LAKE CITY - In a reversal of most of their season cross-country finishes, the Fleming Island High senior duo of Graham Myers and John Keester IV, flipped roles Saturday in Lake City's Alligator Lake Invitational to put the Golden Eagles in first place for teams in the 23-team field.

Myers, second in 3A last year, has been a dominant figure through most of the 2023 season with Keester closely tailing him with a string of top-10 finishes within 30 seconds.

On Saturday, Keester took the green light to finish first with a 16-minute, 6.5-second effort ahead of Myers, second at 16:16.4. Also on the top 10 list was senior Roman Mollicone at seventh with a 16:53.3 effort.

Fleming Island nearly pulled off the cross country winning formula of five guys under 17 minutes with Jacob Campbell third finisher at 13th in 17:08.2 and sophomore Andrew Boyers in 17:19.4 in 16th.

Fleming Island scored 39 team points to beat Oak Hall's 68 for seconds and Fort Walton Beach's third at 118. Oakleaf was 10th with 291 points with Keystone Heights 15th at 382.

Oakleaf got a strong 1-2 finishers with sophomore Grant Keppel and freshman Jack Strombeck, also a swimmer, finishing 30th and 32nd in 17:48.2 and 17:52.3.

Keystone Heights senior Tyler Griffin was 54th in 18:25.8.

For the girls' race, won by Oak Hall, Fleming Island finished seventh led by a fifth by sophomore Brooke Reynolds, also a swimmer, in fifth at 19:52.7 and senior Allie Knotts at eighth at 19:56.4.

Keystone Heights Olivia Griffin, a freshman, was 29th in 21:22.4.

Oakleaf's top runner, junior Morgan Wade, was 44th in 21:51.9.