A week in North Dakota in a building housing the best wrestlers in the United States high school ranks was a summer vacation destiny for St. Johns Country Day School wrestling coach Hunter Hill and his two primary combatants Bryce Fiore and Howard Hill.

"This is the type of tournament that you can't have an off day," said Hunter Hill, jokingly via phone from Fargo, North Dakota near the mid-week point of the U.S. Marine Corps Junior Nationals held at the Fargodome. "It's a grind because everyone here is a dude and getting after it. This was college-level wrestling."

Also at Fargo was two Oakleaf High girls wrestlers - state champion Kailani Barrientos and junior Zoe Goode. Both posted solid efforts against the top girls in America.

For Hill, the week involved a treacherous plane flight with delays, a four-hour drive to the Fargodome, weigh-ins and hotels before his four-man team of Fiore, Howard, Vlad Chechkovsky from Tocoi Creek and Lucas Comora from Bolles, were able to settle in and start to get mentally set for battle.

"Trying to get over a near nine-hour plane delay, landing, a four-hour drive, finding our hotel, then getting to the arena for weigh-ins, roll around, then start was just awful," said Hill, who runs a wrestling training facility in his garage called the Grappling Academy. "Friday through Sunday was freestyle, then Tuesday to Wednesday (July 15), we started Greco-Roman. Very fast moving."

After wrestling for more than a week, Howard and Fiore both finished 4-2.

"The 16s start wrestling at 3:30 p.m. and compete until about 9 p.m.," Hill said. "Like less than 24 hours to go from travel to wrestling."

Hill reported that Fiore, seventh grade Florida state champion this year, won a match over a Super 32 champion and wrestled the No. 3 seed from Minnesota, a state finalist.

After Day 1, Howard was 3-0 and Fiore was 4-1 in Greco. After freestyle, Howard was 5-2 with losses to a Minnesota finalist and third seed, while Fiore was 5-2 with a win over a Super 32 champion and losses to a Pennsylvania runner-up and the No. 2 seed. Chechkovsky was 2-2 with a win over a Fargo All-American, and Comora was 2-2 with a win over North Dakota state third placer finisher and third seed.

Howard had a more colorful week after suffering a broken nose mid tournament, but he still had a tough finish.

"He had a double leg in freestyle and his nose smashed on the guy's hip," Hill said. "His nose exploded and gushed with blood, but he kept competing. I had to overnight a mask for him to wear - about a $90 overnight delivery."

Hill said nationals officials give yellow and red cards depending on the extent of the injury.

"We actually waited until the match was over to look at it," Hill said. "Mom Alexandria found out later."

Fiore wrestled at 113 in freestyle and 120 in Greco.

"He was giving up the extra weight and still did well," Hill said. "He was a 14-year-old wrestling up to 16-year-olds, so he learned a lot about that seven-pound difference."

Barrientos, who also posted a 3-0 division win at the 2026 Trojan Nationals, a Pre-college invitational in California, beat three college wrestlers and two high school commits.

At Fargo, Barrientos, at 140 pounds rather than her 3A state championship weight of 135 pounds, had wins over wrestlers from Pennsylvania and Arkansas and losses to Washington and Ohio. Goode, who finished 2-2, got wins over Arizona and South Carolina.

Finally, Middleburg High freshman third-place finisher Fallon Dames was in Indianapolis at the 2026 National duals on June 17, and finished with three wins, with Barrientos finishing at 7-2.

Football OK, Cross country big too in August

Cecil Field Summer Classic XC: Friday, August 21

By Randy Lefko,

randy@claytodayonline.com

JACKSONVILLE - Yes, it is Florida and, yes, it is the start of football thinking in just about every corner of the state, but one guy has been brewing a counter sport for Friday Night Lights and his includes just a little physical contact.

"We started the Cecil Field Summer Classic Cross Country Invitational in 2017 with a small field, about 12 teams and it was basically a pre-season race for area teams," said Cecil Field Summer Classic (Fri., August 21) race director Richard Fannin, who also directs the Cecil Field Fall Classic at the New World Sports Complex in October, plus a host of district and regional cross country championships at his venue at the old Cecil Field Golf Course (now disc golf) off Normandy Boulevard. "After three years, we got big enough to make it a full-fledged race on the high school cross country circuit. Now, it's a destination race and we are about as big as we can get."

