FAIRFAX, Va. – George Mason men's and women's cross country head coach Andrew Gerard announced the Patriots' 2026 cross country competition schedule.
"We're very excited about the schedule this year," said Gerard. "With the mix of meets, it's a good progression of intensity and competition that will build and prepare us well for the championship meets in October and November."
The Patriots open the 2026 campaign on Saturday, Sept. 5, at the Salisbury University Fall Classic at Winter Place Park in Salisbury, Md. The season-opening meet will provide George Mason with its first opportunity to test itself in competition.
George Mason returns to action two weeks later at the Main Line Invitational on Friday, Sept. 18. Hosted by Haverford College, the meet will be held at Featherbed Fields in Haverford, Pa.
The Patriots will then head to the Richmond Invitational on Friday, Oct. 2, competing at Pole Green Park in Mechanicsville, Va. George Mason will return to action two weeks later at the Princeton Fall Classic on Friday, Oct. 16, at the Meadows Campus Cross Country Course in Princeton, N.J., concluding the regular season.
"From a team standpoint, this will be an interesting year," Gerard said. "Both squads feature a balanced mix of returning depth and experience but also have brought in several newcomers that should impact us immediately. The keys will be building momentum through the season, so we've designed the schedule to allow us to do that. We're all definitely excited to get started!"
Postseason competition begins Saturday, Oct. 31, when the Patriots compete at the Atlantic 10 Championships at Pole Green Park in Mechanicsville, Va. George Mason's men's and women's teams will battle for conference honors against the league's top programs.
Last season, graduate student Ella Semple captured the women's individual Atlantic 10 championship, becoming George Mason's first individual conference champion since 2021. The men's team finished fourth at the A-10 Championships, with Biruk Beardsley and Lloyd Sheppard-Brown both earning First Team All-Conference honors. Of the three, Beardsley is the only one returning this year.
The Patriots will then turn their attention to the NCAA Southeast Regional Championships on Friday, Nov. 13, at the Roger Milliken Center in Spartanburg, S.C., hosted by USC Upstate. The regional championship will provide George Mason with an opportunity to compete for spots at the NCAA Championships.
The 2026 campaign concludes Saturday, Nov. 21, at the NCAA National Championships at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Ind., where Division I's best distance runners will compete on the national stage.
