D3 XC Interregional Weekend
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D3 is in for one last firecracker of a weekend before teams start to turn their attention to the postseason, with conference weekend just two weekends away. Most of the country will again be split between two major meets: Augustana and Connecticut College. We hope that this time everyone gets a chance to race–for the good of the athletes and for selfish ranking reasons (of course). Many teams who missed Paul Short due to its weather cancellation have not raced in a month and are likely primed to unleash their fitness and shake up the rankings.
Headliners at Augustana include #3 Wartburg versus #5 UWL versus #6 UWSP on the men’s side and #3 UChicago versus #4 UWL on the women’s side. On the East Coast, #9 MIT and #12 Amherst will face off in the Conn College men’s race, while #2 Williams will look to continue their undefeated season against #6 Middlebury and #7 Tufts.
46 out of 64 ranked teams will line up at these two meets, so get your browsers ready.
Augustana Interregional Invitational
Men’s Race
Wartburg jumped from #5 to #3 after their impressive victory over Johns Hopkins two weeks ago at Pre-Nats. Their fearless leader Isaiah Hammerand captured the individual crown and will be the favorite to win at Augustana. Ayden Buchanan stepped up as a valuable top-10 second scorer, and the Knights will need to keep a tight pack from #2 to #3 and #4 to #5 to replicate success this weekend. Having trailed UWL on the podium two years in a row at nationals, this team will have some extra fire to perform against the North-region Eagles, who come in ranked #5.
UWL comes off of a third place finish at Pre-Nats behind Hopkins and will look to redeem themselves in a more personal battle with Wartburg in Johns Hopkins’s absence. Though UWL continues to strive toward developing the frontrunners they had on their team last year, they still have a gap to close on Hammerand. Their strength is in their 3-5 pack, which came in within three seconds of one another in the last race. Keeping this trio as close as possible to frontrunners Owen Clark and Will Aurit will be key.
The criminally underranked UWSP Pointers come into this race as a dark horse at #6. They have the strongest duo of any other team entered in Mateo Alvarado Venegas and Logan Murphy, who went 2-3 at Pre-Nats, and with a tighter margin from Murphy to the rest of their scoring team, they have the pieces to be dangerous.
Two more top-10 teams will attempt to shake up the results in #8 WashU, who finished sixth at Pre-Nats, and #10 UChicago, who opted for Joe Piane on Pre-Nats weekend, posting a 57-second split. Illinois suburban rivals North Central come into the meet ranked #11 after a strong showing at Louisville, and will look to take down city slickers UChicago and WashU, who they lost to at McNichols earlier in the year.
North Central’s BJ Sorg will look to lead the Cardinals after an impressive sixth place finish amidst big-school talent in Louisville and joins Hammerand and Alvarado Venegas and Murphy as an individual contender.
Behind North Central, several teams will look to justify their spot at the national meet by beating teams in outside regions. Great Lakes schools #25 Hope, #26 JCU, and #31 Trine will face off against Midwest team #22 Central College, South team #28 Emory, and North team #32 UWW.
Unranked Calvin, MSOE, Loras, UW-Stout, and Colorado College will look to earn enough wins to give themselves a chance at nationals.
Augie Men:
Women’s Race
Midwest powerhouses will collide this weekend, and it's a battle you won’t want to miss. #3 UChicago and #4 UWL will face off for the first time this year, and both come into the weekend with lots of momentum. The UWL Eagles have been slowly building momentum over the course of the season, the pinnacle of which so far was their runner-up finish at Pre-Nats two weekends ago. They took down then #3 Johns Hopkins and also captured the win in the open race, showcasing their impressive depth. With just 14 seconds elapsing from their first to fifth runners, pack running is this team’s strength.
UChicago also comes into this race after a runner-up finish, but theirs was to D1 program Toledo at Notre Dame. Led by Katja Dunayevich and Alexandra Lohse, this team has a lot of similarities to La Crosse: a tight pack of just 33 seconds and impressive depth, showcased by their sweep of 16 of the top 20 places at Gil Dodds.The Maroons may have a secret weapon that the Eagles don’t, however, and it’s Dunayevich. The now-sophomore was the fourth highest finishing freshman at nationals last year and is undefeated against D3 runners so far this season. Can a low-stick finish from Dunayevich seal the deal for Chicago?
The #9 WashU Bears come in as a dark horse following a fifth place finish at Pre-Nats. They have a great low-stick in 16th place All-American Lucinda Laughlin, and the key to their success will be bringing their pack closer to her lead. #12 Emory gets a much needed opportunity to showcase their strength after missing Paul Short, and #14 Hope gets to carry in momentum from an eighth place finish at Pre-Nats.
Look for Great Lakes teams #20 JCU and #21 Calvin to jockey for Great Lakes bragging rights and test the waters against cross-regional rivals #29 Wartburg from the Midwest and #30 Colorado College from the West.
In the pursuit for the individual crown, watch for Dunayevich to continue her winning streak in 2026. Her biggest challengers will be Colorado College’s Charlie Flint, Ripon’s Joley Berger, and WashU’s Laughlin, who placed third, sixth, and seventh, respectively, at Pre-Nats. UWSP’s Faith Wehrman, UChicago’s Lohse, Macalester’s Ingrid Norquist, Rose-Hulman’s Jocelyn Onstot, and Loras’s Keelee Leitzen are other names to watch in the lead pack in what may end up looking like a Pre-Nats race Part Two.
