Michigan State University Athletics
Michigan State University
Big Ten Championships
10/29/2026 3:42:00 PM | Cross Country
Big Ten Cross Country Championships
Date: Friday, Oct. 30
Time: Women's 6K – 11:35 a.m. ET | Men's 8K – 12:35 p.m. ET
Location: Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course (Verona, Wis.)
Coverage: Live broadcast on Big Ten Network (coverage starts at 11:30 a.m. ET)
Live Results
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Postseason racing officially begins on Friday, Oct. 30, as the Michigan State men's and women's cross country programs travel to Verona, Wisconsin, for the 2026 Big Ten Cross Country Championships.
Hosted by the University of Wisconsin at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course, the championship meet features an 18-team expanded conference field battling for team and individual crowns.
Championship action gets underway Friday morning with the women's 6K race at 11:35 a.m. ET, followed by the men's 8K race at 12:35 p.m. ET. Both races will be televised live nationally on Big Ten Network, with broadcast coverage beginning at 11:30 a.m. ET.
THE FIELD: EXPANDED BIG TEN CONTENDERS
The 2026 championship stage brings together one of the deepest conference lineups in the country, showcasing 10 Big Ten programs ranked inside the national top 30. Defending triple-crown champion Oregon enters as the conference standard on both sides, with the Duck men ranked No. 6 and the women holding the Big Ten's top spot at No. 15. They headline a loaded field that includes men's contenders host Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Washington, while the No. 22-ranked Spartan men arrive in Madison firmly in the hunt for the team podium. On the women's side, ranked contenders Washington, Northwestern, Minnesota, and Penn State join Oregon at the front of the pack, setting up high-stakes team battles across both divisions.
COURSE FAMILIARITY: RETURNING TO THE ZIMMER COURSE
The Spartans bring significant tactical advantage and course familiarity into Friday's championship, having already tested the layout just three weeks ago at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational on Oct. 9. Navigating the rolling terrain, rhythm sections, and testing finishing straightaway against premier national competition earlier this month provides Michigan State with firsthand knowledge of the footing, tangents, and pacing required to execute when conference hardware is on the line. That experience was highlighted by standout performances across the board, anchored by sophomore Thomas Westphal's 33rd-place showing in the men's championship 8K—finishing as the top runner from any Big Ten program—alongside strong scoring runs from seniors Moses Osterink, Riley Hough, Michael Hegarty, and freshman Beckett Crooks. On the women's side, freshman Klaire Eighner paced the Green and White in the championship 6K with a season-best effort, while senior Taylor Pangburn, sophomore Allie Nowak, and B-race leader senior Paige Marchant each gained vital championship-distance repetitions on the very same terrain they will tackle this Friday.
SPARTANS TO WATCH: PROVEN CHAMPIONSHIP PERFORMERS
Michigan State's men enter the 8K paced by a battle-tested core that keyed the Spartans' runner-up team finish at last year's conference championships. Hough sets the bar after a runner-up individual finish at the 2025 Big Ten Championships in 23:18.5, followed closely by Westphal, who captured third place overall to earn Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors. Hegarty delivered an All-Big Ten Second Team performance in 16th place (23:49.1), while junior Parker Lambers placed 26th overall in 24:01.6 and Osterink crossed 37th in 24:16.4. Junior Jasper Cane rounds out that experienced championship pack after finishing 48th (24:24.8) at last fall's conference meet.
That proven Big Ten veteran group returns to Verona with high-level course familiarity after excelling at the Zimmer Course during the Nuttycombe Invitational earlier this month, where Westphal posted the top finish of any Big Ten competitor in the championship race and Lambers paced the Spartans in the open B race with a 19th-place showing.
On the women's side, Pangburn headlines the Spartan contingent after emerging as MSU's top finisher at both the Spartan Invitational and the John McNichols Invitational this fall, consistently battling at the front of the pack. She is backed by an experienced returning core from last year's conference meet: Marchant, who crossed in 31st place (20:48.8); Pangburn, who followed in 38th (20:55.1); senior Allison Cornell, who placed 52nd (21:05.4); and graduate student Chloe Wall, who rounded out the veteran postseason group in 70th (21:28.6).
They are joined by Eighner, who stepped up as the Spartans' top runner in their previous trip across the Zimmer Course, as well as sophomore scorers Nowak and Maya Ledesma to form a tested, pack-oriented lineup ready to challenge the conference elite over 6,000 meters.
UP NEXT
Following the Big Ten Championships, Michigan State returns home to East Lansing to host the 2026 NCAA Great Lakes Regional on Friday, Nov. 13, at Forest Akers East Golf Course.
