1A Girls State Cross Country Preview 2026: Two Eighth Graders, a Comeback and a Four-Team Fight

FHSAA Class 1A girls cross country state championship, Friday, November 20, 2026, 7:20 a.m., Apalachee Regional Park, Tallahassee. The first race of the day.

Last November the 1A girls title came down to a sixth runner. Providence and Oak Hall both scored 132 at Apalachee Regional Park, and Providence won the tiebreak because its sixth runner was 72nd and Oak Hall's was 138th. Eliana Black of Northside Christian won the race in 17:50.0, and Sienna Audrey of Community School was second. Both were seniors.

So Friday crowns a new champion, and there is a real chance she is an eighth grader. Charlotte Roy of All Saints' and Taylor Geraghty of Holy Trinity are both racing varsity in eighth grade. Roy was not in last year's state race. Geraghty was 23rd.

The team race is tighter. On our numbers, four teams are within 30 points of each other: Holy Trinity, Oak Hall, Cornerstone Classical and All Saints'. Here is how the season got here, what changed during region week, and who we think wins.

• The top eight teams and the top four individuals from each region are in the race: 32 teams and 16 individuals.
• How each region finished: Region 1, Region 2, Region 3 and Region 4.
• Want to try your own lineup? Run the race simulator.

How the season got here

August: Summers out front, alone

Mary Summers of Seven Rivers Christian, a sophomore, was third at state last year in 18:27.9. She opened this season by winning the Lecanto Invitational on August 22 in 18:32.9, then ran 18:39.3 for fourth at Whispering Pines a week later. No other 1A girl was close to her.

Emma Wilkinson of Lakeland Christian, a junior who was sixth at state, opened third at Ragin' Storm and then won Lake Region in 18:57.7. Noelle Richardson of Westminster Academy, a senior, ran 19:36.0 at Cecil Field, five seconds faster than her state time. Holy Trinity was our first No. 1 team, by one point.

September: the eighth graders show up

On September 5 at the St. Cloud Invitational, Wilkinson ran 18:28.3 for second behind Arabella Duffell. Two tenths of a second behind her was an All Saints' eighth grader named Charlotte Roy, in 18:28.5. Two weeks later Roy won the SSAA championship and beat Naeha Akella of St. Stephen's Episcopal, a senior who had just run 18:38.6 at the IMGA Summit Challenge.

On September 18, Taylor Geraghty won the 1A-2A race at the Spanish River Invitational in 18:50.7, out of 301 runners. Her sister Kelly, a freshman, was fourth, and Holy Trinity won the 1A scoring with 21 points. Geraghty had run 20:38 at Cecil Field in August.

Summers did not race again after August 29. She did not start at Weeki Wachee on September 26 and did not finish at the Wildwood Invitational on October 10.

October: New World, and a comeback

Geraghty went to North Carolina for the Great American XC Festival and finished second of 357 in the Blue Invitational in 18:34.3. Wilkinson was second in the flrunners.com Race of Champions in 18:58.1.

On October 17, the New World Fall Spectacular in Jacksonville put most of the state's best girls in one race. Roy ran 18:00 and was 11th in the Girls Elite race, the first 1A runner across the line. Geraghty was 20th in 18:28. Emma Akhundjanov of Providence, a sophomore, was 49th in 19:01, eight seconds ahead of Akella and nine ahead of Faith Dykens of Cornerstone Classical, a freshman. Wilkinson and Summers did not run.

New World was also the first real look at the team race. Oak Hall beat Holy Trinity, 524 to 589, finishing 18th and 19th of 45 teams. Holy Trinity ran without Kelly Geraghty. All Saints' was 21st with 659.

A week later, on October 24, Summers came back. She won the Hernando Christian Invitational in 18:02.4, more than three minutes ahead of second. We can't compare that course with anything else, so the clock tells us less than it seems to, but she was racing again. The same morning, at the Polk County championship, Roy beat Wilkinson for the first time, 18:39.3 to 18:56.9. She did it again at the District 1A-5 meet on November 4, 18:17.8 to 18:56.9.

What region week changed

Region week is where our rankings met the results. Here is what surprised us and what didn't.

Roy made it three in a row. Region 3 ran at Holloway Park in Lakeland on Thursday morning. Roy won in 18:34.4 and Wilkinson was second in 18:45.7. That is three straight wins for Roy over the girl who was first on our last 1A list, and Roy has not lost to a 1A girl since St. Cloud. Joanie Webb of Donahue Academy, a freshman, was third in 19:09.5 and beat Akella for the second time in a week.

Summers and Geraghty finally met. Region 2 ran at the same park the same morning. Geraghty won in 19:01.1 and Summers was second in 19:14.4. It was the first time they had raced each other. We had Summers 10th on our last list because she had gone seven weeks without finishing a race. She is back near the top. Rachel Judy of Master's Academy, a senior who was fifth at state last year, was third in 19:39.5. Judy was not in our last top 10. She belongs in this race. Holy Trinity put five runners in the top 12 and scored 21.

