If you had to drag yourself out of bed to be up at ungodly hours just to run a 3.1-mile race on a grass course, it doesn’t mean that you’re crazy. No, it simply means that cross country season is here! Isn’t this exciting? It’s been marked on calendars for, oh, we don’t know, A YEAR!

The Road to November has begun, and plenty of runners across Florida have laced up their spikes, toed the line, and well, ran! Yes, it may be the first week of competition, as it’s not how you start, but how you finish, we took a look at who made their way to the top of our DyeStatTFX Cross Country rankings.

RANKINGS - See where you stack up!

Mason Jones (Titusville High School)

15:51? What a way to open up your senior year! Coming off of a great summer, our first male Runner of the Week (ROTW) is Mason Jones of Titusville High School; a man on a mission.

Jones is the second-fastest returner for the Class of 2017.  At the end of the 2015 XC season his personal-best is 15:44.0.  Mason finished ninth in the 2A class at the cross country state championships last fall.

Jones also had a very solid 2016 outdoor track season, putting up personal-bests of 4:24 in the 1600 and 9:23 in the 3200, where he finished fifth in the State Meet, respectively.

In an interview with DyeStat Florida after his state-leading performance, he said, “I felt really strong and just figured I would go out there, no watch or anything, and see what I could do".

Just testing the wheels, not making a statement. There’s nothing wrong with that, especially when your first mile is 4:56 and you feel great! It’s clear that there’s not much rust on his set of wheels. Keep an eye out for Mason Jones come the 2A state championships.

RELATED - MASON's POST RACE INTERVEW

RELATED - BOYS 5K RACE FOOTAGE

Mason Jones winning the 17th Annual Wickham Park Jamboree

Samantha Folio (Holy Trinity Episcopal)

Another one not afraid to test the wheels early on, Holy Trinity Episcopal senior, Samantha Folio, is our first Girls ROTW. Posting a state-leading 19:29.0 to open the season also at the Wickham Park Jamboree this past weekend, Folio cruised the all-too-familiar course with ease.

She took the race out, passing the mile mark at 5:44, a very solid opening mile. To her own surprise, and maybe from some of the spectators as well, no one was near her.

“I was surprised they didn’t stick for longer,” she explained in a post-race interview.

Looking back at a great 2016 outdoor track season (the fifth-place finisher in 1600 and 3200 at the 1A state championships, 5:18 and 11:28 PB) and ever further back to last year’s cross country season, Folio says that the biggest difference is her dedication.

“I think I’ve put in my hardest work and I can work harder,” she said. “This season’s going to be great.”

Folio will be eager to get back to her personal-best of 18:55.5, which she ran as a freshman. She came close last fall when she ran a season-best of 18:57.4 at the Holy Trinity Fall Classic. If all goes to plan, she’ll hit that, and even faster. Who knows, maybe she’ll add some more wins to the collection before the season’s out. Samantha and her Holy teammates will be racing this weekend's Martin County Under the Lights Invitational.

Samantha Folio at the 17th Annual Wickham Park Jamboree

That was exciting! Again, we’re so glad that cross country season is here! Congratulations to all of our runners who competed this weekend! We hope you ran a personal-best, or maybe even won the race! Run fast, trust your training, and keep an eye out to see who will be next week’s DyeStat Florida Runners Of The Week!

RELATED - SAMANTHA's POST RACE INTERVEW

RELATED - GIRLS 5K RACE FOOTAGE