FSU Invite's middle school races were large; Mercer and Phipps made them fast

The Friday afternoon session of the Florida State University Invitational Cross-Country Meet on 29 September 2023 included two middle school races, a girls' 3K and a boys' 3K. They may have been the largest middle school races in Tallahassee, Florida athletic history, but they were certainly the largest middle school runs ever held at the FSU Invitational. Lainee Mercer, an eighth-grader racing for the Hillsborough Harriers, won the girls' race by over 100 meters, running 10:39.3 on the course at Apalachee Regional Park, while the Ruckel Middle School Rams claimed first in the team standings with 84 points. It took a new meet record to win the boys' event, where Maclay eighth-grader Logan Phipps edged sixth-grader Dominic Johnson, 9:50 to 9:54. Red Sea Running Club had the top boys' team, scoring a winning 41.

Lainee Mercer

The starting gun in the girls' 3K fired promptly at 5:00 PM. A kilometer into the race, five athletes contended for the lead, with Lainee Mercer near the front. During the second kilometer, Mercer broke away from her challengers, opening a 40-meter gap on a pursuit group of three athletes--seventh-grader Mia Jucha of Saint Mary Catholic, eighth-grader Peyton Cerasi of Indian Trails, and seventh-grader Charlotte Sikes of Swift Creek. Further back, Brianna Motycka, a fifth-grader who races for the No Excuses Running Club, was chasing the chasers.


The third kilometer of the race included most of the climbing on the course, including a trip up The Wall--the most notorious hill on the course. Hillsborough County, Florida isn't known for rolling topography, but Mercer handled the slopes at ARPXC quite nicely. After cresting The Wall, her lead had only grown, and it continued to widen as she covered the final 500 meters to the finish line--which she crossed in a winning 10:40. Only one other athlete had ever run faster in the girls' 3K at the FSU Invite--Cheyenne Thomas, who went 10:29 in the 2022 race.


Peyton Cerasi secured second during the final kilometer, holding that position to finish runner-up in 11:04. Brianna Motycka moved up to overtake Charlotte Sikes; after a dash down the homestretch, Motycka was third in 11:07 and Sikes fourth in 11:08. Olivian Hermanson of the Suwanne Speed club was fifth in 11:15.

Peyton Cerasi

Ruckel's first scorer was seventh-grader Delaney Diehl, sixth in 11:28. a flurry of eighth-graders completed Ruckel's tally--Riley Manse was seventeenth in 12:02, Emman Kondrat 21st in 12:05, Kate Meissner 29th in 12:15, and Harmony Holland 33rd in 12:32. After that, the Ruckel girls had 84 points and their team's first win at the FSU Invitational since 2019.


Tallahassee's Deerlake Middle School placed second with 92 points, led by the their top finisher, seventh-grader Emma-Claire Tanenbaum, who was ninth in 11:42. Down from Georgia, the Cartersville Canes were a very close third with 94 points; Cartersville's ace was eighth-grader Sofia Burns, seventh in 11:28. Seventeen teams and 185 athletes competed in the girls' 3K.


Team Standings, 2023 FSU Invitational Middle School Girls' 3K

1. Ruckel, 84
2. Deerlake, 92
3. Cartersville, 94
4. Red Sea Running Club, 106
5. Saint Mary Catholic, 144
6. Landrum, 144
7. Swift Creek, 185
8. Suwannee Speed, 201
9. Florida State, 226
10. Sims, 233
11. Liza Jackson, 273
12. Raa, 309
13. Maclay, 322
14. Montford, 373
15. Lowndes, 452
16. Trinity Catholic, 504
17. Fairview, 535

Top Ten Athletes, 2023 FSU Invitational Middle School Girls' 3K

1. 10:39.3, Lainee Mercer (Hillsborough Harriers) 8
2. 11:03.4, Peyton Cerasi (Indian Trails) 8
3. 11:06.3, Brianna Motycka (Unattached) 5
4. 11:07.3, Charlotte Sikes (Swift Creek) 7
5. 11:14.9, Olivia Hermanson (Suwannee Speed)
6. 11:27.1, Delaney Diehl (Ruckel) 7
7. 11:28.0, Sofia Burns (Cartersville) 8
8. 11:35.3, Mia Jucha (Saint Mary Catholic) 7
9. 11:41.7, Emma-Claire Tanenbaum (Deerlake) 7
10. 11:41.9, Lila McGowan (Landrum) 8

Maclay's Logan Phipps set the pace in the boys' race for the first two kilometers, but it wasn't like he didn't have company. Three athletes were close enough to read the laundry instructions on the tag of his racing top--Liza Jackson seventh-grader Nic Smith, sixth-grader Dominic Johnson, and Maddox Mars of the Red Sea Running Club. After laboring up The Wall, Smith and Mars had fallen back. Logan Phipps maintained the lead, but he could hear Dominic Johnson's footsteps.

