Drake Matyka won Todd Howsare by 71 seconds, Colette Heffernan led a No Excuses sweep at Bale N Trail, Warren Wilson comes into the boys' ten, and Aliana Alvarez moves to the elementary list only, where she is No. 1, after we wrongly ranked the fifth grader in the middle school division last week.
Florida middle school and elementary cross country, season through September 26, 2026
Drake Matyka won the middle school race at the Todd Howsare Memorial on Saturday in 9:14.0, 71.6 seconds ahead of the next boy in a field of 155. Every runner in that race we can compare ran at least 42 seconds faster than their best 3K anywhere else this fall, so the time is on the page but it does not go into his projection. The margin is the result. Matyka has won his last two races, and the first of them was over RJ Destremps.
Colette Heffernan won the middle school race at Bale N Trail in 10:22.9, 49.2 seconds ahead of teammate Amelia Flood, with Madelen Finch third for a No Excuses RC sweep of the top three out of 192. Aidan Moylan won the boys' race there by 10.2 seconds. Warren Wilson won the Run Florida middle school race by 53 seconds and comes into the boys' ten for the first time.
We got three things wrong on last week's middle school list, and all three are fixed here. Aliana Alvarez was sixth on the girls' list. She is a fifth grader, and FLYRA's new rule keeps fifth graders out of the middle school division, which we wrote ourselves in the FLYRA top fives. She is on the elementary list only now, at No. 1. Moylan was ninth, below Joao Cardoso, whom he beat at the Horse Park. And Andrew LaHayne was left out while Maxwell Claypool sat tenth, though LaHayne beat Claypool at the Horse Park too.
One change in how we read results. Jim Ryun was August 22, five weeks ago, and we no longer hold its finishing order over anyone. Kids this age get better fast. Jim Ryun times still count toward projections; the order of finish there no longer decides who sits above whom.
Coaches who were at the Oak Park Middle School meet on Thursday told us the course came up a little short. We have counted its finishing order and left its times out of the projections. Todd Howsare's middle school race and the Stampede Sprint's elementary 2K are handled the same way: kids we can compare ran well under their times on every other course, so we used the order of finish and not the clock.
How to read the numbers: every runner is listed with the time they actually ran, and the number in parentheses is our projection of what that run is worth at the FLYRA state meet in November. The projections set the order, but the raced time is always the official number. When the run that ranks a kid is not the most recent one, the meet is named. Runners who have not opened are seeded on last November's state time and marked that way. When two ranked kids have raced each other, the finish decides. We use data and judgment both, and we will miss one or two along the way.
Middle School Girls Top 10
1. Colette Heffernan, No Excuses RC, 7th grade - 8:51 for 2.5K at Cecil Field (projects 9:59.1)
Won Bale N Trail on Saturday in 10:22.9, 49.2 seconds clear. Three races, three wins: Cecil Field on opening night, the Horse Park in 10:17.8, and Saturday, which projects 10:24.0, almost exactly what her Horse Park run was worth. Nobody has beaten her this fall, and she has not raced Motycka.
2. Brianna Motycka, Liberty Pines Academy, 8th grade - 11:07.2 at Jim Ryun (projects 10:29.4)
Did not race. Won Nights of Thunder on the state course in 10:44.8 on September 12, eleven seconds ahead of Ilea, and that result holds until the two meet again. She won the club race at state last November in 10:24.8.
3. Alice Ilea, Tavares Middle School, 8th grade - 11:05.9 at Jim Ryun (projects 10:28.1)
Two more wins: the East Ridge Middle School meet on Tuesday in 11:41.3, 32 seconds clear, and Oak Park on Thursday in 10:45.1, 38 seconds clear. That makes ten races and eight wins this fall, and the two losses are to Heffernan and Motycka. Her projection is a hair better than Motycka's, but Motycka beat her at Nights of Thunder. Red Sea Running Club and Tavares Middle School are one program, and she has raced under both names.
4. Amelia Flood, No Excuses RC, 8th grade - 9:23 for 2.5K at Cecil Field (projects 10:37.9)
Second to Heffernan at Bale N Trail in 11:12.1, her first race since Cecil Field, where she was also second to her. She beat Finch by 3.8 seconds. Saturday projects 11:13.2, so the Cecil Field run still ranks her.
5. Emily Del Mazo, WIND Runners, 7th grade - 11:27.3 at Jim Ryun (projects 10:49.5)
Did not race. Won the North Port middle school race on September 19 in 11:13.1, 11.2 seconds ahead of Katelyn McIntyre, who won Lakewood Ranch on Saturday by 53 seconds.
