Niceville ran five girls across the line inside 1.3 seconds at their own meet and swept the first six places. Creekside has a faster five-girl average by four tenths of a second. Two teams almost exactly as fast as each other, built in completely opposite ways.
Florida Class 4A girls cross country team rankings through two weeks: August 21-29, 2026
On August 29, at their own meet, Niceville ran five girls across the line inside 1.3 seconds of each other and swept the first six places. That is not a race result. It is a pack workout with numbers on, and it is also the best team performance any Class 4A girls program has produced this season, because the pack averaged 20:04 doing it.
They are No. 1 in Class 4A and No. 1 in Florida across all classes, and Creekside has a faster five-girl average than they do — by four tenths of a second. That is the whole story of this class through two weeks: two teams that are almost exactly as fast as each other, built in completely opposite ways.
A warning about the scores. There were 56 scoreable teams in this class a week ago. There are 82 now. Bigger field, bigger place numbers, bigger scores. Compare the order and the five-girl averages, not the points.
As always this is data plus judgment, and we will miss somebody along the way. A (P) beside a team means it did not put five runners on a rateable line and is entered on what its returners ran last November. How we sorted it all out is at the bottom. Races are not won until the kids have run. Enjoy.
About the times. Every mark below is the time the runner actually ran that day. The number in parentheses after it is what that time is worth at Cecil Field, which is what the scoring uses. On a neutral course — Cecil Field itself — there is only one number. A projected team's marks are its runners' 2025 state times.
The 4A individuals are here, and the week 1 edition of this list is here. Statewide: week 2 girls top 10 and the week 1 girls team top 10. The other class team lists this week: 1A girls, 2A girls, 3A girls and 4A boys.
1. Niceville — 120 points
Pine Forest, August 29. Anais Almonte 20:04.0, Harmony Holland 20:04.2, Riley Marise 20:04.3, Sophie Clapp 20:05.1, Carolina Ramos 20:05.3, Lola Jackson 20:08.0 — six girls in four seconds, first through sixth in the race. Converted average 19:40.4, spread 0:01.3, finishing 22-23-24-25-26 in Class 4A.
Say plainly what this is and is not. Five girls covering 1.3 seconds means nobody raced; it means a group ran together and crossed together, and their real ceiling is somewhere faster than 20:04. At Cecil Field a week earlier the same program averaged 19:47.8 with a 1:16 spread, so 19:40.4 is a genuine improvement on top of the packing. What we cannot tell you is how much faster the front of it is, because the front of it did not try. Niceville is not entered at the Florida Horse Park, so the answer is not coming this Saturday.
2. Creekside — 147 points
Cecil Field, average 19:40.0 — the best in Class 4A, four tenths of a second better than Niceville's — spread 2:32.0, finishing 8-9-12-16-102. Eva Delaney 18:57.0, Emma Godfrey 19:08.0, Ivey Edgell 19:16.0, Hadleigh Roberts 19:30.0, then Elena Schultz at 21:29.0.
The exact inverse of the team above them. Four girls in 33 seconds, all inside the class's top sixteen, and a fifth at 102nd who is worth more than the other four put together. They brought twenty-two girls to Cecil Field, and their sixth and seventh are 21:44.0 and 21:56.0, so the depth behind Schultz is thin too. Second a week ago, second now, 27 points back. They are entered at the Horse Park Saturday.
3. Spanish River — 177 points — (P)
Alba Antunez-Perez 18:20.3, Lailani Levy 18:42.2, Makaela Morilla 19:14.5, Julia D'Emic 20:03.8, Olivia Downes 20:40.5 on projection, with Debora Larancuent and Veronika Ahoeiva behind them. Average 19:53.1, spread 2:20.2.
Third a week ago, third now, unraced, and the only projected team in the class top ten. Seven returners with 2025 state times, tied with Nease and Atlantic Coast for the most in Class 4A. Antunez-Perez is the No. 6 individual in the class. None of it counts until they run, and they are not on Saturday's entry list.
