MEET DAY: Cross Country Gears Up for NCAA Regionals

MEET HISTORY

• Lehigh University will host the 2026 NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships at the Goodman Campus Cross Country Course.
• This marks the third time in four years that Lehigh has hosted the regional.

2026 EDITION

• The women will compete in a 6k starting at 11:00 a.m. EST on Friday, November 13.
• The men will compete in a 10k beginning at 12:00 p.m. EST on Friday, November 13.
• The women's championships will feature three nationally ranked teams: No. 3 West Virginia, No. 24 Penn State, and No. 29 Princeton.
• Other participating women’s programs include American, Bucknell, Delaware State, Duquesne, George Washington, Georgetown, La Salle, Lafayette, Lehigh, Loyola (Md.), Marshall, Maryland-Eastern Shore, Monmouth, Mount St. Mary’s, Navy, NJIT, Penn, Pittsburgh, Rider, Robert Morris, Rutgers, Saint Francis, Seton Hall, St. Joseph’s (Pa.), Temple, UMBC, and Villanova.
• The men's championships will feature two nationally ranked teams: No. 14 Georgetown and No. 17 Villanova.
• Other participating men's programs include American, Bucknell, Delaware, Delaware State, Duquesne, George Washington, La Salle, Lafayette, Lehigh, Loyola (Md.), Marshall, Maryland, Maryland-Eastern Shore, Monmouth, Navy, NJIT, Penn, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Princeton, Rider, Robert Morris, Rutgers, Saint Francis, Seton Hall, St. Joseph’s (Pa.), Temple, and UMBC.
• Live Results are available. PDF results will be published to Penn State's Athletics website following the meet.

2025 REWIND

• The No. 10 Penn State women placed third with 76 points at the 2025 NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships, hosted by Lehigh University. The Nittany Lions finished behind No. 7 West Virginia and No. 12 Georgetown and ahead of No. 19 Villanova, extending their streak of top-five regional finishes to 20 consecutive years.
• Florence Caron ’25 led the Nittany Lions with a fourth-place finish in 19:35.7, matching her career-best regional finish from 2024 and earning All-Region honors for the third consecutive season.
• Junior Ada Rand finished ninth in 19:48.1 to earn her first All-Region honor, while Claire Daniels ’26 placed 14th in 19:54.7 to earn her second straight. Graduate student Lea Hatcher took 23rd in 20:07.6 for her first All-Region honor, giving Penn State four women’s All-Region honorees for the third consecutive season.
• All seven Penn State women finished in the top 31. Allison Dougherty placed 26th in 20:12.6, followed by seniors Claire Zubey in 27th (20:20.9) and Katie Dallas in 31st (20:35.7).
• The Penn State men placed fourth with 91 points, securing their third consecutive top-five regional finish.
• Senior Nick Sloff led the Nittany Lions, covering the 10K course in 29:37.0 to place sixth and earn his first All-Region honor.
• Senior Bryan DiCola finished 13th in 30:13.0 to earn his third consecutive All-Region honor. Brendan Flynn ’26 (16th, 30:14.9) earned his first, and sophomore Jaxon Schoedel (21st, 30:21.0) gave Penn State four men’s All-Region honorees for the first time since 2018.
• Senior Ryan Watson rounded out Penn State’s scoring five, placing 35th in 30:42.7. Junior Logan Strawser crossed one-tenth of a second later to finish 36th (30:42.8), and Justin Healy ’25 placed 72nd in 31:27.3.

LAST TIME OUT

• Penn State competed at the Big Ten Cross Country Championships on Oct. 30 in Madison, Wis.
• The No. 26 Penn State women placed third with 92 points, just two behind No. 23 Northwestern (90). No. 15 Oregon won the team title with 35 points, while the Nittany Lions finished ahead of No. 25 Minnesota and No. 29 Washington.
• Graduate student Katie Dallas  led Penn State, placing 12th in a personal-best 20:09.7. Senior Claire Zubey improved 33 places from her 2025 finish, taking 16th in a personal-best 20:16.2. Graduate student Charlotte Costich followed in 18th in 20:16.9.
• Dallas, Zubey and Costich each earned second-team All-Big Ten honors, giving Penn State three selections for the second straight season and matching the second-most in program history. Last season, Florence Caron '25, Costich, and Ada Rand gave the program its first trio of honorees since 2016.
• First-years Vivian Kipruto and Fancy Chepkoech rounded out Penn State’s scoring five. Kipruto placed 21st in 20:21.3, and Chepkoech took 25th in 20:26.7.
• Sophomore Evan Kynaston and first-year Reese Miller both set personal bests, placing 30th in 20:34.3 and 34th in 20:37.5, respectively. Graduate student Lea Hatcher placed 63rd in 21:01.2, and sophomore Caroline Tribett finished 74th in 21:05.3.
• The Penn State men finished eighth for the third straight season, tying Illinois with 271 points.
• Senior Nick Sloff led the Nittany Lions with an 18th-place finish in 23:32.8, improving five spots from 2025 and earning second-team All-Big Ten honors.
• Graduate student Ryan Watson was Penn State’s second finisher, placing 42nd in 24:00.9. The final three scorers all set personal bests. Sophomore Michael Braun placed 67th in 24:21.3, sophomore Isaac Oppermann  took 75th in 24:34.1, and first-year Matthew Gosling finished 90th in 24:51.3.
• First-year Thomas Rae placed 95th in a personal-best 24:57.2, followed by sophomore Adam Kingston in 103rd (25:06.6), senior Logan Strawser in 114th (25:25.0) and graduate student Caiden Leen in 118th (25:36.4).

BIG TEN RUNNER OF THE WEEK

• Senior Nick Sloff was named a Runner of the Week by the Big Ten conference on Oct. 5 following a first place individual finish at the Paul Short Run in the 8k Gold Race on Oct. 2.
• 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 ‘24 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 on Oct. 5 and as Penn State’s Athletics Men’s Student-Athlete of the Week on Oct. 3.
• The Nittany Lions also totaled 129 points to secure their best team finish at the Paul Short Run since winning the title in 2001.

NATIONALLY RANKED | REGIONALLY RECOGNIZED

• The Nittany Lion women enter the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional ranked No. 24 nationally and No. 2 regionally, while the men check in at No. 5 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 Schoedel (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 finished 10th overall 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.