Congratulations to all the Harriers who posted new PRs and/or took home medals at Bay Area Championships. Next up is the FLYRA XC State Championship meet 10/31-11/1, in Lakeland, FL and the Harriers are ready!

Middle School Girls won 2nd place team – Individual medalists Alina Bradshaw (2), Lucy Dory (7), Helene Waters (10),

Middle School Boys won 1st place team – Individual medalists Jacob Greene (1), Logan Coen (4), Steven “Gunner” Olver (9), Ace Hallinan (11), Alex Geisel (14)

Elementary Girls won 1st place team – Individual medalists Maysen McDonald (1), Lainey Jessup (2), Jordan Long (3), Riley Smith (4), Kenza Galbraith (7), Kora Deanna (8), Ella Hallinan (13)

Elementary Boys won 1st place team – Individual medalists Thomas Destremps (2), Samuel Young (3), Tristan Deanna (4), Logan DiCarlo (5), Reinsuy Watson (8), Axton Galbraith (9), Gage Jessup (10), Daniel Greene (11), Fletcher McDonald (12), Michael Miller (13)

A new all time Harrier record in the Elementary Girls 2k was set at this meet by Maysen McDonald. She took down the previous record of 8:03.6, which has held for 7 years by Ellie Black, running the 2k in 7:57.4. Congrats Maysen!

Date: Saturday, October 25, 2025

Hosted by The Hillsborough Harriers

Where: Mary Help of Christians Center, 6400 E. Chelsea St., Tampa (Temple Terrace area)

Times: 8:00 am – Middle School Girls  (3K)

             8:30 am – Middle School Boys (3K) 

             9:00 am- Combined Girls & Boys Kindergarten – Grade 3 (2K)   

What: Join over 400+ area youth runners in the largest middle school and youth cross country meet in Tampa Bay! Compete for prestigious Florida-unique medals!

The Top 10 4th-8th Graders in each race (boys and girls) will receive a medal confirming their achievement as one of the fastest runners in Tampa Bay! This race is a 3km race (~1.86 miles)

NEW MEGA GIANT team trophies will be given to the top 2 teams in each gender in the Middle School Division.

K-3rd grade compete in the fastest 2k ever! Top 10 of each gender will win a medal.

The race event will also be full of fun! It is the “Don’t Miss” youth running event for 2025 in Tampa Bay.

Club/School/Charter schools please sign up here: https://fl.milesplit.com/meets/493146/registration

Unattached runners can contact the Harriers Club Director at HarriersXC@gmail.com

RACES WILL BE CHIP TIMED

Qualifier Race for the Florida
Youth Running Association State Championship (FLYRA)

How fast does my son or daughter need to be to join the Harriers?

The Harriers take runners of all abilities and coach them for consistent improvement during the season and throughout the year. We want kids who love running and want to get better.

Does my child need to go to all of the practices and meets?

Yes, as many as possible! Cross country and track are not the types of sports that you can do well in without practice. If your child wants to do other activities and running is just an after-thought, then this is not the team for you!

If your athlete does not come to the practices, or consistently misses practice, he or she will not improve with their running and will be highly discouraged during practices and races. We usually use the comparison of our running team to club soccer. Being involved with our club practices and meets is expected. It would be counterproductive to sign up for a soccer team and miss practices and games, just as it would be to sign up to be a part of the Harriers and miss practices and meets.

Can my child do just cross country or just track, without doing both?

We don’t recommend it. The Harriers train year-round for optimum results.

How much does it cost?

The Club director sets the fees for the season at least a month before the season begins, depending on the races that we have added to the calendar for the team to run in. We are one of the least expensive sports to participate in. Running is much cheaper than Soccer, Lacrosse, Dance, Football, Baseball, Gymnastics, and almost every sport. The fee for fall 2025 is $250 and will be a similar fee for the spring season.

The Club fees go towards AAU cost of membership, the cost of running the club, race fees, and of course your child’s uniform is included. Fees are collected twice a year.

Parents are also expected to purchase proper running shoes. The coaches are very happy to direct you on that matter and save you money in the process.

Where do you practice?

The Club practices in the North Tampa/Lutz/Citrus Park area which is convenient for runners there and a very short drive from places like Land O’ Lakes, Westchase, Carrollwood, Northdale, etc.

Do you have to live in Hillsborough County?

No. The Hillsborough Harriers name is just for alliteration. A lot of our runners and even coaches are from Pasco County.

The Harriers won both the boys’ and girls’ first place trophies at the Bay Area XC Championships in Tampa on October 23, 2021.

Way to go, Harriers!

This year’s Sacred Selections 5k in Temple Terrace was soggy but the performance by the Harrier squad was anything but!

As the longest standing youth distance club, the Harriers showed up in force with 44 youth runners and parents joining at the starting line. The moderately hilly 3.1 mile course wound around and through the Woodmont Park in Temple Terrace.

Katelin Wilcox brought home the overall female winner title!   Amy “Cooked” the 0-14 age group, followed by  Alli Laffler in 3rd and Elsie finished 4th in the 0-14 Female category.

Harriers’ boys Josh, Joaquin, Oscar, Christian finished 1-4 in the 0-14 Category.  Harrier Parents lit up their respective age groups.  Best of all we were able to donate our entry fees to Sacred Selections, an organization that assists with adoptions of children to good families in the the Tampa area.  Just amazed as usual at how well the kids ran today!

Join an exclusive 3rd through 8th grade 5K series to kick off the 2020 year!

After a successful 2019 cross country season, the Harriers will be jumping right into preparation for a series of 5K races starting with a time trial at the end of January. Runners from any background are welcome to join, all that is needed is a desire to work hard and have fun!

Weekly team workouts are underway already on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturdays. We would love for you to come join us!

This series will be covered in one flat fee for all runners. Current club members can register for $60, while new members can register for $80 and will receive a Harrier race uniform.

Tentative race schedule is below. For more information you can contact us at harriersxc@gmail.com

Great result for both the Girls and Boys teams at the Jim Ryun Invite to kick off the XC season!  The Girls team surprised with a 3rd place finish, improving our team score by 40 points from last year.  The boys team had an incredible performance, scoring a team record meet low 36 points and winning the meet by over 60 points.  The summer training we have done this year really showed in the results!

https://fl.milesplit.com/meets/355790/results/660502/formatted#.XWM3vuhKi00

Newcomers Shawn and Andrew went 1-2 in the boys AAU 1k race.  Alec, Gus and Titus finished 1st, 3rd and 4th in the boys 2k.   Emma Laffler made the podium with a 3rd place finish in the girls AAU 2k.

Josh, Oscar, Ricky, Zach, Joaquin and Katelin all finished in the top 15 in the Middle School 3k races.

Thanks to all the Parents and Kids for the great summer of training!  Our first meet is next week!  We now have over 40 kids on the team and I’m very excited to see how everyone does at the first meet.

The first meet is the Jim Ryun Invite.  Jim Ryun won the Olympic Silver Medal at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City.   Jim will be there at the race and poses with runners at the awards ceremony.  Jim was also the first American High School runner to run under 4 minutes in the Mile.  He’s a legendary athlete and perhaps the greatest high school athlete of all time.

Right now we have about 25 runners (Grades 3-8) training for the fall Season.  The runners participating are having fun, learning about how to run faster and bonding in a friendly team environment.   We practice in the Carrollwood, Lutz and Citrus Park areas of Tampa.   The new Splash-park practice site is a big hit. The Head Coach is 11-time Boston Marathon Qualifier Tommy Brown.   Still time to join for the fall season.  Email :   harriersxc@gmail.com for more information.