Pensacola Christian opened the season No. 1 in Class 1A on a projection. They raced at Pine Forest, ran five boys inside 56 seconds, and it moved them to third. Maclay is the new No. 1, and two teams that did not open until week two are in the top eight.
Florida Class 1A boys cross country team rankings through two weeks: August 21-29, 2026
A week ago the No. 1 team in Class 1A had not run a step. Pensacola Christian was ranked first on what its returners did last November, and we said the ranking would stand or fall on the first time they raced. They raced on August 29 at Pine Forest, ran five boys inside fifty-six seconds — the tightest front five of anybody near the top of this class — and it moved them to third.
That is not a knock on Pensacola Christian. It is what happens when a projection meets a team that has already put a real result on the board. Maclay's Cecil Field race is still the best thing any 1A boys team has done this season, and now it is ranked that way.
A warning about the scores. There were 31 scoreable teams in this class a week ago. There are 70 now, because two more weekends of racing brought fifty more schools onto rateable courses. Every place number in a bigger field is a bigger number, so every score inflates. Compare the order and the five-man averages; ignore the drift in the points themselves.
As always this is data plus judgment, and we will miss somebody along the way. A (P) beside a team means it did not put five runners on a rateable line and is entered on what its returners ran last November. How we sorted it all out is at the bottom for anyone who wants it. Races are not won until the kids have run. Enjoy.
About the times. Every mark below is the time the runner actually ran that day. The number in parentheses after it is what that time is worth at Cecil Field, which is what the scoring uses. On a neutral course — Cecil Field itself — there is only one number. A projected team's marks are its runners' 2025 state times.
The 1A individuals are here, and the week 1 edition of this list is here. Statewide: week 2 boys top 10 and the week 1 boys team top 10. The other class team lists this week: 2A boys, 3A boys, 4A boys and 1A girls.
1. Maclay — 118 points
Cecil Field. Five-man average 17:24.4, the best in Class 1A, finishing 1-12-23-36-46 in the class field. David Barton 16:15.0, Gavin McVay 17:15.0, Beau May 17:36.0, Will Cintron 17:50.0, Logan Phipps 18:06.0.
Barton is the fastest 1A boy on any scoreable team in the state and he is not the reason Maclay is first — McVay, May, Cintron and Phipps are, because they finish 12th, 23rd, 36th and 46th in a seventy-team class and nobody else stacks four like that. The one soft spot is a 1:51 spread, which is only the tenth-tightest in 1A. They have not raced a varsity squad since August 21. Maclay is entered at the Florida Horse Park on Saturday, and so are the two teams closest to them.
2. Holy Trinity — 134 points
Indian River Fairgrounds, converted average 17:33.4, spread 1:12.1, finishing 8-11-20-41-54. Jesus Martinez and Zamari Blumenberg came through 4.6 seconds apart, then Daniel Penny, Roman La Starza and Cormac Schutte.
This is the clearest week-two improvement in the class. At Cecil Field on August 21 the same program averaged 18:06.0. Eight days later they averaged 17:33.4 — better by more than half a minute — and Daniel Penny and Cormac Schutte replaced two of the five who scored at Cecil. Fourth a week ago, second now, and 33rd in Florida across all classes.
3. Pensacola Christian — 183 points
Pine Forest, August 29. Converted average 17:49.4 on a 0:55.8 spread — the third-tightest five in Class 1A, behind Out-of-Door and Southwest Florida Christian. Isaiah Manderson 17:34.7 (17:23.8), Carson Ohman 17:53.8 (17:42.9), Jed Fears 17:55.6 (17:44.7), Moses Peterlevitz 18:07.1 (17:56.2), Walter Goncalves 18:30.5 (18:19.6), with two more inside 19:05.
They were No. 1 in this class on a projection. Manderson and Ohman both ran slower than last November's marks projected them to, which is why the team number came in behind Maclay's and Holy Trinity's rather than ahead of them. Read that as a first race rather than a verdict: nobody else in 1A has seven boys packed like this, and they are at the Horse Park Saturday against Maclay and Cornerstone Classical.
