Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s women’s cross country team’s reign on top of the Big West may come to an end after the conference added three new schools in 2026 — which will bring the championship event up to 12 teams, including top finishers in 2025 like UC Irvine.
Joining 2025 first and second place teams Cal Poly and UC Irvine will be California Baptist University Lancers (CBU), Utah Valley University Wolverines and Sacramento State Hornets.
The 2026 championship meet will feature 2023 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship qualifiers Lancers and Wolverines. Both schools are joining from the Western Athletic Conference where CBU took the team title in 2025.
The Cal Poly Mustangs were victorious in the 2025 Big West Championships with four top 10 finishers. Some promise emerged in the time since the championship with some of these finishers.
At the University of Washington (UW) Invitational/Mile City in Seattle, one of the premier distance events for some of the Big West schools during the track and field season, multiple athletes ran the mile on Jan. 31. Cal Poly’s Tatiana Cornejo finished first in the seeded mile event with a time of 4:38.53. Cornejo did not compete during Cal Poly’s cross country regular season in 2025 despite having done so in the past.
The seeded mile section at the UW Invitational featured finishes such as Washington State junior Zenah Cheptoo who finished second, No. 15 UW freshman Chloe Symon who placed third and University of Utah junior Katarzyna Nowakowska who ended in fourth.
Cal Poly junior Mackenzie Hack finished in 66th place at the invitational, and it is unknown if Hack will be one of the core members of Cal Poly’s team in 2026, despite competing on the team in 2025. The Mustangs are looking for their fifth cross country championship in a row this upcoming season.
UC Irvine junior Emma Hadley broke the school record in the mile with a time of 4:42.71 and placed eight at the UW Invitational; junior Kaia Schmidt also broke the previous school record in the same seeded mile event. They are both now seniors. Based on these record times, Hadley and Schmidt should be key contributors as the Anteaters attempt to close the gap against the Mustangs and stay competitive against the national powers CBU and Utah Valley.
Earlier in the season, UC Irvine finished in second place at the Big West Cross Country Championships. Schmidt placed fourth and sophomore Anna Soares was the final scorer for the Anteaters placing 26th.
Cal State Fullerton, a middle of the pack women’s cross country conference team, had a top 15 finisher in senior Isabella Smith. Smith finished 21st at the UW Invitational in the seeded mile, one spot above Schmidt. Cal State Fullerton will likely be rebuilding this year, as four of their scorers at the conference championship in 2025 were seniors.
UC Santa Barbara will be competing for the final time in the Big West this upcoming season. Their two top finishers in the Big West Conference Championship last season were freshmen Addie Oversmith and Jordin Lieberman — who finished 6th and 23th respectively.
These new additions and preliminary promise not only increase the upcoming season’s competitiveness, but also the possibility for a new conference champion in 2026 when the season championship is held in Riverside, Calif. on October 31.
Jack Fedor is a Sports Staff Writer. He can be reached at jfedor@uci.edu.
Edited by Melissa Hernandez.
