VERONA, Wis. – The UCLA cross country team officially opened its postseason on Friday, with the women’s team racing to an eighth-place finish and the men’s team placing tenth at the 2026 Big Ten Cross Country Championships.

The races were held at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course, just outside Madison, Wis.

The eighth-place result marked the UCLA women’s highest-ever finish at the Big Ten Championships after coming in 12th in both 2024 and 2025. It is the women’s best finish at a conference championship since placing seventh at the 2023 Pac-12 Championships.

The Bruin men have now finished in the top 10 at the league championships for the second year in a row.

Evie Marheineke was UCLA’s top performer on Friday, leading the women with a time of 20:33.7, good for 29th place overall. Olivia Foody was second for the Bruins, finishing 38th with a time of 20:42.2 - a jump of 12 spots and an improvement of 22 seconds from her performance at last year’s Big Ten Championships. The rest of the Bruins’ scoring contingent all finished relatively close together, placing between 53rd and 58th and all completing the race in under 21 minutes.

Henry Coughlan (23:59.4) paced the Bruin men, checking in with a sub-24-minute time in the 8K race to finish 41st. Jack Falkowski was the next UCLA runner behind him, placing 51st with a time of 24:06.3. Yosef Berhan was the third Bruin to cross the finish line at 24:22.0. All three recorded their highest-ever finishes at the Big Ten Championships.

UCLA is next in action at the NCAA West Regionals in Sacramento, Calif. on Friday, Nov. 13.

Women's Individual Results – 6K (UCLA – 8th, 232 points)
29 – Evie Marheineke, 20:33.7
38 – Olivia Foody, 20:42.2
53 – Annie Ivarsson, 20:54.7
54 – Ailish Hawkins, 20:55.9
58 – Gretchen Yakaitis, 20:59.2
87 – Kaho Cichon, 21:17.2
90 – Chloe Elbaz, 21:26.6
104 – Gwyneth Meyers, 21:38.4

Men's Individual Results – 8K (UCLA – 10th, 298 points)
41 – Henry Coughlan, 23:59.4
51 – Jack Falkowski, 24:06.3
68 – Yosef Berhan, 24:22.0
77 – Andreas Dybdahl, 24:35.2
83 – Drake Hoferer, 24:41.8
100 – Maximo Zavaleta, 25:05.0

Women's Team Results (6K, 18 teams)
1 – Oregon, 35 points
2 – Northwestern, 90 points
3 – Penn State, 92 points
4 – Washington, 115 points
5 – Minnesota, 127 points
8 – UCLA, 232 points

Men's Team Results (8K, 15 teams)
1 – Oregon, 23 points
2 – Wisconsin, 62 points
3 – Michigan State, 90 points
4 – Minnesota, 122 points
5 – Michigan, 133 points
10 – UCLA, 298 points 

2026 UCLA Cross Country Postseason Schedule
Nov. 13 – NCAA Regionals (Sacramento, Calif.)
Nov. 21 – NCAA Championships (Terra Haute, Ind.)