Thursday through Saturday, October 8 to 10, meet by meet: with Pre-State canceled for Hurricane Isaias, Episcopal's girls won the JAC Invitational over Bishop Kenny and Nease as Jillian Jakab won the race, Axel Sallault and Quentin Thompson won at South Marion and Wildwood, Spanish River swept the individual titles at Snake Bite while Columbus won the boys' team race, Bolles was eighth in the Eastern States Championship at Manhattan, and LaBelle won the boys' title at the Clewiston XC Sugar Run Invite, with photos from Dr. Bob Cooke.
Florida cross country, Thursday through Saturday, October 8 to 10, 2026
The biggest weekend of the regular season was supposed to be in Tallahassee. The FSU Pre-State Invitational, the one meet where most of Florida's top programs race the state course before November, was canceled for the storm that became Hurricane Isaias and will not be rescheduled. So the state scattered, and twenty-three meets in Florida and one in New York filled the gap.
Episcopal's girls won their home meet, the JAC Invitational in Jacksonville, over Bishop Kenny and Nease, with four runners in the top six. Jillian Jakab of Bishop Kenny won the race. Axel Sallault won at South Marion and Quentin Thompson led Lake Minneola to a 17-point score at Wildwood. Alba Antunez-Perez and Casey Sangely swept the individual titles at the Snake Bite Invite for Spanish River, and Columbus won the boys' team race there, reversing its order with Braddock and Doral from September. Bolles took its varsity to the Bronx and was eighth of 32 teams in the Eastern States Championship at the Manhattan Invitational. And at Clewiston High School, eight South Florida programs ran the Sugar Run, and we have the pictures.
Every meet with a link goes to its full results in our database. Times are the times that were run. Where a runner or team has a rank next to the name, it is from our week 7 lists, written before any of this happened. The week 8 boys, week 8 girls, boys' team and girls' team lists are already up and take all of it into account.
The photos in this recap are from the Clewiston XC Sugar Run Invite, by Bob Cooke, better known as Dr. Bob. If you shot a Florida meet this weekend, send us yours through our cross country photos page. We feature one, you get a hat or a shirt.
Clewiston XC Sugar Run Invite, Clewiston High School
Nine schools came to Clewiston on Saturday from around the lake, the Heartland and the Treasure Coast: LaBelle, Martin County, the host Tigers, Avon Park, Lake Placid, Moore Haven, Okeechobee, Glades Central and Parkview Prep. It was a small meet with some real racing at the front of it.
Boys. Joaquin Villalobos (Avon Park, Jr., 2A) won in 17:40.3, a season best by almost six seconds, and was 22 seconds clear of Jendris Alfonso (Moore Haven, Sr., 1A), who ran 18:02.1. Behind them, Noel Vega (Lake Placid, So., 2A) and Andrew Ramirez (Glades Central, Jr.) came in three tenths of a second apart, 18:22.2 and 18:22.5. Jesus Garcia (LaBelle, So., 3A) was fifth in 18:43.6, 19 seconds under his previous best.
The home team's best moment came next. Michael Bussott (Clewiston, So., 2A) and Alvaro Segura (Clewiston, So., 2A) ran sixth and seventh, 18:56.3 and 18:58.1, less than two seconds apart, and Bussott's time is a season best. Richard Exilhomme (Sr.) was 16th. Clewiston scored 85 for third.
LaBelle won the team race with 61, on five runners inside the top 23: Garcia fifth, Salvador Delgado (Fr.) eighth in 18:59.3, Joel Orduna (Fr.) 11th, Orlando Camacho (Sr.) 14th and Marvell Thomas (Jr.) 23rd. Two freshmen in the top five of a winning team is a good thing to have in October. Martin County (4A) was second with 75, led by Ayden Slate and Ethan Rapaport in ninth and tenth. Avon Park was fourth with 126, and Lake Placid and Moore Haven tied at 128.
