Madison Muller won Wellen Park by more than two minutes and takes over the top spot. Emma Balaban of IMG Academy ran 17:14 in Bradenton and is second, because the two have raced and Muller won. Natalia Gaona-Zelaya beat Hallick, Tomasic and Mercer at the Horse Park, and the 3A champion finally raced. She is tenth.
Florida girls cross country, through three weeks: August 21-September 5, 2026
Two weeks ago the top of this list was a state champion who had not raced. Now it is the defending 4A champion, who has raced twice and won both by more than a minute and a half. Madison Muller won the first Wellen Park Invitational by two minutes and three seconds on Saturday, and she moves to the top.
The fastest time of the weekend belongs to somebody else. Emma Balaban, a junior at IMG Academy, ran 17:14.1 on her own campus and beat her teammate Sydney Johnson by 47 seconds. Nobody else in Florida has broken 17:30 this fall, and she is second, for one reason: she and Muller have raced each other, and Muller won. Arabella Duffell won at St. Cloud by 50 seconds in 17:38.5, the fastest time of her season. And at the Horse Park, in the deepest girls' race of the season, Natalia Gaona-Zelaya beat Lyla Hallick, Annabella Tomasic and Lainee Mercer in a straight fight and won by 19 seconds.
One change in how this list is built. Through two weeks a runner was ranked on her single best race. From here on she is ranked on her whole season, with the most recent race counting most: this week's run counts three times as much as opening weekend's, last week's twice as much. Three good races beat one great one, and a race from two weeks ago is still evidence, just not the loudest evidence. And a race a runner wins never counts against her: a win on a fast course is left out of her season figure rather than held against it.
Times are weighed against the course they were run on, using girls who raced both that course and last November's state meet, with Cecil Field as the yardstick. We use the data and our own judgment, and we will miss one or two. The boys' list is here, and the girls team rankings are here.
1. Madison Muller, Riverview (Sarasota), Jr., 4A
The defending 4A champion won the inaugural Wellen Park Invitational out of 131 in 17:52.6, two minutes and three seconds ahead of Sarasota's Annabella Cicilioni. Wellen Park ran a little slow, so by our measure this was the best race she has run, better than the 17:33.1 at North Port, which came on a course that hands time back. Two races, two wins by more than a minute and a half. She has not yet been in a race that made her work.
She goes to the top over a girl who ran 38 seconds faster on Saturday, and the reason is a race the two of them have already run. Muller and Balaban met at the Brooks XC Championships South at McAlpine Park last fall, and Muller beat her. Muller went on to finish 19th at the Brooks national championship, and she owns the faster track times. When two runners have settled it on the same course, that counts for more than two times run on different ones.
2. Emma Balaban, IMG Academy, Jr.
Won the IMGA Summit Challenge out of 64 in 17:14.1, 47 seconds clear of a teammate who ran 18:01. The course reads a touch fast, and even so the run is worth around 17:23 on neutral ground, better than anything any other Florida girl has produced this season.
The resume is real. She was the runner-up at the North Carolina state meet as a sophomore, fourth at the RunningLane championships, and has run 10:26 for 3,200 meters on the track, within three seconds of the best girls on this page. IMG Academy is not an FHSAA member, so there is no state meet in her past or her future. She is second because Muller beat her the one time they raced. If they meet again this fall, that is the race of the season.
3. Arabella Duffell, Lake Nona, Jr., 4A
Won the St. Cloud Invitational out of 151 in 17:38.5, 50 seconds ahead of Emma Wilkinson, and it is the fastest time of her season. St. Cloud is a shade quick, so on neutral ground it is worth about 17:50, right in line with the 17:53.0 she ran at Cecil Field on opening night. Two races under 17:55 on two different courses. Nobody else in the top ten has done that, and the two girls ahead of her have not raced each other since last fall.
4. Natalia Gaona-Zelaya, Wiregrass Ranch, Sr., 4A
The win of the weekend, on the deepest start line the girls have had. Gaona-Zelaya won the Horse Park out of 411 in 18:03.8, 19 seconds clear of Hallick, 25 clear of Tomasic and 37 clear of Mercer. Three of the girls ranked around her, beaten in one race on a fair course. She has raced three times, at Ragin' Storm, Whispering Pines and the Horse Park, and each one was better than the last. Her 18:06.9 from state was already a top-four returning mark. She has done more racing, and more winning, than anyone above her.
