Recap from Friday's elementary school races at the 2022 FLYRA Middle School State Championships.
Elementary K-2nd Grade Boys/Girls 1K
In the combined boys and girls race to kick off the 2022 FLYRA Middle School State Championships, a total of 73 finishers ran the 1 kilometer course at Holloway Park in the kindergarten thru 2nd grade elementary race.
It ended up being a race for first to cross the line between the top boy and top girl in the race with West Express Elite's Emmanuel Cornejo finishing first in a time of 3:50 to lead the boys, while Boca Warriors Track Club second grader Arielle Gorlovetzky was the first girls finisher just behind Cornejo with a time of 3:52.
Gorlovetzky had run 9:17 in the 2K elementary school race at the flrunners.com Invitational several weeks ago at Holloway Park. Boca Warriors had the top two girls in the race with winner Gorlovetzky and Margo Macey in second place at 4 minutes flat.
Veritas Florida had 2 of the top 3 boys in the race with Ryan Laird (2nd, 3:53) and Riser Roberts (3rd, 4:00).
Elementary 3rd-5th Grade Girls 2K
After being challenged by Round Lake Charter's Madison Colemen for the first half of the race, No Excuses Running Club's Brianna Motycka was able to pull away in the last half of the elementary school girls 2K for 3rd thru 5th graders to win in a swift time of 7:43. Motyka just missed the 2K race record of 7:42 held by Layla Fuller of Central Florida Gliders in the 2018 FLYRA State Champs.
Motycka won the Alligator Lake Invitational 2K race earlier this season in 7:57 and was sixth in last year's FLYRA State Championships in 8:21, so has made considerable improvements since then.
She also broke 12 minutes for 3K earlier in the season in the middle school race (11:58) at the Bale-N-Trail Invitational. Her older brother Braden Motycka, is currently a sophomore at Bartram Trail High School with a 16:34 5K best.
Colemen fell just short of winning her third race of the season at Holloway Park with her runner-up season best effort of 8:02. The fifth grader at Round Lake Charter won the elementary school 2K races earlier this season at the Jim Ryun FCA Invitational in 8:20 and flrunners.com Invitational in 8:12.
The Ocala Distance Project won the team title with 37 points and an impressive 40 second spread between their top 5 scorers to put them ahead of the Motycka led No Excuses Running Club in second place with 51 points.
Ocala Distance Project had 5 girls under 9 minutes with Annalise Hallick (4th, 8:12), Rylee McGovern (8th, 8:34), Reese McGovern (15th, 8:45), Sydney Farris (17th, 8:47), and Ava Roberts (21st, 8:53).
Elementary 3rd-5th Grade Boys 2K
Willie McKenney of Genesis Athletics repeated as a FLYRA state champion. Ater winning the elementary school boys 2K race last year as a fourth grader in 7:20, McKenney came back this year to win as a fifth grader running nearly 20 seconds faster and almost break 7 minutes with a 7:01 performance.
He needed to run that fast as McKenny had fellow fifth grader Dominic Johnson from No Excuses Running Club hot on his heels the entire race as they two flew on the final loop to the finish line.
Johnson ran 10:40 for 3K earlier this season and won the The Berry 3K/2K meet with a 7:03 2K performance this past month.
It was a fast race overall with nine boys breaking 8 minutes on the 2K course at Holloway Park. The team battle was close with only 13 points separating the top 3 finishing teams with The Elite Runner Fort Myers (ERYRC) winning with a score of 46 points, but closely followed by No Excuses RC (2nd, 55 pts) and Boca Warriors Track Club (3rd, 59 pts).
ERYRC had a very stout front three with fifth grader Noah Lefko (3rd, 7:29) and fourth graders Maxwell Claypool (5th, 7:36) and Cyprian Reid (6th, 7:46) to key their team win.