4. Cornerstone Classical (Jacksonville) — 192 points
Cecil Field. Average 17:38.2 — third-best in the class, better than Pensacola Christian's — and fourth, because of a 2:19 spread. Jack Kline 16:33.0 and Broderick Olson 16:36.0 finish fourth and seventh in 1A. Then Finley Smith at 17:52.0 and a long way down to Liam Rios and Benjamin Bishop.
The best front two in the class by a distance, and the third-widest gap in this top ten. Their 1-2 is worth eleven points; their 4-5 is worth 143. Third a week ago, fourth now, and the fix is obvious and unglamorous.
5. Circle Christian (Winter Park) — 274 points
Cecil Field, average 18:02.8, spread 2:50.0 — the widest in this top ten. Matteo Kirwan 16:34.0, Aschalew Parker 17:19.0, Joanh Lehman-Saba 17:42.0, then a minute and a half to Joshua Chegwin and Corban Houdashelt.
Fifth in week one, fifth now, and the only team in the top five that has not changed anything. Three runners inside the first thirty of the class and nobody else within 1:33 of them: that is a strong half of a cross country team.
6. Oak Hall (Gainesville) — 300 points
New to this top ten, and they got here the honest way. Oak Hall did not race opening weekend at all. At Whispering Pines on August 29 they went out and posted a converted 18:18.5 average, 1:44.5 spread, finishing 14-15-89-90-92 in the class.
Henri Pelletier and Dylan Kirk crossed half a second apart in 17:31.5 and 17:32.0 (17:17.3 and 17:17.9), and then Alexander Braithwaite, Nathaniel Parrott and James McDonald arrived in a 4.7-second bunch of their own. Two pairs and no middle. They are at the Horse Park Saturday, where the third man is the whole question.
7. Southwest Florida Christian — 300 points
Lemon Bay. Converted average 18:20.2, and a 0:50.8 spread that is the second-tightest in all of Class 1A. Nash Akers 17:37.7 (18:01.3), Ty Piper 17:38.0 (18:01.6), Aiden Stratton 17:45.5 (18:09.1), Shepard Anderson 18:13.1 (18:36.7), Liam Piper 18:28.5 (18:52.1).
Tied with Oak Hall on 300 points. Two tiebreakers, the same answer both times: Oak Hall has the better five-man average by 1.7 seconds and the better sixth runner, so Oak Hall takes sixth. Sixth in week one, seventh now, having lost a coin flip rather than any ground.
8. Seacoast Collegiate (Santa Rosa Beach) — 402 points
Pine Forest, August 29, right behind Pensacola Christian. Converted average 18:43.6, spread 1:49.4, finishing 39-51-86-93-133. Carter Jackson 18:03.0 (17:52.1), Josiah Hicks 18:19.6 (18:08.7), then Josiah Berry, Oliver Curtin and Hudson Osborn.
Another team that did not open until week two and arrived in the top ten on its first race. The panhandle is the deepest corner of 1A boys this year and this is the second team out of it.
9. Jupiter Christian — 410 points — (P)
Frankie Flora 17:21.1, Andrew Stanek 17:37.8, Dominick Gilliam 19:14.4, Bracen Evans 19:33.5, Dominic Puglisi 19:41.0 on projection. Average 18:42.2, spread 2:19.9.
They did race — they took four boys to the Indian River Fairgrounds on August 29, one short of a scoring team. That is the whole reason they are still carrying a (P): cross country needs five, and Jupiter Christian brought four. Eighth a week ago, ninth now, and one more body away from a real number.
10. St. Johns Country Day — 414 points
Cecil Field, average 18:45.2, spread 1:48.0. Nathan Kipnis 18:08.0 and Arlo Kistner 18:11.0, then Judson Myers 18:45.0 and Thomas Nichols 18:46.0 a second apart, then 70 seconds to Elijah Larsen.
