A seventh grade girl ran faster than every boy at Cecil Field, and her club scored 51 points against the whole state. FLYRA middle school top 10s — boys, girls, and teams — after opening week.
FLYRA middle school cross country, after opening week: August 21-26, 2026
Cecil Field ran its middle school meet the way every meet does — a boys race and a girls race. The clock didn't care. Colette Heffernan covered the 2.5k course in 8:51, four seconds faster than the winner of the boys race and quicker than anything any of the 155 boys ran. She is a seventh grader. Whatever else happened in Florida's middle school opening week, it happened underneath that.
Four meets are in the books — Cecil Field in Jacksonville, Jim Ryun in Lakeland, Spikes & Spurs, and the Wolves Run in Tallahassee — and between them and last year's FLYRA state meet we can put every middle schooler in the state on one list. Boys and girls, individuals and teams, all four are below.
How to read the numbers: every runner is listed with the time they actually ran this season, and the number in parentheses is our projection of what it's worth at the state meet in November — August in Florida runs hot and slow, and kids get faster all fall. The projections set the order, but the raced time is always the official number. Runners who haven't opened yet are seeded on last November's state time and marked that way. We're using data and judgment both, and we'll miss one or two along the way. The fine print is at the bottom.
Girls Top 10
1. Colette Heffernan, No Excuses RC, 7th grade — 10:44.2 (projects 10:02.1)
The run of the week, and it wasn't close. Heffernan's 8:51 at Cecil Field was the fastest time by any middle schooler at the meet, boys included — worth 10:44 over a full 3k — and it projects to 10:02 in November, twenty-one seconds clear of every other girl in the state. She ran 10:46 at the FLYRA state meet last fall as a sixth grader for Landrum. The curve is not flattening, and she has two more years of this.
2. Alice Ilea, Red Sea Running Club, 8th grade — 11:05.9 (projects 10:23.3)
Won the head-to-head of the weekend, holding off Brianna Motycka by 1.3 seconds at Jim Ryun. Ilea won the public-school race at state last October in 10:42 running for Tavares; the opener says she's better than that now.
3. Brianna Motycka, Liberty Pines Academy, 8th grade — 11:07.2 (projects 10:24.6)
The defending state champion. Her 10:24.8 to win the club race last October was the fastest girls time of the entire state meet, and it's the fastest returning time in the field — and her opener projects to exactly that level, a second and a half behind Ilea. Those two are on a collision course all season. One wrinkle: she raced Jim Ryun in Liberty Pines colors, but she has run her whole career with No Excuses, and the state title came in their jersey. Which one she wears in November matters a lot to the team race.
4. Amelia Flood, No Excuses RC, 8th grade — 11:23.0 (projects 10:40.9)
First 8th grader across for No Excuses at Cecil Field, and the second half of a 1-2 club punch that decided the team race before Labor Day.
5. Emily Del Mazo, WIND Runners, 7th grade — 11:27.3 (projects 10:44.7)
Third girl at Jim Ryun and the second 7th grader in the top five. She ran 11:07 at state last year for Gulf Coast Runners; her opener projects twenty-plus seconds better.
6. Sophia Underwood, Saint Mary Catholic School, 7th grade — 11:01.2 at 2025 state, hasn't raced yet
Won the private-school race at state as a sixth grader, and that 11:01 is the best returning time that hasn't opened. The seed gives her nothing for the summer — and sixth-to-seventh is usually the biggest jump a middle school girl makes.
7. Acadia Hassell, Montford Middle School, 8th grade — 11:04.9 at 2025 state, hasn't raced yet
Montford's front-runner sat out the opener, and her team won the Wolves Run anyway. When she steps in, Montford's ceiling moves.
8. Bailey Eggleston, Hillsborough Harriers, 8th grade — 11:53.8 (projects 11:11.2)
Fourth girl at Jim Ryun and the Harriers' clear No. 1.
