Cross Country 2025 Season Preview

ORLANDO - With the UCF cross country season kicking off Friday, coach Bryan Harmon welcomes back 12 returners, boosted by fresh faces, as they look to build from a year of growth in their second-ever Big 12 campaign. 

Lone transfer Alexandra Raquet joins the Knights after spending her freshman cross country season at Louisville. While with the Cardinals, Raquet competed in four meets and capped off her season at the ACC Cross Country Championships with a time of 21:37.1. She brings valuable postseason experience to the Black & Gold and boasts a personal-best 6k time of 21:27.6, one of the top marks on the current roster.

Rounding out the newcomer class is a promising freshman duo: Masha Dorofeev and Daisy Ross. Dorofeev arrives from Fort Myers High School, where she dominated her senior season by winning both the FHSAA District 3A-6 and Region 3A-3 5k races, before claiming the FHSAA State Championship title with a stellar time of 18:05.5. Ross, representing Ponte Vedra High School, also had a strong finish to her high school career, placing fourth at the FHSAA State Championships with an impressive 5k time of 18:28.7.

Though small in number, this group of newcomers is poised to make a significant impact on the Knights' 2025 campaign.

At the head of the returning squad is senior Isabella Richardson, back for her fourth and final season with the Black & Gold. Richardson has proved to be one of the strongest competitors on the roster over the course of her career, having been the Knights’ top finisher at the NCAA South Regionals in two of the last three seasons. Additionally, the New Zealand native has the best 6k time of the roster at 20:38.9, a performance good for seventh all-time. 

Richardson will be joined by a group of five other seniors, including Penelope Sosa, Riley Jaszczak, Paige Jaszczak, Bailey McLain, and Kendall Hughes. 

This will be McLain’s first cross-country season with the group, but she will look to build on a strong 2025 outdoor track and field season, highlighted by a first-place finish in the 1500m at the South Florida Invitational. Both Hughes and the Jaszczak twins competed in all five meets for the Knights last season and have been staples of the program since 2022. 

Florida native, Sosa, enters her final season with a personal-best 6k time of 21:08.5, the 11th-fastest mark in program history. She recorded the time at the 2023 NCAA South Regional Championship and will be aiming to top that performance in her final campaign with the Knights. 

The solo junior, Abigail Clemets, will bring back a postseason edge to the group, having finished at the NCAA South Regionals with a team-best time of 22:00.5. Clemets boasts a personal-best 6k time of 21:51.4, having secured that in an impressive 2023 NCAA South Regional meet.

Capping off the returnees is a solid group of five sophomores, made up of Raquel Edwards, Avery Latto, Madison Patchan, Ava Quattrocchi, and Yvone Sandui. 

Sandui, although having spent the 2025 indoor/outdoor track and field season at UCF, spent her last cross country campaign at Norfolk State in 2024. There, she boasted a personal-best 6k time of 21:33.9 and locked in a third-place finish at the MEAC Championship with her top 5k time of 17:42.1.

Both Latto and Quattrochi competed in all five meets for the Black and Gold in 2024 and will look to continue to build on their strong performances at NCAA South Regionals, where they concluded the season with times of 22:04.9 and 22:49.2, respectively. 

While a large group of seniors will provide direction for the team, coach Harmon and his squad also possess marquee features who will fill in for the graduating class in years to come.

The squad's season will open Friday, Aug. 29, at the Florida Intercollegiate in Jacksonville, Fla., with the race beginning at 7:00 p.m.

 

About UCF Athletics
UCF is a proud member of the Big 12 Conference. Our mission is to positively transform the lives of our students academically, athletically, and personally through a nationally competitive intercollegiate athletics program that enhances the reputation and visibility of the University. We strive to be Florida's preeminent athletic program representing UCF and our community with distinction on the national stage as "Orlando's Hometown Team". To learn more about UCF and Athletics, please visit our websites at www.ucf.edu and www.ucfknights.com.