Fannin, who also served as the Gate River Run 15K elite racer coordinator for 1st Place Sports race director Doug Alred, has promised yet another stellar field of elite runners with teams from as far as North Carolina and Georgia set to compete.

"We recently (July) had to close the registration for the meet because we had 100 teams already signed up," Fannin said. "We have the number one team in Georgia; West Forsyth High out of Atlanta (6A champions 2025), and also North Carolina; Apex High School in Charlotte is on our list. Apex was the number two team in North Carolina (8A) last year."

Fannin is proud to proclaim that he may have the toughest field he has ever fielded at the Cecil Field venue.

"Right now, we have the number one running schools from three states; Florida - Belen Jesuit Prep in south Florida, West Forsyth from Atlanta, and Apex from North Carolina. That's a pretty stellar start."

Among the Florida teams, locally, Fleming Island High has traditional had strong performances in both races; summer and fall classics with St. Johns Country Day School state champion Matthew Stratton winning once with sister Rebecca Stratton also naming the course her favorite.

"I had my fastest time in high school at the Summer Classic," said Rebecca Stratton, now at Georgia Southern University. "Matthew, (a recent University of Floria cross country graduate), always had good races there too. It's flat, well organized and just brings in the fastest people."

Matthew Stratton had a second in the Summer Classic to Koon and a fourth behind Harrison, Toppi and Koon in the Fall Classic in 2021.

In 2025, Fleming Island High had junior JP Strombeck and senior Marcos Serrano in at 36th and 37th in 16:09. Top area girl was Fleming Island's Brooke Reynolds in 28th in 19:58.

As for the timing of an August uber-fast race, Fannin postulates that the race comes at the perfect time prior to the meat of the high school cross country schedule to kind of "flex" the muscles.

"I remember when I ran at Bolles and we would do the typical mileage during the hot summer with teammates and throw in some road 5Ks and 10Ks, but that first race is a big one to see if the summer training is going to take hold," said Fannin, who coached his daughters at Bishop Snyder a few years back and got a district title for the school. "Now, it's just the first testing ground for the fall season. It used to be the Bishop Kenny Katie Caples race which was in early September, but we have a good venue, good parking, good volunteers and quality race management with the 1st Place Sports people."

Fannin is cognizant enough to know that August in Florida is sizzling hot and, as has been happening in recent races, brings the afternoon thunderstorms to make things even more interesting.

"We have middle school races, varsity races and elite races on the whole program," Fannin said. "We intentionally time the elite races to be starting at about dusk to try and give them a chance to catch a cool breeze when the sun goes down. We had a 72 degrees start last year because of rain."

As for the attraction of the elite runners to Florida to let it rip, Fannin thinks it is just anticipation of racing.

"I give credit to the course we have designed; actually, two of them," Fannin said. "It's fast, basically all flat and we have two different courses; one on the front nine of the golf course, the other on the back nine, and we switch them each year so the summer and fall classics are different courses each year."

Records are listed on a wooden display panel near the course with top times each year getting shuffled as new race times emerge.

"Marcelo Mantecon of Belen Jesuit Prep, a four-time state cross country champion and also a national 3200 track champion this year going to University of North Carolina, was the first boy to break the course record on both courses," Fannin said. "It's going to tough to beat his time, but someone will challenge it."

Top five finishing times have been Belen Jesuit's Mantecon/UNC (14:33 2025, 2025 Champion 3A), Nease/Oregon Rheinhardt Harrison (14:45 2021, 2021 Champion 3A), Leon/Stanford Patrick Koon (14:46 2023, 2023 Champion 3A), Bolles/Stanford Charles Hicks (14:53 2018, 2018 Champion 2A) and Viera/Florida Southern Michael Toppi (14:55 2021, 2021 2nd 3A).

For girls, top five (time, year, state finish) are Spruce Creek/Auburn Mackenzie Roy (17:14 2024), North Bay Haven/FSU Margaret Bartlow (17:19 2024, 2024 2A champ), Creekside/Tennessee Alyson Johnson (17:23 2024), Bishop Moore Annabella Tomasic (17:25 2025, 2025 Champion 3A) and Cambridge Christian/Alabama Eliana Black (17:33 2024, 2025 Champion 1A).

In that 2024 Fall Classic girls race, the first through fourth places were Roy, Bartlow, Johnson and Black in one of the fastest lead packs.

"Just about every girl and boys on our top runners list eventually ran NCAA Div. I college cross country," Fannin said. "It's a badge of honor for the kids to get on that list."