9. Arielle Gorlovetzky, Boca Warriors Track Club — 12:06.4 (projects 11:23.8)
The only Boca Warrior who has raced — the rest of the No. 2 team on the team list below is running on last November's times.
10. Madelen Finch, No Excuses RC, 7th grade — 12:07.9 (projects 11:25.8)
Ran 11:03 at state last fall and opened at a 12:07 at Cecil that projects only 11:25 — the one girl in this ten who ranks worse by her opener than by her returning time. She's raced, so the raced number stands; her state time says she belongs three spots higher.
Next five: Kayla Santos (Red Sea RC, 8th) 12:11.4 (11:28.8); Zoie Hart (Emerald Coast MS, 8th) 11:29.5 at 2025 state, hasn't raced; Mia Kopcikova (Imagine Town Center, 8th) 12:13.6 (11:31.5); Layne Schiebel (Httr Tornadoes, 7th) 12:15.7 (11:33.1); Lilliana Gutfreind (Red Sea RC, 8th) 12:18.5 (11:35.9).
Girls Team Top 10
Put every middle school girl in Florida in one race — on our November projections — and No Excuses RC scores 51.
1. No Excuses RC — 51 points
Colette Heffernan 10:44.2 (10:02.1), Amelia Flood 11:23.0 (10:40.9), Madelen Finch 12:07.9 (11:25.8), Amaya Mader 12:35.8 (11:53.6), Piper Austin 12:38.2 (11:56.1), with Peyton Akins and Olivia Austin displacing. Three scorers inside the individual top ten — including the No. 1 girl in the state — and Heffernan and Finch are both 7th graders. Fifty-one points in a statewide virtual meet is the kind of score you post once and everyone else plans around. And it might undersell them: Brianna Motycka — No. 3 on the individual list and the defending state champion — has run her whole career with this club and won that title in their jersey. If she's back in it in November, No Excuses could go 1-2-3 up front and the 51 gets smaller.
2. Boca Warriors Track Club — 108 points
Arielle Gorlovetzky 12:06.4 (11:23.8), then Faith Gladstone 11:43.0, Katerina Skutnik 11:59.0, Tejasvita Minnamareddy 12:10.0 and Hayden Frey 12:17.5, all on last November's times. A projected fifty-four seconds one-to-five is a genuinely tight pack, and the one Warrior who has raced projects ahead of the four seeds behind her. If the returning times hold at all, second is their floor.
3. Red Sea Running Club — 115 points
Alice Ilea 11:05.9 (10:23.3), Kayla Santos 12:11.4 (11:28.8), Lilliana Gutfreind 12:18.5 (11:35.9), Amelia Hernandez 13:10.4 (12:27.8), Alizeah Miller 13:20.3 (12:37.7) — all five raced at Jim Ryun, seven deep, three girls in the individual top fifteen. Ilea gives them the best front-runner in the field after Heffernan; the two-minute spread is what separates them from the top spot.
4. WIND Runners — 177 points
Emily Del Mazo 11:27.3 (10:44.7), Brynn Genslinger 12:40.4 (11:57.8) and Julia Hiatt 13:21.7 (12:39.1) have raced; the Cerrito twins, Charlotte and Jaclyn, sit in the mid-12:30s on November times and haven't opened. Del Mazo is the best 7th grade front-runner outside the top team, and a full-strength WIND squad likely closes half the gap to Red Sea.
5. Montford Middle School — 268 points
The best school program on the girls' side. They won the Wolves Run in Tallahassee without their No. 1 — Acadia Hassell's 11:04 hasn't raced yet — behind Natalie Trimble 12:33.3 (11:51.1) and Ananiah Scringer 12:56.6 (12:14.5). Fifth-with-an-asterisk is the most underrated line on this list.
