MEET DAY: Cross Country Set for Big Ten Championships

MEET HISTORY

• The 2026 Big Ten Cross Country Championships will be hosted by the University of Wisconsin–Madison at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course.
• This marks the third time the course will host the Big Ten Championships since opening in 2009, having previously hosted the event in 2010 and 2023, as well. 
• In the 2023, the Penn State women finished fourth and the men placed sixth.
• On the women's side, Madaline Ullom '25 led the Nittany Lions with a sixth-place individual finish, while Evan Dorenkamp '24 paced the men's squad with a 17th-place finish.

2026 EDITION

• The women will compete in a 6K starting at 11:35 a.m. EST, 10:35 a.m CST on Friday, October 30.
• The men will compete in an 8K beginning at 12:35 p.m. EST, 11:35 a.m CST on Friday, October 30.
• The Big Ten Championships will feature student-athletes from Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Oregon, Purdue, Rutgers, UCLA, USC, Washington and Wisconsin.

2025 REWIND

• At the 2025 Big Ten Cross Country Championships, hosted by Michigan State University, the No. 12-ranked Penn State women finished second overall with 78 points, trailing only No. 4 Oregon. The runner-up finish marked the program's best conference championship result since 2016.
• Florence Caron '25 led the Nittany Lions with a career-best fourth-place finish in 19:51.7, earning First Team All-Big Ten honors for the second consecutive season.
• Graduate student Charlotte Costich followed in eighth place with a time of 20:11.7, earning the first First Team All-Big Ten honor of her career, while sophomore Ada Rand placed 12th in 20:23.3 to earn her first career All-Big Ten recognition. The trio marked Penn State's most All-Big Ten honorees since 2020.
• Penn State placed all five scoring runners inside the top 30, with Claire Daniels '26 and graduate student Lea Hatcher rounding out the scoring five in 25th and 29th place, respectively.
• On the men's side, Penn State finished eighth overall with 213 points, led by senior Nick Sloff, who completed the 8K course in 24:00.4 to finish 23rd.
• Graduate student Ryan Watson followed in 40th place, while Justin Healy '26, Brendan Flynn '25 and sophomore Jaxon Schoedel rounded out Penn State's top five finishers.

LAST TIME OUT

• On Oct. 9, the Penn State women competed at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational in Madison, Wis. First-year Vivian Kipruto paced Penn State in the women’s 6K race, finishing 39th in 20:11.0. Graduate student Katie Dallas followed in 77th with a time of 20:38.0, while senior Claire Zubey crossed the line in 20:39.3 to place 79th.
• Sophomore Eva Kynaston finished 111th in 20:57.4, and sophomore Caroline Tribett rounded out the Nittany Lions’ scoring five in 118th with a time of 21:00.2.
• On Oct. 16, the Penn State men competed in the Under Armour Pre-National Invitational in Terre Haute, Ind. Senior Nick Sloff led Penn State with a 33rd-place finish in 23:49.1. Senior Brian DiCola followed in 45th, running 23:57.3, while senior Ryan Watson finished 120th in 24:23.9. Sophomore Isaac Oppermann placed 183rd in 24:42.0, and freshman Michael Braun rounded out the Nittany Lions’ top five with a 207th-place finish in 24:48.0.

BIG TEN RUNNER OF THE WEEK

• Senior Nick Sloff was named a Runner of the Week by the conference on Oct. 26 following a first place invididual finish at the Paul Short Run in the 8k Gold Race.
• Sloff crossed the finish line in 23:59.8 to earn his first victory of the season. He became the first Nittany Lion to win the 8K Gold race since Evan Dorenkamp ‘23 in 2023, when Dorenkamp posted a then-personal-best time of 23:53.7.
• His performance also earned him USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week as Penn State’s Athletics Men’s Student-Athlete of the Week.
• The Nittany Lions totaled 129 points to secure their best team finish at the Paul Short Run since winning the title in 2001, as well.

NATIONALLY RANKED | REGIONALLY RECOGNIZED

• The Nittany Lion women enter the 2026 Big Ten Cross Country Championships ranked No. 26 nationally and No. 2 regionally, while the men check in at No. 4 in the region.

