ALBANY, N.Y. – The UAlbany cross country program has announced its competition schedule for the 2026 season.

"This year we are revisiting some courses that we're quite familiar with, starting with Marist, which we're always excited to go to, followed by our meet at Twin Ponds, hosted by Manhattan, one of our favorite collegiate universities," said head coach Zach Cook. "We have great relationships there and we look forward to their meet. Beyond that, we will return to Paul Short for the first time in quite a while. We look forward to seeing some really fast marks there. It's traditionally a really competitive race. After that, we'll be at home for back-to-back meets and, depending on our finish and the fitness of both our individuals and our team, you may see us at the NCAA Regional on Long Island, my home away from home."
 
The Great Danes are set to compete at four meets in preparation for the 2026 America East Championships, which will be hosted by UAlbany.
 
This season marks the fourth consecutive season that UAlbany will begin their season at Vassar Farm in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. for the Marist Season Opener (Sept. 4). Two weeks later, the team will return to Manhattan's Jasper Invitational for the second consecutive year (Sept. 19).
 
The Great Danes will head back the Paul Short Invitational (Oct. 2), hosted by Lehigh University, for the first time since 2022. This will mark the midpoint of their season.
 
UAlbany will host two home races this season. The first will be the R. Keith Munsey Invitational (Oct. 16), named after the founder and first cross country coach at UAlbany. This will be a course preview for the America East Championships, which is set for two weeks later (Oct. 30). The last time the Purple and Gold hosted the America East Championship was in 2019, when Hannah Reinhardt became a back-to-back individual champion for the Great Danes.  
 
"We're tremendously excited to have the America East Championship here at home this year," said Cook. "I think we're going to put on quite the meet. We look forward to allowing people to run what we think is going to be a fast, competitive course that is spectator friendly, and features multivariate surfaces that will help prepare people to compete at the NCAA regional round two weeks hence."
 
Following the AE Championships, the Great Danes have the chance to extend their season at the NCAA Northeast Regional Championship at Bethpage State Park on November 13. Qualifiers will advance to the NCAA Championships hosted by Indiana State University on November 21.
 
Click here to view the full 2026 schedule – women | men
 
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