Twenty-Eight and Twenty-Four: Vanguard Rolls On at Belleview, in a County That Builds Fast Runners Without Tracks

The fields behind Belleview High School filled up early on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026, as they have nearly every October for a quarter century, when runners from eight Marion County public high schools lined up for the Marion Athletic Conference (MAC) Cross Country Championships.

Among the spectators was Marion County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Danielle Brewer, who was out on the course cheering on runners from every school.

By the time the last finisher crossed, the result at the top looked familiar. Vanguard won the boys' title for the 28th straight year and the girls' title for the 24th, all under coach James Travieso. The girls did it with a perfect score of 15, Vanguard runners first through sixth.

The boys' race: Taylor delivers

Our preview last week called the boys' race wide open, with six runners whose season bests sat within 37 seconds of each other. Christopher Taylor, the Vanguard sophomore who came in with the fastest time in the field, 15:56 at New World, made it less complicated than that. He won in 16:30.0, 10 seconds ahead of teammate Trevor Berquist (16:40.2). A year ago Taylor was 10th at this meet. His winning time was a couple of seconds faster than the 16:32.6 Luke Lombardo ran to win it last fall.

The only runner to split Vanguard's front group belonged to the host school. Belleview sophomore Asher Inman, seventh here as a freshman, was third in 16:46.3. Lachlan Bryniarski (Vanguard), who ran for Belleview at this meet last year, was fourth in 16:55.7. North Marion junior Brooklyn Smith was fifth in 17:05.1, 43 seconds faster than he ran here a year ago. Last year's runner-up, Vanguard senior Jacob Rogers, was sixth in 17:09.3, and sophomore Cooper Gumpert closed out the Knights' scoring five in seventh (17:21.0).

Vanguard scored 20 points with places of 1-2-4-6-7. Belleview was second with 60, led by Inman, senior Kaden Fernandez (eighth, 17:29.3) and junior Chapman Stewart (12th). West Port was third with 70 behind sophomore Jordan Rios (ninth, 17:35.9) and junior Gavin Smith (13th). North Marion was fourth with 100.

South Marion was fifth with 135, and that may be the most important number of the day. The county's newest high school, which opened in August, did not have a full team at this meet last year. On Saturday it put seven boys across the line and scored as a team for the first time, led by senior Jameson McNulty in 20th (19:11.5) and junior Raymel Rosell in 30th, with freshman Dillon Jurcy, junior Kamal Granger and senior Alexander Mesidor completing the scoring five. Every program on the results sheet started with a first team score.

In the junior varsity boys' race, West Port took the first six places for a perfect 15 of its own.

The girls' race: Hallick, then five more Knights

Lyla Hallick won the girls' race in 18:54.8, nearly 43 seconds clear of the field. The Vanguard sophomore was third at this meet as a Forest freshman in 20:05.6. This fall she has won the Rockledge Raider Classic and the Craig Speziale Invitational and ran 17:55 at the New World Fall Spectacular.

Behind her came five teammates. Senior Reese Cartwright was second in 19:37.4, more than a minute and a half faster than her sixth-place 21:10.1 here last year. Senior Cierra Mills was third in 19:50.3. Freshman Annalise Hallick, Lyla's cousin, was fourth in 20:14.6 in her first conference meet. Sophomore Natalie Lammens was fifth in 21:41.5 and freshman Anya Bryniarski sixth in 22:11.4. Five scorers, five places, 15 points: the lowest score the sport allows.

North Marion senior Kayla Blakey was the first runner from another school, seventh in 22:22.4, nearly two minutes faster than her 24:12.7 here last year. West Port sophomore Rylee Vilela was eighth (22:36.6) and Belleview sophomore Maggie Lorick ninth (23:07.0). North Marion was second in the team standings with 66, West Port third with 71 and Belleview fourth with 90. Dunnellon, Forest and Lake Weir had girls in the race but not enough for a team score.

Twenty-five years at Belleview

Belleview High School has hosted the conference championship for more than 25 years. The course has not stayed the same over that time, and the route has varied from one era to the next. The current version starts in the open fields, loops around the softball, baseball and soccer fields and climbs a hill into the woods near the football stadium. It is slower than the New World course in Ocala, which is why Taylor's 16:30 here and his 15:56 there are not as far apart as they look.

The field has changed too. The conference meet once included the county's private schools, and Trinity Catholic and St. John Lutheran runners raced at Belleview alongside the public schools. The conference later stopped admitting private schools, and the meet is now a championship for public schools only. Trinity Catholic's runners no longer race Vanguard, Belleview or West Port with a county title on the line.

Commentary: fast runners, few tracks

The following is the opinion of Only In Ocala.

Marion County produces some of the fastest distance runners in the country, and it does it without the facilities most runners elsewhere take for granted. Vanguard's Steven Hassen won Florida 3A cross country titles in 2001 and 2002 and placed 13th at the Foot Locker national final. Kelly Parrish won multiple state titles and was Gatorade's Florida girls track and field Player of the Year in 2004-05. Belleview's Anne-Marie Blaney became UCF's first distance All-American, ran for Team USA at the 2019 World Cross Country Championships and now runs professionally for the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project. North Marion's Leigha Torino earned All-America honors at Duke and Virginia Tech. Tori Lawson and Elizabeth Mulford won state titles at Vanguard and ran in college. This weekend's winners, Taylor and Hallick, are both sophomores.

What is surprising is where they train. As of this fall, the only high school in Marion County with a rubber running track its athletes can use is Trinity Catholic, a private school. Not one public-school runner on Saturday's start line has a working rubber track at school.

That is starting to change. South Marion High School was built with a 2,000-seat stadium for football and track and field, according to the school district's announcement of the $165 million campus. Its athletes have not been able to use it yet. Ground-penetrating radar found voids under the new stadium field before the school opened, and in July the school board approved a $671,917 contract amendment for "unforeseen subsurface void remediation and site restoration." The field has been torn up for repairs since, a reminder that building anything on Marion County's limestone means checking what is underneath first. The track is there; the Bears are waiting to run on it.

West Port is getting a track as well, and there are plans for more improvements around the county in the years ahead. The schools are getting better and starting to invest in their athletic stadiums. If the county can keep producing runners like these without tracks, it will be worth watching what happens once it has them.

Seeing the district's superintendent out on the course on a Saturday morning, cheering for kids from every school, suggests the people making those decisions are paying attention.

What comes next

For most Marion County runners the conference meet is the last regular-season race. FHSAA district meets are next, followed by regionals and the state championships in November. Full results and each athlete's season and career bests are in the Run Florida Run results database, and our Ocala running guide covers local races and running groups.

Only In Ocala founder Darrin DeTorres, who took the photos for this story, coached many of Saturday's runners as elementary and middle schoolers in his Ocala Distance Project youth program, including Lyla Hallick, Annalise Hallick, Natalie Lammens, Anya Bryniarski, Christopher Taylor, Lachlan Bryniarski, Trevor Berquist, Jacob Rogers, Asher Inman, Chapman Stewart, Rylee Vilela and Maggie Lorick.

Sources: places, times and team scores from the official results timed by ASP Timing, as published in the Run Florida Run meet report and results database. Alumni achievements from the athletes' college bios as cited in that report. South Marion stadium details from the Marion County Public Schools announcement; the void remediation amendment from the school board's July 28, 2026 meeting. Course history, hosting history and Dr. Brewer's attendance from Only In Ocala's own reporting at the meet.