6. Sophia Underwood, Liza Jackson Preparatory School, 7th grade - 10:58.6 at the Gulf Coast Stampede (projects 11:02.2)
Did not race. Wins at Dolphin Dash and the Gulf Coast Stampede, where she ran 10:58.6 on September 12. She won the private school race at state last November in 11:01.2. She has not raced anybody on this list.
7. Valentina Sarcos, Palmer Trinity (Miami), 8th grade - 10:56.6 at Spanish River (projects 11:06.0)
Won her school's meet again on Saturday, the Palmer Trinity HS/MS invitational, in 11:24.2, 60.7 seconds clear. Four races, three wins; the one loss is third at the Horse Park behind Heffernan and Ilea. She sits above Boucher because she beat her by 1.2 seconds at Spanish River.
8. Camila Boucher, Boca Warriors Track Club, 8th grade - 11:11.3 at Nights of Thunder (projects 11:02.3)
Did not race. Second at Spanish River in 10:57.8, 1.2 seconds behind Sarcos, and fourth at Nights of Thunder. Her projection is 3.7 seconds better than Sarcos's, and the head-to-head puts her eighth.
9. Molly Joly, Marathon, 8th grade - 12:03.3 for two miles at the Marathon meet (projects 11:05.2)
Won the middle school two-mile at the Marathon High School meet on Thursday in 12:03.3. The rest of the fall she has run 5Ks for Marathon's high school varsity: third at the FNU Invitational, 20:42.9 at Spanish River. She is the only runner we can price that course with, so her projection leans almost entirely on our pooled reading for small meets. Take it as a first look. She was 53rd at state last November in 12:59.8.
10. Acadia Hassell, Montford Middle School, 8th grade - 11:04.9 at the FLYRA state meet (seed)
Has not opened. Fourth in the public school race at state last November. Joly's projection is 0.3 seconds behind this seed, and a race beats a seed at a gap that small, which is why Joly is ninth.
Next up: Zoie Hart (Emerald Coast, 8th grade), who won the Panhandle pre-conference meet in 11:48.7 (11:14.6); Katelyn McIntyre (Nolan Middle School, 8th grade), who won Lakewood Ranch on Saturday in 11:29.5 out of 123 (her North Port run projects 11:16.8); Madelen Finch (No Excuses RC, 7th grade), third at Bale N Trail in 11:15.9 (11:17.0).
Middle School Boys Top 10
1. Drake Matyka, East Lake Middle School Academy, 8th grade - 10:19.3 at Jim Ryun (projects 9:41.5)
Won Todd Howsare on Saturday in 9:14.0, 71.6 seconds ahead of Mason Marshall of Clearwater Fundamental. A week earlier he won Running on the Range in 9:58.3, 3.6 seconds ahead of Destremps and 30.7 ahead of Jobe. He raced unattached until Saturday, when the results listed him for East Lake.
2. RJ Destremps, Hillsborough Harriers, 8th grade - 10:08.4 at Jim Ryun (projects 9:30.6)
Did not race. Wins at Jim Ryun and the Horse Park, where he ran 9:53.8, then second to Matyka at the Range. His projection is the best on the list by nine seconds. Second because Matyka beat him.
3. Luke Lomoriello, Hobbs Middle School, 8th grade - 10:17.3 at Jim Ryun (projects 9:39.5)
Did not race. His 9:42.6 at the Gulf Coast Stampede on September 12 is still the fastest 3K by a Florida middle schooler this fall on a course we can price. His projection is two seconds better than Matyka's, but Destremps's is nine better than his, and Matyka beat Destremps.
4. Tommy Schulte, Naples Elite, 8th grade - 10:19.3 at Jim Ryun (projects 9:41.5)
Did not race. Won North Port on September 19 in 10:06.0, 11.5 seconds ahead of Claypool. He has not raced anybody above him since Jim Ryun.
5. Lucca Wiseman, Pioneer Middle School, 8th grade - 10:43.3 at Markham Park (projects 9:53.4)
Did not race. His only race is the win at Markham Park on September 16, 36 seconds clear, on a course we price with two runners and our small-meet reading. Fifth on the arithmetic until he runs somewhere we have measured.
