Cross Country Toes the Start Line For the First Meet of 2026

Friday, September 4

Jacksonville, Fla.

7 PM

Florida Atlantic

Florida Intercollegiate XC Invitational

Cross Country Toes the Start Line For the First Meet of 2026

9/3/2026 11:43:00 AM | Men's Cross Country, Women's XC/Track & Field

BOCA RATON, Fla. – The Florida Atlantic men's and women's cross country teams open up the 2026 campaign on Friday night, traveling to Jacksonville, Florida for the Florida Intercollegiate XC Invitational.

The meet, hosted by North Florida, will take place at Cecil Field. A total of 21 Owls will compete, with the women's 5K starting at 6:30 p.m., and the men's beginning at 7 p.m.

Men's runners (9) – Timothy Brannon (Fr.), Joseph Coyle (Sr.), Noah Curfman (Jr.), Carter Dieterich (Fr.), Noah Highsmith (Sr.), Zachary Loftis (Fr.), Donovan Petty (Jr.), Parker Smith (Fr.), Nate Webb (So.)

Women's runners (12) – Reese Anderson (Jr.), Teegan Anderson (Sr.), Ava Aseere (Sr.), Madison Brown (Jr.), Gaby Castro (Fr.), Sophie Dethier (So.), Kate Drummond (Gr.), Evie Lebrun (Fr.), Morgan Pennington (So.), Anabell Reumann (Gr.), Cameron Shelby (So.), Ellis Vaughan (So.)

Teams taking part in the meet are:

Men's and women's
Bethune-Cookman	Seminole State College
Edward Waters	South Florida
Embry-Riddle	Stetson
FIU
Florida Atlantic	Men's only
Florida Gateway College	Daytona State College
Florida Gulf Coast	Florida College
FSCJ	Lake-Sumter State
Jacksonville
Miami	Women's only
North Florida	Florida A&M
Pasco-Hernando State College	Georgia Southern
Saint Leo	UCF

Earlier this week, the FAU women were voted sixth in the 2026 American Conference Cross Country Preseason Coaches Poll. The Owls garnered 84 votes by the American coaches. Tulane earned all but one first-place vote to rank first, followed by Tulsa, Rice, Charlotte and Wichita State to round out the top five.

"The teams are super excited for the season to officially kick off," said Head Coach Alex Smolka, entering his 26th season atop the cross country team and 35th overall with the program. "The preseason poll being released just means that we are close to once again lining up at the start line. The sights and sounds at the start of a large cross country meet brings chills to every involved in cross country & track!"

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