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Clarkson University Athletics

2026 Clarkson University Cross Country Preview

ReeseSpencer2025SLU
Bella Doyle

Cross Country | 8/31/2026 10:00:00 AM

The majority of the top runners from a year ago are back for the Clarkson University Cross Country team in 2026 as the Golden Knights open up the 2026 season at Plattsburgh this Saturday.

Led by second-year head coach Dana Hatton, the Golden Knights will have a change to their schedule for the first time in a couple of decades as the Cross Country-Only Championships, an event that the Green and Gold have dominated for some time, has been removed from the annual slate. However, Clarkson will still be heading to Geneva in mid-October in a renamed invitational, just not as the beginning of its yearly final stretch of championship meets.

The schedule is full of the usual events along with a couple of different venues. The annual Hoffmann Invitational is slated for September 19th at St. Lawrence University, while this year's Liberty League Championships will be hosted by Bard, and the NCAA Mideast Regionals will be showcased in Connecticut by Trinity College.

Clarkson's men return all of the scorers from the championship events that took place in November, including the team's top runner Drew Reigelsperger. The senior barely missed out on Liberty League All-Star honors when he finished 23rd at the conference meet, closing out the race on a muddy track in 26:34.1. The other top racers for the men traded spots throughout the year, including juniors Matthew Clarner, Frank Consolazio, and James Lynch. Clarner was in his first year with the team, but showed well at the conference meet (27:00.1) and then the NCAA Regional (27:34.4). Lynch swapped spots with him after going 27:57.3 at the league race and then 27:13.4 at the regional, both of which were run at St. Lawrence's course. Consolazio, senior Spencer Reese, and sophomore Jack Zieber were also regulars in the scoring for the Knights, and each is back this fall. Joining that group of stalwarts and looking to crack their way into the scoring are a number of freshmen and returners, but the trio poised to do so are first-year collegians Eamon Drohan, Charles O'Brien, and Teagan Wilbur.

On the women's side, Clarkson suffers the loss of Gianna Capoccia, the team's top runner who had returned in 2025 as a graduate student. Looking to take the reins as the new top runner for the Knights will be senior Skylar Francis and sophomores Janneke Baks and Meagan Speizer. Baks was able to shave nearly 30 seconds off her time from the Liberty League Championship to the NCAA Mideast Regional, while Speizer had a slightly better time from race to race, improving by close to 10 seconds over the course of the two weeks. Likewise, Francis was 18 seconds faster in her second trip in November. With similar improvements throughout 2026, the trio could find themselves in the top half of conference runners by year's end.


 
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Players Mentioned

Gianna Capoccia

Gianna Capoccia

Graduate Student
Frank Consolazio

Frank Consolazio

Sophomore
Skylar Francis

Skylar Francis

Junior
James Lynch

James Lynch

Sophomore
Drew Reigelsperger

Drew Reigelsperger

Junior
Janneke Baks

Janneke Baks

Freshman
Meagan Speizer

Meagan Speizer

Freshman
Matthew Clarner

Matthew Clarner

Sophomore
Spencer Reese

Spencer Reese

Junior
Jack Zieber

Jack Zieber

Freshman

Players Mentioned

Gianna Capoccia

Gianna Capoccia

Graduate Student
Frank Consolazio

Frank Consolazio

Sophomore
Skylar Francis

Skylar Francis

Junior
James Lynch

James Lynch

Sophomore
Drew Reigelsperger

Drew Reigelsperger

Junior
Janneke Baks

Janneke Baks

Freshman
Meagan Speizer

Meagan Speizer

Freshman
Matthew Clarner

Matthew Clarner

Sophomore
Spencer Reese

Spencer Reese

Junior
Jack Zieber

Jack Zieber

Freshman