6. Liam Jopling, Ruckel Middle School, 8th grade - 10:25.0 at Nights of Thunder (projects 10:16.0)
Did not race. Won Nights of Thunder on the Apalachee Regional Park state course in 10:25.0 and ran 10:01.3 at state last November. He sits directly above Jobe on a common opponent: Jack Ilea finished 30 seconds behind Jopling at Nights of Thunder and 29 behind Jobe at the Horse Park. Jobe's win this week did not change that reading.
7. Colton Jobe, VCMS (Middleton), 8th grade - 10:44.5 at Seffner Christian (projects 9:59.8)
Won the Crystal River middle school meet on Thursday in 10:56.0, 21.2 seconds ahead of teammate Jace Lewis, with Karter James third for a VCMS sweep. He beat Wilson at Seffner Christian and Moylan and Cardoso at the Horse Park, and all three sit below him. Matyka and Destremps beat him at the Range.
8. Warren Wilson, Sifted Sports, 8th grade - 10:46.9 at Seffner Christian (projects 10:02.2)
Won the Run Florida middle school race on Saturday in 10:34.2, 53 seconds clear. He won Indian River on August 29, 2.3 seconds ahead of Moylan, and was second to Jobe at Seffner Christian. He was tenth at Jim Ryun, and that no longer holds him down.
9. Aidan Moylan, Imagine Town Center, 8th grade - 10:05.3 at the Horse Park (projects 10:11.6)
Won Bale N Trail on Saturday in 10:13.4, 10.2 seconds ahead of Liam Chong of Beaches Chapel, out of 212. Third at the Horse Park, ahead of LaHayne, Cardoso, Matyka and Claypool. We had him below Cardoso last week; that was wrong. He is below Wilson on the Indian River result.
10. Joao Cardoso, Neptune Middle School, 8th grade - 10:44.0 for two miles at the JT Memorial (projects 9:55.3)
Did not race. Won the JT Memorial two-mile on September 11, 19 seconds ahead of LaHayne, and was fifth at the Horse Park. His projection is the fourth-best on the list. Tenth because Jobe and Moylan beat him in Ocala.
Next up: Andrew LaHayne (Harmony Middle School, 8th grade), 10:42.8 at Jim Ryun (10:05.0), fourth at the Horse Park ahead of Cardoso and Claypool, then second to Cardoso at the JT Memorial; Elliot Lasota (No Excuses RC, 7th grade), 8:55 for 2.5K to win Cecil Field (10:04.0), his only race; Maxwell Claypool (WIND Runners, 8th grade), second to Schulte at North Port in 10:17.5 (his Jim Ryun run projects 9:58.7), below LaHayne on their Horse Park result. Noah Chandler (Tampa Bay HEAT) won the Stampede Sprint middle school race by 13.2 seconds, and Gabriel Garback (Tavares, 7th grade) won Oak Park in 10:28.3.
Elementary Girls Top 10
1. Aliana Alvarez, Red Sea Running Club, 5th grade - 8:05.1 at Jim Ryun (projects 7:17.2)
Won the Run Florida middle school girls' 3K on Saturday in 11:39.0, 23.8 seconds ahead of eighth grader Kayla Santos. Three elementary races this fall, three wins, none by less than 43 seconds, and her 7:23.8 at the Horse Park is the fastest elementary 2K in Florida this fall. In middle school races she was third at Nights of Thunder, second at Bulldog and first on Saturday. The defending 3rd-5th grade state champion runs the elementary 2K in Lakeland.
2. Paula Webb, Donahue Academy of Ave Maria, 5th grade - 12:01.1 for 3K at the SAC meet
Has not raced since. She won the middle school girls' 3K at the SAC Regular Season Meet in Naples on September 12 by 45 seconds, and held a faster pace over 3K than Gracie Freeman ran to win the elementary 2K on the same course that day.
3. Gracie Freeman, Naples Christian Academy, 5th grade - 8:19.2 at the SAC meet (projects 8:07.8)
Did not race. A 74-second win at SAC, and fifth at state last fall in 8:05.0. She and Rosales are 0.6 seconds apart on paper and have not met.
4. Julieta Rosales, CPS Performance, 4th grade - 8:13.3 at the Horse Park (projects 8:07.2)
Did not race. Second to Alvarez in Ocala, the fastest fourth-grade girl in Florida this fall. She beat Jessup by 10.6 seconds there, and that holds until they race again.
5. Lainey Jessup, Hillsborough Harriers, 5th grade - 8:12.6 at Running on the Range (projects 8:04.4)
Did not race. Three races, three faster times, and the best projection here after Alvarez. Fifth because Rosales beat her at the Horse Park.
