Middle School XC Nationals, Saturday, November 14, 2026, Tom Sawyer State Park, Louisville, Kentucky.
Florida had its best day of the fall in Louisville. Red Sea Running Club's girls, the Tavares Middle School team racing under the club's name, won the national title in the school division by 32 points. Aliana Alvarez of Red Sea won the elementary girls 2K outright, the only Florida runner to win a race.
Brianna Motycka of Liberty Pines Academy finished second in the championship girls 4K in 14:18.8, 2.7 seconds behind the winner, which made her the school division's individual champion. Alice Ilea of Red Sea was sixth overall and second in the school division. Florida's girls finished second of 14 states in the timer's state team standings.
- Full results for every finisher: Middle School XC Nationals 2026.
- Races: championship 4K for middle school girls and boys, a 3K for younger middle schoolers, and an elementary 2K for girls and boys.
- Team scores were kept for all teams together and again by division (club, school and unattached).
Red Sea girls win the school division national title
Red Sea scored 68 points in the school division. Dallastown Area Middle School of Pennsylvania was second with 100 and Saint James School of Basking Ridge, New Jersey third with 104. Red Sea's five scorers averaged 15:36 for 4K, and their combined time was 2:24 faster than Dallastown's and 2:21 faster than Saint James's.
Ilea led the team in 14:24.1. Lilliana Gutfreind was 33rd in 15:26.0, Kayla Santos 45th in 15:36.1, Meadow Sadlemire 83rd in 16:11.4 and Amelia Hernandez 97th in 16:18.9 in a field of 277. In the standings with every team scored together, Red Sea's girls were sixth of 23.
Just two weeks after winning the FLYRA Public School State XC title as Tavares Patriots, our Tavares girls ran as Red Sea in the school division national race, winning the National Title by an enormous 32 points.
— Red Sea Running Club meet report
That state title is in our FLYRA state recap. Red Sea's coaches count this as the club's fourth team national title at this meet: the girls also won in 2022, and the boys won in 2022 and 2024. They list four runner-up finishes as well, the boys in 2023 and the girls in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
Aliana Alvarez wins the elementary girls 2K
Alvarez, a fifth grader, won the elementary girls race in 7:14.5. The next runner, Lauren Bastidas of the Louisville Fast Cats, finished in 7:39.9, more than 25 seconds back. Alvarez's Red Sea teammate Avery Maldonado was sixth in 7:54.9 and made the All-American team, and Ava Zautner was 49th in a field of 132.
Two Florida fifth graders also finished near the front of the elementary boys 2K. Bodhi Teeters of Imagine Town Center in Palm Coast was sixth in 7:16.0, and Julian Vazquez of SV Performance Training was 11th in 7:18.3, both All-Americans in a field of 175.
Gear for young runners
Garmin Forerunner 165
A GPS watch that shows pace, splits and heart rate on a bright screen. A good first real watch for a young runner who has started racing every weekend.
Check price on AmazonAs an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Motycka second in the nation
Motycka, an eighth grader, ran 14:18.8 behind Emma Pham of Seven Locks Running in Maryland, who won in 14:16.1. Abby Creason of Team Kentucky Elite was third in 14:19.7. Lia Kamar of Ransom Everglades (39th, 15:33.6), Alexis Theuerkauf of YMCA Camp Cristina (51st, 15:44.4) and Mia Kopcikova of Imagine Town Center (59th, 15:54.0) were the next Floridians outside the Red Sea pack.
Boys: Matyka leads Florida, Red Sea ninth in the school division
Drake Matyka of East Lake Middle School Academy, our All-Florida middle school Runner of the Year, was the top Florida boy in 23rd in 13:41.9. Branch Mangum of Celerity Performance in Texas won the race in 12:40.3. Aidan Moylan of Imagine Town Center was 49th in 14:09.7 and Gabriel Garback led Red Sea in 54th in 14:14.2.
Red Sea's boys were ninth in the school division with 235 points and 15th of 25 with every team scored together. Joel Cordero (104th), Alejandro Hernandez (141st), Elijah Rivera (167th) and Dustin Albert (168th) completed the scoring.
With Jack and Alexis, our #2 and #3 runners unable to race, Elijah and Dustin filled in admirably as scoring runners propelling our team to another top 10 national result.
— Red Sea Running Club meet report
Ransom Everglades brought 13 boys and finished 23rd of 25 in the overall team standings, led by Tiago Da Silva in 85th. Florida's boys were seventh of 14 states in the state standings.
Every Florida finisher
Championship girls 4K
23 Florida finishers of 277.
Championship boys 4K
29 Florida finishers of 321.
Elementary girls 2K
| Place | Runner | Grade | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aliana Alvarez | 5th | Red Sea | 7:14.5 |
| 6 | Avery Maldonado | 5th | Red Sea | 7:54.9 |
| 49 | Ava Zautner | 5th | Red Sea | 8:55.0 |
3 Florida finishers of 132.
Elementary boys 2K
| Place | Runner | Grade | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | Bodhi Teeters | 5th | Imagine Town Center | 7:16.0 |
| 11 | Julian Vazquez | 5th | SV Performance Training | 7:18.3 |
2 Florida finishers of 175.
Girls 3K
| Place | Runner | Grade | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35 | Brigit Theuerkauf | 4th | YMCA Camp Cristina | 13:41.6 |
1 Florida finishers of 52.
Reader supported
Free to read, no paywall. If you followed Florida at Nationals here, a coffee keeps the results database and the middle school coverage coming.
About these results
- Places, times and team scores are as Blue Ridge Timing posted them on its live results page and in its division and state team PDFs.
- The quotes and the club's title history come from Red Sea Running Club's meet report.
- Red Sea's middle school runners are filed under Tavares Middle School in our database, which is the school they ran for at the FLYRA state meet.
- Florida's girls tied Virginia at 107 points in the state standings and took second on the tiebreak.
Every finisher is in the full results, and every runner's season is a click away in the Florida XC results database.
Featured image: Aliana Alvarez (left) and Avery Maldonado of Red Sea at Middle School XC Nationals. Photo by Kevin Von Maxey.
