Israel Mirtil wins Polk County cross country crown

EAGLE LAKE, FLORIDA – Israel Mirtil is No.1.

The Lake Region senior, who was diagnosed with autism as a 5-year-old, and won over the hearts of thousands of people this fall, won the Polk County cross country championship in runaway fashion Saturday on his home turf.

“It was awesome,” Mirtil said after the race with a huge smile on his face.

Mirtil, who held the third-fastest time in the county this season entering the race, was told to hang near the front of the pack for the first part of the race and then make a move around the 1-mile mark.

He did and then bolted to the lead which was never challenged for the remainder of the race. Mirtil crossed the finish line with his second-best career run at 17:00.43 – a split second slower than his personal best. And he beat second-place finisher Kruz Shembri, a Ridge Community sophomore, by 14.42 seconds.

“I thought it was going to be closer,” said his father Phito Mirtil, who coaches him in the evenings. “That is why I told him to sit the first mile because I thought it would be closer than that.”

The course, which sported mud, sand, gravel, concrete, asphalt and grass, was altered this week because of damage sustained from Hurricane Ian.

“This whole week we trained on this course to make sure he understood where he was going to make every move, even on the track where he is supposed to be sprinting. Everything was crucial for him to understand that,” Phito said.

Mirtil also became the first Lake Region boys cross country runner to win the county championship. Ironically, Lake Region’s head coach J.J. Blackburn finished second during his high school career at Lake Region in 2006.

“It’s progress,” Blackburn said. “We only move forward by breaking records. Our best finish was second and now Israel took care of that for us. He did what he has been working on, making a strong move. He broke away and never looked back.”

Mirtil, a 2021 FHSAA state qualifier, who attends school at Pathways School of Excellence at Southeastern University in Lakeland, also won the George Whitmire Invitational on Sept. 3 with a 17:03.07 outing, beating out the second-place runner by 13.3 seconds. He also won the Lake Region Twilight meet at 17:13.12.

Lake Wales senior Cameron Gonzales (17:23.49) finished third, followed by Jenkins sophomore Caden Baker (17:24.65) and Auburndale senior Colin Fetter (17:45.11) to round out the top five for the boys.

McKeel Academy seventh-grader Kinsey Myers also made a big move, hers came at the 2-mile mark, where she passed Lakeland sophomore Avery Smith and roared to the girls Polk County title with a 20:18.85 effort.

“I was expecting to get third or fourth place,” Myers said. “I felt strong and I saw (Smith) kind of slowing down. I was about 10 seconds behind her. I felt strong, I just looked ahead and never looked back.”

Myers said when she reached the track and the final 100 yards to the finish line, she just turned on the jets.

“I just sprinted as hard as I could,” Myers said. “(The course) was a little bit muddy near the hill. It was tough because we had to do it twice.”

George Jenkins junior Jaade McBride (20:31.24) finished second for the girls and Smith (20:39.71) finished third, McKeel senior Emma Nales-Torchio (20:57.64) was fourth and Jenkins senior Payton Rusk (21:24.04) was fifth.

The Jenkins won the boys team championship with 78 points, placing runners in the fourth, sixth, seventh, 29th and 32nd spots. McKeel (79) was second and Auburndale (118) third.

McKeel (35) won the girls team championship with runners finishing first, fourth, seventh, 11th and 12th. Lakeland (54) finished second and Jenkins (65) third.