Girls. Julieanne Bautista (Okeechobee, So., 3A) ran away with it, 21:17.3, a season best and almost two minutes clear of Destiny Lopez (Parkview Prep, Fr.) in 23:07.2. Gabrielle Bautista (Okeechobee, So., 3A) was third in 23:27.7 and Rachel Linda (Martin County, Jr., 4A) fourth. Martin County won the team race with 31, putting Linda, Tess Snyder, Livia Stover and Addison Lynch in the top ten, ahead of Parkview Prep (52), LaBelle (61) and Glades Central (86). Okeechobee did not have five finishers to score.
Hendry County Middle School Championship: LaBelle sweeps
The county middle school championship ran on the same course, over 3K, and LaBelle Middle School took both races with a perfect 15. Fabian Orduna (8th grade) won the boys' race in 11:55.0, with Aaiden Meyer seven seconds back and three more Broncos behind them. Lucas Vallejo (7th grade) of Clewiston Middle broke up the LaBelle line in sixth, in 13:21.5. Aria Cruz (7th grade) won the girls' race in 15:24.2, ahead of Aliyah Vela and Meagan Ramirez, a sixth grader.
JAC Cross Country Invitational, Jacksonville
Girls. This was the race of the weekend. Jillian Jakab (Bishop Kenny, Sr., No. 8 3A) won it in 19:22.2, and then Episcopal came through in a wave: Kate Brice (Jr., No. 7 2A) second in 19:42.3, Whitney Morgan (Sr., No. 5 2A) two tenths behind her, Holland McKinney (So., No. 6 2A) fourth in 19:46.3, Lucia Misasi of Nease (Jr., 4A) fifth, and Stella Krueger (Episcopal, Jr., No. 9 in Florida, No. 1 2A) sixth in 19:54.5. That is four Episcopal girls inside 12.2 seconds of each other.
Episcopal (No. 6 in Florida, No. 2 2A) won the team race at home with 43. Bishop Kenny (No. 2 in Florida, No. 1 3A) was second with 53 and ran without Camila Giles, its No. 1. Nease (No. 7 4A) was third with 65, with Misasi, Katherine Healey and Olivia Dhas all inside the top ten. Cornerstone Classical (No. 7 1A) was fourth and Ponte Vedra (No. 9 in Florida) seventh with a partial group.
Boys. Jack Kline (Cornerstone Classical, Jr., No. 7 1A) won in 16:29.1, three seconds ahead of Elijah Parkinson (St. Augustine, Jr., 3A). St. Augustine then won the team race by a single point, 49 to Bishop Kenny's 50, with Keanan DiPrimo fourth and Micah Parkinson sixth. Cornerstone was third with 57 and Fleming Island (No. 10 3A) fourth. Ponte Vedra (No. 5 in Florida, No. 2 3A) brought a second group, led by Aiden Killoran in 18:03.8, and was fifth.
No Excuses Running Club won all four of the middle school and elementary races. Colette Heffernan (7th grade) ran 10:37.1 for 3K in the girls' race, and Elliot Lasota (7th grade) won the boys' in 10:50.9 as the club went one through five.
Snake Bite Invite
Boys. Five boys came in inside nine seconds of each other. Casey Sangely (Spanish River, Sr., 4A) won in 15:32.8, a season best by 14 seconds, one second ahead of Kayaan Ghaffar (Gulliver Prep, Jr., No. 5 2A). Martin Fernandez (Doral Academy, Sr., 4A) was third in 15:38.4, Nicholas Garcia (Columbus, Jr., 4A) fourth and Michael Gomez (FAU, Sr., No. 9 2A) fifth in 15:41.6, a season best by 32 seconds. Benjamin Francis (Highlands Christian, Sr., No. 9 1A) was seventh in 16:06.2.
Columbus (No. 9 in Florida, No. 4 4A) won the team race with 58, six points ahead of Braddock (No. 8 in Florida, No. 3 4A), 13 ahead of Spanish River and 19 ahead of Doral Academy (No. 10 in Florida). At the Spanish River Race of Champions on September 18, Braddock beat Columbus and Doral both. Gulliver Prep (No. 2 2A) was fifth with 87; Adrian Iziliaev (No. 4 2A) was 24th. Columbus also went one through five in the JV race.
