Madison Muller ran the fastest time in Florida this fall and moved up exactly one spot. The course rating that tamed it, and the deepest top five in any class.
Florida Class 4A girls cross country through two weeks: August 21-29, 2026
The defending state champion opened her season by running the fastest time any Florida girl has run this fall, faster than the time she won the title with, and it moved her up exactly one spot on this list. That is not a typo, it is a course rating, and the whole story is in the numbers below. Meanwhile the top five of this class is now five girls who among them hold the state title, the state runner-up finish, six wins in seven starts and the fastest raw time in Florida. No other class is close to this deep at the front, and it is not particularly close.
As always, this is data plus judgment, and we will miss somebody along the way. A (P) next to a name means she has not opened yet and we are going on last November. How we sorted it out is at the bottom. Races are not won until the kids have run. Enjoy.
The statewide lists: Week 2 girls top 10 and Week 2 boys top 10. The week 1 edition of this list is here, and the 4A girls team rankings from week 1 are here. The other classes this week: 4A boys, 1A girls, 2A girls and 3A girls.
1. Arabella Duffell, Lake Nona (Orlando), Jr.
Still first on one race, because the race was that good. Her 17:53.0 at Cecil Field is the only sub-18:00 run in Florida this season that needed no conversion, no caveat and no course rating, and she won it from behind in the deepest field in the state. Lake Nona raced the Kowboy Invitational in week two; Duffell did not make the trip. The number holds without her lifting a finger, but three of the four girls behind her raced this week, and the margin for sitting still is thinning.
2. Madison Muller, Riverview (Sarasota), Jr.
The champion opened, and how. Muller won the North Port Preserve Pursuit by 1:42.6 in 17:33.1, faster than the 17:37.7 that won her the state title and faster than anything any Florida girl has run this fall. Then the course rating arrives: North Port ran fast, by one of the cleanest measurements of the season, and leveled out the run is worth about 18:07.
So she is second in the class and third in the state, and the reasoning is the same in both places: defending champion in the biggest class, second-fastest returning time in Florida, and now a race in 2026, which is more than the girl above her here can say for week two. Take North Port at face value and she is first everywhere. The statewide article lays out the whole argument.
3. Natalia Gaona-Zelaya, Wiregrass Ranch (Wesley Chapel), Sr.
The only girl in Florida who keeps beating ranked runners in person. Gaona-Zelaya won the Whispering Pines Invitational in 18:08.8, putting clear daylight on Lyla Hallick, Lydia Vincent and Mary Summers, three girls who populate the top of the 3A and 1A lists, all in the same race. Add the week-one win at Ragin' Storm, worth about 18:05 leveled, and she has two wins on two courses with zero bad days.
Wiregrass Ranch is entered at the Florida Horse Park on Saturday, where she is the highest-ranked girl in the field other than Annabella Tomasic herself. Two state champions sit above her on this page; nobody above her has beaten more good runners this month.
4. Katherine Eudaly, Plant (Tampa), Jr.
The most corroborated runner in the class. Eudaly won Jim Ryun by 44 seconds in week one, worth about 18:14, then won the West Hillsborough Invite by 1:35.3 in 18:40.3, worth about 18:04. Two wins, two courses, two independent ratings agreeing within ten seconds. She was 13th in 4A last November; she is nothing like that runner now, and unlike nearly everyone on this page, we are not taking a single conversion on trust with her.
5. Avery Hartley, Bartram Trail (St. Johns), So.
The state runner-up slips a spot for the second straight week without running badly, because she has not run at all since Cecil. Her 18:13.0 there, second only to Duffell, is still the second-best raw time in the class, and her résumé is still the best of anyone here without a state title. The three girls who just went past her all raced twice. She is going to have to race again to stop the slide, and when she does, this paragraph probably reverses.
6. Alba Antunez-Perez, Spanish River (Boca Raton), Sr. (P)
Sixth in 4A at state in 18:20.3 and still the best November mark in the class that has not been taken outside in 2026. Spanish River has now sat out two full weeks with the best one-two returning punch in 4A. The projection holds sixth on quality alone; the five girls above her have combined for eight races.