6. Sophia Dolan, Hillsborough Harriers, 4th grade - 8:22.6 at Running on the Range (projects 8:14.4)
Did not race. Third at the Range, 4.8 seconds ahead of Biege and 16.2 ahead of Maldonado, and 24 seconds faster than her Horse Park run two weeks earlier.
7. Ava Biege, Unattached - 8:27.4 at Running on the Range (projects 8:19.2)
Won the Stampede Sprint elementary 2K on Saturday in 8:17.5, 5.2 seconds ahead of Diana Logvinova, out of 68. That time is not priced. She was fourth at the Range, and neither result lists a grade.
8. Avery Maldonado, Red Sea Running Club, 5th grade - 8:27.2 at Run Florida (projects 8:17.6)
Won the Run Florida elementary 2K on Saturday in 8:27.2, 9.6 seconds ahead of Isabelle Kay: her first elementary win this fall and her fastest 2K. Dolan and Biege beat her at the Range, and that holds. Ninth at state last fall in 8:14.9.
9. Isabelle Kay, Team FTC Kids, 5th grade - 8:36.8 at Run Florida (projects 8:27.2)
Second on Saturday, 20.9 seconds faster than her Horse Park run. Below Maldonado on Saturday's result.
10. Vivian Hartley, No Excuses RC, 4th grade - 8:30.8 at the 2025 state meet (seed)
Has not run a 2K this fall. Thirteenth at state last fall as a third grader. On Saturday she ran the middle school 3K at Bale N Trail and was 21st of 192 in 12:55.9, six places ahead of teammate Linley Dziedziejko.
Next up: Nicole Bruce (NEXT), fifth at the Horse Park in 8:42.7 (8:36.6), with no grade listed; Linley Dziedziejko (No Excuses RC, 5th grade), 15th at state last fall in 8:40.3, and 13:03.6 for 3K at Bale N Trail behind Hartley; Juliet Tropea (Providence Academy, 5th grade), ninth in the Seffner Christian middle school 3K in 13:37.6.
Elementary Boys Top 10
1. Brody Milek, Boca Warriors Track Club, 4th grade - 7:22.9 at the 2025 state meet; 10:54.0 for 3K at Spanish River
Did not race. Fourth at state last fall as a third grader, the fastest returning elementary time in Florida. His one race this fall is the 10:54.0 for 20th against middle schoolers at Spanish River, and it beat both Destefanis and Hirakuri Lehmkuhl.
2. Richard Destefanis, Milers Running Club & Camp, 5th grade - 7:40.8 at the 2025 state meet (seed)
Second in the MRCC middle school 3K on Saturday in 12:55.9. He has beaten Hirakuri Lehmkuhl twice in 3Ks, at Indian River and Spanish River. Milek beat him at Spanish River.
3. Bodhi Teeters, Imagine Town Center, 5th grade - 11:29.4 for 3K at the Horse Park
Raced up again at Bale N Trail on Saturday: 23rd of 212 in 11:42.2, ahead of No Excuses' Nolan and Hudson Austin. He has not run an elementary race. He sits here because he beat Hirakuri Lehmkuhl at Indian River, and Hirakuri Lehmkuhl has not had a chance to reverse it.
4. Gabriel Hirakuri Lehmkuhl, Boca Warriors Track Club, 5th grade - 7:36.8 at the Horse Park (projects 7:30.7)
Did not race. Unbeaten at 2K, with wins at Jim Ryun and the Horse Park. The three boys above him each beat him racing up in a middle school 3K. The first time he lines up in a 2K against Milek or Destefanis, this could turn around.
5. Julian Vazquez, SV Performance Training, 5th grade - 7:39.2 at the Horse Park (projects 7:33.1)
Did not race. Second at the Horse Park, 2.4 seconds behind Hirakuri Lehmkuhl, the only boy who has beaten him. He is the son of Sam Vazquez, the Flagler Palm Coast miler who ran 4:03 in high school and the 1500 for Puerto Rico at the 2012 London Olympics.
6. Holden Griggs, Team FTC Kids, 5th grade - 7:54.5 at the Horse Park (projects 7:48.4)
Won the Run Florida elementary 2K on Saturday in 8:01.1, 25.1 seconds ahead of Gabe Schwartz of Belmont Academy, out of 47. Third at the Horse Park behind Hirakuri Lehmkuhl and Vazquez.
