chiles, Lourdes and Carrollton, five of the other nine teams on our statewide top ten, in a single afternoon. That is the most a girls' team result has settled all year.

In middle school: the No. 1s were the No. 1s. Destremps went under ten and Heffernan beat Ilea. Jobe and Moylan enter the boys' conversation at 10:05, and NEXT is a club we now have to account for.

The week 3 ranking refresh, statewide and all four classes, is next up.

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How we put this together

• Every result above comes from our results database, loaded from the official timing files for all six meets.
• Team scores are reported exactly as the timers published them, including ties, tiebreakers and separately scored divisions.
• The Freedom Invitational's JV race was published as one mixed finish list with two team tables. We split it back into a boys' race and a girls' race, checked against every team score the meet published, before loading it.
• The minimum-violations boards recompute from every head-to-head matchup in the database, all season, every time results are added. Out-of-state visitors, Woodward Academy included, are left off the boards.
• We use both data and judgment, and we will most likely miss one or two along the way. If we missed your race or your runner, tell us.

Next Saturday brings the second wave of big invitationals and the first look at some of the names above against each other again. The database is open all season at runfloridarun.com/data. Go find your name.

Middle school runs on its own calendar. The week 2 FLYRA middle school top 10s are up, boys and girls, and Saturday's Horse Park results will feed the week 3 edition.