Full Virtual Race Preview: Cecil Field Summer Classic Elite Boys
Meet preview for the elite boys race at the 2022 Cecil Field Summer Classic on Friday, August 26th in Jacksonville.
This event has quickly become one of Florida's best early season meets on a fast course to start the season at Cecil Field.
In the elite boys race set to go off at 7:45 PM as the sun starts to set, the race will feature 10 sub 16 minute 5K runners returning from last year including 12 of the top 25 ranked runners in the state of Florida coming into the season.
Headlining the field is last year's 3A state champion and Eastbay (formerly Foot Locker) Nationals qualifier Patrick Koon of Leon. Koon ran 14:40 for 5K on the track this past outdoor season for All-American honors at New Balance Nationals, while his cross country best of 15:05 comes from the same venue at Cecil Field at the New World Fall Spectacular last October.
Koon is the reigning champion from last year's Cecil Field Summer Classic when as a sophomore was able to pull away and drop now graduated seniors Matthew Stratton, Michael Toppi, and Nick Carpenter for a statement making 15:15 season opener. Could he lit it rip and chase after sub 15 minutes right off the bat?
Chasing after Koon will be a pack of Florida's top tier including #2 Aidan Ryan of Bolles, #4 Riley Novack of Montverde Academy, #6 Alex Pena of Sunlake, #8 Emerson Miller of Buchholz, #11 Cameron Raney of Viera, #12 Wyatt Townsend of Chiles, #13 Andrew Mahorner of Satellite, #14 Jack Dejesus of Circle Christian, #16 Grant Doherty of Ponte Vedra, and #17 Devin Makousky of Rockledge.
Aidan Ryan is actually not expected to race this weekend coming off a minor injury scare at the end of his summer training, so will not have that early season matchup the state's top two ranked runners in 2A state title favorite Ryan and defending 3A state champ Koon. Ryan will also be missed in an opportunity for one of his top challengers in his 2A classification in Novack to face him.
Novack also had his injury obstacles to overcome during the outdoor season before able to return in time for championship season to compete and run PR's of 4:19 in the 1600 and 9:31 in the 3200. Novack started out fast last cross country season with 4 straight invitational wins including a 15:07 5K best in that stretch and ultimately finished 4th in the 2A state race with a time of 15:40. This will be his first time racing at Cecil Field with his Montverde squad.
With the news of Brayden Seymour moving to California this past weekend, the door is wide open in 4A to establish who is the runner to be in the classification and this meet at Cecil Field could establish an initial pecking order of who is #1 right between the likes of Emerson Miller, Alex Pena, Cameron Raney, and Wyatt Townsend all in attendance.
Miller has the fastest 5K PR of the group at 15:27 from the post-season at the RunningLane Championships last December and had a stellar track season with personal bests of 4:17 in the 1600 and 9:17 in the 3200. He was sixth at last year's Cecil Field Summer Classic with a time of 15:50.
Pena moves up in classification from 3A to 4A with his Sunlake squad and has been a consistently strong performer in all of his races over the past year with a 15:40 5K best from last fall and third place finisher in last year's 3A state race behind Koon and Belen Jesuit's Joshua Ruiz. Pena dropped swift times of 4:14 in the 1600 and 9:15 in the 3200 on the track this spring.
Raney is the top returnee from last year's 4A state champions as well as last year's team champions at the Cecil Field Summer Classic in Viera with a 15:44 5K best and opened up last week running not far off that time with a 15:55 third place showing at the Wickham Park Jamboree. Raney is the third highest returnee from last year's Cecil Field Summer Classic when he placed 10th with a time of 15:59.
Townsend grabbed the 15th and final All-State spot in last year's 4A state cross country race and returns with a 15:48 5K best and dropped a 9:22 3200 best on the track this spring for Chiles High School. He will definitely be mixed in with the top chase pack at Cecil Field.
Among the top 3A runners after the state champion Koon in the field include Devin Makousky of Rockledge, Andrew Mahorner of Satellite, Grant Doherty of Ponte Vedra, and Graham Myers and John Keester IV of Fleming Island.
Finishing ahead of Raney by 5 seconds in last weekend at Wickham Park was Rockledge's Devin Makousky as the two figure to battle later this season for the Cape Coast Conference title. Makousky had a great start to his 2022 season with a 15:50 victory last weekend in Melbourne to be only 3 seconds off his 5K PR from RunningLane last December and ran all-time bests of 4:17 in the 1600 and 9:27 in the 3200 on the track in the 2022 outdoor season.
Mahorner was the third high school finisher in last Saturday's Wickham Park Jamboree in 4th place at 16:27 behind Makousky and Raney and will be looking to close the gap on them this week. The Satellite senior Mahorner is one of the state's fastest returnees at 3200 meters after running 9:13 at the FSU Relays this spring, so projects to dip well into the 15 minute range this season.
