By Kyle Coppola
Tavares Middle Takes FLYRA State Championship Cross-Country Titles
The Tavares Middle School boys and girls cross-country teams claimed the Florida Youth Running Association (FLYRA) public school state championships on Saturday, with every scoring Tavares varsity runner posting either an all-time personal best or a personal best on the course, coach Kevin Von Maxey says.
The girls race included 31 teams and 282 runners. Alice Ilea placed second in 10:35 on the 3-kilometer course to finish as the public school individual runner-up. Fellow eighth-graders Lilliana Gutfreind (fourth, 11:12) and Kayla Santos (fifth, 11:20) helped put three Tavares runners in the top five, shifting the scoring against Emerald Coast, Kevin says. Sixth-grader Amelia Hernandez finished 11th in 11:40, and Meadow Sadlemire placed 13th in 11:51 to close out the team scoring. Hope Nesmith medaled in 20th (12:05), while Emma Williams (22nd, 12:16) and Anaisa Salinas (33rd, 12:28) provided depth. Tavares scored 27 points to win by 13 points.
Tavares and Emerald Coast combined for 13 of the top 20 places, well ahead of third place’s 185 points. The Tavares girls posted the fastest team average among all public, private and charter school teams.
The boys championship race featured 35 teams and 323 runners. Seventh-grader Gabriel Garback led Tavares with a fourth-place finish in 10:11, the top seventh-grade time in the field. Jack Ilea placed 11th in 10:22, the top sixth-grade time.
While Gabriel and Jack were projected to finish in the top 12, Kevin says the surprise that clinched the title was the pack of Alejandro Hernandez (15th, 10:29), Alexis Hernandez (18th, 10:32) and Joel Cordero (19th, 10:33), all of whom earned state medals. Elijah Rivera finished 44th in 11:11 in the tiebreaker position, with Dustin Albert (68th, 11:27) and Jeremiah William (124th, 12:07) rounding out the squad.
Tavares scored 39 points to win by 57 points and finish with a 15-second-per-runner average advantage over runner-up Ruckel Middle School. Ruckel had defeated Tavares by 18 points with a 24-second team average gap at the HOKA meet on Sept. 11, a race Kevin calls the turning point of the season.
The Tavares boys also claimed the overall trophy for the fastest total average across all four divisions.
The titles mark the 10th and 11th state championships for Tavares Middle School under coaches Kevin Von Maxey and April Von Maxey. It is the sixth consecutive championship for the girls and the fourth in a row for the boys.
Kevin thanked the runners, parents and families who supported the team, ending his message with: “Believe. Together. We are the Red Sea. We are TAVARES!”
Kyle Coppola was born in Newton, Massachusetts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from Curry College in 2016. After traveling to Florida on a family vacation, he decided he could not get enough of the warm weather and made the move from snowy Massachusetts to central Florida 8 years ago.
For the last decade Kyle has gained valuable experience in social media content creation, marketing and sales, writing, video production, sports announcing and even broadcasting for local radio stations, such as FM 102.9 in The Villages and FM 91.5 in Massachusetts. Every year he volunteers at The Villages Charter High School as a play-by-play sports announcer for the football games as well as a public address announcer for the basketball games, including the annual Battle at The Villages Tournament.
Outside the office Kyle is a husband and father to two beautiful girls along with their cat. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his family, travel, play golf and swim. He is also a huge sports junkie and even bigger motorsports fan and loves to attend racing events when he can.
