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Belen Jesuit Asserts Dominance In Florida With Victory At New World SpectatcularPublished by
Marcelo Mantecon Runs 14:49 To Lead Wolverines, Mackenzie Roy Leads Four Girls Under Meet Record By Todd Grasley of DyeStat Photos courtesy Cedric Gillette Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton created destruction across the state of Florida and altered extracurricular activities in the process. Impacts on the cross country season included reduced attendance at the FLRunners.com Invitational and the cancellation of the FSU Invitational (Pre-State). So with athletes and teams clamoring to find racing opportunities and quality competition, the New World Fall Spectacular at the Cecil Field Golf Course in Jacksonville took on added importance. Roy shattered the course record by 27 seconds with a time of 17:14, the fastest by a Florida high schooler since the 2021 season. Barlow, who was victorious in her last four races, was second in 17:19. Johnson, the reigning meet champion, was third in 17:23.0. Cambridge Christian junior Eliana Black was fourth, also under the meet record, in 17:33. Creekside, led by Johnson and freshman sister Sydney, who placed sixth in 17:49, won the team championship with 84 points, a 1:43 1-5 split, and an 18:21 team average.
Bishop Kenny (163 points), with a 52-second split on its scoring five, edged out Ponte Vedra High School (169 points) for second.
All three teams are pointed toward success in November. Bishop Kenny looks to repeat as the Class 2A champions, and Ponte Vedra seeks to improve upon a Class 3A runner-up finish from 2023.
The boys race was a bit more more predictable.
Belen Jesuit's Marcelo Mantecon was coming off of a victory at the prestigious Great American XC Festival two weeks ago. He was the standout of the field and cracked the 15-minute barrier for the third time in his career. His time of 14:49 was just shy of the meet record of 14:45 set by current University of Oregon runner Rheinhardt Harrison in 2021.
Mantecon was followed by the Buchholz duo of senior Gino Palazzolo and junior Demetrie Meyers, who just missed the 15-minute barrier with times of 15:01 and 15:02, respectively.
Gulf Breeze sophomore Andrew Beroset was fourth in 15:05. The top eighteen boys finished in 15:30 or faster.
The No. 9 Belen Jesuit boys continued their dominance, scoring 28 points. Mantecon was joined by his teammates Joseph Socarras (fifth), Armando Cruz (eighth), Justin Ruiz (ninth), and Marco Prieguez (12th). The top five were split by 34 seconds and averaged 15:12.
Next up for coach Frankie Ruiz's squad is the FHSAA postseason and the chance to win a 16th state championship, defend their Nike NXR Southeast Regional Championship, and return to Nike Cross Nationals.
Buchholz, last year's FHSAA Cross Country state finals runner-up, finished behind Belen Jesuit with a score of 160 points with incredible performances from Palazzolo and Meyers. Chiles (270) and Cambridge Christian, last year's 1A runner-up (272) battled it out for third and fourth, respectively.
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