Patrick Koon and Marcelo Mantecon were mano a mano up the final hill.
But it was the Stanford signee and Tallahassee Leon senior Koon who pulled away over the last 600 meter stretch down to the finish line of the FHSAA Class 3A finals on Saturday in Tallahassee, pulling away for his third straight state victory in 15:02.10.
Mantecon, the freshman phenom who led Belen Jesuit, was second in 15:09.90.
All was not lost for Mantecon, however, as his Belen Jesuit squad rolled up the field with a score of 33 points and an average of 15:41. The Miami-based power, ranked No. 4 nationally by MileSplit, went 5-6-8-13 to finish out the scoring.
No team was as even close.
Naples, the Class 3A runner-up, was second with 146 points. Koon's Leon team was third with 150.
* Belen Jesuit's Marcelo Mantecon and Tallahassee Leon's Patrick Koon before the final hill
Photo Credit: Chris Honk/MileSplit
Related Links:
Full FHSAA state championship results
Full race replays (Every classification)