Four runners inside 18:46 and a fifth who has to close. Seventh in week one, tenth now, and they have not raced since opening weekend while three teams behind them did.
Just missed
11. Out-of-Door (Sarasota), 437. Worth its own line: their 1-5 covered 0:41.8 at North Port, the tightest five in Class 1A boys, projected or raced. Finn Randall and Themba Hillary led and Andrew Basler was 41.8 seconds later. They need one runner to step forward, not five.
12. Lakeland Christian, 439. 13. South Florida HEAT (Sunrise), 465 — ninth a week ago, and they raced the Indian River Fairgrounds without closing the 2:28 hole between their third and fourth. 14. Harvest Community (Jacksonville), 484 — tenth a week ago, and still on their Cecil Field race, where James Roland and Sam Jacobo went 17:03.0 and 17:51.0 and then nobody came for two minutes.
One more name that is not on this page: Sean Cunningham of Providence is the No. 1 individual in Class 1A and Providence cannot field a scoreable boys five. Same for Benjamin Francis at Highlands Christian. Individual rankings and team rankings answer different questions.
How much of this is the courses?
Two stress tests. Swing every disputed course rating to the other end of its range and the top of the class reshuffles by one place in two spots: Pensacola Christian moves to second and Holy Trinity to third, and Southwest Florida Christian and Oak Hall trade sixth and seventh. Maclay stays first in every version.
Take the week-two courses 13.2 seconds less generously — the size of the measured week-one-to-week-two drift for boys — and Cornerstone Classical moves up to third ahead of Pensacola Christian, Southwest Florida Christian moves ahead of Oak Hall again, and Seacoast Collegiate slides from eighth to tenth. Nothing here depends on a single number, which is more than the 4A page can say.
How this works
Every August mark is converted to a Cecil Field equivalent using the runners who raced both that course and the 2025 state meet, matched on name and school. Each school is entered on its five fastest converted times from its single best meet — not a mix-and-match of its best days. Those five, and the sixth and seventh where they exist, are dropped into one virtual race against every other Class 1A team and scored the way cross country is scored: top five count, sixth and seventh displace, five finishers required, low score wins.
Because the field is Class 1A only, these scores are not the ones on the statewide team board. A team's rank there and here can differ: the statewide list scores it against 319 teams, this one against 70.
A school that did not field five runners on a rateable course — or that fielded five without at least two of its returning top-five scorers — is entered on its returning five's 2025 state times plus the August constant, and marked (P). Five returners with state times are required, so a program with four cannot be ranked at all. Seven of the twenty-nine courses run in the first two weeks could not be rated against the state meet, and results from them are not in these numbers. Classifications are the FHSAA's finalized 2026-27 lists.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the No. 1 Class 1A boys cross country team in Florida in Week 2? expand_more
Maclay, on 118 points. Their Cecil Field race produced a 17:24.4 five-man average, the best in Class 1A, with four runners finishing 12th, 23rd, 36th and 46th in a 70-team class field. They are 27th in Florida across all classes.
Why did Pensacola Christian drop from first to third? expand_more
They were ranked first in week one on a projection from their returners' 2025 state times, because they had not raced. On August 29 at Pine Forest they ran, and two of their scorers, Isaiah Manderson and Carson Ohman, came in slower than those projections. Their 17:49.4 converted average and 0:55.8 spread are real and very good; they are simply behind two teams that had already put results on the board.
Why are the Week 2 scores higher than the Week 1 scores? expand_more
There were 31 scoreable Class 1A boys teams a week ago and there are 70 now, because two more weekends of racing brought fifty more schools onto courses we can rate. Every place number in a bigger virtual field is larger, so every team score inflates. Compare the order and the five-man averages, not the points.
Why is Providence not in the Class 1A boys team rankings? expand_more
Cross country requires five finishers to score a team. Providence has the No. 1 individual in Class 1A in Sean Cunningham, but the program cannot field five scoreable runners on a rated course and does not have five returners with 2025 state times, so there is no way to score them.