Picking the top cross-country teams in the state before the season begins is never easy. A lot can happen over the course of three months. Athletes can experience breakthrough seasons, newcomers can emerge as key contributors, and, of course, injuries to important runners can quickly change the outlook for a team.
But we’ll do our best to set the stage for what we expect will be another exciting season on the trails. For some of the state’s top teams, the outlook appears fairly straightforward if everything goes according to plan. For others, however, the picture is far less clear, and where they’ll ultimately finish by season’s end remains anyone’s guess.
Beginning with No. 10 and counting down to No. 1, here’s our preseason ranking of the top 10 girls’ teams in the state. As always, if we’ve given your team a little bulletin-board material based on our rankings, you’re welcome. It certainly won’t be the first time.
(Above photo by Sterling Vernon @rhodeandtrack)
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No. 9: Moses Brown School
Last year’s results: Third (9-2), Metropolitan Division: First, RIIL Class C Championships; Seventh, RIIL State Championships
Key returnees: Lola Baill, Jr. 21:51.76; Edie Lane, Jr. 22:16.34 , Penelope Shapiro, So., Sadie Dougherty, So. 22:18.88, Nathalie Kunathai, So. 23:56.20
Outlook: Moses Brown has enjoyed considerable success over the last few years. The Quakers have won four of the last five class titles, including each of the last three. At the state level, they’ve finished among the top seven in each of the last five years, highlighted by a third-place finish in 2022.
We expect the Quakers to continue that trend this fall with another top-10 finish.
Led by Baill, who ran a personal best of 21:51.76 last year, Moses Brown returns four runners from 2025, with just 27 seconds separating them based on their personal bests. Word is that the Quakers have a big team this year, which leads us to believe they’ll have a good chance to fill some of their gaps. Lane, Shapirio, and Dougherty all had 5K best under 22:20. That should put them right in the mix.