Logan Phipps

But Johnson wasn't able to move up and challenge Phipps, so the Maclay runner dashed home first in 9:50, just ahead of the 9:54 of runner-up Johnson. Phipps' time was not only more than half a minute faster than he had run in the same race in 2022, it was also a new meet record--four seconds better than the previous boys' 3K mark set by Fairview's Patrick Koon in 2019.


Red Sea's Maddox Mars also broke 10:00, placing third in 9:58. Nic Smith of Liza Jackson was fourth in 10:04.

Dominic Johnson

In addition to Mars, Red Sea had two more athletes in the top ten--Omar Castillo was seventh in 10:12 and Nicholas Alvarez was ninth in 10:18. Eric Chen (11th, 10:23) and Nathan Meloy (16th, 10:34) completed the scoring for Red Sea, giving the club 41 points and first place--Red Sea's first ever FSU Invitational title in the boys' 3K.


Elite Runner Fort Myers, also known as the Elite Runner Youth Running Club, took third with 99 points, led by Christian Ginart (8th, 10:18). Nic Smith and the Liza Jackson squad placed third with 114 points. Nineteen teams and 268 athletes competed in the boys' 3K.


Team Standings, 2023 FSU Invitational Middle School Boys' 3K

1. Red Sea Running Club, 41
2. Elite Runner Fort Myers, 99
3. Liza Jackson, 114
4. Ruckel, 128
5. Episcopal, 174
6. Cartersville, 215
7. Lowndes, 222
8. Montford, 225
9. Raa, 228
10. Maclay, 272
11. Suwannee Speed, 275
12. Deerlake, 294
13. Geneva Classical, 326
14. Fairview, 398
15. Sims, 413
16. Swift Creek, 454
17. Saint Mary Catholic, 459
18. Wakulla, 550
19. Griffin, 580

Top Ten Athletes, 2023 FSU Invitational Middle School Boys' 3K

1. 9:49.2, Logan Phipps (Maclay) 8
2. 9:53.6, Dominic Johnson (Unattached) 6
3. 9:57.1, Maddox Mars (Red Sea Running Club)
4. 10:03.3, Nic Smith (Liza Jackson) 7
5. 10:09.8, Benaiah Lawton (Geneva Classical) 8
6. 10:11.8, Brayden Reimer (Ruckel) 8
7. 10:11.9, Omar Castillo (Red Sea Running Club)
8. 10:17.5, Christian Ginart (Elite Runner Fort Myers)
9. 10:18.0, Nicholas Alvarez (Red Sea Running Club)
10. 10:21.8, Luke Stevens (Ruckel) 8

Florida State University Invitational Cross-Country Meet Middle School winners, 2016 - 2023
Middle School Girls
Date	Winning Teams	Individual Winners
7 October 2016	Ruckel, 26	11:05.40, Lillian Holtery (Ruckel) 8
6 October 2017	Ruckel, 47	11:37.50, Rory Claussen (Shaldera TC) 6
11 October 2019	Ruckel, 18	11:18.2, Shari Brown (Landmark Christian) 7
15 October 2021	Red Sea, 39	11:04.2, Cheyenne Thomas (Red Sea) 7
7 October 2022	Red Sea, 45	10:28,1, Cheyenne Thomas (Red Sea) 8
29 September 2023	Ruckel, 84	10:39.3, Lainee Mercer (Hillsborough Harriers) 8
Middle School Boys
Date	Winning Teams	Individual Winners
7 October 2016	Ruckel, 22 points	11:31.7, Logan Harrelson (Ruckel) 8
6 October 2017	Ruckel, 31	10:13.5, Zachary Bobak (Junior Dragons) 8
11 October 2019	Ruckel, 44	9:53.1, Patrick Koon (Fairview) 8
15 October 2021	Episcopal, 46	10:25.9, Walker Elrod (Tallahassee Zoom) 8
7 October 2022	Emerald Coast, 50	10:15.2, Brett Peveto (Emerald Coast) 8
29 September 2023	Red Sea, 41	9:49.2, Logan Phipps (Maclay) 8

Links:

• Complete results of the 2023 FSU Invitational Middle School races
  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vQdE2IESsnjQpRHdvAHxkV4X0L7GiTGVAcuD5H9wD-T4qMMTgxJncUrI_RfMbffLD-0NWFoxiNZMRWX/pubhtml
  
  
• More "Trouble Afoot!" photos of the 2023 FSU Invitational Middle School races
  
  • Girls: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10121351763711213
    
  • Boys: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10121352813168093
    
  
  
• 2019 story, “Patrick Koon and Shari Brown grab firsts while Ruckel keeps on winning at the FSU Invite”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2019/10/fsu-invitational-ms-xc-2019.html
  
  
• The "Trouble Afoot!" racing calendar has your next race in the Tallahassee region
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/search/label/calendar?max-results=1
  
  

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