ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The No. 17 Washington University in St. Louis men's cross country team, under the direction of 26th-year head coach
Jeff Stiles, kicks off its season this weekend by hosting the annual Gabby Reuveni Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 5, at the SIUE XC Course in Edwardsville, Ill.
Two weeks later, the Bears will travel to the Jim McNichols Invite in Terre Haute, Ind., hosted by Indiana State at the LaVern Gibson XC Course on Saturday, Sept. 19.
Castleton will then host the Running of the Cows on Saturday, Oct. 3, at the Bill Huyck XC Course in Northfield, Minn. This is a Pre-Nationals meet, as the 2026 NCAA Championships for Division III will take place on the course later in the season.
A quick midweek meet on Wednesday, Oct. 7, at nearby Principia will take place at the North Farm Cross Country Course across from the Panthers' campus entrance in Elsah, Ill.
The final regular-season meet will be on Saturday, Oct. 17, in Rock Island, Ill., hosted by Augustana at the Saukie Golf Course.
The 2026 UAA Championships will be on Saturday, Oct. 31, at the St. James Farm Forest Preserve in Warrenville, Ill. Chicago is serving as the host institution. The Bears will host one final 5K meet on Friday, Nov. 6, at 7 p.m. on the track at Francis Olympic Field.
WashU will return to Rock Island, Ill., on Saturday, Nov. 14, for the NCAA Midwest Regional, looking to defend its title from a year ago.
The Bears will finish the season back in Northfield, Minn., at the Division III National Championships on Saturday, Nov. 21.
WashU returns a trio of runners who earned All-Region honors a year ago. Juniors
Sean Green and
Ben Lorenz, along with sophomore
Max Sudrzynski, all finished in the top 35 at the Midwest Regional meet to earn their honors. Two weeks earlier, Sudrzynski earned Second Team All-UAA after finishing 10th at the UAA Championships.
A quartet of seniors —
Calvin Crossland,
Russell Kramer,
Will Liu, and
Kaleb McElfish — will help guide the Bears as the team looks to improve on its fourth-place finish at the conference championship.
Besides Green and Lorenz, four other juniors will also take to the course for their third season with WashU:
Ryan Brinker,
Caleb Brox,
Will Ruszkowski, and
Ilan Sherman-Kadish.
In addition to Sudrzynski, nine other sophomores are back, looking to push the team to that next step.
Dominic Buckman,
Paul Fleck,
Charlie Glatz,
Mateo Gros-Slovinsky,
Charlie Houck,
William Newkirk,
Gavin O'Connor,
Bankson Roach, and
Rishi Shadaksharappa are all back for their second season.
They are joined by a strong core of first-years in
Brayden Bunt,
Brody Cushing,
Grey Donner,
Ryan Lien,
Jackson Proffitt,
Brandon Sun,
Freddie van der Velden,
Riley Wold, and
Toby Wong, who all look to make an immediate impact in their first season with the Bears.
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