5. Sydney Johnson, IMG Academy, Jr.
Second to Balaban in 18:01.0. That is a raw time nobody ranked below her has matched this season, and she ran it 47 seconds behind a teammate, which tells you something about the front of that race. One run, no state history, same IMG caveat as her teammate. Fifth on the clock, behind a girl who beat three ranked runners on a bigger stage.
6. Katherine Eudaly, Plant, Jr., 4A
Won the Parker Valby Invitational out of 103 in 18:48.7, 49 seconds ahead of Katelin Wilcox, who was ranked seventh a week ago. That is her third race and her third good one, after 19:00.9 at Jim Ryun and 18:40.3 at West Hillsborough, and two of the three were wins. Parker Valby is a quick course, so the clock there says less than the win does, and the win is not held against her. She has beaten Wilcox head to head, which is more than most of this list can say about anybody, and she sits one place behind an 18:01.
7. Avery Hartley, Bartram Trail, So., 4A
Did not race. Still on the 18:13.0 from Cecil Field on August 21, which needs no conversion at all, and still holding a state time of 18:00.3. Two weeks without a race is not a knock, but the girl directly ahead of her has raced three times and won twice, and the girl directly behind her has raced three times and improved every time. One race holds seventh for now.
8. Lyla Hallick, Vanguard, So., 3A
Second at the Horse Park in 18:22.5, on her own team's home meet, 19 seconds behind Gaona-Zelaya and six ahead of Tomasic. Three races now, 18:37.0 at Cecil Field, 18:25.4 at Whispering Pines, 18:22.5 here, and every one faster than the last. A sophomore who was 19:14 at state last November has taken 52 seconds off that in three weeks and beaten the 3A champion head to head. The best body of work of anybody in the bottom half of this list, and it is why she sits ahead of a faster single race.
9. Rashida Reinhardt, IMG Academy, Fr.
A freshman, and the third IMG runner on this page. Third at the Summit Challenge in 18:16.1, 15 seconds behind Johnson and 19 ahead of the next girl. On the clock alone that is a place higher than this. Same caveats as her teammates, with one more: it is her first high school race, and the girl ahead of her has three of them, each better than the last.
10. Annabella Tomasic, Bishop Moore, So., 3A
The 3A champion, who held the top spot on paper for two weeks, finally raced. She was third at the Horse Park in 18:28.4, nearly a minute slower than she ran on the same grass a year ago, and Bishop Moore won the team title behind her. A returner who has raced is ranked on what she ran, and what she ran is tenth. She is one good race from the top five. She just has not run it yet.
Just missed
Lydia Vincent (Zephyrhills, Sr., 3A) is first out: 18:40.7 at Lecanto, 18:34.1 at Whispering Pines, and a win at the Grayling Memorial by a minute and 46 seconds in 18:40.0 on a course we cannot rate. Mary Summers (Seven Rivers Christian, So., 1A) drops out of the ten for the first time, not for anything she did on Saturday, because she did not race. Her Lecanto 18:32.9 and Whispering Pines 18:39.3 are still the best 1A season in the state. Lainee Mercer (Springstead, Jr., 3A) was fourth at the Horse Park in 18:40.6, 37 seconds behind Gaona-Zelaya. Three 3A girls and a 1A girl inside a second of each other, all one race from the ten.
Brooklyn Brown (IMG Academy, So.) was fourth at the Summit Challenge in 18:35.0. Naeha Akella (St. Stephens Episcopal, Sr., 1A) was fifth there in 18:38.6, a minute better than her state time. Elise Brown (St. Thomas Aquinas, So., 4A) is on her 18:50.0 from Cecil. Eva Delaney (Creekside, So., 4A) was sixth at the Horse Park in 18:44.8 after 18:57.0 at Cecil, two races that agree. Emma Wilkinson (Lakeland Christian, Jr., 1A) was second to Duffell at St. Cloud in 18:28.3, the fastest of her season, and Charlotte Roy (All Saints', 8th grade) was two tenths behind her in 18:28.5. An eighth grader.
Nicole Lewis (Doral Academy, Jr., 4A) was fifth at the Horse Park in 18:43.0, eight days after winning the Pine Crest meet out of 325. Katelin Wilcox (East Lake, Sr., 3A) was second to Eudaly at Parker Valby in 19:37.7 and drops well down on it. Emma-Claire Tanenbaum (Chiles, So., 3A) was seventh at the Horse Park in 19:00.2. Peyton Cerasi (Matanzas, Jr., 4A) won at DeLand by 56 seconds in 18:53.0. Ashton Dahlem (Gulf Breeze, Sr., 3A) finally opened and won the Pace Patriot Invitational by 75 seconds in 19:49.7, on a slow course. Avalyn Thompson (Lake Brantley, Sr., 4A) won at Freedom by more than two minutes in 19:10.3, on a course we could not rate.