FRESH FACES

• The women’s team welcomed seven newcomers to the roster for the 2026 season: Ana Bondy (Carlisle, Pa.), Fancy Chepkoech (Kenya), Baylee Espinosa (Lewisburg, Pa.), Grace Fritzman (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Vivian Kipruto (Kenya), Reese Miller (Gwynedd Valley, Pa.) and Ella White (Wake Forest, N.C./UNC Charlotte).
• The men’s team welcomed five newcomers for the 2026 season: Dorian Bening (Woodland Hills, Calif.), Matthew Gosling (Newton, Pa.), Justin Landis (North Wales, Pa.), Colin O’Donnell (Collegeville, Pa.) and Thomas Rae (Leesburg, Va.).

THE RETURNERS

• Women’s cross country welcomed back 11 returners including graduate students Charlotte Costich (Buffalo, N.Y.), Katie Dallas (West Lawn, Pa.) and Lea Hatcher (Morgantown, W. Va.,); senior Claire Zubey (Spring City, Pa.); and sophomores Liliah Gordon (Chesterfield, N.J.), Jane Kratz (Pottstown, Pa.), Wren Kucler (Wexford, Pa.), Eva Kynaston (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Emma Brooke Levering (Homewood, Ala.), Lauren Stine (Hagerstown, Md.) and Caroline Tribett (Gainesville, Va.).
• Men’s cross country welcomed back 12 returners: graduate students Caiden Leen (Downingtown, Pa.) and Ryan Watson (Falls Church, Va.); seniors Jake Borgesi (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Brian DiCola (Horsham, Pa.), Tyler Rader (Huntingdon, Pa.), T.J. Roden (Harrisburg, Pa.), Nick Sloff (State College, Pa.) and Logan Stawser (McAlisterville, Pa.); and sophomores Michael Braun (Worthington, Pa.), Adam Kingston (Lititz, Pa.), Isaac Oppermann (Port Matilda, Pa.) and Jaxon Schodel (Enon Valley, Pa.).

BIG TEN RUNNERS TO WATCH

• Graduate student Charlotte Costich and senior Nick Sloff were named Big Ten Runners to Watch by the conference on Aug. 19 ahead of the 2026 season.
• Costich was a scoring runner in all six meets in which she competed during the 2025 season.
• She helped Penn State record four top-two team finishes, including victories at the Dolan Duals and Spiked Shoe Invitational and runner-up finishes at the Paul Short Run and Big Ten Championships.
• Costich finished as the Nittany Lions’ No. 2 runner in each of her final three races at the Nuttycombe Invitational, Big Ten Championships and NCAA Championships.
• She earned Second-Team All-Big Ten honors after placing eighth at the conference championships, helping Penn State finish second with 78 points.
• Costich capped the season by placing 93rd as Penn State’s No. 2 finisher at the NCAA Championships, contributing to the Nittany Lions’ 10th-place team finish.
• Sloff emerged as Penn State’s top runner during the 2025 season, finishing as the Nittany Lions’ No. 1 runner in each of his final five meets.
• He placed 23rd at the Big Ten Championships with a time of 24:00.4.
• Sloff finished sixth at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional in 29:37.0, helping Penn State place fourth and earning an individual berth in the NCAA Championships.
• In his first NCAA Championships appearance, Sloff placed 132nd in the men’s 10K with a time of 29:49.2, the best finish by a Penn State men’s runner at the national championships since 2013.
• Sloff became the second Nittany Lion to qualify individually for the NCAA Championships in as many seasons, following Brian DiCola in 2024.

ONE FOR THE RECORD BOOKS

• During the 2025 season, the women recorded five top-three team finishes, while the men collected four top-five team finishes.
• The women earned their national and regional rankings after finishing 10th at the 2025 NCAA Championships, marking the program’s highest finish since 1994.
• Florence Caron ’25 earned a 14th-place finish, the highest by a Nittany Lion at the NCAA Championships in 25 years.
• Caron also earned back-to-back All-America finishes in 2024 and 2025, marking the first time a Nittany Lion accomplished the feat since the 2008 and 2009 seasons.
• The 2025 NCAA Championships marked the third consecutive season the women qualified for the national meet, the program’s first stretch of at least three consecutive appearances since 2016-19.
• On the men’s side, Nick Sloff finished 132nd at the NCAA Championships, marking the highest finish by a Penn State men’s runner since 2013.