6. Hillsborough Harriers — 312 points
Bailey Eggleston 11:53.8 (11:11.2), Maysen McDonald 13:19.0 (12:36.4), Moriah Toles 12:51.0 at 2025 state, Lucy Dory 13:34.1 (12:51.5), Helene Waters 13:54.5 (13:11.9). Eggleston carries them — the drop from one to two was eighty-five seconds at Jim Ryun, the widest gap on any top-six team.
7. Imagine Town Center — 351 points
Mia Kopcikova 12:13.6 (11:31.5), Aspen Lester 13:07.1 (12:25.0), Mia Moore 13:37.9 (12:55.8), Madelyn Yorgey 13:47.7 (13:05.6), Madelyn Fallon 14:08.1 (13:26.0). Eight girls raced at Spikes & Spurs, and nobody is running on a seed.
8. Nolan Middle School — 363 points
Bradenton's returning squad, sight unseen — all five on November times, led by Katelyn McIntyre 11:58.5, Emma Valentine 12:30.0 and Vivian Bower 12:30.8. A front three inside 12:31 makes them the seed most likely to jump.
9. Tavares Middle School — 394 points
Seven returners, none raced yet, and a front four separated by twenty-six seconds on last November's times. Worth remembering: their two best returners from last year's race — Alice Ilea and Lilliana Gutfreind — now run for Red Sea, along with a half dozen of their teammates. The club era comes for everyone.
10. Cornerstone Classical Academy — 402 points
Jayne McCarthy 13:11.0 (12:28.9), Katelyn Milla 13:24.4 (12:42.2), Haven Smith 13:38.9 (12:56.8), Eliza Arthur 13:53.5 (13:11.4), Kenadee Hagensick 14:04.4 (13:22.2). Fifty-three seconds one-to-five at Cecil Field, eight girls raced, nobody projected. No stars, no holes — the model mid-major.
Also scored: Ransom Everglades (Miami) 416 and North Naples (GCR) 444, both on last November's times.
Boys Top 10
1. RJ Destremps, Hillsborough Harriers — 10:08.4 (projects 9:25.8)
The best mark of the weekend by nine seconds. Destremps won Jim Ryun in 10:08.4 on a slow, hot day — projecting 9:25.8 in November — ten months after running 10:01.6 at the FLYRA state meet. That's a projected thirty-five second jump, and nobody's returning time is within half a minute of where he is now. The fastest middle school boy in Florida, and it isn't close.
2. Luke Lomoriello, Unattached, 8th grade — 10:17.3 (projects 9:34.7)
First of three unattached boys who went 2-3-6 at Jim Ryun. He ran 10:16.9 at the state meet last fall for Hobbs Middle School and opened at essentially the same clock — 10:17 in Lakeland's August heat — which is what a forty-second fitness jump looks like.
3. Drake Matyka, Unattached, 8th grade — 10:19.3 (projects 9:36.7)
Two seconds behind Lomoriello and even with Schulte on the clock. The three of them ran each other to marks nobody else in the state touched this week.
4. Tommy Schulte, Naples Elite, 8th grade — 10:19.3 (projects 9:36.7)
Same time as Matyka, so the tiebreak is arbitrary — call them 3 and 4 in either order. A year ago he ran 10:31 at the state meet for Gulfview; Naples Elite sending him to Lakeland and getting this back says plenty about the southwest coast's next class.
5. Maxwell Claypool, WIND Runners — 10:36.5 (projects 9:53.9)
The gap from fourth to fifth is seventeen seconds — the front four are their own race. Claypool leads a WIND squad with two boys in the top eleven of this list.
6. Andrew LaHayne, Unattached, 8th grade — 10:42.8 (projects 10:00.2)
The last of the Jim Ryun unattached trio, projecting two tenths the wrong side of the ten-minute line.
7. Liam Jopling, Ruckel Middle School, 8th grade — 10:01.3 at 2025 state, hasn't raced yet
The fastest returning state time in Florida — 10:01.3 last October as a 7th grader, three tenths quicker than Destremps ran the same day — and the top-ranked boy who hasn't opened. The seed gives him nothing for ten months of growth. Expect it to look conservative.
