Boys Middle School Individual Rankings — Week 6
#1 Drake Matyka — East Lake Middle School Academy (2031) · 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 (2031) · 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 (2031) · 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 — Gulfview Middle (GCR) (2031) · 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 (2031) · 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 (2031) · 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 — Villages Charter Middle School (Middleton) (2031) · 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 (2031) · 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 (2031) · 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 (2031) · 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.
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](/data/results), and the full weekend is in [the weekend recap](/blog/florida-xc-weekend-recap-september-26-2026). Last week: [Week 5 Middle School Top 10s](/blog/florida-middle-school-cross-country-rankings-week-5-2026). The high school lists: [boys](/blog/florida-boys-cross-country-top-10-week-6-2026) and [girls](/blog/florida-girls-cross-country-top-10-week-6-2026).
Featured image: the No Excuses Running Club (St. Johns) and Boca Warriors Track & XC Club logos, the clubs' own marks, credited to each club.
The team top fives, middle school and elementary: [here](/blog/florida-middle-school-elementary-cross-country-team-rankings-week-6-2026).
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