The Scoop: A Weekend Full Of State Championship Action

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Records Go Down At Florida State Meet

At Apalachee Regional Park on Saturday, athletes took to the state meet course looking for titles and records.

Look no further than the performance from Leon's Patrick Koon to find new records and all-time bests.

Koon set the course record earlier this season at the Pre-State meet with a winning time of 14:50.00, but the junior added a state meet record to his name with a 14:56.70 5k performance to win the Florida Class 3A state championships.

That time from Koon is the fastest ever at the 3A classification and becomes just one of two athletes to ever go under 15 minutes for 5k at the meet.

But beyond Koon's record-breaking race, the team battle saw a similarly-stunning showing.

The boys of Belen Jesuit Prep put together one of the most dominant team performances of the weekend. With a score of just 34 points, a 34-second 1-5 spread and a 15:55 5k team average, Belen Jesuit easily took home the 3A boys title. 

Joshua Ruiz, Joseph Socarras and Marcelo Mantecon all finished in the top six and recorded sub-16-minute times to put the team on top. 

Also of note, the Fort Meyers boys program, only a month removed from the devastation of Hurricane Ian, took second place as a team with 125 points.

TEAM SCORES
PLACE	TEAM	POINTS	SCORERS	TIMES
1	Belen Jesuit Preparatory School	34	2+5+6+10+11 (13+25)	0:34 1-5 Split | 15:55 Avg
2	Fort Myers HS	125	4+19+24+38+40 (57+81)	1:19 1-5 Split | 16:38 Avg
3	Fleming Island HS	144	3+20+30+33+58 (80+99)	1:44 1-5 Split | 16:45 Avg

The girls side of the competition at the Florida championships saw numerous runners dip under 18 minutes for 5k to win state titles. 

One of the top underclassmen in the country -- Cambridge Christian freshman Eliana Black -- continued her season of dominance by winning her first 1A state title in 17:55.10. That for her eighth-straight sub-18-minute race of the season, and she ends regular-season competition undefeated.

The remaining three classifications saw two more individual state champions go under 18 minutes for title wins. Jillian Candelino of Bolles ran the fastest time of all classifications of 17:43.30 to win the 2A division, and Leon's Lille Tang clocked 17:53.70 to join Koon in a Leon-sweep of the boys and girls 3A titles.