8. Elliot Macki, Calvary Christian (Clearwater), 8th grade — 10:49.2 (projects 10:06.6)
Four-tenths ahead of his own teammate at Jim Ryun, and Calvary Christian is the only school program with two boys in this top ten.
9. Elliot Lasota, No Excuses RC, 7th grade — 10:49.1 (projects 10:07.0)
Won the Cecil Field boys race in 8:55 — as a 7th grader — and leads the No. 1 team in the state. The only middle schooler at the meet faster than him was Heffernan.
10. Daniel Hage, Calvary Christian (Clearwater), 7th grade — 10:49.6 (projects 10:07.0)
Projects dead even with Lasota to the tenth, and he's also a 7th grader. Ran stride for stride with his 8th grade teammate Macki all the way to the line at Jim Ryun.
Next five: Parker Whittamore (WIND Runners) 10:54.4 (10:11.8); Warren Wilson (Sifted Sports, 8th) 10:56.5 (10:13.9); Joao Cardoso (Soldier City Striders, 8th) 10:14.1 at 2025 state, hasn't raced; Aiden M. Cruz (Belen Jesuit, 7th) 10:19.3 at 2025 state, hasn't raced; Marco Garcia (Miami Elite) 11:03.6 (10:21.5).
Boys Team Top 10
Hillsborough Harriers have the better projected five-man average. No Excuses RC wins the virtual meet anyway. That's the difference between a time trial and a race.
1. No Excuses RC — 120 points
Elliot Lasota 10:49.1 (10:07.0), Cooper Finch 11:06.0 (10:23.9), Amari Isom 11:23.0 (10:40.9), Thomas Hurt 10:41.0 at 2025 state, Johnathon Hartley 11:41.2 (10:59.1), with Dutch Howanitz and Caleb Ramjohn displacing. The Jacksonville club won the Cecil Field team title with 17 points and wins the statewide race the same way: a fifty-two second spread and seven scorers before most programs have five. Their No. 1 is a 7th grader. The scary part isn't this list — it's next year's.
2. Hillsborough Harriers — 139 points
RJ Destremps 10:08.4 (9:25.8), Wesley Taylor 11:14.4 (10:31.8), Ace Hallinan 11:31.7 (10:49.1), Landon Healy 11:32.9 (10:50.3), Alex Geisel 10:54.0 at 2025 state. The best projected five-man average in the state, and the loss. Destremps wins the virtual race outright, but a front-loaded 1-2 gives back everything at 3-4-5 against No Excuses' wall. Cut the spread in half and the order flips.
3. Red Sea Running Club — 165 points
Jack Ilea 11:07.9 (10:25.3), Gabriel Garback 11:17.1 (10:34.5), Joel Cordero 11:29.6 (10:47.0), Alexis Hernandez 11:30.0 (10:47.4), Alejandro Hernandez 11:51.6 (11:09.0). Forty-four seconds one-to-five at Jim Ryun — the tightest pack in the top five — with no seeds anywhere in the squad. What they showed is real, current, and complete.
4. WIND Runners — 209 points
Maxwell Claypool 10:36.5 (9:53.9), Parker Whittamore 10:54.4 (10:11.8), Finn Dempsey 11:16.0 (10:33.4), Jose Gomez 12:09.3 (11:26.7), Bryson Whittamore 12:20.7 (11:38.1). Two boys in the state's top eleven, then a fifty-three second cliff to the four spot. The ceiling is second; the back half is the whole problem.
5. Deerlake MS — 211 points
Kaleb Jacobs 11:09.4 (10:27.2), Alexander Grimes 11:10.3 (10:28.1), Beckett Ribolzi 11:11.6 (10:29.4), Declan Ashton 12:08.3 (11:26.1), Asher Evans 12:09.6 (11:27.5). Won the Wolves Run with a three-man front pack separated by two seconds, and sits two points out of fourth with a schoolyard roster against clubs — the best school-only program in the state right now.