All Saints' beat our pick. We had Community School winning Region 3. All Saints' won it, 54 to 81, with Roy first, eighth grader Kylie Cook 10th and seventh grader Savannah Simonds 11th.

Cornerstone Classical closed the gap. Region 1 ran Saturday at West End Park in Gainesville. Oak Hall won with 49, but Cornerstone was only seven points back with 56, behind Dykens in second, Abigail Love in seventh and seventh grader Haven Smith in eighth. Cornerstone was sixth on our last team list. Akhundjanov won by 19 seconds. Providence, the defending champion, was third with 78, and St. Johns Country Day, second in our region preview, was fourth.

Dorn won the rubber match. In Region 4 at Boca Raton, Grace Dorn of South Florida HEAT, a sophomore, beat Richardson 19:43.1 to 19:53.9. We had Richardson winning. Pine School's Adrianna Mattera, a sixth grader, was third. Westminster won the team title by 37.

The team race: Holy Trinity, by a handful

We pick Holy Trinity. On our numbers it scores 111 to Oak Hall's 120, and nine points can disappear with one runner having a bad day.

Holy Trinity's edge is up front. Taylor Geraghty should finish in the top three, and Kelly Geraghty is a top-15 runner based on her season. Behind them, Caleigh Schmoll, Juelle Maaser and Abby Connors were sixth, ninth and 12th at region. Holy Trinity was fourth at state last year with 170.

Oak Hall's edge is the pack. Seventh graders Natalie and Madeline Kay were third and fourth at Region 1, Reese Allen was ninth, and the first five finished within 65 seconds of each other. We don't expect any Oak Hall runner in the top six, but they won't need one if Holy Trinity's back three slip. Oak Hall beat Holy Trinity at New World, and it lost last year's title on a tiebreak.

Cornerstone Classical (136) and All Saints' (141) are close enough that one bad race up front changes the podium. All Saints' has our pick for the individual title and the biggest gap between its first and fifth runners. Cornerstone was ninth at state last year. On Saturday it finished seven points behind Oak Hall.

Providence, the defending champion, is fifth on our numbers, ahead of St. Johns Country Day and Community School. Westminster, fifth at state last year, rounds out our top eight.

Our 1A girls team picks

The individual race: Roy is the pick

Charlotte Roy has beaten Wilkinson three straight times, beat Geraghty by 28 seconds at New World, and hasn't lost to a 1A girl since September 5. She is our pick to win, as an eighth grader.

Second through fourth is harder, because the three girls behind her have never all raced each other. Wilkinson and Geraghty have never met. Summers has raced Geraghty once, on Thursday, and lost. We have Wilkinson second on her whole season: 18:28.3 at St. Cloud, 18:29.7 at the Raider Open and 18:45.7 at region. Geraghty is third, with 18:28 at New World and 18:34.3 at the Great American. Summers is fourth because of Thursday's result.

Judy is fifth and Webb sixth. Webb has beaten Akella twice in November and was 23.8 seconds behind Wilkinson on Thursday.

Akhundjanov, Akella, Dykens and Sofia Boussouf of Classical Academy, a sophomore, round out the top 10. Akhundjanov beat Akella and Dykens at New World. Akella has beaten Boussouf four times this fall. Boussouf beat Brianna Bergin of Carrollwood and Emily Del Mazo of Community School on Thursday.

Next in line: Natalie Kay of Oak Hall, Bergin, Avery Gervais of Master's Academy, Dorn and Kelly Geraghty.

Our 1A girls individual picks

Sixteen girls are going to state without a team. Summers, Judy, Webb, Boussouf and Bergin are among them, with Gervais, Abigail Cooper of Tampa Bay HEAT, Molly Joly of Marathon and Valentina Santana of Atlantic Christian.

How we made these picks

• The field is the top eight teams and the top four runners not on those teams from each region, as the regions finished. FHSAA had not posted its official state qualifier list as of Sunday. If it differs, we'll update this.
• Each runner's season is put on one scale using what we know about each course. Roy Griak and our own Run Florida XC meet are not counted.
• When two runners have raced each other, their most recent meeting decides the order. Head-to-heads from Cecil Field and Jim Ryun in August no longer count, and a race far off a runner's own normal times is not held against her.
• Team scores come from that individual order. The top five count and individuals don't score. Projected points are from our virtual race, not a prediction of the exact score.
• The FSU Pre-State meet in October, where many teams usually get a look at the Apalachee course, was canceled for Tropical Storm Isaias.

The 1A girls open the day at 7:20 a.m. Friday. Our 1A boys preview is next. Every runner's season is in the database. See you in Tallahassee.