XC Weekend Roundup: Belleview Middle and Trinity Catholic Win at Wildwood, Inman Fifth at Buchholz

Marion County cross country runners split up on Saturday, September 12, 2026. Some went to the Wildwood Invitational and the rest to the much larger Buchholz Bobcats Classic in Gainesville. At Wildwood, Belleview Middle School swept the top four places in the middle school girls' 3K and Trinity Catholic won both high school team titles. At Buchholz, Belleview sophomore Asher Inman placed fifth out of 203 varsity boys. Full results are posted on RunFloridaRun for the Wildwood Invitational and the Buchholz Bobcats Classic.

Wildwood Invitational: Middle School

Belleview Middle School took the top four places in the middle school girls' 3K. Seventh grader Reese McGovern won in 14:16.20. Seventh grader Twyla Martin was second in 14:42.61, eighth grader Rylee McGovern was third in 15:21.65 and seventh grader Lindy Shute was fourth in 15:46.64. Sixth grader Avery Benavides finished sixth and completed the scoring five. Belleview Middle was the only school with a full scoring team, so it finished with a perfect 15 points.

The boys' 3K had eight finishers and no team scores. Dylan Meredith, running unattached, won in 13:47.66, and Wildwood's Sawyer Klokus was second. The next three places went to Belleview Middle: eighth grader Owen Plotner (third, 14:36.81), eighth grader Ethan Benavides (fourth, 14:41.79) and Connor Labazzetta (fifth, 15:03.92). Plotner and Martin were also the overall winners of last month's Ocala Kids Run.

Belleview Middle School runners share the course with Wildwood in the middle school 3K at the Wildwood Invitational. Photo credit: Lacey McGovern.

Middle School Girls 3K: Marion County Finishers

Middle School Boys 3K: Marion County Finishers

Wildwood Invitational: High School

Trinity Catholic won both high school team titles. Two weeks earlier, at the Whispering Pines Invitational, the Celtics girls finished ninth and the boys finished 13th.

The girls scored 45 points to beat Mount Dora Christian Academy (54) and South Lake (82). Junior Lauren Murphy won the race in 21:11.25, 22 seconds ahead of Wildwood's Makya Rivenburg. Three freshmen also finished in the top nine: Sydney Farris was third (21:39.16), Vivian Leonard sixth (22:47.79) and Skylar Simpson ninth (23:57.38). Freshman Lyla Christiansen completed the scoring five.

The boys scored 38 points to beat South Lake (58) and host Wildwood (80). Seniors Edward Zinnie (19:12.82) and Andrew Gleaton (19:18.95) finished first and second. Senior James Dingle was seventh, junior Christopher Hughes eighth and sophomore William LaTour 20th. Times at Wildwood were well slower than at Whispering Pines, where Murphy ran 19:52, so the places say more about this meet than the times do.

Ambleside School of Ocala finished sixth in the girls' team standings and eighth in the boys'. Violet Walkup (15th, 26:17.12) and Dash Reed (28th, 22:21.76) were its top runners. Forest had two girls finish, led by junior Ellie Page in 21st (27:53.42).

High School Girls 5K: Marion County Finishers

Varsity Boys 5K: Marion County Finishers

Buchholz Bobcats Classic

The Buchholz Bobcats Classic had 25 scoring boys' teams and 19 scoring girls' teams, mostly from Gainesville, Jacksonville and elsewhere in North Florida. Bishop Kenny of Jacksonville won both varsity team titles.

Belleview was the top Marion County team, placing ninth in the varsity boys' standings with 227 points and a 17:55 average. Sophomore Asher Inman finished fifth of 203 in 16:35.9, 18 seconds behind winner Logan Haley of Branford. At Whispering Pines two weeks earlier he ran 17:22, on a different course. Senior Kaden Fernandez was 32nd (17:41.1), junior Chapman Stewart 40th (17:50.3), sophomore Wiley Bethea 65th (18:18.0) and sophomore Jacob McGovern 90th (19:05.6).

Belleview sophomore Asher Inman finishes fifth in the varsity boys' 5K at the Buchholz Bobcats Classic in 16:35.9. Photo credit: Lacey McGovern.

West Port placed 14th in the varsity boys' standings with 340 points. Its top three runners were junior Gavin Smith (35th, 17:41.9), sophomore Jordan Rios (46th, 17:53.4) and sophomore Hunter Goodwin (59th, 18:10.8). St. John Lutheran senior Nolan Farris finished 96th (19:16.0). North Marion sophomore Easton Kilbury-Schmidt finished 135th (20:43.0).

No Marion County school had enough varsity girls to score as a team. West Port sophomore Rylee Vilela, who was fifth in the JV race at Whispering Pines, was the county's top varsity girl, finishing 46th of 163 in 22:31.8. Belleview junior Hadlea Sams was 75th (24:21.8) and St. John Lutheran sophomore Verity Meyer was 78th (24:32.7).

In the JV races, West Port's boys placed 12th of 14 scoring teams, led by freshman Gavin Price (86th, 22:38.0). West Port also had three JV girls finish.

Belleview runners in the varsity boys' (left) and varsity girls' (right) 5K races at the Buchholz Bobcats Classic. Photo credit: Lacey McGovern.

Varsity Boys 5K: Marion County Finishers

Varsity Girls 5K: Marion County Finishers

JV Boys 5K: Marion County Finishers

JV Girls 5K: Marion County Finishers

Looking Ahead

After Saturday, Trinity Catholic has won two team titles and Belleview Middle has a young girls' group that took the top four places at Wildwood. Belleview's boys held their own against a large North Florida field at Buchholz. Marion County programs are now working toward the Marion Athletic Conference championships later this fall.

Grades are based on each athlete's graduation year as listed in the official results. Places are overall finishing places, and team scores are as posted by the meet's timing companies (Athletic Scoring Providers at Wildwood and Half Mile Timing at Buchholz).