Kate Drummond led the Florida Atlantic University Athletics women’s cross country team in her first meet for the program, posting the ninth-fastest 5K time in program history at the 2026 Florida Intercollegiate meet in Jacksonville. Florida Atlantic competed Friday evening in the season-opening meet.
Florida Atlantic’s women finished third among teams with 83 points. UCF won the women’s team competition with 39 points, followed by host North Florida with 69. The Florida Atlantic men finished eighth, one point behind seventh-place Bethune-Cookman, while North Florida won the men’s team title.
Florida Atlantic recorded four new all-time top-10 finishes at the meet. All five Florida Atlantic men’s runners finished in the top 60.
Drummond leads Florida Atlantic women
Drummond finished first for Florida Atlantic in the women’s 5K with a time of 17:57.8. The graduate transfer’s time ranks ninth in program history. Madison Brown finished 11th in 18:11.03, while Teegan Anderson placed 18th in 18:21.07.
Gaby Castro finished 22nd in 18:24.39 during her collegiate debut. Cameron Shelby also made her collegiate debut and finished 27th in 18:31.56. Florida Atlantic had four runners finish in the top 25.
Florida Atlantic men post three top-10 times
Freshman Carter Dieterich was Florida Atlantic’s first men’s finisher, placing 42nd in 15:51.58 during his first college race. His time ranks fourth in program history.
Noah Highsmith recorded a personal-best time of 16:00.39, which ranks sixth in program history. Freshman Parker Smith finished in 16:06.99, the eighth-fastest time in the program’s record book.
Florida Atlantic’s next meet
Florida Atlantic’s men’s and women’s cross country teams will compete next at the Pre-Regional meet. The event is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 18, at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee.
Source: Original report