Boys Middle School Team Rankings — Week 6
#1 No Excuses RC · 219 points
Elliot Lasota 10:04.0, Cooper Finch 10:20.9, Amari Isom 10:35.7, Johnathon Hartley 10:56.1, Dutch Howanitz 10:57.3
No one in this five is as fast as the Harriers' RJ Destremps, and it does not matter: 53 seconds from first to fifth, and a 43-point win at Bale N Trail on Saturday over 13 other teams. The defending Club champion.
#2 Hillsborough Harriers · 240 points
RJ Destremps 9:30.6, Wesley Taylor 10:36.6, Alex Geisel 10:45.3, Ace Hallinan 10:53.9, Landon Healy 10:55.1
The closest call on the page. The Harriers' five average 10:32.3 to No Excuses' 10:34.8, but Destremps' lead does not buy much in a points race, and No Excuses' three through five are ahead of the Harriers'. The two have not met. The Harriers won Jim Ryun and won Running on the Range on Sept. 19, 33 points to Tavares' 58 and Villages Charter's 70.
#3 Ruckel Middle School · 280 points
Liam Jopling 10:16.0, Cael Rusmisel 10:28.3, Tyler Wade 10:51.8, Benson Porter 10:54.6, Jackson Porter 11:05.7
One race this fall, and it was a statement: 24 points at Nights of Thunder, one-two from Jopling and Rusmisel, 11 points ahead of Tavares. That was Ruckel's only scored team race.
#4 Tavares Middle School · 295 points
Jack Ilea 10:30.1, Gabriel Garback 10:39.3, Joel Cordero 10:51.8, Alexis Hernandez 10:52.2, Alejandro Hernandez 11:00.2
The tightest five on this list, 30.1 seconds from first to fifth, and the defending Public champion. Tavares was second to the Harriers at Running on the Range and second to Ruckel at Nights of Thunder, and it beat Villages Charter at the Range.
#5 Villages Charter Middle School (Middleton) · 308 points
Colton Jobe 9:59.8, Jace Lewis 10:04.1, Karter James 10:46.1, Eduardo Andrade 10:59.3, Grant Reeves 11:28.7
The best one-two on this list: Jobe and Lewis are both inside 10:05 on their figures. Villages won Seffner Christian by 35 points against 25 other teams and Crystal River last week. It was third at the Range behind the Harriers and Tavares, and its fifth runner is 29 seconds behind its fourth, which is the difference from here to the top three.
Next: Belen Jesuit (Private), second at the Horse Park and ahead of the Harriers, Villages and Tavares that day; Ransom Everglades (Private); WIND Runners (Club); and the Boca Warriors (Club).
How we built this
- Each runner's season figure comes from the individual rankings: every middle school 3K is compared with last fall's FLYRA state results for the same runners, which puts every course in Holloway Park terms. Elementary 2K races are priced against last fall's 3rd-5th grade state race. The times next to each runner above are those season figures, not a time run on a particular day.
- Each team's five best go into one virtual race with every other team's; the next two can displace. A runner counts for the team they have raced for most often this fall. Red Sea Running Club and Tavares Middle School are one program, scored as Tavares. Runners listed as unattached are not scored.
- Middle school is grades 6-8; fifth graders are elementary only. The elementary team race at the state meet is third through fifth grade, so younger kids are not scored here.
- An elementary runner who has only raced up in a middle school 3K counts at the same pace over 2K. On the kids who have run both this fall, that is a conservative reading. A runner who has not raced this fall counts on last fall's state time.
- Where two teams have met and neither has raced since, the result orders them. On this page, every meeting that disagrees with the arithmetic has been raced past by both teams, so the order is the virtual race.
- Finish order only, times not priced: Oak Park Middle School, Todd Howsare's middle school race and the Stampede Sprint elementary 2K.
Every result behind these lists is in [the Florida XC results database](/data/results). The high school team lists: [boys](/blog/florida-boys-cross-country-team-rankings-week-6-2026) and [girls](/blog/florida-girls-cross-country-team-rankings-week-6-2026).
Logos: No Excuses Running Club; Emerald Coast Middle School; Hillsborough Harriers; Naples Christian Academy; Boca Warriors Track & XC Club.
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