2026 Liberty League Men’s Cross Country Championship Results
RED HOOK, N.Y. – The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) Men’s Cross Country team captured its 10th consecutive Liberty League championship title on Saturday at the 2026 Liberty League Championships, held at Bard College’s Montgomery Place Campus.
The Engineers dominated the team competition, totaling just 18 points as all five scoring runners finished among the top six. All five earned All-Liberty League First Team honors, awarded to the top seven individual finishers. RPI's depth was also on display, as all 14 Engineers competing at the championship placed among the top 31 of 113 finishers. Vassar College finished as the team runner-up with 67 points, and St. Lawrence University was third with 106 points. Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) was close behind in fourth with 108 points, followed by Ithaca College (116), Union College (158), Clarkson University (201), Hobart College (224), and host Bard (279).
RPI established a strong presence at the start of the race with five Engineers at the front by the two-mile mark, with seniors Colin Goldschmidt and Evan Lacey breaking from the pack. Goldschmidt held the lead through 7.2 kilometers before Lacey made his move, narrowly edging his teammate by half a second to capture the individual title at the finish line. Lacey clocked a time of 24:54.7, while Goldschmidt was the runner-up with a time of 24:55.2. Lacey became the first RPI individual champion since 2024, when Cory Kennedy won the title in Geneva, N.Y., with a time of 24:47.2.
Junior Thomas Manson (4th, 25:13.8), senior Brady Geisler (5th), and sophomore Nathaniel McKee (6th, 25:25.0) rounded out the squad’s scoring runners. Union first-year Brody Richardson with a time of 25:11.5 and Vassar senior Sean Miller with a time of 25:25.2, placing third and seventh respectively also earned spots on the All-Liberty League First Team along with the RPI quintet.
Those individuals who placed among eighth through fourteenth garnered All-Liberty League Second Team honors. This year’s second team was comprised of two from RPI, two from Ithaca, and one from RIT, one from Vassar. RPI runners Jack Czarnecki (25:25.2) and Sam Gunther (25:27.5) were eighth and ninth; they were followed by Vassar’s Max Frazee (10th, 25:43.5), Ithaca’s Elliott Painting (25:47.6), St. Lawrence’s Nico Conathan-Leach (25:56.3), RIT’s Spencer Buff (26:03.4), and Ithaca’s Griffin Lupes (26:06.1).
The Liberty League also recognizes an honorable mention that represents individuals who finish fifteenth through twenty-first.
2026 Liberty League Men's Cross Country Championship All-League Teams
All-Liberty League First Team
1. Evan Lacey, RPI — 24:54.7
2. Colin Goldschmidt, RPI — 24:55.2
3. Brody Richardson, Union — 25:11.5
4. Thomas Manson, RPI — 25:13.8
5. Brady Geisler, RPI — 25:22.8
6. Nathaniel McKee, RPI — 25:25.0
7. Sean Miller, Vassar — 25:25.2
All-Liberty League Second Team
8. Jack Czarnecki, RPI — 25:25.2
9. Sam Gunther, RPI — 25:27.5
10. Max Frazee, Vassar — 25:43.5
11. Elliott Painting, Ithaca — 25:47.6
12. Nico Conathan-Leach, St. Lawrence — 25:56.3
13. Spencer Buff, RIT — 26:03.4
14. Griffin Lupes, Ithaca — 26:06.1
All-Liberty League Honorable Mention
15. Dominic Pena, RPI — 25:38.5
16. Tevin McLaren, RPI — 25:57.6
17. Tyler Husar, RPI — 25:58.2
18. Evan Morrow, RPI — 25:59.7
19. Sam Gibbons, RPI — 26:09.7
20. Anis Abidar, Vassar — 26:15.4
21. Pierce McCormack, St. Lawrence — 26:31.8