7. Graham Hymes, Hillsborough Harriers, 5th grade - 7:59.4 at Running on the Range (projects 7:51.2)
Did not race. Won the Range by 13.5 seconds. Griggs beat him at the Horse Park, where Hymes was 22nd, and they have not met since.
8. Nolan Austin, No Excuses RC, 4th grade - 11:46.3 for 3K at Bale N Trail
Raced up on Saturday and was 25th of 212 middle schoolers, 1.1 seconds ahead of teammate Hudson Austin. He held a faster pace for 3K than Molla's best 2K is worth, and a slightly slower one than Hymes's. A fourth grader.
9. Hudson Austin, No Excuses RC, 5th grade - 11:47.4 for 3K at Bale N Trail
Twenty-seventh at Bale N Trail on Saturday, 1.1 seconds behind Nolan, which is why he is ninth. Seventeenth at state last fall in 8:03.1, and his pace over 3K on Saturday was worth more than that seed.
10. Oscar Molla, Hillsborough Harriers, 5th grade - 8:42.1 at Jim Ryun (projects 7:54.2)
Did not race. Second at the Range behind Hymes, and third at Jim Ryun.
Next up: Thomas Haughey (Naples Christian Academy, 5th grade), who won the SAC elementary 2K in 8:08.0 (7:56.6); Cana Oyer (San Juan Del Rio, 5th grade), 12th at state last fall in 7:55.1 and unraced; Zander Noal (Boca Warriors Track Club, no grade listed), who won the MRCC elementary 2K on Saturday in 8:34.0. His Jim Ryun run projects 7:45.0, but his third-grade teammate Samuel Hirakuri Lehmkuhl beat him by 3.7 seconds at Spanish River, and that holds. Evan Fredricks (Trinity School for Children, 5th grade) won the Stampede Sprint elementary 2K by 63 seconds in 7:10.1; that time is not priced, and he was 28th in the Seffner Christian middle school 3K in 12:48.1.
The kindergarten through second grade top fives are in last week’s elementary post. The one K-2 race we can price this week was Run Florida, where first grader Allison Kay ran 9:33.4 for sixth of 27, 0.4 seconds off her Horse Park time.
How these rankings were built
- Middle school: every 3K from a middle school race is matched by name to the runner's 2025 FLYRA state time. Each course's reading is the median of those differences, shrunk toward the pooled small-meet reading (17.6 seconds) so a course with two runners to go on does not get a wild number. This week: Bale N Trail -1.1 (n=66), Stampede Sprint +11.4 (n=64), Palmer Trinity HS/MS +4.0 (n=29), Volusia County Meet 2 +24.1 (n=29), East Ridge +32.5 (n=26), Run Florida +16.2 (n=22), Lakewood Ranch +10.0 (n=17), Crystal River +6.6 (n=14), MRCC +34.3 (n=7), Marathon +6.1 (n=1, Joly herself, so essentially the pooled reading). Two-mile races are converted to 3K first, and Cecil Field's 2.5K by the meet's own 3K conversion.
- Elementary: 2K races are priced the same way against last fall's 3rd-5th grade state race. A kid who has only raced up in a middle school 3K is placed by head-to-heads with other elementary kids in those races, or by whether they held a faster pace over 3K than a ranked kid's 2K is worth.
- Finish order only, times not priced: Oak Park Middle School (coaches at the meet told us the course came up a little short), Todd Howsare's middle school race (all 41 runners we can compare ran 42 seconds or more under their best 3K elsewhere) and the Stampede Sprint elementary 2K (the 12 kids we can compare ran a median 48 seconds under their state times).
- A head-to-head loss stands until the two runners meet again, and where results form a loop the most recent meeting decides. From this week, Jim Ryun's finishing order (August 22) no longer binds anyone. Jopling sits with Jobe on a common-opponent reading that is Darrin's call from week 5.
- Fifth graders are on the elementary lists only; the middle school lists are grades 6-8. A raced mark within five seconds of a seeded state time outranks the seed. A missed meet is never held against anyone. Grades come from the meet results and last fall's state file; where a grade is missing, the heading carries none.
Every result behind these lists is in the Florida XC results database, and the full weekend is in the weekend recap. Last week: Week 5 Middle School Top 10s. The high school lists: boys and girls.
Featured image: the No Excuses Running Club (St. Johns) and Boca Warriors Track & XC Club logos, the clubs' own marks, credited to each club.