Augie Women
Connecticut College Invitational
Men’s Race
Conn College will feature most of the East Coast’s top D3 talent with a tight battle among middle-ranked teams, including every ranked team from #16 Tufts to #21 Middlebury. The favorites coming into the weekend are #9 MIT, who finished seventh behind WashU at Pre-Nats. They will face steep competition from #12 Amherst, who unfortunately did not get the opportunity to race at Paul Short. With a month of pure training under their belts, the Mammoths will be rearing to go.
Their tusked, large-synonym rivals the Tufts Jumbos come in with the next best chance at an upset after a top-10 finish at Pre-Nats. Led by Jonah Reisner, a contender for the individual title after a fourth place finish at Pre-Nats, the Jumbos will need to tighten their pack to have a shot at a top 2 finish. They have a secret weapon in Harris Gulbransen, who was 35th at nationals last year. #17 Williams trailed Tufts by 33 points at Pre-Nats and will get another crack at them this weekend.
The ranked stretch from WPI to Bates will be one of the more compelling competitions of the weekend. None of these teams raced two weeks ago, mostly because of the cancellation of Paul Short (WPI had a bye week). Again, selfishly, these results will be invaluable to the D3 Glory Days post-interregional rankings.
From the South region, Lynchburg will head north to secure their case, while North region St. Olaf will head east to try to make it back into the rankings.
In the individual race, watch for Tufts’s Reisner, Wesleyan’s Dylan Cote, WPI’s Everett Mosher, and Amherst’s Harrison Dow. The latter three will rematch from the Cardinal Invitational at Wesleyan just under a month ago, where Cote emerged victorious.
Conn Men
Women’s Race
#2 Williams is back in action after a sweeping victory in Minnesota on Pre-Nats weekend. Led by freshman Sophie Capozzi, who finished runner-up to Vassar’s Haley Schoenegge at Pre-Nats, the Ephs have a strong lead pack with just 42 seconds separating their first through fourth runners. They have room to bring a fifth runner closer to the pack, but even with replicable results from Pre-Nats, this team is the overwhelming favorite.
#6 Middlebury is the next threat, but they will face tough competition from #7 Tufts. Both teams come in with a strong top three, but no team has a stronger returner than 2025 national champion Audrey MacLean of Middlebury. The Panthers did not race two weeks ago, but come into the weekend with ammunition from Maribel Sanchez one month ago. Between MacLean, #3 freshman at nationals last year Claire Palmer, and Annelise Jensen, who came into the cross country season with big improvement following a ninth place finish in the indoor DMR, they have a stronger top three than Tufts on paper. Tufts, however, comes off of a fourth place finish at Pre-Nats in which they trailed Johns Hopkins by 21 points and will look to ride this victory to an interregional weekend upset.
The team from #10 MIT will likely float between these top three teams and the next stretch of middle-ranked teams. Just 27 points behind Tufts at Pre-Nats, the Engineers could post a major upset this weekend. #16 Wesleyan and #17 Amherst come into the weekend fresh and ready to shake up results, while Washington and Lee will likely be looking for some redemption after a somewhat disappointing team finish at Richmond on Pre-Nats weekend. Fourth place All-American Olivia Warr did not finish in Richmond, so assuming she is healthy and ready to go, look for Warr to contend for the individual title and lead the Generals to a top finish.
#19 Vassar, #24 Conn College, #26 Bates, and #27 Bowdoin will represent the Northeast and Mideast regions fighting for improved rankings and a dose of postseason confidence this weekend, while travelers #25 Ohio Wesleyan of the Great Lakes and #31 St. Olaf of the North hope to translate a big trip to nationals security. Unranked Brandeis and Coast Guard will do the same.
The individual race could look like a nationals rematch between Vassar’s Schoenegge and Middlebury’s MacLean, but this year, Schoenegge comes in as the favorite. Undefeated across five races this year, no one has been able to catch the Vassar mile champ. MacLean missed last Spring abroad and has had a slower start to the season than last year, but comes in with lots of experience to match Schoenegge’s. It is possible that this race will be a battle to the very end. W&L’s Warr will likely lurk in the lead pack as well, ready to strike and cement herself in this race’s top two.
Watch also for Conn College duo April Schilling and Kiera Tallas, who were fourth and twelfth, respectively, at Pre-Nats and take to their home course this weekend.
Conn Women
A smaller meet but packing a big punch will be the Mike Woods Invitational. SUNY G (#8 on the women’s side and #1 on the men’s side) and RPI (#7 on the men’s side), NYU (#1 Women and #2 Men), Amherst Men (#12), and Carnegie Mellon (#13 on both sides) will battle it out. We finally get to see NYU on display and we’ll be treated to a battle between #1 and #2 Men’s teams.
Johns Hopkins (#5 on the women’s side and #4 on the men’s side) is set to go to Aubrey Shenk at Gettysburg, Out West, Pomona-Pitzer (#15 on both sides) and CMS (#11 on the women’s side and #29 on the men’s side) will be at UCR Riverside.
