Montverde Academy's cross country teams turned in solid performances on Saturday morning at the Florida State Pre-State Invitational, held at Apalachee Regional Park — the same course that will host the FHSAA State Championships on November 22.

The girls team placed 18th out of 34 teams in a highly competitive field featuring many of the top programs in Florida.

Leading the way once again for Montverde Academy was Lyla McMillen, who finished 24th overall out of 291 runners with a time of 19:53.5. The performance marked McMillen's fifth consecutive meet as MVA's top finisher this season.

Alafair Scelfo continued her strong campaign this season, finishing 30th overall in 20:05.5 to take second for the Eagles. Federica Perez was third for MVA, placing 64th overall in 20:44.9, followed by Amaris Munya, who crossed the line in 21:48.3 for 137th place. Alon Scelfo completed the team's scoring five with a 227th-place finish in 23:17.2.

Also competing for the Eagles were Zara Liles-Henry (229th, 23:22.7), Isabella Kissler (255th, 24:16.5), Nikita Verma (278th, 25:28.7), and Riya Gupta (280th, 25:36.4), rounding out the team's solid showing on the challenging course.

On the boys side, Will Moss delivered an impressive performance in the ultra-competitive Elite race, finishing 13th overall out of 332 runners with a time of 15:29.4. In the Varsity A race, Salvatore Scelfo earned a strong 14th-place finish among 242 runners with a time of 17:23.9.

Montverde Academy will return to competition on Thursday, November 6, at the FHSAA District Championship, hosted at the Sand Hill Scout Reservation in Spring Hill. The girls race begins at 10:00 a.m., followed by the boys race at 10:30 a.m., where Will Moss looks to defend his title as the reigning district champion.