NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The 2026 Yale women's cross country schedule was released Monday, with the first competition scheduled for Friday, Sept. 4. The Bulldogs have four meets before the championship season starts, with the Ivy League Heptagonal Cross Country Championships set for Saturday, Oct. 31 in Attleboro, Mass.
The Bulldogs are entering their third season with
Courtney Jaworski as the team's Mark T. Young '68 Director of Cross Country and Track and Field.
Laura Broderick returns for her third season as assistant coach.
Rising senior
Daniella Henderson (Palo Alto, Calif.) is Yale's captain.
Here is a breakdown of the 2026 schedule:
- The team will open the season on Friday, Sept. 4 at the Friar Invitational. Held in Attleboro, Mass., this meet gives the Bulldogs a chance to compete at the site of the 2026 Ivy League Championships. It is hosted by Providence and last year featured four teams (Brown, BU, Dartmouth and Providence) competing in a 4K.
- The Bulldogs are in Hanover, N.H., on Saturday, Sept. 19, for the Maribel Sanchez Souther Invitational hosted by Dartmouth. Last year this meet featured four teams (Dartmouth, Northeastern, UMass and Vermont) competing in a 6K.
- On Friday, Oct. 2, the Bulldogs will head to Bethlehem, Pa., to compete in Lehigh's Paul Short Run. This meet often draws some of the best teams in the country. The Bulldogs placed 14th out of 41 teams in the Gold Race (6K) at this meet last year. Yale's top returning finisher is rising senior Hebe Chadwick (Delft, Netherlands), who was 49th overall.
- The Bulldogs will compete in the Princeton Fall Classic on Friday, Oct. 16. The event is in its third year; this will be Yale's second time competing in it.
- The Ivy League Heptagonal Championships take place Saturday, Oct. 31, in Attleboro, Mass. Four of Yale's top seven finishers at this meet last year are back, led by rising sophomore Phoebe Benun (Santa Monica, Calif.) (who was 16th overall). Yale's second-place finish last year was its best since finishing second in 2016. The Bulldogs have improved their point total at Heps year-to-year in each of the last three years.
- On Friday, Nov. 13, Yale's top seven will head to Farmingdale, N.Y., for the NCAA Northeast Regional. Benun is the Bulldogs' top returning finisher from last year's regional meet, having finished 26th. As a team, the Bulldogs placed fifth, their best finish since placing fifth in 2021.
- Based on the results of Regionals, the Bulldogs may have the opportunity to compete at the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind., on Saturday, Nov. 21. Here are the NCAA's selection criteria for teams and individuals:
- The top two teams at each of the nine regionals qualify for the national championships automatically, and 13 at-large teams will be selected by the NCAA Division I Cross Country Subcommittee.
- From each NCAA regional meet, the first four student-athletes to finish – among those not on a qualifying team – will qualify automatically for the NCAA Championships. The committee will then select two at-large individuals by identifying the highest non-qualifying individual finishers at the regional meets. All individual qualifiers must finish in the top 25 within their region.
