Preview: FSU Pre-State Invite Elite Races

Sep 28, 2023

WATCH LIVE: FSU Pre-State Invitational

This weekend, Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee will be the center of the Florida high school running universe for the FSU Pre-State Invitational.

The elite races in particular will gather the best of the best in the state as while there will be a race champion for first place overall as a team and individually, many will focused on the race within the race matching up against those in their same classification that will be competing against again in their state meet races on their return trips to the ARP in November.

Girls Preview

A great example will be the 2A girls individual stars all together to face off in the elite race between Cardinal Mooney senior Addison Dempsey (17:20 5K season best), Lake Highland Prep seventh grader Annabella Tomasic (17:41), and Bishop Verot junior Mackenzie De Lisle (17:41).

It will be the first time that all three who currently rank with the top three times in the state of Florida currently are in the same race together this season as Tomasic and De Lisle have split wins against each other in their two head to heads, while Dempsey defeated De Lisle last week at the North Port Invite.

Dempsey ran 17:53 in her last race at Apalachee Regional Park as the 3A state runner-up last November, while this will be the first time for the seventh grade phenom Tomasic racing on the course.

While a 1-2-3 finish is certainly likely from the 3 girls expected to battle it out for the 2A state this fall, there is plenty of other talented runners in the field very well capable of breaking into the top 3 and possibly even challenging for the win.

Three in particular to watch include American Heritage senior Ashley Fitzgerald, Creekside sophomore Alyson Johnson, and and Maclay School sophomore Caroline Couch. All three runners are arguably favorites right now to win state titles in their respective classifications in Florida.

Fitzgerald broke 18 minutes twice at Apalachee Regional Park last fall including a state runner-up finish in the 3A race and is coming off a sub 18 victory at the Spanish River Invitational last weekend.

Johnson, the 4A state champion on the track last spring in the 1600 and 3200, is coming off a personal best 5K run of 17:50 at Bale N Trail last weekend.

Couch was Florida's top finisher at the Southern Showcase in Alabama two weeks ago in a elite field for sixth place with a personal best ime of 18:09. Couch like Creekside's Johnson broke 11 minutes for 3200 meters last spring as the 1A state runner-up in 10:48.

Virtually all the top girls team in the state of Florida will be at the FSU Pre-State Invitational with the only two notable absences being last year's 3A state meet podium squads in Osceola and Dillard.

The Bishop Kenny girls come in as the only undefeated team in the field including major team victories at Cecil Field Summer Classic and Katie Caples Invitational. This weekend will be an opportunity to not only prove themselves against the reigning 2A state champions Bolles, who were competing out of state the same weekend as the Katie Caples Invite but also could stamp themselves as the state's best team overall if they could secure the team title in Tallahassee this weekend. Bishop Kenny is a well packed squad with only 60 seconds separating their varsity 7 lineup from 18:50 to 19:50.

The Bolles girls have a fairly young squad that should only get stronger as season comes along and will gain some valuable racing experience with a group that has only two runners with state meet experience and look to close the gap on Bishop Kenny after their hot start over the first month of the season.

Cambridge Christian, Maclay School, and Oak Hall are all in the running for the 1A state title as Cambridge Christian won two years ago in 2021, Oak Hall won last year in 2022, and Maclay School started the season at Cecil Field with a runner-up finish only 3 points behind Bishop Kenny and ahead of top teams such as Pensacola Christian, Bolles, Cambridge, and Our Lady of Lourdes.

While Pensacola Christian is absent, the 1A girls team competition may have a clearer pecking order with Cambridge, Maclay and Oak Hall all gathering together at the mid-season point.

Even though Osceola and Dillard will not be racing at Pre-State, 3A is equally as a deep and competitive at the front like the 1A classification for girls teams. Ponte Vedra, Our Lady of Lourdes, and Satellite are all ranked among the top 5 currently in the classification as Ponte Vedra was the state champions two years ago and Our Lady of Lourdes defeated Osceola earlier in the season.

All 3 teams will be looking to see their #4 and #5 runners dip into the 19 minute range this weekend, which will bolster their potential to try and knock off Osceola or Dillard from the podium this year.

Ponte Vedra girls are also the defending meet champions as they had one of their best races of the season at last year's FSU Pre-State Invitational before untimely illnesses derailed their championship season finish missing the podium in 3A.

Boys Preview

Patrick Koon returns to try and be the first 3-time FSU Pre-State Invitational race champion in meet history. It would only add to his legacy in being one of Florida's all-time distance running greats.

The Leon senior and recent Stanford commit already owns the course and meet record from his 14:50 victory last year at the FSU Pre-State Invitational. Koon owns state records at the 5K (14:11 indoors) and 3200 meters (8:44 outdoors) distances.

After running in several high profile meets and rolling to fast times in September last year as a junior, Koon has taken a much different approach this year racing in more low key races on slower courses so far as his season best of 15:39 ranks 19th fastest in the field of entrants for the elite race.

Holding back might be by design as well as a reaction of getting injured in the post-season last fall and unable to race at the Foot Locker South Regional after winning a second straight 3A state title with another sub 15 minute race at ARP.

He will get one of his toughest tests to date this weekend when he races against Belen Jesuit's Joshua Ruiz, who ran the fastest 5K cross country time in Florida high school two weeks ago at the Southern Stampede in Huntsville, Alabama with a 14:38 victory. Koon has always been more a step ahead of Ruiz in past head to head races, but this weekend could find him hot on his heels till the end pushing both to a potential sub 14:50 course record performance needed to win.

