Jillian Jakab won JAC and comes in at ninth, Avery Hartley won HMT and holds tenth, Alba Antunez-Perez won Snake Bite, and Pre-State was canceled for Hurricane Isaias.
Florida girls cross country, through eight weeks: August 21-October 10, 2026
The biggest meet of the fall in Florida did not happen. The FSU Pre-State Invitational in Tallahassee, October 9 and 10, was canceled for the storm that became Hurricane Isaias, a Category 3 hurricane forecast to come ashore in the western Panhandle on Friday night, and it was not rescheduled. Nobody on these lists was penalized for a race they could not run: a missed week is not a result, and every runner who sat out holds the place the season earned.
Two girls came into the ten on Saturday. Jillian Jakab of Bishop Kenny won the JAC Invitational in Jacksonville in 19:22.2, 20 seconds clear of Episcopal's Kate Brice, and beat Stella Krueger by more than half a minute. She comes in at ninth. Avery Hartley of Bartram Trail wins her first race since the 21:17 at Speziale: 19:01.6 at HMT in Gainesville, 14 seconds ahead of Creekside's Eva Delaney, and she keeps tenth. Krueger comes out.
Alba Antunez-Perez of Spanish River won the Snake Bite Invite in 18:29.9, 22 seconds ahead of Nicole Lewis of Doral, and holds eighth. The other seven girls in the ten did not race, and they hold.
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.
1. Madison Muller, Riverview (Sarasota), Jr., 4A
Did not race. Won the Venice Invitational on October 3 in 18:41.8, 96 seconds ahead of Kayla Hawk of Parrish. Five starts, five wins, and her 17:52.6 at Wellen Park in September still ranks her. She and Balaban have not met; Muller has been first since week 3 and stays there until they do.
2. Emma Balaban, IMG Academy, Jr.
Did not race. Fifteenth of 324 in the Race of Champions at the Great American XC Festival in 17:42.9 on October 3, the first Florida girl across, ahead of Antunez-Perez, Krueger, Reinhardt and Johnson. Won the Southern Showcase in 17:45.2 in September, and her 17:14.1 at the IMGA Summit is the fastest time by a Florida girl this fall.
3. Natalia Gaona-Zelaya, Wiregrass Ranch, Sr., 4A
Did not race. Won the Stampede Sprint in 17:34.6 on September 26, five starts and five wins. She has beaten Tomasic, Hallick and Mercer this season and has lost to nobody.
4. Arabella Duffell, Lake Nona, Jr., 4A
Did not race. Second of 271 in the Championship race at PR'ville in Huntsville on September 26 in 17:33.5, the fastest race of her season. Won Cecil Field and St. Cloud. She and Gaona-Zelaya have not met.
5. Katherine Eudaly, Plant, Jr., 4A
Did not race. Won the North Port Invite in 17:37.3 on September 19 by 46 seconds, four wins in five starts. It has been three weeks since she raced, and a quiet three weeks does not cost her a place.
6. Annabella Tomasic, Bishop Moore, So., 3A
Did not race. Won her last two: the Katie Caples Invitational in 17:24.0 on September 19 and the Hagerty Invitational in 17:24.8 on September 26, by 96 seconds, with Bishop Moore scoring 24. Those are two of the three fastest times by a Florida girl this fall. Hallick beat her at the Horse Park on September 5, and that race no longer orders anybody.
Socks
Socks you do not think about after the first mile.
Blisters end more seasons than anything else. Feetures Elite Max Cushion no-show socks have a tab at the heel that keeps them from sliding, targeted compression and a seamless toe. Most of the girls in the ten wear a sock like this under a spike or a trainer.
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7. Lyla Hallick, Vanguard (Ocala), So., 3A
Did not race. Won the Craig Speziale Invitational at Ponte Vedra on October 3 in 18:40.8, 43 seconds ahead of Piper Ross, with Hartley 11th. Won the Rockledge Raider Classic in 18:10.8 two weeks earlier. Vanguard was second to Ponte Vedra in the team race.
8. Alba Antunez-Perez, Spanish River, Sr., 4A
Won the Snake Bite Invite in Boca Raton in 18:29.9 on Saturday, 22 seconds ahead of Nicole Lewis, with Spanish River winning the team race 45 to Doral's 56. Thirty-second of 324 in the Race of Champions in Cary in 18:05.0, the second Florida girl across, ahead of Krueger, Reinhardt and Johnson. Won her own school's Race of Champions in 18:03.2 on September 18.
