MAC Cross Country Championships Preview: Lombardo, Vickerman and Brannon Are Gone, and the Field at Belleview Is Wide Open

The Marion Athletic Conference (MAC) Cross Country Championships are Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026, at Belleview High School, 10400 SE 36th Ave., Belleview. The meet is the county championship for Marion County's public high schools. Fifty-six boys and 46 girls from eight schools are entered in the two varsity 5K races, according to the meet's DirectAthletics page, where entries closed Wednesday morning.

The boys' race has no clear favorite this year. Three of the top eight finishers from 2025 are now in college, and the six fastest boys entered have season bests within 37 seconds of each other.

At a glance

• What: MAC Cross Country Championships, varsity boys' and girls' 5K races
• When: Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026. Start times had not been posted on the meet page as of Thursday, Oct. 22. Last year the boys started at 7:30 a.m. and the girls at 8 a.m.
• Where: Belleview High School, 10400 SE 36th Ave., Belleview, FL 34420
• Schools entered: Belleview, Dunnellon, Forest, Lake Weir, North Marion, South Marion, Vanguard and West Port
• Defending team champions: Vanguard, in both races
• Meet contact: Dan Epstein, (352) 613-4478, as listed on DirectAthletics

Who is gone from last year

Last fall's boys' race went to Luke Lombardo of West Port, who won in 16:32.56. Vanguard's Timothy Brannon was third in 16:51.49, and Forest's Zach Vickerman, who pushed the pace with Lombardo for the first two miles, was eighth in 17:20.03. All three were seniors. Lombardo is now at Furman University, Vickerman is at the University of North Florida and Brannon runs Division I cross country at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton.

The girls' race lost its top two. Vanguard's Ava and Emma Curtis went one-two last year in 19:45.10 and 20:05.35. The twins graduated and are now in college, and they are not running.

That leaves Vanguard senior Jacob Rogers, last year's runner-up in 16:48.84, as the only one of 2025's top three boys in Saturday's field. In the girls' race, the only one of last year's top three entered is Lyla Hallick, who was third as a Forest freshman and now runs for Vanguard.

The boys' race: six runners within 37 seconds

Six boys entered on Saturday have run faster this fall than Lombardo's 16:32.56 winning time a year ago. Times in the table below came on different courses, so they are a guide, not a ranking.

Christopher Taylor has the fastest time in the field. The Vanguard sophomore from Morriston ran 15:56 in the elite race at the New World Fall Spectacular last Saturday, his first cross country 5K under 16 minutes, and was second at the Craig Speziale Invitational on Oct. 3. He was 10th at this meet a year ago.

His own teammates have beaten him often this fall. Trevor Berquist was Vanguard's top finisher at four of the team's six meets, including second place at the Rockledge Raider Classic in 16:02.33, the fastest time in the field on a course other than New World. At Rockledge, Berquist, Lachlan Bryniarski, Taylor and Rogers finished second through fifth. Bryniarski, who ran for Belleview last year and placed sixth at this meet, is now at Vanguard as well.

The strongest challenge to Vanguard's group comes from the host school. Belleview sophomore Asher Inman ran 16:00 to place third of 326 in the New World B race, won the Wildwood meet and was fifth of 203 at the Buchholz Bobcats Classic. At the Florida Horse Park Invitational in September he finished ahead of Taylor. Inman was seventh at this meet last year.

North Marion junior Brooklyn Smith is the other name to watch. He was 13th here last fall in 17:47.74. This season he ran 16:30.6 for third at the Run Florida XC Invitational in Lakeland and 16:13 at New World, where he finished ahead of four of Vanguard's top five.

Belleview's course is slower than New World. It starts in the open fields, loops around the softball, baseball and soccer fields and climbs a hill into the woods near the football stadium. Lombardo ran 16:06 at New World in 2025 and 16:32.56 here a week later.

The boys' team race

Vanguard won last year's boys' title with 23 points to Belleview's 46 and West Port's 64. The Knights' top five at New World all ran between 15:56 and 16:44. Belleview's top three at New World ran 16:00, 16:41 (Fernandez) and 16:58 (junior Chapman Stewart), all career bests, and the Rattlers placed fourth of 37 teams in the B race. West Port was ninth of 37 in that race, led by sophomore Jordan Rios (17:02) and junior Gavin Smith (17:06).

Five boys' teams have at least five runners entered, the number needed for a team score: Belleview, North Marion, South Marion, Vanguard and West Port. South Marion, which did not have a team at last year's meet, has seven boys entered. Dunnellon has three and Forest two.

The girls' race: Hallick is the favorite

Lyla Hallick has been the fastest girl in Marion County this fall. The Vanguard sophomore won the Rockledge Raider Classic and the Craig Speziale Invitational, was second at Whispering Pines and the Florida Horse Park Invitational, and placed seventh of 398 in the New World elite race in 17:55. Nobody else entered on Saturday has run faster than 18:49.90 this season.

The race behind Hallick looks like a Vanguard race too. Seniors Cierra Mills and Reese Cartwright, fifth and sixth last year, have both broken 19:10 this season. Freshman Annalise Hallick, Lyla's cousin, ran a career-best 19:51 at New World, and sophomore Natalie Lammens, seventh here last year, ran 21:01 there.

North Marion senior Kayla Blakey has the best time of any girl outside Vanguard: 21:33 in the New World B race, more than two and a half minutes faster than she ran here last year. Belleview sophomore Maggie Lorick (22:20) and West Port sophomore Rylee Vilela (22:20.3) are close behind.

The girls' team race

Vanguard won last year with 18 points, placing six runners in the top seven. West Port (59), Forest (82) and Belleview (83) followed. Four schools have at least five girls entered: Belleview with eight, North Marion with five, Vanguard with 12 and West Port with 10. Dunnellon, Forest, Lake Weir and South Marion have fewer than five entered, so they can score individual places but not a team total.

Vanguard's boys and girls each went into last fall's meet with a long streak of conference titles, which reached 27 straight for the boys and 23 for the girls, as covered in our 2025 Marion conference recap.

What comes next

The conference meet is the last regular-season race for most county runners before the FHSAA postseason, which runs through district and regional meets to the state championships in November. Season bests for every Ocala-area runner are on the Run Florida Run Ocala page, and our Ocala running guide covers local races and running groups.

Only In Ocala founder Darrin DeTorres coached 15 of Saturday's entrants as elementary and middle schoolers in his Ocala Distance Project youth program: Lyla Hallick, Annalise Hallick, Natalie Lammens, Anya Bryniarski, Christopher Taylor, Lachlan Bryniarski, Trevor Berquist, Jacob Rogers, Alexander Lammens, Asher Inman, Chapman Stewart, Jacob McGovern, Kenneth Price, Rylee Vilela and Maggie Lorick.

Sources: entries and meet details from the MAC XC Championships page on DirectAthletics, checked Oct. 22, 2026. 2025 places and times from the MAC Championships 2025 results on MileSplit. 2026 season bests and race results from each athlete's cross country history on RunFloridaRun.com; road race times are not included. Grades are based on each athlete's graduation year.