ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. - Led by an All-Conference first-team finish from first-year Brody Richardson, the Union College men's cross country team took sixth place out of nine squads at the 2026 Liberty League Championships, hosted by Bard College on Saturday afternoon at Montgomery Place.
 
The Garnet Chargers finished the afternoon with a team score of 158, 42 points behind Ithaca College in fifth and 43 points clear of Clarkson University in seventh. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute earned the team title with 18 points, and would have swept the top-five spots in the field if not for Richardson.
 
Richardson was the only first-year to finish in the top-12 on Saturday, cracking the school's all-time top-10 with a time of 25:11.5 that placed him third out of 115 runners. The finish is the highest ever by a Union men's cross country runner, besting the fifth-place finish of Ryan Russell '25 in 2024. After sitting 14th at the first checkpoint, he made his first move by the end of the opening mile to bump up into eighth place. The first-year continued to slowly creep his way up the leaderboard, sitting fourth with 800 meters to go before one last kick earned him third.
 
Sophomore Cole Lewek was the next Garnet Charger to cross the finish line, finishing in 34th place with a time of 26:56.6. First-year Ryan Harrow earned a spot in the top-50 as well for Union, traversing the course in 27:26.3 to place 46th overall.
 
First-year Alex Bonnette and senior Ben Pistiner rounded out Union's scoring five on the day, with Bonnette finishing 64th in 28:07.8 and Pistiner clocking in with a 28:10.7 to place 67th.
 
Union will be back in action on November 14 at the NCAA Mideast Regional Championships, held at Wickham Park in Hartford.

Complete Union Results:
Brody Richardson - 25:11.5 (3rd)
Cole Lewek - 26:56.6 (34th)
Ryan Harrow - 27:26.3 (46th)
Alex Bonnette - 28:07.8 (64th)
Ben Pistiner - 28:10.7 (67th)
Will Barry - 28:11.3 (68th)
Greg Keane - 28:52.9 (79th)
Michael Fitzmaurice - 29:13.8 (83rd)
Jackson Klehr - 29:19.6 (86th)
Odin Cloutier - 29:22.2 (89th)
Evan Caldwell - 29:47.1 (96th)
Matt Vivas - 30:19.8 (102nd)