9. Jillian Jakab, Bishop Kenny, Sr., 3A
Won the JAC Invitational in 19:22.2 on Saturday, 20 seconds ahead of Kate Brice of Episcopal, in a 129-girl race. Bishop Kenny was second to Episcopal, 53 to 43, and ran without Camila Giles, its No. 1. Jakab beat Krueger there, which is why Krueger is out of the ten, and beat Delaney at Katie Caples on September 19 in 18:38.0. Her season figure is 19:00.5, and we put her ninth on the new result. This is our call; she has not met Hartley, Mercer or Summers.
10. Avery Hartley, Bartram Trail, So., 4A
Won HMT in Gainesville on Saturday in 19:01.6, 14 seconds ahead of Eva Delaney of Creekside, with Peyton Cerasi third in 20:16.4. A week after 21:17.4 at Speziale, in among a pack of Ponte Vedra girls, it says that was an off day. Won Bale-N-Trail Elite on September 26 in 18:17.5. Five girls beat her at the Showcase on September 19: Reinhardt, Sydney Johnson and Brooke Pelkey of IMG, and Lola Jackson and Harmony Holland of Niceville. Putting Hartley above them is our call. Piper Ross beat her at Speziale on October 3.
Just missed
Stella Krueger (Episcopal, Jr., 2A) was sixth at JAC in 19:54.5 behind Jakab and her own teammates Kate Brice, Whitney Morgan and Holland McKinney, and comes out of the ten. She is the reigning Class 2A state champion at 3200 meters and beat Reinhardt and Johnson in Cary, so she is first out with the three teammates who beat her at JAC right behind. Kate Brice (Episcopal, Jr.) ran 19:42.3, second to Jakab; her figure is 19:47.0 and she has not beaten anyone in the ten. Lainee Mercer (Springstead, Jr., 3A) did not race and has not met Jakab. Eva Delaney (Creekside, Jr., 4A) lost to Hartley by 14 seconds at HMT and to Jakab at Katie Caples. Rashida Reinhardt (IMG Academy, Fr.) and Sydney Johnson (IMG Academy, Jr.) did not race. Eva McMenemy-Hoang (Viera, Sr., 4A) won the Merritt Island Christian Invitational in 18:46.2 by 42.5 seconds. Mary Summers (Seven Rivers Christian, So., 1A) has not raced since August 29.
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Method notes
- A head-to-head loss stands until the two runners meet again. Where results form a loop, the most recent meeting decides. Every pair among the top 60 on the season board was checked.
- Head-to-heads from September 12 and earlier no longer order runners. Those races are a month old, and the kids have changed since. The times still count in the season figure. Opening weekend (Cecil Field and Jim Ryun) expired earlier. That is why Hallick's Horse Park win over Tomasic does not put her above Tomasic.
- A missed week is not scored. Seven of the ten girls did not race this weekend and hold; Eudaly last raced September 19 and Gaona-Zelaya and Duffell September 26.
- Calls that are not rule outcomes: Jakab ninth and Hartley tenth, although Reinhardt, Johnson, Pelkey, Lola Jackson and Harmony Holland beat Hartley at the Showcase and the Episcopal trio beat Krueger at JAC; and Krueger out ahead of her three teammates, who are not in the ten on their season figures.
- HMT Invitational: the girls' own reading is 71 seconds slow and the boys' 42, a ratio of 1.7 where our house rule is 1.21, so the course is priced at the boys' median times 1.21 (+50.5). Hartley's win converts to 18:11 on that number.
- Out-of-state runners at the Great American XC Festival and the Alexander Invitational are left out of the course readings and the rankings. Florida runners' places among the full field are printed as they finished.
- 25 meets from October 4 to 10 are new in the numbers. Not rated: the Manhattan University Invitational and Wolfson 9.2, plus Riviera Prep, Bulldog Cape Coral, Wildwood and Merritt Island Christian where the readings disagreed. JAC is rated on its median (+36.6; the mean reads +71.9).
- IMG Academy is an FHSAA Independent; its runners are ranked. A race a runner won never lowers her figure.
Every result behind this list is on the site in the rankings section. Last week: the week 7 girls list.
Featured image: the Riverview Rams logo, the school's own mark, credited to Riverview High School (Sarasota).