CU Cross Country Preview - at Liberty League Championships (hosted by Bard College)

Cross Country | 10/28/2026 11:31:00 AM

Hopes are high for the Clarkson University Cross Country team as it enters the championship portion of its season, with the Golden Knights heading down state to compete in the Liberty League Championships, hosted by Bard College.

Live Results
Live Video (Start/Finish)
Live Video (Lower Half of Course)

The Event: Clarkson's women will join the rest of the conference teams in the 6000-meter 11:00 am race, while the 8000-meter men's race begins at 12:00 noon. The awards ceremony will take place at 1:00 pm.

The Women: All eight of Clarkson's women runners will participate in the Liberty League Championships with no traveling alternates, but potential alternate times and placements for the final scoring purposes. Alexandra Simon has returned as a standout after missing all of last year and is averaging 25:19.4 per 6000-meter event, including a 24:50.1 rate in the last two races. Skylar Francis is running at 26:13.0 in her last two events and has the second fastest average for the year at 26:34.8. That time is just 4.5 seconds faster than the average of Meagan Speitzer, though Speizer has the third-fastest time of the year when she ran 25:40.5 at Hamilton a few weeks ago. Janneke Baks is also just over 27 minutes (27:09.7) in four events this year and Kelly Lahiff is a shade under 28 minutes (27:58.2) in 2026.

The Men: The Golden Knights will bring 18 runners to the event with 14 competing and four traveling as alternates. The top seven will be part of the initial scoring system, with the bottom two of those seven being dropped or used as alternate placements and times. Four-time Liberty League Performer of the Week Drew Reigelsperger just missed out on conference all-star honors a year ago and is seeking a spot in 2026. Reigelsperger has averaged 25:55.5 per 8000-meter race this year and two of his times are among the six fastest times in the 21st century for Clarkson runners. More impressively, each of those times was accomplished during the regular season, while the other four were all done during the championship portion of those campaigns. Junior James Lynch has consistently been the second runner for the Knights this year as the only other Clarkson runner to finish with a time of less than 27 minutes, something he has done in the past three races. He is averaging a 27:02.9 in 8K races in 2026, but the last three have been quicker at 26:47.2. Sophomore Jack Zieber is averaging 27:30.3 per 8K this year and he has gotten progressively faster in each race with the last three events serving as the three best times of his collegiate career. Frank Consolazio (27:38.4) has also gotten quicker in his last three races, getting down to 27:11.0 in that stretch as opposed to his average of 27:38.4 for the entirety of the season. Spencer Reese has reduced his time to 27:18.4 in the last two events, Matthew Clarner is at 27:28.4 in his last two outings, and Wyatt Worcester is down to 27:44.1 in his last three races.

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