As the championship season grows near, the Gators stand ready to compete in their final regular-season race on Friday.
In the Nuttycombe Invitational, the men will face 15 ranked teams, and the women will face 13. This race has historically been one of the most competitive in all of cross country. Typically, anywhere between 15 and 20 ranked teams will race, with the majority of the top-10 competing.
In their first meet, the Stan Sims XC Opener, both the men and women placed first, overcoming Georgia Tech, Kennesaw State and Emory. Their success was driven by Isobelle Jones’ first-place finish, and Ian Sanchez Lopez’s third-place finish.
In the John McNichols Invitational, the men faced 11 ranked squads while the women competed against five ranked teams. The men finished second only to then-No. 9 Brigham Young. The women finished fifth behind then-No. 8 Northern Arizona, No. 20 Utah, No. 21 Washington State and No. 25 Toledo. Sophomore Kelvin Cheruiyot placed first in the men’s 8,000-meter race with a last-minute push to victory. Junior Judy Chepkoech and sophomore Desma Chepkoech were the main factors behind the women’s success as they finished third and fifth, respectively.
Entering Friday, the men’s team is ranked No. 10 in the nation in the USTFCCCA poll, and the women have made a push from No. 14 to No. 13. The men will look to try and keep their position in the top-10, while the women will try to make one more attempt to enter the top-10 prior to the championship season.
Only No. 10 Alabama, No. 11 Stanford and No. 13 South Carolina stand between the women and a top-10 ranking. Still, while the women only need to climb three spots, they would have to overcome the two SEC teams ranked above them. Although the women could easily overcome South Carolina if they perform well on Friday, getting ranked above Alabama could be more challenging as the Crimson Tide were picked to finish first in the SEC. Their success has been driven by Caren Kiplagat, who was recently named the SEC Women’s Co-Runner of the Week with Judy Chepkoech.
The reason behind the highly competitive nature of this race is due to its proximity to the championship season. Conference championships will start up in just a few weeks, with the SEC Championships taking place October 30. This race acts as the premier regular-season preview for the NCAA Championships, set to kick off in just over a month.
The course itself is built for a fair, fast race. The Thomas Zimmer Course in Madison, Wisconsin, features many multiple-hundred-meter straightaways with some being as long as 700-meters. The turns and loops on the course are quite wide, too, allowing for dense packs of runners to turn at once.
Those features will allow the fastest runners to get in a good position and stay there. This is especially good news for the Gators, as the fast-paced nature of the course will cater to runners like Cheruiyot, Judy Chepkoech and Desma Chepkoech, who have all proven to perform well against tough competition.
Florida may actually have a better finish here than at the John McNichols Invitational. The course the Gators raced in the John McNichols Invitational, the Lavern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course, is one of the more challenging in the sport.
It features a jagged mix of uphill and downhill sections, which can be particularly difficult for young runners or those who have never raced the course before. While it proved challenging, it was imperative for the Gators to compete there prior to championship season. The NCAA Championships will be held at the Lavern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course, and a deciding factor in how a team finishes could be whether or not their runners have experience with the terrain.
On Friday, the women’s 6,000-meter race is set to start at 11:30 a.m., while the men’s 8,000-meter race will begin at 12:10 p.m., as the Gators will look to keep building off their regular-season success as the championship season approaches
Contact Katie Mosley at kmosley@alligator.org. Follow her on X @kati3mosle7.
Katie Mosley is a freshman journalism sports & media major in her first semester at The Alligator. She currently serves as the Fall 2026 cross country reporter. In her free time, Katie enjoys watching her favorite sports teams such as the St. Louis Cardinals, St. Louis Blues, Kansas City Chiefs or Liverpool F.C. Katie also takes pleasure in hiking, kayaking and canoeing. One of her favorite traditions is going hiking in the Ozarks every summer.