4. Nease — 247 points
Cecil Field, average 20:22.2, spread 1:51.0, finishing 17-31-39-66-94. Lucia Misasi 19:33.0, Katherine Healey 19:55.0, Olivia Dhas 20:07.0, Ava Campbell 20:52.0, Emma Rodenkirch 21:24.0, with Natalia Lotinsky and Katelyn Pitches two and ten seconds behind Rodenkirch.
Fifth to fourth, two points ahead of St. Thomas Aquinas, on a race neither of them has repeated. That 1:51 spread is the third-tightest in this top ten, and their fifth, sixth and seventh are covered by ten seconds — the tightest back end of any team in the class top five. They took twenty-four girls to Cecil Field.
5. St. Thomas Aquinas — 249 points
Cecil Field, average 20:13.8 — better than Nease's by 8.4 seconds — spread 2:35.0, finishing 6-13-44-91-95. Elise Brown 18:50.0 and Kendall Parrott 19:16.0 are sixth and thirteenth in the class, Charlotte Lee 20:17.0, then Caoimhe McConville and Taylor Gold.
Fourth to fifth by two points, and it is a clean illustration of what these boards measure: Aquinas has the faster team and Nease has the better fourth and fifth. Under the week-two drift test below, Aquinas is back to fourth.
6. Hagerty — 269 points
The biggest riser in the class. Eighth a week ago; at the Trinity Prep Invitational they converted to a 20:29.9 average on a 1:35.1 spread — the tightest of any 4A team in this top ten except Niceville — finishing 19-41-48-80-81.
At Spikes & Spurs a week earlier the same program averaged 21:03.1. That is a 33.2-second improvement, and it came from everywhere: Madison Thompson's converted mark went from 20:04.7 to 19:35.3, Briella Daly and Jessica Leon both came in under 21:45, and Elizabeth Henry and Samantha Gartner finished together at 22:33.6 (21:10.4) as the fourth and fifth. Seven girls inside 22:50.
7. Sunlake — 365 points
Lecanto Invitational, converted average 20:49.2, spread 2:21.1, finishing 18-49-57-113-128. Ana Cecilia Maia Menard 19:37.2 (19:33.6), Ella Pope 20:27.9 (20:24.3), Anna Connett 20:38.9 (20:35.3), Jolynn Chen 21:41.7 (21:38.1), Harshita Anne 21:58.3 (21:54.7).
Sixth to seventh, on the same Lecanto race as a week ago. Lecanto is one of the harder courses to price on the girls' side; a week ago, swinging its rating moved Sunlake between sixth and seventh. This week they hold at seventh under every reading. They are at the Horse Park Saturday, which will give us a clean look at them.
8. Boone — 418 points
New to the top ten. Kowboy Invitational, converted average 21:01.1, spread 2:17.0, finishing 36-40-51-139-152. Taylor Revels 19:52.5 (20:02.4), Anne Vanos 20:00.8 (20:10.7) and Bethany Foley 20:15.9 (20:25.8) came through inside 24 seconds of each other, and then Breanna White and Kaitlyn DeMarco a minute and 42 seconds later.
They took twenty-five girls to the Kowboy, so the fourth and fifth places are a depth problem rather than a numbers problem. Under the swing test below they drop out of the top ten entirely; they are the least secure ranking on this page.
9. Bartram Trail — 439 points
Cecil Field, average 20:53.0, spread 3:57.0 — the widest in this top ten — finishing 3-53-108-135-140. Avery Hartley 18:13.0 is third in the class field and the No. 5 individual in Class 4A; their second girl is 53rd and their third is 108th.
Tenth to ninth. They brought twenty-six girls to Cecil Field and the five who scored covered nearly four minutes. This is the most front-loaded team in the class top ten and the easiest one to fix: a single 21:00 girl is worth roughly forty points to them.
10. Flagler Palm Coast — 440 points
Spikes & Spurs, converted average 21:04.3, spread 3:44.8, finishing 15-43-76-87-219. Anna Grigoruk 20:02.5 (19:28.9), Avery Wisniewski 20:47.0 (20:13.4), Everly Mucciolo 21:40.8 (21:07.2), Audrey Bowman 21:52.1 (21:18.5), then Hailey Brennan at 23:47.3 (23:13.7).
