The dew hadn’t even burned off the grass when 300 women toed the line in the Rocket City—Huntsville, Alabama—for the Southern Showcase, one of the largest collegiate races on the calendar. It was a busy, humid morning, and by the time the finish rolled around, UCF had a result worth talking about.
The air hung heavy from the start; at 77 degrees, with a dew point of 73, the kind of thick southern morning that tests a team’s athleticism early. For a roster used to training through heat like this, the conditions felt less like a hurdle and more like familiar ground.
The Knights spent the race moving up. Eighth after the first mile, seventh by the second, sixth at the line; 2026 was their best finish at this meet since 2022, and a five-spot improvement from last year. Four runners posted 5K personal records, including Caroline Brousseau (17:32), Emily Wheldon (17:52), Madison Patchan (17:54), and Bailey McLain (17:56). Daisy Ross and Sarah Rose, sixth and eighth in the lineup, each ran collegiate bests of their own.
One result stood out above the rest. Senior Lexi Raquet raced a flying 16:54, finishing 12th overall as the first non-international runner to cross the finish line, and landing just seconds off UCF’s school record. Raquet is the Knights’ lead runner and is well admired and respected. A transfer last year, she made an immediate mark, earning Transfer Newcomer of the Year for 2025-2026 at the Swords Awards. Her teammates rely on her, and her determination motivates everyone around her.
Her game plan for the day was to finish in the top 15 and go after the school record in the 5k. She came up a few seconds short of the record, but with a 12th-place finish and a time only seconds off her personal best, she was happy to call it a win.
The race went out hard. Raquet came through the mile in around 5:08, faster than she had expected, and spent the middle miles reeling in as many runners as she could, passing three in the final mile to lock up 12th.
“I felt honored to be the first American to cross the line,” Raquet shared. She was quick to credit the international field for pulling her along, noting that without them the race would have been a lot tougher.
She already has the next one in mind. Her takeaways: don’t fade as much through the middle miles, and don’t go out quite so fast in the opening mile. She plans to carry both lessons to Texas next month.
Much of what drives her is the people around her. “I love this team so much,” Raquet said. “The girls on this team are my best friends, and I truly would not be where I am today without them.” She describes the group as focused but fun-loving, a team that works hard and still finds time for team dinners, beach days, and ice cream runs to Menchie’s, while balancing the social and academic sides of college life.
For Coach Bryan Harmon, the clock told only part of the story.
The willingness to fight and battle for each other is the thing that stands out not just from today but what we’ve been emphasizing in practice.
Coach Bryan Harmon
That fight showed up all through the lineup. McLain, closing out her final season in a Knights singlet, carried a quiet prayer for teamwork into the starting box, along with the confidence of a runner who’d earned her place there. Wheldon, a spring transfer settling into her third collegiate year, has shaved more than twenty seconds off her UCF debut in just two races, climbing steadily through the field as her teammates ran alongside her, mile after mile.
Patchan, a third-year Knight, spent the week fighting off a cough that never quite let up, and still helped bring her team home in sixth, leaning on the pack around her to get there. Brousseau, a transfer from Utah State running her first race in Huntsville, dropped from a 17:58 to a 17:32, feeling strongest over the final two kilometers on a course she said she now loved.
Off the clock, the season carries its own new chapter. First-year athletic trainer Mia Bulso, new to the program this fall, has already noticed the difference between cross country and the other sports she’s worked with. It’s a group that trains hard and still finds room to smile.