McKeel’s Aidan Alam had the highest finish, Lake Wales’ Gabriel Harris had the best time, and Lakeland Christian’s Emma Wilkinson had her best time in five trips to state as the top girls runner from the county. The trio were the top highlights among Polk County runners on Saturday at the 2025 FHSAA Cross Country Championships at Appalachia State Park in Tallahassee.
Alam, a freshman, ran 16:17.8 to finish fifth place in the Class 2A boys race. It was just 10 seconds of his personal record set earlier this year when he won 2A-4 district race. With Cal Howard as the Wildcats’ No. 2 runner and finishing 32ne, McKeel finished 15th out of 31 teams.
In the 3A boys race, Harris’ time of 16:10 was seven seconds faster than Alam. Harris finished 16th overall, and Lake Wales finished 17th out of 32 teams.
Wilkinson is a veteran of the state race. She ran 20.24.9 as a sixth-grader to finish 27th and has improved her time each year. She ran under 20 minutes at state for the first time two years ago and nearly ran under 19 minutes for the first time on Saturday.
The LCS sophomore ran 19:00.00 to finish in sixth place for the second consecutive year. All five runners who finished ahead of Wilkinson last year returned. She beat Pensacola Christian’s Jaimee Tutton who fell from third to seventh place. However, Naples Community’s Sienna Audrey, who wasn’t in the 1A race last year, finished second to keep Wilkinson in sixth place.
Lakeland Christian finished 10th overall among 32 1A girls teams.
All Saints, which was missing two of its top six runners, finished 19th. Sophomore Lindsey Cook led the Saints with a 39th-place finish in 20:45.2.
For the 1A boys, Larry Glenn ran 17:12.2 to finish 29th as Lakeland Christian’s top runner to lead the Vikings to a seventh-place finish. John Workman and Paulos Kicklighter finished 36th and 37th, respectively.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Alam, Harris, Wilkinson provide top highlights for Polk at state meet
Reporting by Roy Fuoco, Lakeland Ledger / The Ledger
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
