| 2025 Liberty League Cross Country Championships |
| Date & Time: Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025 – Men’s Race: 11 AM | Women’s Race: 12 PM |
| Location: Canton, N.Y. - Ronald C. Hoffmann Cross Country Course |
| Links: Live Results | Championship Page | Live Video |
The Liberty League Cross Country Championships are back in Canton, N.Y., for the second consecutive year on Saturday, November 1, with Clarkson University set to serve as the 2025 host.
The championships will be held at St. Lawrence University's Ronald C. Hoffmann Cross Country Course. The men's 8-kilometer race is slated for 11 AM and the women's 6-kilometer race follows at noon. An awards ceremony will wrap up the day’s events at 1 PM.
All eight Liberty League institutions that sponsor Cross Country will participate in this year’s championships: Bard College, Clarkson, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Ithaca College, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), St. Lawrence, Union College, and Vassar College.
At the 2024 Women’s Cross Country Championship, Vassar claimed its second consecutive Liberty League title, narrowly defeating RPI by five points. The Brewers finished with 36 points to the Engineers’ 41. All five of Vassar’s scoring runners placed among the top 15, and seven garnered All-Liberty League accolades (3 first team, 1 second team, 3 honorable mention), including individual champion Haley Schoenegge. Schoengge paced the field and earned her first individual Liberty League title, crossing the finish line in under 21 minutes. Her time of 20:59.6 set a new course record in Canton. RPI finished second, and all five of its scoring runners were in the top 18. St. Lawrence was third with 86 points, and Ithaca rounded out the top four league schools with 107. The Bombers were followed by RIT (117), Union (132), William Smith (227), Clarkson (252), and Bard (284).
In the most recent United States Track & Field Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division III poll, two league teams were recognized nationally, with Vassar at No. 19 and RPI receiving votes. Regionally, Vassar is fifth and RPI is sixth in the Mideast. St. Lawrence is also among the top 10 Mideast teams at No. 9. In the Niagara Region, a pair of Liberty League teams are featured among the top five, with Ithaca at No. 3 and RIT checking in at No. 4.
WOMEN'S PREVIEW | MEN’S PREVIEW
Vassar is on the hunt for its third straight Liberty League title, and the Brewers would be the first women’s team to claim more than two consecutive titles since St. Lawrence claimed 13 straight from 2002 through 2014. This year, Vassar earned the victory at Bard’s Fred Pavlich Invitational and was second at three meets: Vassar Season Starter, Vassar’s Ron Stonitsch Invitational, and NCAA Pre-Nationals. Haley Schoeneege is back as a junior after winning the 2024 championship with a course record time of 20:59.6. She was also the Division III runner-up with a time of 20:58.2 at last year’s NCAA Championship. This season, she was a team-best tenth at the NCAA Pre-Nationals (22:24.5) and Lehigh’s Paul Short Run (21:17.8). Her time at Paul Short was her season-best and she also led the Brewers at the Connecticut College Invitational, where she was 17th with a time of 21:20.0. She will be joined by classmates Adelaide Nyhan and Norah Reade, who both earned All-Liberty League accolades last season. At the championship, Nyhan was fifth with a time of 22:07.1 (All-Liberty League first team) and Reade was eighth at 22:33.8 (All-Liberty League second team). Nyhan competed in one 6-kilometer race this season (Pre-Nationals), crossing the finish line in 22:36.7 for 12th overall. In three six-kilometer races, Reade posted a season-best time of 22:49.9 at the Paul Short Run, finishing 103rd in a 404-runner field. She was also 22nd at Pre-Nationals (23:08.4) and 129th at Connecticut College (22:59.0). Cate Feudtner will look to make some noise for the Brewers at her first conference championship. She was named Rookie of the Week twice this season following her individual victory at Bard, where she clocked a time of 24:41.2, and her performance at Connecticut College, where she was 40th with a season-best time of 23:20.7.
RPI is a veteran squad heading into the 2025 championship as the Engineers are seeking their first league title since 2019. With five of the team’s top seven runners from last season leading the way, they are poised to make a run at finishing atop the team podium this year. Julianne Bleskoski, last year’s individual runner-up (21:06.4) has had a strong junior season and was named the Liberty League Runner of the Week three times this season. Bleskoski claimed gold in all three 6-kilometer races she’s competed in during the regular season (Williams, Paul Short, Augustana), including a personal-best time of 20:20.8 at Paul Short. She also recorded winning times of 20:39.3 at Williams and 20:47.4 at Augustana. Erin vonHousen, the 2024 Liberty League Rookie of the Year, was fourth last year, crossing the finish line in 21:56.1 en route to earning All-Liberty League first team honors. This season, she was second on the team at Paul Short, placing 67th among 404 with a time of 22:28.3. She also finished 145th of 349 at Augustana at 23:53.8. Other key contributors for RPI include seniors Claudia Wolf and Tessa Bossom. Wolf earned All-Liberty League second team honors last season with a 14th-place finish at the championship (22:58.2). She boasted a personal-best time of 22:43.7 this year at Paul Short, where she was third on the team and 91st overall. She was also among the top 25 at Williams (22nd) at 23:28.5. Bossom was second for the Engineers at Williams, where she finished 19th with a time of 23:15.4. She also produced a personal best performance at Paul Short, crossing the finish line in 22:55.8 for 122nd.