A course record performance by either might be only safe for a year or so anyways as Ruiz's teammate in freshman Marcelo Mantecon has already run the fastest time by a ninth grader not only in Florida high school history for cross country, but all-time in U.S. high school history with his 14:52 performance at the Southern Showcase. Mantecon has not been to far behind his teammate Ruiz in every finish line chute so far this season.

The field behind them includes nearly 8 others who have broken 15:30 this season and several state champions as well as hopefuls for this cross country season.

Matt Ryan of Nease won the 4A state cross country title on his last race at the ARP and his most recent race performance recording a 15:02 5K performance at the adidas XC Challenge. Ryan ran 15:23 to finish 8th at last year's FSU Pre-State Invitational, while running 15:35 a month later to win the 4A state title. He added another state title this spring in the 3200 with a 9:07 PR performance.

Another state champion in the 3200 this past spring (as well as for 1600 meters) will be racing at the FSU Pre-State Invite on Saturday morning in 2A state cross country favorite David Serra of Ransom Everglades. Serra is coming off a 15:05 PR victory at the Spanish River Invitational last Saturday in Boca Raton.

Ryan and Serra might not be afraid to run up with Koon, Ruiz, and Mantecon to challenge for a top 3 finish and see if they can get pulled along to their first sub 15 race this weekend.

Belen Jesuit will be well represented towards the front of the field by not only Joshua Ruiz and Marcelo Mantecon, but good majority of their varsity lineup including Josh's brothers Joseph and Justin who ran in the 15:20's at Southern Stampede.

Jonathan Leon of Hagerty will be looking forward to his first opportunity to race against Matt Ryan as he figures to be his top challenger to repeat as a state champion and keep Nease's streak of individual state titles to 5 in a row following Rheinhardt Harrison's 5 peat. Leon opened his season with a big win at Cecil Field (15:38) and ran his 15:22 PR in a close runner-up finish to David Serra at the Astronaut Invite.

Spanish River Invitational 3A/4A winner Alejandro Romagosa of Christopher Columbus, North Port Invitational runner-up Hector Toro of Naples, Liam Jordan of Berkeley Prep, and Graham Myers of Fleming Island all project to finish inside the top 10 at Pre-State. Myers ran really well in last year's meet finishing in sixth place with his still personal best time of 15:17. Only Koon and Joshua Ruiz rank ahead of him on the returnees list.

The Belen Jesuit boys won last year's FSU Pre-State Invitational by a margin of 62 points over eventual 4A state champions Creekside with a 15:38 team average and 32 second spread. Expect a bigger margin of victory of Belen this year against the field if racing close to full strength as they are considered by many amongst the top 5 best teams in the nation this season as shown with her dominant win against some of the best teams in the South at the Southern Stampede including recording a state record 15:11 team average.

Their team will be facing a daunting conflict and challenge the next time they will race at Apalachee Regional Park at the FHSAA State Championships on Friday, November 19th. Not because they are not expected to keep their streak of state titles going in the 3A classification, but because they also intend on racing at the Nike Southeast Regional in North Carolina two days later on Sunday, November 21st. They may not race all out at the state meet but hard enough to win to conserve their energy to travel and race two days later in hopes of qualifying for the national meet again.

Thus, the FSU Pre-State Invitational could be the best chance to see the Belen Jesuit boys at their best on Florida soil this fall as they will also travel to Great American next weekend as well to preview the Nike Southeast Regional course.

Last year, Brother Martin made the trip from Louisiana to race in Tallahassee and earned a third place finish behind only Florida state champion squads Belen Jesuit and Creekside. Brother Martin has a squad this year that has a 45 second pack and 15:47 team average who are capable of moving up a spot to runner-up honors behind Belen Jesuit.

Naples is a squad that is hoping to join Belen Jesuit on the state meet podium in November as the 3A state runners-up and will see how they position themselves this weekend against Belen and the rest of the state coming off a great team victory and rolling to fast times at the North Port Invitational with their team average dipping under 16 minutes at 15:56.

The best race within the race in the elite boys field will be all the top 4A schools present to clash to see who might have the mid-season inside track to be our next state champions in the classification. Last year's state champions Creekside and state runners-up Nease will be at FSU Pre-State Invite as well as this year's podium hopefuls in Nease, Buchholz, and Hagerty.

Nease had a great showing out-of-state two weeks ago at the adidas XC Challenge in North Carolina with a runner-up finish against some of top programs in the Southeast and this weekend we will see if they can keep that momentum going when racing on home soil.

Christopher Columbus had their best race of the season at the Spanish River Invitational last weekend also pushing their team average under 16 minutes like Nease did at adidas XC Challenge, while Creekside may have graduated several runners from last year's state champion squad seem to still be addicted to winning including last week a first place team showing at Bale N Trail.

Besides Belen Jesuit, Buchholz might have one of the best top 3's in the race including Riley Smith (15:50), Evan Fleming (15:54), and Gino Palazollo (16:00) which helped them nearly win Katie Caples Invitational over the reigning 2A state champions Bolles in a close runner-up finish.

Hagerty has a solid pack in the 16 minute range for their #2 thru #5 runners behind their front runner and 4A title contender Jonathan Leon to make them a team to watch as well.

Defending 1A state champions Indian Rocks Christian and 2A state champions Bolles as well as 4A contenders Sunlake are the most notable teams missing at FSU Pre-State Invitational, but 22 of the top 25 fastest teams currently in the state of Florida will be racing for strong representation and intense competition at FSU Pre-State Invitational this weekend.