Natalia Gaona-Zelaya won Astronaut by 47 seconds, her fourth win in four starts, and by our measure it is the best race a Florida girl outside IMG has run this fall. She moves to third. Camila Giles opened with an 18:37 win at Buchholz, Eva McMenemy-Hoang ran 19:09 in her first result of the season, and neither is in yet.
Florida girls cross country, through four weeks: August 21-September 12, 2026
Four starts, four wins, and the fourth was the best of them. Natalia Gaona-Zelaya won the Astronaut Invitational in 18:22.4, 47 seconds ahead of the field, on a course that reads about 40 seconds slow by the 45 girls who have also run the state meet. Leveled, that run is worth about 17:41, and only Emma Balaban's 17:14 in Bradenton and Madison Muller's Wellen Park win rate better. She moves to third, past Arabella Duffell, who has not raced since St. Cloud.
Nobody else in the top seven raced. Muller, Balaban, Duffell, Katherine Eudaly, Sydney Johnson and Avery Hartley all sat, and the three girls holding eighth through tenth sat too. So the week's news is underneath them. Camila Giles of Bishop Kenny 3A opened her season with an 18:37.2 win at Buchholz by 33 seconds. Eva McMenemy-Hoang of Viera 4A ran 19:09.9 for second behind Gaona-Zelaya, in her first result of the season, and beat the 2A state champion by 21 seconds. On the arithmetic McMenemy-Hoang is ninth in Florida and Giles is twelfth, and neither is in the ten. That needs explaining, and it is explained at eight, nine and ten.
Every time is weighed against where it was run, using runners who raced both that course and last November's state meet, with Cecil Field as the yardstick. A runner is ranked on her whole season, with the most recent race counting most, and a race she won never counts against her. We use the data and our own eyes, and we will get one or two wrong along the way. The boys' list is here, and the girls team rankings are here.
1. Madison Muller, Riverview (Sarasota), Jr., 4A
Did not race. Two races, two wins by more than a minute and a half: 17:33.1 at North Port on a course that hands time back, and 17:52.6 to win the inaugural Wellen Park Invitational by two minutes and three seconds. She is first over a girl who has run 38 seconds faster this season because the two of them have raced, at the Brooks XC Championships South last fall, and Muller won. 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.
Did not race. Her 17:14.1 at IMG's Summit Challenge is worth about 17:23 at Cecil Field, the best figure on the board by a quarter of a minute. North Carolina runner-up as a sophomore, fourth at RunningLane, 10:26 for 3,200 on the track. IMG competes as an FHSAA Independent, so there is no state meet in her future. Second because Muller beat her the one time they raced.
3. Natalia Gaona-Zelaya, Wiregrass Ranch, Sr., 4A
Won Astronaut in 18:22.4 by 47 seconds over Eva McMenemy-Hoang, with Selah Vignier, the 2A champion, third and 69 seconds back. Four wins: Ragin' Storm in 18:40.3, Whispering Pines in 18:08.8, the Horse Park in 18:03.8 out of 411, Astronaut on Saturday. The Astronaut course reads slow, so this is the run that ranks her, worth about 17:41, and it moves her from fourth to third. She has still not raced Muller, Balaban or Duffell. Until she does, she is doing everything a third can do.
4. Arabella Duffell, Lake Nona, Jr., 4A
Did not race. Won Cecil Field out of 343 in 17:53.0 and the St. Cloud Invitational by 50 seconds in 17:38.5, and the St. Cloud run is the one that ranks her, worth about 17:51. A missed week is not held against her. Gaona-Zelaya's fourth win simply rates a little better than Duffell's second, and they are ten seconds apart on the season. The two of them and Muller are the 4A race in November.
5. Katherine Eudaly, Plant, Jr., 4A
Did not race. Three for three: Jim Ryun in 19:00.9, West Hillsborough in 18:40.3, the Parker Valby Invitational in 18:48.7 by 49 seconds over Katelin Wilcox. Nobody else in the top ten has won every race she has entered, and that record holds fifth over an 18:01 run on one course.
6. Sydney Johnson, IMG Academy, Jr.
Did not race. Second to Balaban at the Summit Challenge in 18:01.0, 47 seconds back, on a course that reads a touch fast. One race, on her own course, and the same caveats as her teammate. Sixth, where she was.
7. Avery Hartley, Bartram Trail, So., 4A
Did not race. 18:13.0 for second at Cecil Field on opening night, and nothing since. Three weeks on one race, and it is still the second-fastest raw time by an FHSAA girl on a neutral course this fall. She holds seventh because a missed week never counts against anyone. The girls behind her are running.
8. Katelin Wilcox, East Lake, Sr., 3A
Did not race. 18:35.0 for third at Cecil Field, the fastest raw time by a 3A girl on a neutral course this season, and then a bad day at Parker Valby, 19:37.7 for second behind Eudaly. Her season figure is 19:08, which on the arithmetic alone is about 36th in Florida. She is eighth for one reason: she beat Lyla Hallick by two seconds the only time they raced, the only girl who has beaten her is ranked fifth, and neither she nor Hallick has run since. That was the call a week ago and nothing has happened to change it. The first time either of them races, the arithmetic gets its say.