A pair of 2024 All-Liberty League second team honorees in Avery Blanchard and Charlotte Blake highlight
St. Lawrence’s squad as the Saints look to improve upon last year’s third-place finish. Last year, Blanchard finished ninth at 22:34.6 and Blake was not far behind in tenth with a time of 22:36.1. Blake was St. Lawrence’s top performer in all five races this season, including a personal-best time of 22:08.2 for 60th overall at Connecticut College in the Saints’ final tuneup before the championship. She was also 10th at St. Lawrence’s own Hoffmann Invitational (22:54.8) and 62nd at Paul Short (22:24.7). Blanchard was among the top 20 at Hoffmann (16th) with a time of 23:16.2. She trimmed over 10 seconds from her time two weeks later at the Paul Short Run, where she clocked 23:05.4 and most recently improved her time by more than 30 seconds at Connecticut College (22:29.0, 78th overall). Madison Beaudoin will look to make an impact for the Saints at her first Liberty League Championship. The first year’s best six-kilometer time of the year was at Connecticut College with a time of 23:43.5. She also crossed the finish line in under 24 minutes at both Paul Short (23:46.5) and Hoffmann (23:53.8).
Seniors Jessica Goode and Joy Petersen are back at the Liberty League Championship as
Ithaca’s top returners from a year ago, where Goode was recognized with All-Liberty League second team accolades with a 12th-place finish (22:47.6) and Petersen was named honorable mention after placing 17th overall (23:02.2). This season, Goode was tops on the team at the University of Rochester Invitational (13th) with a time of 22:50.7. She was second for the Bombers at Connecticut College, where she was 105th at 22:44.0 and she was also second for the team at Paul Short (132nd, 23:01.3). Petersen took part in three invitationals and recorded a season-best time of 23:32.2 at Connecticut College, where she was 171st. She was also 51st at Rochester (24:08.5) and 206th at Paul Short (23:35.9). It is Lola Gitlin’s first Liberty League Cross Country Championship after previously playing soccer at Ithaca the last two fall seasons. The junior was named Rookie of the Week twice this season after placing ninth at the Brockport Invitational (5K, 19:37.4) and leading the Bombers at Paul Short, finishing 56th with a time of 22:20.2. She also posted a personal best time of 22:17.4 at Connecticut College, where she was 65th.
Other key runners to watch at this year’s championship….
Kathryn Arbegast of
RIT earned All-Liberty League honorable mention accolades last year at the championship, and she leads the Tigers this season. She was 19th in 2024, crossing the finish line in 23:13.7. This year, Arbegast was named Liberty League Runner of the Week following three runner-up finishes. She opened the season at Brockport’s Tom Balon Classic with a time of 18:38.9 in the 5-kilometer event. In addition, she was second at Roberts Wesleyan’s Harry F. Anderson Invitational (5K, 18:15.10) and second at Houghton’s Highlander Invitational (6K, 21:37.6). She also paced the Tigers at the Oberlin Inter-Regional Rumble, traversing the 3.73-mile course in 22:05.7. The duo of Kyleigh Record and Annabel Dobash headline the
Union squad heading into the 2025 championship. Record was 24th last year with a time of 23:26.9, and Dobash was 27th at 23:40.7. This season, Record led the team in two races (Wesleyan Invitational, Connecticut College Invitational) and was second in three, while Dobash was the Garnet Chargers’ top finisher in three (Vassar Season Starter, Vassar Ron Stonitsch, Paul Short) and second in two. Record’s best time of the season was at Wesleyan, where she was 29th at 23:01.7, and Dobash recorded a personal-best time of 23:29.1 at Paul Short, where she placed 15th.
William Smith is headlined by Hope Johnson, who led the Herons in all six races this season and was team’s top finisher at the 2024 championship (39th, 24:34.3). Johnson claimed gold at the 2025 Cross Country Only Championship for the second straight year with a time of 24:16.6. Johnson was also the runner-up at the SUNY Poly Wildcat Invitational (24:17.1) and 32nd at Houghton (23:45.1). Gianna Capoccia has been
Clarkson’s top performer this season, she did not compete at the 2024 conference championship but in 2023 she was the Golden Knights’ top finisher in 44th. Her 2025 campaign has been highlighted by a third-place finish in the Cross Country Only Championship with a season-best 24:27.8. She was also 45th at St. Lawrence’s Hoffmann Invitational with a time of 24:41.4.
Bard will look to Anna Shtandenko to pave the way for the Raptors at her first conference championship after leading the team in every race this season. The junior is coming off a personal best time at the Western New England Invitational, where she was 48th. She also finished 11th at the Houghton Highlander Invitational and 26th at Bard’s Fred Pavlich Invitational.