Ninth to tenth, one point behind Bartram Trail. They entered eight girls at Spikes & Spurs and the ranking depends entirely on that course's rating, which is the least reliable one we have. Their fifth girl finishing 219th in an eighty-two-team class is the single largest scoring place in this top ten.
Just missed
11. Sarasota, 446. Seventh a week ago on projection; they raced North Port and converted to a 21:05.2 average, which dropped them four places. Annabella Cicilioni and Marley Bowen finished 30th and 35th in the class 11 seconds apart, and their third girl is 112th.
12. Buchholz, 453. 13. Beachside, 484. 14. Plant, 505 — Katherine Eudaly ran 18:40.3 at West Hillsborough, worth 18:03.7 at Cecil and the fastest 4A mark by any girl on a scoreable team, and Plant's 1-5 covers 4:36.5.
Three of the top four individuals in Class 4A are not on this page at all. Arabella Duffell of Lake Nona is No. 1 and Lake Nona is 32nd. Madison Muller of Riverview (Sarasota) is No. 2 and Riverview is 22nd. Natalia Gaona-Zelaya of Wiregrass Ranch is No. 3 and Wiregrass is 16th.
How much of this is the courses?
Swing every disputed course rating to the other end of its range and the top seven do not move at all. At the bottom, Bartram Trail moves to eighth, Flagler Palm Coast to ninth and Sarasota into tenth, and Boone drops out.
Take the week-two courses 7.2 seconds less generously — the size of the measured week-one-to-week-two drift for girls, half the boys' figure — and St. Thomas Aquinas returns to fourth ahead of Nease, Flagler moves to eighth, Bartram to ninth and Boone to tenth. Niceville, Creekside and Spanish River are one, two and three in every version.
Which leaves the real question, and it is not a question about arithmetic. Niceville's five girls have never separated. Creekside's fifth girl has never closed. Spanish River has never raced. Two of those three will be answered eventually; only Creekside's is on Saturday's schedule.
How this works
Every August mark is converted to a Cecil Field equivalent using the runners who raced both that course and the 2025 state meet, matched on name and school. Each school is entered on its five fastest converted times from its single best meet — not a mix-and-match of its best days. Those five, and the sixth and seventh where they exist, are dropped into one virtual race against every other Class 4A team and scored the way cross country is scored: top five count, sixth and seventh displace, five finishers required, low score wins.
Because the field is Class 4A only, these scores are not the ones on the statewide team board. A team's rank there and here can differ: the statewide list scores it against 273 teams, this one against 82.
A school that did not field five runners on a rateable course — or that fielded five without at least two of its returning top-five scorers — is entered on its returning five's 2025 state times plus the August constant of 28.8 seconds, which is how much slower the girls' field ran in August than at the state meet. Those teams are marked (P). Five returners with state times are required, so a program with four cannot be ranked at all. Six of the twenty-nine courses run in the first two weeks could not be rated against the state meet, and results from them are not in these numbers. Classifications are the FHSAA's finalized 2026-27 lists.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the No. 1 Class 4A girls cross country team in Florida in Week 2? expand_more
Niceville, on 120 points, and they are also the No. 1 team in Florida across all classes. At Pine Forest on August 29 they swept the first six places and their scoring five finished within 1.3 seconds of each other, converting to a 19:40.4 average.
Is Niceville's 1.3-second spread a real result? expand_more
It is a real time and not a real race. Five girls covering 1.3 seconds means the group ran together and crossed together rather than competing, so their ceiling is faster than the 20:04 they ran. What it does not tell us is how fast the front of that group is. Niceville is not entered at the Florida Horse Park, so that question is not being answered this Saturday.
Which Class 4A girls team has the fastest five-girl average? expand_more
Creekside, at 19:40.0, four tenths of a second faster than Niceville. They are second on points because their first four finish 8-9-12-16 in the class and their fifth finishes 102nd, which is worth more than the other four put together.
Which Class 4A girls team improved the most in week two? expand_more
Hagerty. Their converted average went from 21:03.1 at Spikes and Spurs on August 22 to 20:29.9 at the Trinity Prep Invitational on August 29, a 33.2-second improvement on a 1:35.1 spread. It moved them from eighth to sixth.