Florida State’s cross country teams open their 2026 season Friday at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, with the men’s 8k going off at 7:40 a.m. and the women’s 6k to follow at approximately 8:20 a.m.
Admission and parking are free for all spectators. Live results will be available through PTTiming.
The women’s team returns 11 runners from a squad that placed sixth at last year’s South Regional Championship, including three All-Region performers. Bieke Schipperen leads the returnees after earning her second straight All-ACC and All-Region honors and competing at a second consecutive national championship.
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Among the teams slated to compete at the event are Miami (Fla.), FIU, Florida Atlantic, Florida Gulf Coast, Florida Southern, Jacksonville, South Florida and Virgin Islands University.
Sophomore Rylee Blade is back after a breakout freshman year that included two ACC Performer of the Week honors — tying the second-most in program history in a single season — and a first career appearance at the 2025 Cross Country National Championships.
Transfer Bella Grenier joins the women’s roster from Wisconsin, where the Badgers finished sixth at the Big Ten Championships and placed in the top 30 at the 2025 NCAA National Championships.
On the men’s side, Isaac Hirshman Chandler headlines seven returners. The Spain native led Florida State in four straight races last season and earned All-Region honors before qualifying for his first Cross Country National Championship. Kaden Levings also returns for the Seminoles.
Transfer Graham Myers comes over from the University of Florida, where he finished in the top 100 at the SEC Cross Country Championships. Myers was also a three-time FHSAA top-3 finisher in high school.
The park last hosted Florida State-connected athletes at the World Athletics Cross Country Championships earlier this year, when former Seminole Linden Hall won gold for Australia in the mixed relay.
