Same Time, Different Place: River Smith Wins a K-2 State Title by a Hundredth of a Second Per Mile, and Belleview Middle Takes 19th at the FLYRA Championships

Results: River Smith (Ocala Distance Project) won the K-2 boys 1K at the FLYRA state cross country championships at Holloway Park in Lakeland on Friday, Oct. 30, 2026, in 3:50.4. Brooks Maynard was ninth and Titus Hill 30th in the same race; Cortland Smith (108th) and Chasiin Edwards (113th) ran the 3rd-5th grade boys 2K. On Saturday, Oct. 31, Belleview Middle School placed 19th of 30 scoring teams in the public school girls 3K, with Reese McGovern 19th overall in 12:05.8 and Rylee McGovern 91st; seven Belleview boys finished the public school boys 3K, with Aharon Nadeau 220th in 13:08.0. All results are from the official Elite Timing results.

The closest finish of the Florida Youth Running Association's state cross country weekend belonged to a kindergarten-through-second-grade race, and the boy who won it is from Ocala. River Smith of the Ocala Distance Project and Ramsey Schmidt of Liza Jackson Prep were both timed in 3:50.4 for the K-2 boys 1,000 meters at Holloway Park in Lakeland on Friday, Oct. 30, 2026. The official results list Smith first and Schmidt second with a gap of .0 seconds; the only number that separates them on the sheet is average mile pace, 6:11.5 to 6:11.6. Leo Montesinos of Miami Twisters was third in 3:52.3.

It was not an easy afternoon to run a personal best. Elite Timing, which timed the meet, logged the 4 p.m. start as cloudy and humid at 84 degrees, with a 16 mph wind gusting to 25. Fifty-eight boys finished the 1K. Two more Ocala Distance Project runners were among them: Brooks Maynard was ninth in 4:09.3 and Titus Hill was 30th in 4:41.4. Bell Shoals Academy won the team title with 17 points over Belmont Academy Charter School, the only two complete teams in the race; with three finishers, the Ocala Distance Project did not field a scoring team.

Thirty-seven minutes later, in the 3rd-5th grade boys 2K, 250 boys started at 4:37 p.m. into an 82-degree afternoon with a 14 mph wind gusting to 23. Brody Milek of Boca Warriors Track Club won in 7:40.8, 1.4 seconds ahead of Evan Fredricks of Trinity School for Children, and Boca Warriors took the team title with 25 points. Ocala Distance Project's Cortland Smith finished 108th in 9:56.0 and Chasiin Edwards 113th in 10:03.8.

Saturday: Belleview Middle in the public school races

The middle school championship races ran Saturday morning in cooler air, 76 degrees and an 8 mph wind at the 8:20 a.m. start of the public school girls 3K. Belleview Middle School finished 19th of 30 scoring teams with 521 points in a field of 282 finishers. Tavares Middle School won with 27 points over Emerald Coast Middle School's 40, and Brianna Motycka of Liberty Pines Academy won the individual race in 10:26.0.

Seventh grader Reese McGovern led Belleview in 19th place in 12:05.8, 1:40.8 behind the winner. Seventh grader Twyla Martin was 90th in 13:21.0, eighth grader Rylee McGovern was 91st in 13:23.2, two seconds behind her teammate, Lindy Shute was 224th in 15:36.4 and Ryleigh Robinson 266th in 17:19.8. A year ago at the same meet, when the public school and club girls ran together in one race, Reese McGovern was 24th overall in 12:01.2 and Rylee McGovern 36th in 12:24.7, and Belleview was 15th among the public school teams. Earlier this fall the same group took the top four places in the middle school 3K at the Wildwood Invitational, where Reese McGovern won in 14:16.20.

Both McGoverns train with the Ocala Distance Project, and both were on the club's 3rd-5th grade girls team that won the FLYRA 3rd-5th grade girls state team title in 2022, with Rylee eighth and Reese 15th in that race, the club says; its club page lists the elementary girls team among its state champions. No official results page for the 2022 meet could be opened for this article.

In the public school boys 3K at 9 a.m., 323 boys finished and Drake Matyka of East Lake Middle School Academy of Engineering won in 9:39.8. Belleview put seven across the line: Tanner Dorschied 178th in 12:38.9, Aharon Nadeau 220th in 13:08.0, Ethan Benavidas 232nd in 13:16.7, Connor Labazzetta 254th in 13:31.8, Owen Plotner 259th in 13:34.3, Tevin Issac 269th in 13:44.2 and Luca Aguila 301st in 14:35.8. Nadeau, who also runs for the Ocala Distance Project, cut more than a minute from his time at this meet a year ago, when he ran 14:13.5. The results page publishes no team standings for the public school boys race.

Marion County results at a glance

The FLYRA meet is the last cross country championship of the fall for most Marion County youth runners. The county's high school season continues with the FHSAA district and regional rounds; see our Marion Athletic Conference championship results for the county's varsity picture, and the Ocala running guide for youth programs and local races, including the Ocala Kids Run, where several of Saturday's Belleview runners raced in August.

Sources: Official FLYRA MS State Championships 2026 results (Elite Timing, read Oct. 31, 2026), including race conditions and the 2025 results archive; Run Florida Run for the elementary race-by-race write-up; the Ocala Distance Project club page and its coach for the 2022 team title; Elite Timing's event page for the venue address. Disclosure: the Ocala Distance Project is coached by Darrin DeTorres, the owner of Only In Ocala, who also took the photographs in this article.