Girls. Alba Antunez-Perez (Spanish River, Sr., No. 8 in Florida) won in 18:29.9, 22 seconds ahead of Nicole Lewis (Doral Academy, Jr., 4A), and Spanish River (No. 8 in Florida, No. 3 4A) won the team race 45 to Doral's 56. Tessa Brown (Cardinal Newman, Jr., 2A) was third in 19:14.4, 21 seconds under her previous best, and Julianna Hart (Ransom Everglades, Fr., 2A) fifth. Ransom Everglades (No. 9 2A) was third and Cardinal Newman (No. 8 2A) fourth.
Manhattan University Invitational, the Bronx, New York
Two Florida programs went north to one of the big Northeast invitationals. It is run at 2.5 miles, so the times here do not line up with a 5K and are not converted.
Bolles (No. 3 in Florida, No. 1 2A) ran its varsity in the Eastern States Championship and was eighth of 32 teams with 285. Broughton of Raleigh won it. Aidan Chandler (Sr.) led Bolles in 36th in 13:05.9, with Aaron Ches, Wyatt Cleek, Armaan Sharma and Vincent Barragan behind him. Ryan Sykes of Horace Greeley, New York, who was fourth behind Marcelo Mantecon at the Great American a week earlier, won the race in 12:04.3. Bolles's JV went one through five in its JV race, with Henry Camp first.
Bolles's girls were fifth of 17 in the girls' Eastern States race, tied on 154 points with fourth-place Princeton and placed behind them on the tiebreak. Sofie Stam (So.) was 11th in 15:07.2. Bethlehem Central of New York won.
Flagler Palm Coast (No. 7 4A) ran Varsity Boys C, one of six varsity sections, and was third of 25 teams with 123. Douglas Seth (So., No. 6 4A) was fourth in 13:08.2 and Mateo Almeida (Jr.) ninth in 13:17.1. Keenan Neuman of Ocean City, New Jersey, won the race.
Around the state on Saturday
South Marion Bears Invitational
Axel Sallault (East Ridge, Sr., No. 3 in Florida, No. 1 4A) won the first South Marion invitational in 16:14.1, 53 seconds ahead of Asher Inman (Belleview, So., 3A). It is his fifth win in six starts. Collin Langston (Sunlake, Fr., 4A) was third in 17:12.2, and Sunlake won the team race with 33 over Belleview's 45 and East Ridge's 56. Sunlake's girls (No. 5 4A) won too, with Ana Cecilia Maia Menard (So.) first in 19:43.4 and Ella Pope (Jr.) second. Abigail Gantt of Umatilla (So.) was third. Sunlake also won both JV races with 15.
Wildwood Invitational
Quentin Thompson (Lake Minneola, Sr., No. 4 in Florida, No. 2 4A) won in 16:19.0, and Lake Minneola (No. 8 4A) took the first four places and seventh for 17 points, two off a perfect score. Jacob Kelly (Jr.) was second in 16:34.3, Matthew Lydiard (Jr.) third and Drew Sasson (Sr.) fourth. Winter Park was second with 59. In the girls' race Kathryn Ryan (Winter Park, So., 4A) won in 20:07.8, but Lake Minneola won the team title 35 to 50. Evelyn George, a seventh grader at P. K. Yonge, was fourth. Mary Summers (Seven Rivers Christian, So., No. 1 1A) did not finish.
Half-Mile Timing Invitational, Gainesville
Avery Hartley (Bartram Trail, So., No. 10 in Florida, No. 6 4A) won the girls' race in 19:01.6, 14 seconds clear of Eva Delaney (Creekside, So., 4A). Creekside (No. 7 in Florida, No. 2 4A) won the team race with 42 over Oak Hall (No. 2 1A), whose seventh grader Natalie Kay was fifth. Bryce Motycka (Bartram Trail, Sr., 4A) won the boys' race in 17:07.1 ahead of Logan Haley (Branford, Jr., No. 8 1A). Buchholz won the team race with 52, packing Finn Richards, Andrew Sides (No. 8 in Florida) and Quinn Meyer into seventh, eighth and ninth. Sides ran 17:49.2, well off the 15:39.8 he ran in Cary a week earlier.
