With the opening weeks of the 2026 season now in the books, several Maryland girls programs are already showing signs that their trajectory is trending up. Here are six teams that we think may be ready to make the jump this fall.
1A: Brunswick
The Railroaders finished eighth at the 2025 1A State Championships, with Kate Virgilio, Vivian Alexander, Shelby Kenawell, Kim Porter and Haddie Shullenbarger making up the scoring five. They return their core with more experience, and add new faces poised to contribute alongside them.
This fall, the group behind them adds some new faces, freshman Juliet Kenawell has immediately stepped into the No. 3 role, running 24:11 at the Rebel Invite, while Kira Coldren and Aveiah Kaiser have developed into scoring options at 24:33 and 24:58. Freshman Eden McGillivary gives Brunswick another young option just outside the scoring five. Virgilio and Alexander lead the group at 22:28 and 23:12.
The result is a varsity group with far fewer gaps than the one that raced at Hereford last November. Rather than relying on one dominant low stick, Brunswick's potential jump could come from the collective development of the entire lineup.
2A: Middletown
Middletown finished eighth at the 2025 2A State Championships, but four members of the Knights' state lineup were freshmen, including Cara Carpenter and Lydia Barnette, who finished 28th and 34th. Leah Harshman was only a sophomore, so much of the group responsible for that eighth-place finish has returned with another summer of development behind them..
But it is not just the returners making an impact. The Knights number one runner so far this season is freshman Sophia Caddy, who ran 21:31 at the Rebel Invite. Carpenter followed in 22:12 and Barnette in 22:21, while sophomores Amy Lipnickey and Penelope Rodriguez rounded out the scoring five in 23:24 and 23:45. Harshman, meanwhile, ran 22:56 at the Brunswick Invitational a week earlier.
The Knights were already returning a young team with plenty of room to grow, but adding a freshman runner capable of leading the pack makes Middletown a team to watch not only this year, but in the years to come.
3A: Thomas S. Wootton
Eleanor Finnegan finished second at the 2025 3A State Championships as a freshman, running 19:04, but she wasn't the only ninth-grader contributing to Wootton's fourth-place finish: Olivia Dickerson finished 29th and Morgan Braniff also scored as a freshman. That gave Wootton three members of the Class of 2029 inside its scoring five.
Finnegan continued her development during the track season, including a 5:01.99 1600m PR, and now Dickerson and Braniff are sophomores, Amriel Bates returns, and freshman Sydney Chang has joined them already running 21:30.5 this season, creating a formidable group behind Finnegan.
Wootton already had a low stick in Finneagan, but now the development behind her is just what was needed to turn a team with an individual star into a legitimate team title contender. And with Finnegan, Dickerson and Braniff all only sophomores and Chang a freshman, this may still just be the beginning.
4A: Montgomery Blair
The Blazers finished ninth at the 2025 4A State Championships with four freshmen in that line up. Now they return with another summer of training under their belt, and are joined by new faces already making an impact.
Senior Ingrid Sullivan wasn't part of Blair's state cross country seven last November, she actually hasn’t run cross country since her freshman year, but has been a staple on their Blazer’s track team the past three years. Now she takes her 2:19 800m speed back to cross.
At the Top of the Hill Invitational, Sullivan ran 20:58, Marcela Mason-Rodriguez 21:04 and sophomore Marguerite Mauldin 21:28, putting Blair's first three across the line within 31 seconds. Sophomores Delaney Jelen and Victoria Salamatovs completed the scoring five in 22:27 and 22:34.
The result is a lineup built around two experienced seniors at the front and three sophomores immediately behind them.
Independent: Archbishop Spalding
Archbishop Spalding was a young team in 2025 with freshmen Margaret Williams and Mia Russell were the Cavaliers' first two finishers at last year's IAAM A Conference Championships, but this fall young team got even younger and much faster.
Freshmen McKenna Coffman and Emily Balzanna made an immediate impact at Trials of Miles, running nearly identical performances of 21:14.9 and 21:15.1. Senior Julia Acker, who was Spalding's seventh finisher at last year's IAAM championship in 23:29, opened this season as their number one with a 20:59.5 at Trials of Miles.
Put those developments together with returning sophomores Russell and Williams, and Spalding is suddenly a very different team. Look for them to improve on last years seventh place finish at the IAAM Championship.
Wildcard: Huntingtown
We tried to keep this list to one team from each classification, but Huntingtown made that impossible.
The Hurricanes finished 11th at the 2025 2A State Championships, and nothing about that result immediately suggested they would be near the front of the classification one year later.
The transformation started between cross country seasons. Lilah Flores wasn't part of Huntingtown's scoring five at the 2025 state meet, but by outdoor track, she had emerged as an 11:51.92 3200-meter runner as a freshman at the 2A State Championships. Delaney Anderson wasn't in Huntingtown's state seven either, but during the spring, she ran 2:26.01 for 800 meters at the SMAC Championships.
Now they're Huntingtown's top two cross country runners. Behind them, the Hurricanes return three members of last year's state scoring five in Ava Farnsworth, Amber Eide and Grace Wilharm. Farnsworth herself was only a freshman when she scored at Hereford.
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With the opening weeks of the 2026 season now in the books, several Maryland girls programs are already showing signs that their trajectory is trending up. Here are six teams that we think may be ready to make the jump this fall.
1A: Brunswick
The Railroaders finished eighth at the 2025 1A State Championships, with Kate Virgilio, Vivian Alexander, Shelby Kenawell, Kim Porter and Haddie Shullenbarger making up the scoring five. They return their core with more experience, and add new faces poised to contribute alongside them.