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Florida State Meet XC Recap 2023Published by
Belen Jesuit Knocks Out First Half Of Busy Weekend With 33-Point Effort For Seventh Consecutive 3A Title; Patrick Koon Runs To Third Straight Individual Crown; Seventh Grader Annabella Tomasic Fastest Girl Of The Day In 2A Final By Todd Grasley of DyeStat
Apalachee Regional Park, the cross country playground of Florida, played host to the state's top individuals and teams Friday morning for the FHSAA Cross Country State Finals. No. 4-ranked Belen Jesuit of Miami, which will race on NXR Southeast on Sunday in North Carolina, scored 33 points to get through a successful first half of the weekend.
The Wolverines, who were making their 51st consecutive appearance at the FHSAA State Final, recorded their 15th win and seventh straight championship in program history. Freshman Marcelo Mantecon, who was sixth last year as an eighth grader, was the team's top runner with a second-place finish.
Behind him was a sea of yellow and blue with teammates Joseph Ruiz (fifth), Justin Ruiz (sixth), Joshua Ruiz (ninth), and Evan Torres (13th) rounding out the top five, to give Belen Jesuit a score of 33 points, more than 100 points fewer than runner-up Naples (146). The Wolverines will waste no time and head to Cary, N.C., where they are the top-ranked team entered at NXR Southeast. The team is looking to book a second straight trip to NXN in Portland. Koon Earns Three-Peat With Ease
Stanford signee Patrick Koon of Leon and University of Florida signee Joshua Ruiz of Belen Jesuit were the match-up most fans had their eyes on in the Class 3A boys final. It was Mantecon who paced a group of 10 through the mile mark right around 4:44. A mile later, the group had dwindled to just three: Koon, Ruiz, and Mantecon. But Koon proved to be strongest in the last mile.
Having run and trained on the Apalachee Regional Park, a home field advantage of sorts, Koon closed the final stretch in 5:18.7 to win his third consecutive title in a time of 15:02.1, wrapping up an undefeated season in the state of Florida and cementing himself as one of the winningest boys in Florida history. Koon joined Billy Convey (Ransom Everglades), Rolf Steier (Berkeley Prep), Matt Mizereck (Leon), Brian Atkinson (Melbourne) and Rheinhardt Harrison of Nease as a three-in-a-row winner in boys cross country in Florida.
Koon will continue his season at the Foot Locker South Regional next weekend. Koon was eighth in 2021 and advanced to nationals where he placed 37th. Last year he stopped with the state meet.
Seventh Grader Tomasic Wins First State Title In Fastest Time Of Day It was an ideal morning for athletes in Tallahassee with temperatures hovering in the mid 60s for the first race at 7 a.m., but as the day heated up so did the performances, including seventh grade phenom Annabella Tomasic of Lake Highland Prep.
Tomasic and familiar foe Mackenzie De Lisle of Bishop Verot led from the gun and took the group through the mile mark in 5:20 with Margaret Barlow, Grace Aldrich and Cardinal Mooney senior Addison Dempsey all under 5:30. By the two-mile mark, Tomasic had blown the door wide open, creating a 12-second gap between her and nearest competitor. She went onto win the race in 17:32.9, the 13th fastest in state meet history, and the first of what should be many state titles in her young career.
De Lisle was second in a very impressive 17:52.2 and Dempsey was third in 18:01.9.
Dillard Girls Roll With 46 Points For 3A Title While the Belen boys may have been the story on the boys side, the Dillard girls weren't far behind. After finishing runner-up a year ago, the Panthers had the claws ALL out on Friday morning. Senior Christina Coleman led the way with the third-fastest time of the day regardless of classification, winning in 17:53.4, nearly 30 seconds quicker than her season's best.
Dillard's depth included contributions from seventh graders Shynah Collins and Miley Gill, who placed third and fifth respectively. Senior Raquel Edwards was 11th with sophomore Abigail Richards and freshman Payton Williams all finishing in the top 40 to help their team score 46 points and win the 3A girls team championship. Best Of The Rest In Class 4A, the top nine finishers in the 4A boys race were all seniors. Future Florida Gator teammates Riley Smith of Buchholz and Jonathan Leon of Hagerty raced to the finish with Smith getting the win in 15:05.5 and Leon right behind in 15:07. Nease edged Buchholz 85 to 95 to win the team title.
Sophomore teammates Alyson Johnson and Sara Rose of Creekside went 1-2 in the 4A girls final in 18:21.9 and 18:35.1. It was the first cross country state championship for Johnson to go with a pair of track titles last spring (1,600 and 3,200).
In Class 1A Girls, Community School of Naples sophomore Sienna Audrey saved one of her best races of the season for last, winning her first state championship with a time of 18:08.8. Audrey was 35th at last year's state meet in 19:58.07, the only time during the season under 20 minutes.
Henry Stark of Palmer Trinity held off an early charge by Blake Young of Indian Rocks Christian to win his first state championship in 15:30.8. Young helped his IRC squad to a team title as they hoisted the trophy for the second consecutive year.
In Class 2A, Ransom Everglades senior David Serra capped off his high school career with his first cross country state championship in 15:19.5. Serra, who is heading to Wake Forest University, won the 1,600 and 3,200 meters finals on the track as a junior. The Bolles boys won the team title with Bishop Kenny taking second.
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