By: Charlie Hilly

On Sep. 5th, the Ponte Vedra High School (PVHS) Sharks Track Team travelled to Ocala, Florida to participate in the 13th Annual Florida Horse Park Invitational 5K, and despite the meet’s ominous numeral, this event was described by senior, Nate Marciani as, “The greatest meet in the history of Florida.” This is an apt description, as the venue was met with by far the largest participation of athletes in Florida history, at a total of 1,677 athletes and 66 teams in attendance from all across the state. With a warm and sunny morning to start the race day, the first flight was sent off at a spry 7:20 AM.

Making up the largest portion of the athletes present, the Varsity Boys totalled at 544 runners, the top 100 of which saw 5 PVHS stars. Heading these PVHS boys was senior, Luke Ross in 11th place with a time of (16:02.8), followed only a minute behind by both senior, Jack Feather and junior, Aiden Killoran in 61st and 63rd, both happy for their first “sub 17’s”, with respective times of (16:54.4) and (16:57.2). Less than 15 seconds behind these two was senior, Logan “Cooper” Hunt in 84th with a time of (17:10.4), and then new sophomore runner, Colin Bovee in 87th at (17:13.1).

The PVHS Varsity Girls saw an equally impressive performance with 4 top 100 finishers out of a total 399 competing. The first Sharks runner to cross the finish line was senior, Savannah LaVasser in 24th place with a tremendous time of (19:43.8), and following very closely behind was freshman, Piper Ross in 27th with a time of (19:50.4). Not far off was junior, Cailyn Douglas who made 42nd with (20:06.7), and then senior, Olivia Kaminsky in 60th with a time of (20:43.5).

By 10:45 AM the last runner crossed through the finish line, and PVHS XC was awarded the 8th place position overall of the 66 teams present. This marks a bright start to the 2026 season, and states the powerful position PVHS has in XC to the rest of Florida schools.

Luke Ross (center) PVHS senior running at the meet

Photo courtesy @pvsharksxc