The 2026 Liberty League Cross Country Championships are set for Saturday, October 31, in Red Hook, N.Y., with Bard College hosting.
The championships will be held at Bard’s Montgomery Place Campus, with the women’s 6-kilometer race starting at 11 AM and the men’s 8-kilometer race following at noon. An awards ceremony will conclude the day’s events at 1 PM.
All nine Liberty League institutions that sponsor Cross Country will participate in this year's championships: Bard, Clarkson University, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Ithaca College, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), St. Lawrence University, Union College, and Vassar College.
At last year’s Women’s Cross Country Championship, Vassar claimed its third consecutive Liberty League title as all five of the Brewers’ scoring runners placed among the top 13, totaling 36 points for the team title. In total, seven from Vassar earned All-Liberty League honors: three on the First Team, two on the Second Team, and two as Honorable Mention honorees. RPI’s Jules Bleskoski was the individual champion, crossing the finish line in 21:17.3, 30 seconds ahead of Vassar’s Haley Schoenegge. St. Lawrence finished runner-up with 69 points, and RPI placed third with 75 points. Ithaca (86), RIT (104), Union (165), William Smith (221), Clarkson (241), and Bard (283) rounded out the conference teams.
On the men’s side, RPI earned its ninth straight Liberty League title, and all five of the Engineers’ scoring runners earned All-League First Team accolades (2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th). As a team, RPI tallied 22 points, and all 14 Engineers recorded a top 21 finish and All-Liberty League recognition (5 first team, 4 second team, 5 honorable mention). St. Lawrence finished runner-up for the second straight year (69 points), led by two-time individual champion Nick Lyndaker (25:16.6). RIT was third with 83 points on the day, and the Tigers were followed by Vassar (112), Ithaca (131), Union (177), Clarkson (186), Hobart (255), and Bard (272).
The Vassar women and the RPI men are the only Liberty League teams currently ranked in the latest United States Track & Field Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division III polls, with Vassar checking in at No. 18 and RPI ranked eighth. Vassar is also ranked third in the women’s Mideast Region rankings, while RPI is eighth and St. Lawrence is ninth. In the Niagara region, RIT is fourth, and Ithaca is tenth. RPI leads the Men’s Mideast region, Vassar is sixth, and St. Lawrence is ninth. Ithaca and RIT are both among the Niagara region’s top ten, in sixth and seventh, respectively.
MEN'S PREVIEW
RPI will look to extend its dominance within the Liberty League on Saturday as the Engineers seek their tenth straight conference title at the 2026 championship. As a team this season, RPI finished first or second in all but one race, including team victories at Bard’s Fred Pavlich Invitational and Trinity’s George Suitor Invitational. They were also fifth at the Pre-National Invitational in Northfield, Minnesota. The Engineers are headlined by a trio of 2025 All-Liberty League First Team honorees in seniors Evan Lacey (2nd, 25:20.6), Colin Goldschmidt (3rd, 25:24.0), and Jack Czarnecki (7th, 25:34.1). Lacey led the Engineers in three races this year; he won the individual title at Trinity (5K – 15:33.9) and finished third at RPI’s Fairgrounds Showdown (24:06.4) as well as SUNY Geneseo’s Mike Woods Invitational (25:12.7). He and Goldschmidt placed among the top 20 at the Pre-National Invitational with Lacey in 20th at 25:02.0 and Goldschmidt in 17th with a team-best time of 24:53.5. Goldschmidt also finished among the top 10 at the Fairgrounds Showdown (10th, 24:28.3) and Geneseo (6th, 25:19.0). Czarnecki’s regular season was highlighted by a 12th-place showing in the Fairgrounds Showdown, where he clocked a career-best 8K time of 24:32.2. He was also 77th among 328 runners at the Pre-National Invitational (25:32.8).
St. Lawrence will be led by first-year Nico Conathan-Leach, who has made an immediate impact for the Saints this season as the team’s frontrunner in four races. His rookie campaign was highlighted by two Rookie of the Week selections and an eighth-place finish at St. Lawrence’s Hoffmann Invitational (26:07.0). He also paced the team at the RPI Fairgrounds Showdown (44th, 25:21.1) and the Connecticut College Invitational, where he finished 77th among 241 runners in the Blue Race, crossing the finish line in a season-best time of 25:20. Conathan-Leach will be joined by junior Eliot O’Mahoney and senior Henry Hagen; they both posted top 32 finishes at last year’s conference championship. O’Mahoney placed 27th with a time of 26:42.2, and Hagen was 31st at 26:53.2. Hagen was third on the team at RPI’s Fairgrounds Showdown with a time of 25:57.0, good for 67th overall. He was also third for the Saints at Connecticut College with a time of 26:19.4. O’Mahoney only raced at Plattsburgh’s Cardinal Classic 5K and Connecticut College Invitational this season with times of 16:11.5 (5K) and 26:48.2 (8K), respectively.
