Madison Muller and Natalia Gaona-Zelaya both won again and stay one-two in Class 4A; Arabella Duffell was second at PR'ville, and Niceville's Lola Jackson and Harmony Holland come in after beating Avery Hartley at the Southern Showcase.
Florida Class 4A girls cross country through six weeks: August 21-September 26, 2026
The top two each won on Saturday. Madison Muller of Riverview, a junior, won the Lakewood Ranch XC Invite in 17:54.0, four wins in four starts. Natalia Gaona-Zelaya of Wiregrass Ranch, a senior, won the Stampede Sprint in 17:34.6, five wins in five. Arabella Duffell of Lake Nona, a junior, was second in the 271-runner Championship race at PR'ville in Huntsville in 17:33.5. Katherine Eudaly of Plant did not race. The top four match the statewide list.
Two Niceville girls come in. Lola Jackson, a freshman, and Harmony Holland, a junior, were eleventh and twelfth in the Southern Showcase championship race on September 19, both ahead of Avery Hartley of Bartram Trail. None of the three has raced the others since. A loss stands until they meet again.
Hartley is ninth on the statewide list published Sunday and eleventh here. Two things put her there. Jackson and Holland beat her in Huntsville. And from this week opening-weekend results no longer order anyone, which takes away her Cecil Field wins over Elise Brown and Peyton Cerasi. She won the Bale-N-Trail Elite race on Saturday, and the statewide list will catch up next week.
A runner is ranked on her whole season, with the most recent race counting most, and a race she won never counts against her. This is data plus judgment, and we will miss somebody along the way. How we sorted everybody out is at the bottom.
The statewide lists: week 6 girls top 10 and week 6 boys top 10. Last week's version of this list is here. The other class lists this week: 4A boys, 1A girls, 2A girls, 3A girls.
1. Madison Muller, Riverview (Sarasota), Jr.
Won the Lakewood Ranch XC Invite on Saturday in 17:54.0 out of 128. Won the Raider Open, Wellen Park and North Port before that, the last in 17:33.1. Four races, four wins. First in the class and first statewide.
2. Natalia Gaona-Zelaya, Wiregrass Ranch, Sr.
Won the Stampede Sprint on Saturday in 17:34.6 out of 142, ahead of Emma Poekert of Cypress Creek 3A. Five races, five wins, including the Horse Park in 18:03.8 and Astronaut, where she beat Eva McMenemy-Hoang. Second.
3. Arabella Duffell, Lake Nona, Jr.
Second in the Championship race at PR'ville in Huntsville on Saturday in 17:33.5 out of 271. PR'ville has no Florida reading we trust, so the time is printed and not converted. Won Cecil Field in 17:53.0 and St. Cloud in 17:38.5. Third.
4. Katherine Eudaly, Plant, Jr.
Did not race. Won the North Port Invite on September 19 in 17:37.3, her fourth win in four starts after Jim Ryun, West Hillsborough and Parker Valby. Fourth.
5. Alba Antunez-Perez, Spanish River, Sr.
Did not race. Won the Spanish River Race of Champions on September 18 in 18:03.2, her only race of the fall, fifty seconds ahead of Nicole Lewis. Fifth.
6. Eva McMenemy-Hoang, Viera, Sr.
Did not race. Fourth at the Rockledge Raider Classic on September 18 in 18:52.5, and second at Astronaut behind Gaona-Zelaya. Sixth.
7. Elise Brown, St. Thomas Aquinas, So.
Did not race. Won King of the Hill on September 10 in 19:15.7 out of 239, and seventh at Cecil Field in 18:50.0. Hartley beat her at Cecil Field, a result that no longer orders the list. Eighth to seventh.
8. Nicole Lewis, Doral Academy, Jr.
Did not race. Second in the Spanish River Race of Champions on September 18 in 18:53.4, behind Antunez-Perez. Fifth at the Horse Park in 18:43.0, ahead of Eva Delaney, and a win at Pine Crest. Eighth.
9. Lola Jackson, Niceville, Fr.
Eleventh at the Southern Showcase on September 19 in 18:56.9 out of 160, 1.3 seconds ahead of her teammate Holland and 4.7 ahead of Hartley. A freshman, and more than a minute faster than her August times on the clock. Holland had beaten her three times before Huntsville; the newest meeting counts. Ninth.
10. Harmony Holland, Niceville, Jr.
Twelfth at the Southern Showcase in 18:58.2, 3.4 seconds ahead of Hartley and behind Jackson. Second at Pine Forest and fourth at Pace Patriot, both ahead of Jackson. Tenth.
Just missed
Avery Hartley (Bartram Trail, So.) won the Bale-N-Trail Elite race on Saturday in 18:17.5, a second and a half ahead of Eva Delaney (Creekside, So.). Jackson and Holland beat her at the Southern Showcase, which is why she sits behind them. Peyton Cerasi (Matanzas, Jr.) won DeLand in 18:53.0. Avalyn Thompson (Lake Brantley, Sr.) has won all three of her races. Analyse St John (Lennard, Fr.) was second at Seffner Christian.
How we ranked them
- Courses do not all run the same speed, so we do not compare raw times. Cecil Field is the yardstick; for other meets we use runners who raced both that course and last year's state meet to work out what a time was worth.
- A runner is ranked on her whole season, weighted toward the most recent race: this week counts six times, last week five, and so on back to opening weekend, which counts once. A race she won is never allowed to lower that figure.
- A head-to-head loss stands until the two runners meet again, whatever either has run elsewhere since. Where results form a loop, the most recent meeting decides. A runner who beat someone ranked above her moves up to that runner's spot.
- New this week: results from opening weekend, Cecil Field on August 21 and Jim Ryun on August 22, no longer order runners. Six weeks in, kids have improved, and a finish from the first weekend of the season should not pin anybody below a runner who beat them in August. Those times still count in the season figure.
- A missed week is never held against anyone.
- Grades and classes are 2026-27, resolved against the FHSAA classification documents.
- Jackson and Holland over Hartley is the rule: both beat her at the Southern Showcase on September 19, and none of the three has raced the others since.
- Hartley is ninth on the statewide list published Sunday. That list still used her Cecil Field wins, which no longer count, and did not have Jackson and Holland above her. It will line up with this one next week.
- PR'ville has no Florida course reading we trust yet, so Duffell's 17:33.5 is printed as run and not converted.
Every result behind this list is in the rankings section, and the full weekend is in the weekend recap.