7. Elise Brown, St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale), So.
Her 18:50.0 at Cecil, against the 20:04.1 she ran at state as a freshman, remains the largest improvement by any girl in the state, and it survived a second week of the whole state racing without anyone matching it. She has not raced since, and the sophomore class in 4A, Brown, Hartley, Delaney, is quietly the scariest age group in Florida.
8. Allison Austin, Atlantic Coast (Jacksonville), So.
Idle in week two, holding on the 18:56.0 from Cecil that was four seconds faster than her state time, in August, in the deepest field available. Nothing new to report, and at the front of this class nothing new means holding your spot, because the newcomers all landed below her.
9. Eva Delaney, Creekside (St. Johns), So.
Her 18:57.0 from Cecil holds ninth, and her week gets interesting now: Creekside is entered at the Horse Park, where the team conversation matters as much as her own race. She was seventh in 4A at state, the ceiling is higher than the ranking, and Saturday is honest ground to prove it.
10. Peyton Cerasi, Matanzas (Palm Coast), Jr.
The class-change arrival holds the last spot for the second straight week on her 19:07.0 from Cecil. She was 11th in 3A at state last fall; Matanzas is 4A now. One second behind her sits the youngest name on the next list down, and the door does not get any more open than that.
Just missed
Emma Godfrey (Creekside, Fr.) is still one second out, still on what appears to be her first high school race, and now headed to the Horse Park with her team. A freshman running 19:08 in the Cecil Elite race in August does not stay eleventh long.
Avalyn Thompson (Lake Brantley, Sr.) remains the class's measurement problem: her 19:04.8 at Ocoee reads well, and the girls' sample on that course disagrees with itself badly enough that we still cannot price it with confidence. She stays just off the page, through no fault of her own, exactly where she was last week. Lailani Levy (Spanish River, So.) is the best unraced mark outside the ten, sitting on the same two-week silence as her teammate.
Annabella Ekebergh (Windermere, Jr.) and Kendall Parrott (St. Thomas Aquinas, Jr.) hold their week-one Cecil marks. And a team note that belongs here: Niceville's girls ran a perfect 15 at Pine Forest on Saturday with their top five separated by 1.3 seconds, and Riley Marise and Anais Almonte both sit inside the class's top twenty individually. Nobody in 4A runs closer together.
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 girls who raced both that course and last year's state meet to work out what a time was worth.
- The girls' fields run noticeably slower in August than at state in November, and that gap is built into every number here.
- Girls who have not opened are ranked on last November and marked (P).
- North Port ran fast, by one of the cleanest measurements of the season, and Muller's placement turns on it. If the course is honest and the rating is wrong, she is first in this class and first in Florida.
- Head-to-head wins over ranked runners are why Gaona-Zelaya and Eudaly sit ahead of Hartley despite Hartley's faster raw mark. Racing counts.
- Ocoee's girls' rating still cannot be trusted, which is why Avalyn Thompson stays unranked rather than wrongly ranked.
- Grades and classes are 2026-27.
Gaona-Zelaya, Delaney and Godfrey race in Ocala on Saturday, where Tomasic may finally open, and Duffell, Muller, Eudaly and Hartley all sit it out, so the top of this class stays unraced against itself a little longer. The Horse Park preview is here, and the complete week 2 recap, all nineteen meets, is here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the No. 1 ranked Class 4A girls cross country runner in Florida? expand_more
Arabella Duffell of Lake Nona, whose 17:53.0 win at Cecil Field is the only sub-18:00 run in Florida this season that needed no course conversion.
Why is Madison Muller ranked second after running 17:33.1? expand_more
North Port graded fast against Cecil Field by one of the cleanest measurements of the season, so her win levels out around 18:07. As defending 4A champion with the state's fastest raw time, she ranks second in class and third statewide.
Which ranked 4A girls race at the Florida Horse Park? expand_more
Natalia Gaona-Zelaya (Wiregrass Ranch) and Eva Delaney (Creekside) are entered for September 5; Duffell, Muller, Eudaly and Hartley all sit it out.