Kowboy Invitational, part two
Riley Ramirez (Harmony, Sr., 4A) won the boys' race in 16:58.1, but Melbourne (4A) won the team race easily with 30, putting Trent Orcutt (Jr.) second and Charles Hanus (Sr.) third. Jayden Pereira of Melbourne was sixth in 17:48.2, 78 seconds under his previous best. Kaylynn Ulrich (Melbourne, So.) won the girls' race in 20:49.8, a season best by 30 seconds, and Timber Creek won the team race 39 to Melbourne's 42. In the middle school races, Lorenzo Bellosa of Neptune Middle won the boys' 3K in 11:35.7 and Joaquina Lopez Molina of Celebration Middle the girls' in 12:46.2.
Bulldog Invitational, Cape Coral
Dylan Macias-Buenrostro (Mariner, Jr., No. 8 3A) won the boys' race by 74 seconds in 16:41.7. Fort Myers (No. 7 in Florida, No. 4 3A) won the team race with 55, tied with Cape Coral and ahead on the tiebreak. Karol Mika was its first runner, in fourth. Fort Myers's girls won too, 35 to Bishop Verot's 43. Briana Watson (Island Coast, Sr., 3A) won the girls' race in 20:33.9, a season best by 21 seconds.
Merritt Island Christian Invitational
Eva McMenemy-Hoang (Viera, Sr., No. 9 4A) won again, in 18:46.2, a week after winning the Race of Champions at flrunners. Rachel Judy (Master's Academy, Sr., 1A) was second in 19:28.7 and Chancey Jones (Viera, So.) third, 43 seconds under her previous best. Viera won the team race over New Smyrna Beach. Circle Christian (No. 6 1A) went one-two in the boys' race through Matteo Kirwan (So., No. 10 1A) in 16:31.8 and Jonah Lehman-Saba (Jr.) in 16:38.3, both season bests, and won the team title with 28.
All Saints Invite, Winter Haven
Aidan Alam (McKeel, So., No. 10 2A) won the boys' race in 16:27.5 with teammate Cal Howard second, but George Jenkins took places three through six and won the team title with 26. Kylie Cook (All Saints', 8th grade) won the girls' race in 20:24.6, with Lindsey Cook (Jr.) second, and All Saints' (No. 4 1A) won the team race.
Four more on Saturday
At the Mark McGarity Invite in Naples, Fredi Mijangos-Figueroa and Andrew Yzaguirre of Immokalee went one-two in the boys' race, but Naples won the team title with 37. Kendyl Boutilier (Naples, Fr.) won the girls' race in 21:11 and Venice took the team title. At the SMA Eagle Classic, Sebastian Velazquez-Rodriguez (North Port, Sr.) won in 18:07.8 and Bloomingdale won the team race. Caylin Denis of Imagine School, a sixth grader, won the girls' race and Imagine beat Riverview by a point. Benjamin swept the Benjamin Invite, and Ridgeview and Orange Park split the Orange Park small meet.
Friday and Thursday
BCAA/MSAA Championship, Friday. It had 764 finishers across six races. David Lazo (South Plantation, Sr., 4A) won the boys' race in 16:20.1 and Flanagan won the team title with 86. Kendall Parrott (St. Thomas Aquinas, So., 4A) won the girls' race in 20:08.2 and St. Thomas Aquinas (No. 4 4A) won with 47 over Cardinal Gibbons (No. 7 2A) and Dillard (No. 10 3A). Elise Brown (St. Thomas Aquinas, No. 10 4A) did not finish. Landon Quallo (Pembroke Pines Charter) and Jasmarie Hernandez (Somerset Academy Riverside) won the middle school 3Ks.
305 Classic, Friday. Lukas Arrojo (True North, So., 1A) won the boys' varsity in 17:26.5 and Coral Reef beat Dunbar of Fort Myers 64 to 68. Lourdes (No. 6 3A) won the girls' race with 19, Sofia Jimenez (So.) first in 19:07.9, a season best. The middle school races drew 661 kids: Maxwell Claypool (WIND Runners) and Lia Chaustre (True North) won the varsity 2.1-milers.