6. Ransom Everglades (Miami) — 239 points
All five on November times: Antonio Alvarez Valdes 10:23.2, Juan Andres Dasburg 10:46.6, Ruslan Lefrak 10:51.7, Nicolas Adler 11:17.1, Sebastian Dangond 11:32.7. Nobody has seen them since October and they still slot sixth. A returning 10:23 front-runner makes them the classic beat-the-seed setup.
7. Montford Middle School — 269 points
Landon Heitmeyer 11:04.6 (10:22.5), Warren Campbell 11:30.8 (10:48.7), Levi Renn 11:57.0 (11:14.9), Grayson Berry 12:03.5 (11:21.4), Isaiah Therrien 12:14.9 (11:32.8). Second at the Wolves Run behind Deerlake, four points back. Heitmeyer's opener says the front end travels; that Tallahassee rivalry will decide who owns the Panhandle school scene.
8. Ruckel Middle School — 293 points
Liam Jopling 10:01.3 and four teammates, all on November times, none raced. The best returning individual in the state fronting an unopened squad — read this seed as a floor.
9. Belen Jesuit (Miami) — 325 points
Also unraced: Aiden M. Cruz 10:19.3, Jake Rubiera 10:27.6, then three more between 11:20 and 12:00 on last November's times. A returning 10:19/10:27 front pair — Cruz is a 7th grader — feeding the state's best high school program. The Wolverine pipeline is not slowing down.
10. Calvary Christian (Clearwater) — 334 points
Elliot Macki 10:49.2 (10:06.6), Daniel Hage 10:49.6 (10:07.0), Holden Byrd 11:19.5 (10:36.9), Ian Bryce 12:41.3 (11:58.7), Judah Daniel 13:00.4 (12:17.8). Three boys projecting under 10:37 — a top-three front pack in this field — and exactly five finishers total. Move their four man's projection from 11:58 to 11:15 and they jump from tenth to seventh.
Also scored: Hardee Junior High 462; TVMS-Middleton 513 on last November's times.
How these lists were built
- Four meets count so far: the Cecil Field Summer Classic (Jacksonville), the Jim Ryun Invitational (Lakeland), the Spikes & Spurs Classic, and the Wolves Run (Tallahassee).
- The raced time is always the official number. The projection in parentheses converts it to what it's worth at the FLYRA state meet in November, using the 140 kids who ran both an opening-week race and the 2025 state meet — the typical opener came through about 42 seconds slow (August heat, first race, no taper). The projections are only used to order the lists. Cecil Field's races were 2.5k, so those times are shown as their 3k equivalent.
- One honest note: Jim Ryun is run at Holloway Park — the same course as the state meet — so for those kids the 42 seconds isn't course math, it's a bet on August-to-November improvement. We checked that bet against last year. Among kids who ran both the 2025 Jim Ryun and the 2025 state meet, the front of the boys field came back about 43 seconds faster in November on the very same course — almost exactly the correction used here. Front-pack girls improved even more than that, so if anything the girls' August times are underrated. Further back in the field the November gains get much bigger, which is one more reason to treat every projection on this page as a floor.
- State-meet returners who haven't raced yet are entered at last November's time with no credit for the summer. Those seeds are floors, not ceilings.
- Every 2025 eighth grader is gone — the Class of 2030 races high school now. You'll find them on our high school lists: boys top 10 and girls top 10.
- Kids who appeared under both a club and a school jersey were merged, with the most recent affiliation listed.
- Team rankings drop every squad with five or more kids into one statewide virtual race and score it like cross country: top five score, six and seven displace, low score wins.
Week 2 will move these lists — half the state hasn't opened yet, and every seed above is built to be beaten. We'll be here when it happens.