FLYRA MS State Cross Country Championship 2025
The FLYRA MS State Cross Country Championship takes place Friday and Saturday, Oct 31st and Nov 1st at Holloway Park in Lakeland. The Elementary School 2K races and a 1K for K-2 grade boys and girls take place on Friday afternoon. The middle school boys and girls races are Saturday morning. The middle school races are divided into MS Private/Charter schools and MS Public/Club schools and programs. The middle school runners all had to qualify for the championships. It's the best of the best, and while the high schoolers start their FHSAA district meets this coming week, the middle school championships feature some of the state's top upcoming boys and girls talent and provide some of the most exciting races of the year.
Photo Credit: M. Stonecipher
The Elementary School 2K races are always entertaining, and this year, you want to watch for the 4th-grader (Class of 2034), Aliana Alvarez. Alvarez runs for the Red Sea Running Club and for Tavares Middle School. This young lady has some credentials, and she is only a 4th-grader.
2022 9th in FLYRA MS State Cross Country Championship 1K 4:27.10
2023 1st in FLYRA MS State Cross Country Championship 1K 3:43.30
2023 47th at FSU Pre-State MS race 3K 13:05.10
2024 2nd in FLYRA MS State Cross Country Championship 2K 7:32.47
2024 1st as a 3rd-grader at the Middle School XC Nationals (Elementary Girls 2000 Meter Run Finals) 2K in 7:28.10.
2025 is undefeated in the 2K with a 7:14.44 PR and most impressively, she has been running for Tavares Middle School and was 6th last weekend in the FSU Pre-State Invitational 3K middle school race with an 11:25.60.
Middle School Girls Preview
The 3K Meet and Venue record on the Holloway Park course is 10:12.10, set in 2023 by now-freshman Annabella Tomasic of Bishop Moore. That year Tomasic also won the FHSAA 2A Girls State Championship.
Girls Public/Club Championship
Brianna Motycka at Cecil Field in August.
Photo Credit: Cedric Gillette
Watch for 7th-grader Brianna Motycka of the No Excuses RC (Liberty Pines Academy) and 6th-grader Emily Del Mazo of the Gulf Coast Runners (St. John Neumann) to press the pace out front. They are the No. 2 and 3 ranked 3000m middle school girls in the state with 3K times of 10:30.90 and 10:37.40 respectively. Motycka has a long history at the middle school state, going back to her 2nd-grade year, when she finished 2nd in the 1000m race in 3:48.06. This year, she comes in undefeated in the 3K with wins at HOKA NIGHTS OF THUNDER, Bale n' Trail and Alligator Lake. She has the 7th-fastest all-time 3K of 10:33.30 on the Holloway Park course, with her 3rd-place finish in the 2023 MS Championships.
Emily Del Mazzo at 024 FLYRA MS State Cross Country Championships.
Photo Credit: Nancy Scott
Emily Del Mazo of the Royal Palm Academy should challenge Motycka. Del Mazzo is also undefeated in the 3K this XC season with wins at the GCR State XC Qualifier, the Ave Invite, MIA Rays Invitational, and the SAC Finals. In 2023, she was 4th in the Middle School XC Nationals as a 5th-grader in the 2K race that Aliana Alvarez won, with a 7:54.70.
Photo Credit: Chris Shonk
Motycka and Del Mazo will have some company up front, however, in the overall race from the Public school girls. 8th-grader Nina Emhoff of Emerald Coast Middle School is the No. 1-ranked middle schooler in the state, with a 10:23.98. She has raced four times with three wins. Her only loss was a second-place finish to Brianna Motycka at the 17th Annual Alligator Lake Invitational. In 2024, she was 14th at the FLYRA MS State Cross Country Championships with an 11:17.45, and in 2023, she was 25th with a 12:10.10.
Alice Ilea at FLRUNNERS.COM
Photo Credit: M. Stonecipher
Two other girls who have run sub-11 and who are having outstanding years are: 7th-grader Alice Ilea of Tavares Middle School , who has run a 10:46.00, and 8th-grader Zoey Christensen, who is running unattached. Christensen has run 10:56.40. Ilea is undefeated this season with her biggest win coming at the Florida Horsepark Invittional where she ran her 10:46.00. She is running unattached in her first season of Cross Country and has racked up several impressive 3K performances. She was second to Ilea at the Florida Horse Park Invitational with a 10:56.40.
Zoey Christensen at Florida Horse Park
Photo Credit: M. Stonecipher
Others to Watch:
Colette Heffernan of Landrum Middle School 10:59.70
Acadia Hassell of Montford Middle School 11:07.21
Piper Ross of Landrum Middle School 11:08.68
Girls' Private/Charter Championship
Eleven girls have run sub-12:00 in the Private School Division, with Valentina Sarcos the sole girl under 11:10.00 with an 11:05.90. The 7th grader has only raced once this season and was 2nd at the MIA Rays Invitational to Emily Del Mazo. Del Mazo is one of the favorite runners in the Public/Club division. Sarcos has run 7th twice in the MS State meet in the 2K, with her fastest time coming in the 2023 race, where she ran 8:21.20. Last year, she was 9th in the 3K with an 11:48.05.
Based upon seed times, it should be a very competitive race with just .35 seconds separating the 16 other girls that have run under 12:00.
Girls Charter School
| Martinez-Lejarza, Eva | 11:41.44 | True North Classical Academy Cha |
| St. John, Analyse | 11:51.50 | LLT South Bay |
| Martinez-Lejarza, Lauren | 11:54.74 | True North Classical Academy Cha |