Provided by Brent Vaughn

The Tavares Patriots dominated the 2025 FLYRA Middle School State Cross-Country Championships on Saturday, November 1, at Holloway Park in Lakeland, capturing both the boys’ and girls’ public school state titles.

The Tavares girls continued their unprecedented run with a fifth consecutive state championship, while the boys secured their third straight state title, a feat previously matched only by private-school powerhouse Belen Jesuit.

Seventh grader Alice Ilea led the Patriots with a time of 10:42.2, winning the girls’ race and marking the fifth straight year a Tavares runner has captured the girls’ individual state title. Navid Lozano claimed the boys’ crown in 9:41.4, setting a new school course record and earning Tavares Middle School’s first individual boys’ state title.

In a field of 23 teams and 216 runners, the Tavares girls scored 53 points, placing four runners in the top 20 — Ilea (10:42.2), Isabella Neal (11:08.3, 6th), Lindsey Mishler (11:12.5, 7th), and Lilliana Gutfreind (11:39.5, 16th). Meadow Sadlemire (12:10.4) and displacers Arieyahna Neal (12:26.1) and Kayla Santos (12:45.6) rounded out the lineup. Five of the seven girls ran lifetime personal bests, finishing 10 points ahead of second-place Emerald Coast.

The boys delivered a dramatic upset in the largest field in meet history, with 273 runners and 27 teams. Tavares scored 68 points, edging past top-ranked programs Ruckel, Montford, and Landrum. The team was led by Navid Lozano(9:41.4), followed by twin brother Emiliano Lozano (10:01.1, 5th) and sixth grader Gabriel Garback (10:35.3, 17th). Dylan Leavitt (11:01.1, 34th) and Benjamin Rios (11:07.5, 35th) ran lifetime bests, while injured runners Emmitt Maldonado (13:34.6) and Joel Cordero (13:38.5) executed strategic roles to help secure the victory.

“While our boys faced a lot of adversity this season with injuries and things not in our control, we always believed in ourselves and our process,” says Head Coach Kevin Von Maxey. “We kept emphasizing: to win the title, you just need to be special for one race. It doesn’t matter what is on paper — all you need to do is be special for a moment, and we will be kings for a day and for life.”

The Junior Varsity teams also performed impressively. The JV girls won the Open Division Championship, with six medalists: Hope Nesmith (12:38.5, 4th), Anaisa Salinas (12:43.3, 5th), Airiana Graf (12:46.5, 7th), Argellia Ascencio(12:52.5, 10th), Milan McCullough (12:54.0, 11th), and Farren White (13:03.8, 15th). The JV boys finished third, led by Alexis Hernandez (11:27.2, 17th).

“Every year we adopt a team motto that becomes our focus for the season,” says Associate Head Coach April Von Maxey. “We kept calling back to this year’s motto, ‘I Won’t Let You Down.’ On the line, we talked about this and knew we would have each other’s back and run for each other to win the state title.”

In total, Tavares Middle School celebrated two individual champions, 14 state medalists, three team championships, and 44 lifetime personal bests, marking the 8th and 9th state cross-country titles for the Patriots under the Von Maxeys.

Other Lake County Highlights

Several other Lake County programs made their mark at the FLYRA Championships.

• Windy Hill Middle School boys finished 13th with 405 points, and East Ridge Middle boys placed 14th with 417.

• The East Ridge girls earned 8th place with 273 points, while Windy Hill girls finished 22nd with 548.

• In the charter division, Minneola Charter Middle School boys placed 6th with 195 points, and the girls finished 12th with 327.

• Individual medalists included Noah Perez of Minneola Charter (10:57.3, 13th) and Brooke Stoneking of Round Lake Charter (11:51.0, 8th).