Grant Doherty finished one place ahead of Makousky last fall in the 3A state race for All-State honors in 11th place and is looking to right of the gate break 16 minutes for only the second time on Friday and best his 15:56 from the New World Fall Spectacular from last October. The Ponte Vedra senior ran 9:21 for 3200 meters this spring, but actually missed competing in the event at the state meet due to a car crash on the way to the event (he is/was fine).
After being part of a strong 1-2 duo last year with Matthew Stratton at St. Johns Country Day School, Graham Myers has found himself part of another one moving over to Fleming Island High School to join with John Keester IV. Myers was the 1A state runner-up in the 3200 this past spring as a sophomore behind Stratton with a 9:26 3200 best and ran his fastest 5K time of 16:16 last fall at Cecil Field in the New World Fall Spectacular. Keester is right behind him with a 16:17 PR in cross country and ran 9:27 on the track.
Besides Koon, the highest state meet finisher from one year ago in the Cecil Field Summer Classic will be last year's 1A state runner-up Jack Dejesus of Circle Christian. Dejesus started his season last year at this meet with an 18th place finishing time of 16:18 before ultimately ending his season with a 15:53 run at Apalachee Regional Park in his state meet performance.
The team competition could be very interesting if in fact Aidan Ryan will not be racing for FL #2 ranked Bolles as it would bring them back to the field for an expected closer competition with the defending 2A state champions and last year's 4A state runners-up in FL #3 ranked Creekside. The virtual meet projection actually gives Creekside a 13 point advantage at 153 to 166 points if exclude Ryan racing, while it would be a much bigger point swing for Bolles favor if he was hypothetically competing.
Both teams should be well packed up and each is capable of keeping their top 5 spread under a minute. The question is who will be tighter packed and also able to move up in the deep field assembled at Cecil Field. Creekside might have a little more depth or backup security with 7 runners returning who have broken 17 minutes led by Mac Williams at 16:01 and Jack Dravo at 16:11.
Meanwhile, Bolles definitely has more than 5 guys capable of running 17 minutes in cross country based on their track performances but on paper this weekend would have just 5 who have already done it without Ryan led by Matthew Thomas at 16:15 and Daniel deMonte at 16:16.
After those two squads considered among the best in the Jacksonville area, who we will be both paying a workout visit following the results from Cecil Field, is 10 of the top 20 preseason ranked teams in the state of Florida making for 12 of 20 best squads present on Friday evening.
Those highly ranked squads include #8 Nease, #10 Indian Rocks Christian, #11 Circle Christian, #12 Niceville, #13 Satellite, #14 Ponte Vedra, #16 Bishop Kenny, #18 Sunlake, and #19 Viera.
There is a potential of a 1-2-3 sweep by local schools with Nease also being a formidable team returning in life after Rheinhardt Harrison led by Sam Myers and Matt Ryan with a squad capable of having 5 runners under 17 minutes to start the season. Myers (16:12 5K PR) was a top 20 finisher in last year's Cecil Field Summer Classic at 16:20 for 19th place, while Ryan had a breakout track season earning All-State honors in 4A for the 3200 and 9:20 PR.
The 4A Region 1 schools aka The Region of Death will be well represented on Friday in an early measuring stick of how the top squads in one of the toughest regions to advance out of stack up against one another. Not only are FL #3 Creekside and FL #8 Nease in the region, but FL #5 Buchholz and FL #12 Niceville who will also be competing at Cecil Field.
Buchholz boys have the talent to compete for a state this fall with their defending champion girls squad led by Emerson Miller along with Mason Kawaja and Riley Smith as a talented trio capable of all starting the season in the 16 minute range or faster on Friday.
Niceville making the trip all the way from the Florida Panhandle has 4 sub 17 minute returnees on their roster and one of the few top teams that is capable of keeping their top 5 spread under 17 minutes.
There will certainly be lot of races within races at Cecil Field including last year's podium teams in the 1A classifications for boys in defending champions Indian Rocks Christian and the 2021 runners-up Circle Christian. Both teams could be arguably better than last year and will exciting to see how both teams start their seasons against one another early on.
Other teams to certainly watch as well in the field include last year's 2A state runners-up now moving up to 3A in Satellite, another 3A podium contender in Ponte Vedra, 2A podium contender Bishop Kenny, Sunlake, and the defending 4A state champions and last year's Cecil Field Summer Classic winners Viera. A lot of these teams have a great opportunity to answer any questions or doubts about them heading into this season since they are all ranked in spots #12 through #20 statewide if they can knock off some of the top 10 ranked squads ahead of them racing as well at Cecil Field.
flrunners.com will be on-site with race video, photo, and interview coverage from all the races on Friday at the 2022 Cecil Field Summer Classic.