9. Lyla Hallick, Vanguard (Ocala), So., 3A
Did not race. Three races, each faster than the last: 18:37.0 at Cecil Field, 18:25.4 at Whispering Pines, 18:22.5 for second at the Horse Park, six seconds ahead of the 3A champion. The best body of work in the bottom half of this list, and a season figure of 18:30 that is tenth-best in the state on its own. Behind Wilcox on the Cecil finish, ahead of Reinhardt on three races against one.
10. Rashida Reinhardt, IMG Academy, Fr.
Did not race. 18:16.1 for third at IMG's Summit Challenge as a freshman, worth about 18:25, and 3.6 seconds ahead of McMenemy-Hoang on the season. Tenth, on one race, with two girls who raced on Saturday breathing on her.
Just missed
Eva McMenemy-Hoang (Viera, 4A) is first out. Second to Gaona-Zelaya at Astronaut in 19:09.9, her first result of the season, worth about 18:28 on a slow course, 21 seconds ahead of the 2A champion. Ninth in Florida on the arithmetic. One race, and we would like to see a second one before she goes past a girl with three. Annabella Tomasic (Bishop Moore, So., 3A) did not race and is on her Horse Park 18:28.4. Camila Giles (Bishop Kenny, Jr., 3A) opened at Buchholz and won out of 163 in 18:37.2, 33 seconds ahead of Allison Austin of Atlantic Coast 4A, on a course that reads about even for girls. Twelfth on one race. Lydia Vincent (Zephyrhills, Sr., 3A), Mary Summers (Seven Rivers Christian, So., 1A) and Lainee Mercer (Springstead, Jr., 3A) did not race and sit thirteenth through fifteenth, all within four seconds of each other.
Elise Brown (St. Thomas Aquinas, So., 4A) won King of the Hill out of 239 on Thursday in 19:15.7, 74 seconds clear, worth about 18:49. Selah Vignier (West Shore, Jr., 2A) was third at Astronaut in 19:31.4. Eva Delaney (Creekside, So., 4A) did not race. Emma Wilkinson (Lakeland Christian, Jr., 1A), Nicole Lewis (Doral Academy, Jr., 4A) and Naeha Akella (St. Stephen's Episcopal, Sr., 1A) did not race and are within two seconds of each other.
Samantha Helfant (Palm Beach Central, Sr., 4A) won the Kings Academy Invitational by 85 seconds in 19:20.9, her third straight win; Kings Academy was priced at its least generous reading, which is why she sits outside the twenty. Emma Poekert (Cypress Creek, Jr., 3A) won Land O' Lakes by nearly two minutes in 18:48.2, a win that is not held against her. Avalyn Thompson (Lake Brantley, Sr., 4A) won Spruce Creek by more than two minutes in 18:55.5, three for three, on a course we could not rate. Kylie Cook (All Saints', 8th grade, 1A) won the JT Memorial varsity race on Friday night in 19:04.2, 78 seconds clear, a race we priced cautiously. Joanie Webb (Donahue Academy, Fr., 1A) won the Fort Myers XC Invite out of 205 in 20:07.5, worth about 19:25 on a slow day. Taylor Geraghty (Holy Trinity, 8th grade, 1A) was fifth at Astronaut in 19:42.7, a minute better than her August. Allison Austin (Atlantic Coast, So., 4A) was second at Buchholz in 19:10.4.
Alba Antunez-Perez (Spanish River, Sr., 4A) still has not raced. Taylor Lawhon (Bishop Kenny, Sr., 3A) has now: sixth at Buchholz in 19:57.7.
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 four counting four times, week three 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. A returner who has not raced on a rated course is projected from her 2025 state time.
- A head-to-head result orders two runners until one of them races again. Muller over Balaban is the Brooks South finish; Wilcox over Hallick is Cecil Field. Both pairs sat this week, so both calls stand. Once either runner in a pair races, the season figures take over.
- Seventy-three courses are in the season so far and 47 can be rated for the girls. Eleven of the 21 week-four meets could not be, on too few runners in common with the state meet: BCAA Heritage Park, Lightning Invites, Lincoln Park, SHS, BCAA Tradewinds, Graceville, Benjamin, Spruce Creek, Tiger Open, Wildwood and Nights of Thunder, whose varsity races did not run. Marks run there are reported raw and rank nobody.
- Two week-four courses were priced away from their raw samples. The JT Memorial sample of seven reads more than two minutes fast because four of the seven have improved two to five minutes since November; we used the least generous of the three girls who had not, about 30 seconds fast. Kings Academy splits down the middle, seven girls faster than state and eight slower; we used the mean, the less generous of two readings 50 seconds apart. Astronaut reads +41 on the median and +32 on the mean; at the mean Gaona-Zelaya and Duffell are level on the season.
- Out-of-state entries are excluded. IMG Academy is an FHSAA member school that competes as an Independent, so it belongs to no class and does not enter the district, regional or state series; 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 4 lists next to weeks 1 through 3, and the full Saturday is in the weekend recap. Where this started: the week 3 girls list.
The middle schoolers have their own lists: Week 4 FLYRA Middle School Top 10s, boys and girls.