Riviera Prep Fall Classic, Friday. Keys Gate won the boys' race with 30 behind Darian Rodriguez (Jr.) in 18:06.4. Daniela Hernandez (Carrollton, Sr.) won the girls' race in 20:37.2. Carrollton sent a small group and was fifth; Palmer Trinity won the team title.
ACC #2 at Holy Rosary, Friday. Belen's middle schoolers won both boys' races: Jake Rubiera (8th grade) beat Benjamin Hidalgo of St. Timothy by seven tenths in the 2-mile varsity, and sixth grader Rowen Urbina won the 1.5-mile JV. St. Theresa won the varsity girls' race behind Mila Manguart.
Thursday. Noah Carter (NSU University, Sr., 2A) won Scheck Hillel #2 in 16:48.5, a season best by 38 seconds, and Somerset Academy Pembroke Pines won the team race. Reed Rion (Peniel Baptist, Sr., 1A) and Paislee Guessford (Interlachen, Sr., 2A) won the Putnam County Championships; Crescent City beat Peniel Baptist by one point for the boys' title, and Peniel Baptist won the girls' on a tiebreak with Interlachen. Tavares Middle School won all four races at its home meet, with Alice Ilea and Gabriel Garback first in the varsity 3200s.
What the weekend did to the rankings
The week 8 lists went up Sunday and nobody was penalized for Pre-State. A missed week is not a result.
Boys. The ten does not change. Sallault and Thompson both won easily and hold third and fourth. Sides's day in Gainesville does not move him: a slow race is never held against a runner.
Girls. Jakab comes into the ten at ninth on the JAC win, and Krueger, who was sixth in that race, comes out. Hartley holds tenth after winning HMT. Antunez-Perez holds eighth. Brice, Morgan and McKinney all beat Krueger at JAC.
Teams. Columbus moves above Braddock and Doral on the Snake Bite result, and Hagerty comes into the boys' ten. In the girls' list Episcopal holds sixth after JAC, because Bishop Kenny raced without Giles and one race is one race. Episcopal is the team to watch. St. Thomas Aquinas comes into the girls' ten at ninth.
How we put this together
- Every result above comes from the official timing files, loaded into our results database: twenty-four meets from Thursday to Saturday, JV, middle school and elementary included, with every team score exactly as the timers published it.
- Manhattan was a 2.5-mile course with more than 300 schools from across the Northeast. Every visiting school is tagged with its state, and out-of-state runners and teams are shown in the results but not ranked.
- The middle school races at Clewiston were posted as a separate meet, the Hendry County MS Championship, and are in the database that way.
- We name runners in photos only when we can tie them to the results. 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.
The database is open all season at runfloridarun.com/data. Go find your name.
Photos: Clewiston XC Sugar Run Invite and Hendry County Middle School Championship, Clewiston High School, October 10, 2026, by Bob Cooke (Dr. Bob).
Frequently Asked Questions
Who won the 2026 Clewiston XC Sugar Run Invite? expand_more
Joaquin Villalobos of Avon Park won the boys' race on October 10, 2026, in 17:40.3, 22 seconds ahead of Jendris Alfonso of Moore Haven, and LaBelle won the boys' team title with 61 over Martin County and host Clewiston. Julieanne Bautista of Okeechobee won the girls' race in 21:17.3, and Martin County won the girls' team title with 31. LaBelle Middle School swept both races at the Hendry County middle school championship held at the same meet.
Who won the 2026 JAC Cross Country Invitational? expand_more
Jillian Jakab of Bishop Kenny won the girls' race on October 10, 2026, in 19:22.2, and Episcopal of Jacksonville won the team title with 43 over Bishop Kenny's 53, with Kate Brice, Whitney Morgan, Holland McKinney and Stella Krueger in the top six. Jack Kline of Cornerstone Classical won the boys' race in 16:29.1, and St. Augustine won the boys' team title by one point over Bishop Kenny, 49 to 50.
Was the 2026 FSU Pre-State cross country meet held? expand_more
No. The FSU Pre-State Invitational, set for October 9 and 10, 2026, at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, was canceled for the storm that became Hurricane Isaias and was not rescheduled. Florida teams raced at more than twenty other meets that weekend instead.