RIT placed among the top five teams in four races this season, including a team victory at the Houghton Highlander Invitational on October 10. Most recently, the Tigers finished tenth at SUNY Geneseo’s Mike Woods Invitational in their final tuneup before the 2026 Liberty League Championship. Junior Spencer Buff paced the squad this season as the team’s top runner in the last four races. At the 2025 championship, Buff was 30th overall and fifth for RIT, crossing the finish line in 26:50.2. This season, he produced a career-best 25:04.2 at the Houghton Highlander Invitational, where he was fourth. He was also among the top 10 at the Fredonia Invitational (6th, 26:28.5) and posted a time of 27:22.9 at Geneseo for 63rd of 191 finishers. Sophomore Luca Strangis and senior Zachary Sowers will also be key contributors for RIT. Strangis was 15th overall at Fredonia (26:57.5) and Houghton (25:42.3), while Sowers was 17th at Fredonia (26:48.9). Sowers also posted a time of 26:35.1 at the University of Rochester’s Yellowjacket Invitational, where he was 42nd.
A pair of All-Liberty League honorees: Sean Miller and Max Frazee, along with first-year Anis Abidar, highlight
Vassar’s runners at the 2026 conference championship. Miller was the team’s top finisher a year ago and earned All-Liberty League First Team accolades (5th, 25:27.7) for his efforts, while Frazee was 13th (25:59.8, Second Team). Miller topped the Brewers in four races this year, including an individual victory at Vassar’s own Ron Stonitsch Invitational (6K - 19:15.8). He led the team at the RPI Fairgrounds Showdown (17th, 24:39.0) and the Pre-National Invitational in Minnesota with a time of 25:44.6 for 94th overall. Frazee paced the squad at the Connecticut College Invitational with a time of 24:51.7 for 39th, and Miller was 48th at 24:56.0. Frazee also finished among the top 21 at RPI (21st, 24:41.8) and top 100 at the Pre-National Invitational (100th, 24:51.7). Abidar was among Vassar’s top three finishers in all five races this season. He clocked a time of 25:16.8 in his first collegiate 8K at RPI, good for 41st overall. Most recently, he finished among the top 80 at Connecticut College, crossing the finish line in 25:22.3.
Other key runners to watch at this year’s championship….
Ithaca is headlined by senior Elliott Painting after pacing the Bombers in three races this season. He claimed the individual crown at Fredonia’s Kara Hall Memorial Invite, with a time of 26:04.3, and Ithaca was the team runner-up. Painting also recorded a career-best time of 25:54 at the University of Rochester Yellowjacket Invitational (16th) and closed out the regular season at SUNY Geneseo (36th, 26:20).
Union first-year Brody Richardson hit the ground running for the Garnet Chargers as he was recognized with Liberty League Rookie of the Week honors three times this season. He was 15th at the RPI Fairgrounds Showdown with a team-best time of 24:37.4, and in his final race before the championship at Connecticut College, he finished 33rd with a time of 24:47.1.
Clarkson senior Drew Reigelsperger will make a run at All-Liberty League honors after finishing 23rd overall with a time of 26:34.1 last season. He was named Liberty League Performer of the Week four times in 2026 after leading the Golden Knights in six races. He claimed a pair of individual titles with victories in the Plattsburgh Cardinal Classic (5K – 15:46.2) and Hobart’s Warner-Fleury Invitational (8K - 25:44.7). Reigelsperger was also the runner-up at the Hamilton Invitational, crossing the finish line in a career-best 8K time of 25:28.7.
Hobart junior Duncan Kipkoech leads the Statesmen. He recorded a pair of top-three finishes this season as runner-up at Warner-Fleury (26:31.8) and third at the SUNY Poly Invitational (27:16.6). He trimmed nearly a minute off his finish at SUNY Poly the following week at the Houghton Highlander Invitational for a season-best 26:16.2 for 28th overall. Host
Bard will look to senior Elijah Flynn and first-year Colin Buttita to make some noise at the 2026 championship. Flynn closed out the regular season with a top-20 finish at the Western New England Golden Bear Invitational (28:05.7). Buttita wrapped up his rookie regular season with back-to-back top-40 showings at the Hamilton Invitational (34th, 28:42.3) and Western New England (38th, 28:58.1).