Cross country aims strong home start to 2026 season

Decatur, IL – The Millikin University men's and women's cross country teams are less than a week away from their first meet of the season.

Last season, the men's team finished fourth in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) Championship. Then-junior Brock Richards finished in the top 15 individually. The Big Blue advanced to the NCAA Division III Midwest Region championship, where they finished 13^th as a team.

The women's team placed sixth at the CCIW championship, with then-sophomore Brooklynn Sweikar earning a top-10 finish. The Big Blue went on to place 15^th at the NCAA Division III Midwest Regional championship, while Sweikar finished 43^rd individually.

Millikin will compete in four regular-season meets in 2026. The season begins at home with the H.W. Wright Classic at South Shores Park in Decatur on Friday, September 4. The Big Blue will then travel to the Gil Dodds Invitation in Wheaton, Illinois, on Saturday, September 19; the Brissman Lindeen Invitational in Rock Island, Illinois, on Saturday, October 3; and the Bradley Pink Classic in Peoria, Illinois, on Friday, October 16.

The men's team lost five runners to graduation this spring, including Julio Hernandez Lopez, who finished 22^nd at last year's CCIW Championship, and Emerson Thorlton, who placed 35^th. The women's team returns its entire roster from last season while adding five new freshmen to the team.

Head Coach Andrew Craycraft returns for his 12^th season with the Big Blue. During his tenure, Craycraft led the Big Blue to the program's first-ever CCIW Women's Cross Country Team Championship in 2023.

Craycraft will be joined by assistant coaches Carrol Whitehouse, who enters his fifth season; Hailey O'Malley, entering her fourth season; Ben Kuxmann, also entering his fourth season; and Noah Gabrys, who joins the staff for his first season.

"We're really excited to be able to start the year just down the street from the University with the H.W. Wright Classic, which is named after Class of 1959 graduate and former cross country runner Bill Wright," said Craycraft. "We're trying to develop this as more of a festival rather than a traditional meet, so we've invited Mt. Zion High School to co-host it with us. There'll be a boys and girls high school race before our college races and the plan is to have a middle school race join us in 2027."

The H.W. Wright Classic kicks off at South Shores Park on Friday, September 4 at 4 p.m. with the high school boys three-mile race. The high school girls race will follow before Millikin takes on Illinois Wesleyan in the men's three-mile and women's three-mile.