WATCH LIVE: flrunners.com XC Invitational
flrunners.com Invitational
Middle School Virtual Race Projections:
Boys - Girls
While the flrunners.com Invitational certainly boasts one of the top high school fields will find across the state annually with the Saturday race of champions, the middle school portion of the meet might be becoming the best and largest participation portions of the meet as there will be over 400 runners each in the middle school boys and girls 3K races on Friday.
The meet essentially is the closest thing to a pre-state meet for the FLYRA Middle School State Championships to be held later this month on the same course at Holloway Park in Lakeland.
Girls Preview
Lainee Mercer, the eighth grader competing for the Hillsborough Harriers, is coming off a big win last weekend in the middle school race at the FSU Pre-State Invitational with her 10:39 personal best 3K run in Tallahassee.
Mercer, a FLYRA middle school state champion for the club division, has gone undefeated this season including two victories at Holloway Park at the Jim Ryun FCA Invitational (11:11) and Holloway Park Jamboree (10:57). Her course PR is 10:50 from last year's FLYRA Middle State Championships.
She is also the top returnee from last year's flrunners.com Invitational when she finished as the race runner-up behind only Cheyenne Thomas of Red Sea Running Club with a time of 11:10.
Mercer is the lone sub 11 minute performer in the field, but behind her is a large pack of 10 girls who have broken 12 minutes this season with Indian Trails Middle 8th grader Peyton Cerasi (11:03 PR), Bayshore Project 8th grader Katherine Eudaly (11:22), and Miami Elite Track Club 8th grader Nicole Lewis (11:29) leading that group.
Cerasi was the runner-up last weekend at the FSU Pre-State middle school girls 3K race to Mercer in a new cross country personal best time of 11:03. Cerasi had a prior best of 11:16 from a third place finish at the Katie Caples Invitational. She has run faster on the track for 3K from her 10:45 performance and 12th place finish from the FLYRA Middle School State Championships.
Katherine Eudaly is the younger sister of Mary Ellen Eudaly, one of Florida's all-time fastest milers at 4:45 and currently running for the University of Arkansas. The younger Eudaly was a third place finisher in last year's FLYRA Middle School State Championships club race behind only Mercer and Avery Hartley from No Excuses Running Club with a 3K best time of 11:08.
Earlier this season, Eudaly finished second at Holloway Park with a time of 11:22 at the Jim Ryun FCA Invitational only 12 seconds behind the race winner Mercer. She has some speed to close after running a 4:52 1500 meter time last spring.
Another individual to watch in the race and she will look to keep her momentum going from her last meet is Jada Ordway from the Tampa Bay Pirates as the seventh grader won the North Port Invitational's middle school race over two weeks ago in a personal best 3K time of 11:35. She ran away from the field at North Port and should have much better competition to push her this Friday at the flrunners.com Invitational to a time closer to 11 minutes.
Another middle school runner with a well known older sibling star at the high school level can be found in Miami Elite Track Club's Marisa Mantecon as her older brother Marcelo continues to break class records every race as a ninth grader now for Belen Jesuit.
The younger Mantecon and club teammate Nicole Lewis have both run in the mid 11 minute range for 3K before as Lewis has really excelled this season was the runner-up at the Spanish River Invitational with a time off 11:29, while Mantecon finished fifth just over 12 minutes. Lewis also won the Miami-Dade County Youth Fair Championships with a 14:12 performance on the 2.1 mile course at Larry & Penny Thompson Park.
The team battle for the middle school girls title at the flrunners.com Invitational should be competitively close for the top 3 places between Red Sea Running Club, Ocala Distance Project, and Miami Elite Track Club while Boca Warriors Track Club and Hillsborough Harriers also could get in the mix.
Red Sea Running Club comprised of runners at Tavares Middle School is currently ranked #1 in the state based on times alone with only a 35 second spread separating their top 5 runners including 3 of those team members who have run under 12 minutes this season in Laken Hartley (11:46), Jimena Nava-Garcia (11:48), and Isabella Neal (11:58).
They are looking to bounce back though after a fourth place finish at FSU Pre-State Invite behind two North Florida teams in Ruckel Middle from the Panhandale and Deerlake Middle from Tallahassee. Their team has had team victories already this season at Jim Ryun FCA Invitational, Florida Horse Park Invitational and Katie Caples Invitational.
Meanwhile, Ocala Distance Project also has a tight pack of only 30 seconds for their top 5 runners but are looking for their first one of that group led by Hallick sisters, Lyla (12:01) and Annalise (12:02), to break 12 minutes this season.
Ocala Distance Project has a pair of notable third places this season in quality fields at the Florida Horse Park Invitational and Bale N Trail.
Miami Elite certainly has a great front two in Nicole Lewis and Marisa Mantecon, while looking for their #3 and #5 runners to step up for them to compete for the title.
The Boca Warriors girls have traditionally been the best youth distance club team in South Florida and have a great squad this season including Makaela Morilla (11:44) and Adrianna Perrette (11:46) as sub 12 minute performers.
At the Spanish River Invitational, it was a close team competition between the race champions Miami Elite Track Club with 34 points compared to the Boca Warriors Track Club with 40 points in second place.
The Hillsborough Harriers led by Mercer were runners-up at the Jim Ryun Invitational and Florida Horse Park Invitational behind only Red Sea Running Club.
Boys Preview
The middle school boys race at the flrunners.com Invitational will be hyper competitive including a field that has 21 athletes who have broken 11 minutes on 3K cross country courses this season as well as four of the state's top five fastest squads this season.
The Red Sea Running Club is looking to sweep both the team and individual titles with their front runner Maddox Mars leading the way. Mars broke 10 minutes for the first time last weekend in a very fast middle school race at FSU Pre-State Invitational as his 9:57 PR run only warranted him a third place finish.
Earlier this season, Mars finished second at Holloway Park in the Jim Ryun FCA Invitational with a time of 10:23 and is looking to get a taste of victory this weekend.
The runner who might be considered the pre-race favorite over Mars though even without a sub 10 minute performance to his credit is Belen Jesuit eighth grader Nicholas Veloso. Veloso has notched two major wins this season in the Florida Horse Park Invitational and Spanish River Invitational clocking 10:13 performances in both races.
His teammate Jack Michalak should be close behind him just as Red Sea Running Club seventh grader Omar Castillo (10:11) should be as well working with his teammate Mars in the race.
The race up front between those two duos should set the stage for the team battle between two of the top contending teams at the flrunners.com Invitational between Red Sea Running Club and Belen Jesuit.
Red Sea impressively has 7 runners who have run under 11 minutes this season and has yet to lose a team competition in all 6 of their invitational races this season including last week's FSU Pre-State Invitational.
Meanwhile, the Belen Jesuit middle school program had a resounding team win at the Spanish River Invitational with their 31 point total putting them well ahead of runner-up Boca Warriors with 75 points as they posted a team average of 10:44 for their top 5 runners.
Hillsborough Harriers have been competitively close a few times to the Red Sea Running Club this season including a sixth runner tiebreaker required to separate the two teams to start the season at the Jim Ryun FCA Invitational.
The Elite Runner Fort Myers club last week was the runner-up squad to Red Sea Running Club at FSU Pre-State Invitational and also projects to be in the mix with five runners who have broken 11 minutes this season led by Christian Ginart at 10:17 and Reed Hagen at 10:28.