NORTHFIELD, Vt. - The Norwich University women's cross country team will return to Colby-Sawyer College on Sunday, Nov. 1, for the 2026 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Women's Cross Country Championship, entering the postseason with one of the conference's top rookies and an increasingly compact scoring pack.

The women's six-kilometer championship race is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. at the Morris Trail in New London, N.H., with the men's 8K following at 1:30 p.m.

Norwich was selected third in the GNAC pre-championship coaches' poll with 93 points.  Defending champion Emmanuel College received eight first-place votes and 116 points to claim the top spot, followed closely by Saint Joseph's College of Maine with three first-place selections and 111 points.  Host Colby-Sawyer College sits just behind Norwich in fourth with 90 points, while Simmons University rounds out the top five with 70.

The Cadets enter Sunday's championship looking to climb from a fourth-place finish in 2025, when Norwich and Saint Joseph's each totaled 68 points before the Monks claimed third place through the conference tiebreaker.  Emmanuel won last year's title with 55 points, narrowly ahead of Colby-Sawyer's 59.

Freshman Ava Dillon (Erie, Colo.) has established herself at the front of the Norwich lineup throughout her first collegiate season, leading the Cadets in all five regular-season meets while collecting GNAC Rookie of the Week honors three consecutive times.

Dillon closed the regular season with an 11th-place performance at Western New England University's Golden Bear Invitational, completing the 6K in 24:14.00 and helping Norwich finish fifth among 18 scoring teams.

Her run of conference recognition began on the same Morris Trail course Norwich will race Sunday.

At the Oct. 4 Colby-Sawyer Maslan Cross Country Invitational & GNAC Preview, Dillon finished fourth overall in 25:49.7 while crossing as the top freshman in the 53-runner field.  She remained among the leaders throughout the race and secured the first top-five finish of her collegiate career.

Five days later, Dillon placed 14th among 136 runners at the Hopkinton Cross Country Festival before finishing 11th at Western New England to extend her Rookie of the Week streak to three.

Behind Dillon, Norwich has developed one of its tightest scoring groups in recent weeks.

Sophomore Kaitlyn Moore (Ballston Lake, N.Y.) finished second for the Cadets at Western New England, placing 26th overall in 25:00.78.  Freshman Anna Barlow (Kingston, N.H.) followed in 29th at 25:13.88, sophomore Ally Teitsch (Malta, N.Y.) took 33rd in 25:33.08, and junior Delaney Whitmarsh (North Yarmouth, Maine) completed Norwich's scoring five in 37th at 25:41.15.

Only 40.37 seconds separated Moore through Whitmarsh across Norwich's second through fifth scoring positions.

Freshman Haley Mitchell (APO, Armed Forces Pacific) and sophomore Heidi Edwards (Crestview, Fla.) rounded out Norwich's top seven in the regular-season finale, placing 44th and 51st, respectively.

The Cadets have already raced the championship course once this fall, placing fourth at the GNAC Preview with 93 points.  Norwich finished only one point behind Colby-Sawyer for third, while Emmanuel won with 35 points and Saint Joseph's finished second with 39.

Dillon's fourth-place finish led the Cadets that afternoon, with Teitsch taking 12th, Barlow placing 15th, and freshman Isabella Rafter (Glastonbury, Conn.) finishing 22nd.

Norwich's pack tightened considerably five days later at Hopkinton.  Mitchell, Whitmarsh, Moore, Teitsch, and Barlow finished within just 15.9 seconds of one another behind Dillon, giving the Cadets five closely grouped runners across their second through sixth positions.

The trend continued in the regular-season finale, where Norwich placed all five scorers among the first 40 finishers and totaled 136 points, finishing only nine behind host Western New England for fourth.

"The women's and men's teams competed well today both placing fifth overall out of twenty-some teams," Head Coach Michael McGrane said following the Golden Bear Invitational.  "Today was a final tune-up race before the GNAC XC Championships in just two weeks.  The teams have developed well with a pair of consistent top performers by Ava and Leo followed by good depth and pack running between our 2nd through 7th runners.  We're looking better each week and looking forward to the chance to place high at the GNAC's."

Norwich will be seeking the fourth GNAC women's cross country championship in program history.  The Cadets previously captured conference crowns in 2014, 2016, and 2017, with Norwich runners Chapel Guarnieri and Haddie Lary also earning GNAC Runner of the Year honors during that stretch.

Recent Norwich history has also included individual success at the championship.  India Jones was named GNAC Runner of the Year in 2021, while the Cadets placed three runners on the All-Conference Second Team last fall in Whitmarsh, Teitsch, and Edwards.

The top overall finisher Sunday will earn GNAC Runner of the Year recognition, with the highest-finishing first-year runner receiving GNAC Rookie of the Year honors.  All-Conference recognition will also be determined by individual placement.

The women's 6K is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. at Colby-Sawyer's Morris Trail.