Alba Antunez-Perez (Spanish River, Sr., 4A) and Taylor Lawhon (Bishop Kenny, Sr., 3A) still have not raced. Both own state times that belong in this conversation, and neither has put a 2026 number next to them.
Method notes
- Times are weighed against the course they were run on, using athletes who ran both the 2025 FHSAA state meet and that course, matched on name and school, with Cecil Field as the neutral reference. The girls' field ran about half a minute slower in August than at state, and that constant is removed before any course is rated.
- A runner's mark is her whole season, weighted toward the most recent race: her best converted time from each week she raced, averaged with week three counting three times, week two twice and week one once. A runner who has raced once is on that race. A race she won is never allowed to lower that figure; if it would, it is left out. Hallick is ranked ahead of Reinhardt on three races against one. A returner who has not raced on a rated course is projected from her 2025 state time. This replaces the best-single-race rule used in weeks one and two.
- Fifty-two courses are in the season so far and 37 can be rated for the girls. Nine of the 22 week-three meets could not be, on too few runners in common with the state meet: BCAA Tradewinds, BCAA Heritage Park, Lightning Invites, Lakewood Spartans, SHS Meet 1, Grayling, Crystal River, Freedom and the OP small meet. Marks run there are reported raw and rank nobody.
- The IMG course was priced from the boys' reading, slightly fast, because the girls' own sample points two ways and its competitive runners say the course is quick. Every IMG mark above is shown raw. At the harshest defensible reading Balaban would still be second and Johnson would be about eleventh; at the most generous she would be first by a wider margin.
- DeLand was priced from the girls' own sample rather than the boys', the more conservative reading. It is why Cerasi is not ranked.
- Out-of-state entries are excluded. IMG Academy is a Florida school but not an FHSAA member; its runners are ranked as individuals and its team is named in the team rankings but not scored.
- Grades and classes are 2026-27, resolved against the FHSAA classification documents where the returner files are silent.
Every result behind this list is on the site: the rankings section carries the week 3 lists next to weeks 1 and 2, and the full Saturday is in the Horse Park recap. Where this started: the week 2 girls list.
Frequently Asked Questions
How are these Florida girls cross country rankings calculated? expand_more
Every 2026 time is weighed against where it was run, using girls who raced both that course and the 2025 FHSAA state meet, with Cecil Field in Jacksonville as the reference. Starting in week 3 a runner is ranked on her whole season, with her best converted mark from each week averaged and the most recent week weighted highest: this week counts three times, last week twice, opening weekend once. A race a runner wins is never allowed to lower that figure, and a head-to-head result between two runners counts for more than times run on different courses.
Who is the No. 1 girls cross country runner in Florida right now? expand_more
Madison Muller of Riverview (Sarasota), the defending 4A champion, who has won both of her 2026 races by more than a minute and a half, most recently the Wellen Park Invitational on September 5 in 17:52.6 by two minutes and three seconds.
Why is Emma Balaban second after running the fastest time in Florida? expand_more
Her 17:14.1 at the IMGA Summit Challenge is 38 seconds faster than anything Muller has run this fall, and her resume includes a runner-up finish at the North Carolina state meet as a sophomore, fourth at the RunningLane championships and a 10:26 3,200. But she and Muller raced each other at the Brooks XC Championships South at McAlpine Park last fall and Muller won, then finished 19th at the Brooks national championship. A head-to-head result counts for more than two times run on different courses. IMG Academy is not an FHSAA member, so Balaban will not run the state meet.
Why is Annabella Tomasic, the 3A state champion, ranked tenth? expand_more
She finally raced on September 5 and finished third at the Florida Horse Park Invitational in 18:28.4, nearly a minute slower than she ran on the same course a year earlier, behind Natalia Gaona-Zelaya and Lyla Hallick. A returner who has raced is ranked on what she ran.
What changed between the week 2 and week 3 girls rankings? expand_more
Muller moved from third to first and Duffell to third. Balaban, Sydney Johnson and Rashida Reinhardt of IMG Academy entered at second, fifth and ninth. Tomasic dropped from first to tenth after her Horse Park race, Mary Summers dropped out for not racing, and Katelin Wilcox dropped out after finishing 49 seconds behind Katherine Eudaly at Parker Valby.