Belen Jesuit FL Boys Go 1-2 On The Way To Team Win

By Ricky Quintana for DyeStat

INTERVIEWS

Jacksonville, Fla. -  Belen Jesuit FL junior Marcelo Mantecon and  Bishop Moore FL freshman Annabella Tomasic broke course records Friday night at the Cecil Field Summer Classic.

The Elite girls race was the first race to go off under overcast skies and cooler than average temperature. Seven Rivers Christian freshman Mary Sumners, last year’s 1,600m and 3,200m 1A state champion, and Tomasic are known for their fast starts and followed that race plan as they sped to a 5:20 opening mile. 

Tomasic shadowed Sumners and eventually took the lead just past the mile mark.

“I wanted to stay relaxed. Obviously, I wanted to go out at a good pace , but I wasn’t trying to push it too hard,” said Tomasic, who won the 1A state cross country title in 17:32.9 as a seventh grader. “ I just wanted to stay in a comfortable enough zone so I could work the second mile and build off of that first mile.”

She continued to open daylight hitting the halfway mark in 8:32 and the two-mile in 11:07 as her lead grew from 12 seconds to 39 seconds by race end. Her 17:37 squashed the course and meet record of 17:46 set by Elliana Black in 2022. The time also bettered Tomasic's time of 18:15 from last year when she placed third.

“I had two goals today: come out and place well and run a good time, preferably sub 18. I think I achieved both of those things. I’m really happy.” 

Since her seventh grade title, Tomasic has been beset by injuries. This year, her approach is different.

“There are a lot of things I’m doing differently this year,“ she said. “ Stretching is a big one. I think it’s something that I undervalued a little bit. Definitely, race mentality: not every race is going to be good, but you are going to have good races. As a runner,  I feel it’s my job to ride out the lows and definitely build and strive to be the best runner I can be even if not every race is not what I’m looking for.”

Finishing second was another freshman, Avery Hartley of Bartram Trail FL. She worked her way up from the pack into third and then overtook Sumners before the halfway mark. Her time of 18:15 was the eighth fastest in meet history.

“It did go out really hot. Honestly, it didn’t feel as fast as I was expecting it to be,” she said. “ I really didn’t know what pace we were going on because I didn’t wear a watch. I raced both of them a lot and I know they usually go out really fast.  I was expecting to hit 1.7, 1.8  miles and start to push then. I hit that and felt really sick so I couldn’t do that unfortunately, but it felt really good.”

Mantecon's first day of school was Thursday, but that didn’t keep the Wolverine and his teammates from making the five and half hour trek to Jacksonville for Friday night’s boys elite race. 

The course’s first 200 meters is precarious as it narrows to a 10-yard wide bridge, but the race got out fast with little bumping and positioning from the competitors. 

A pack of five including Mantecon reached the 800 meters together before junior Axel Sallault started to inject some pace. That was short lived as Mantecon and Holy Trinity FL senior Evan Spreitzer began to assert themselves. For Spreitzer, this was new territory, but it fit his strategy he had planned before the race.

“My game plan was to sit on Marcelo and see how long I could hold on to him and see if I could finish,” said Spreitzer, who won the 1A 3,200m title in 9:09.49 and ran 4:12.20 in the mile at RunningLane last spring.

Mantecon and Spreitzer hit the mile in an even paced 4:36, shedding the pack. With just Spreitzer left, Mantecon maintained the pace, opening up the lead to two seconds by halfway which he hit in 7:15. A 4:37 second mile split brought him to 9:23 at two miles. A quick glance back to check on his teammate, Armando Cruz, saw only open green as he continued opening the lead breaking the tape in a new course and meet record of 14:50. That shaved 11 seconds off his meet and course record set last year.

“A lot of work went into it over the summer. I went to Arizona (Flagstaff for a month). It was a blast and now we have to get to business now with the races,” Mantecon said.

Behind him, Cruz, a junior, finished in 15:15 to tie for third-fastest all time with Patrick Koon (Leon FL). Koon set that time as a junior as well.

“The first 200 meters went pretty conservative, I’d say. We got to the line late, so some of us were starting behind people so we didn’t have good positioning at the start, but I was able to get out fine,” said Cruz who bettered his 5k cross country best by five seconds. “ It’s only the beginning. We have the whole season to go and we still have a lot of races. I want to continue improving and keep that number two spot, closing the time between me and Marcelo and do the best for the team that I can.”

Spreitzer held on for third finishing in 15:28.

“Going into about a mile and a half, I fell off a little. I was able to hold the last half of the race,” he said.

Belen claimed the team title with 104 points to outdistance Oviedo with 160 points, Bolles with 203 points and Buchholz with 208 points. They will follow the same schedule as last year and compete at the Florida Horse Park Invitational, the Southern Showcase, Great American XC Festival and FSU PreState.

Mantecon has now been on the national stage since the eighth grade and commented on how he will approach this upcoming season.

“One thing that goes into it is being patient. It’s a long season  so I don’t want to do anything too crazy yet. I’m going to save myself for later on in the season. I need to help the team so I can bring them up and so we can do well in the big races.”