By: Lucas Gannon, Fall '26 Intern

The New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) is set to host the 2026 Boys and Girls Cross Country State Championships, presented by Taco Bell, on November 14 at Queensbury High School (Section 2). This is the third time that Queensbury has hosted this event since 2005 and will host it through 2029.
 
The event will see four classes of competition on both the boys and girls sides with nearly 1,200 total student-athletes participating. Eight races will be conducted starting at 9:30 am with the Boys Class C race. Awards will follow each race at the high school gymnasium. Awards for the top 20 individual place finishers and the top three teams will be presented for each race.
 
“The NYSPHSAA and Section 2 would like to welcome all athletes, coaches, families, and spectators to the State Cross Country Championships,” said Marbry Gansle, NYSPHSAA Girls Cross Country Coordinator. “Section 2 and Queensbury School District are proud to host this outstanding event and wish all runners the very best of luck. May today be filled with great competition, sportsmanship, and awesome performances.”

The Queensbury course, which resides entirely on the school’s campus, consists of challenging hills, open fields, and wooded trails. Wooded trails are solid, hills are covered in stone dust, and the open fields are grass. A course map and walkthrough can be found on the NYSPHSAA website under the cross-country tab.
 
In 2025, the boys saw North Rockland (Section I), Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake (Section 2), East Aurora (Section VI), and Port Jefferson (Section XI) take home team state championships. Individual boys champions from last year included Claudel Cherry from North Rockland (Section I), Blake Sealy from Manhasset (Section VIII), Trent Thibault from Lansing (Section IV), and Ibrahim Ford from Arkport-Canaseraga-AA (Section V).

Last year, the girls side saw Shenendehowa (Section 2), John Jay-Cross River (Section I), Bronxville (Section I), and Tri-Valley (Section IX) win the team state championship titles. Individual winners for the girls included Leyla Bhusri from Shenendehowa, Sloan Wasserman from John Jay Cross River, Mia Horgan from Bronxville, and Anna Furman from Tri-Valley.

This year, East Aurora returns to the state meet and aims to win its fourth straight Class C team title following a dominant team performance at the Section VI Championships. East Aurora runners placed 1-6 in the sectional tournament, with junior Max Fraser leading the charge as the Section VI individual champion, narrowly beating out teammate junior Jonah Seybolt for the individual crown. North Rockland returns to the state meet in Class A competition after sweeping both the Team and Individual Championships in the Section I tournament. North Rockland will deploy a highly talented group of runners at the state championship which includes Section I individual champion junior Cooper Cataldi. Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake seeks it’s ninth Class B state title since 2016, after winning the program’s whopping 26^th Section 2 team title. They turned in another excellent performance, producing a 1-2 finish from senior Ethan Owen and sophomore Jackson Majewski in this year’s Section 2 championship. Port Jefferson hopes to three-peat in Class D competition, after seniors Sean Grossman and Christian Paterno finished 1-2 at the Section XI championship. 

Tri-Valley seeks to repeat as Class D Girls state champions for the first time since 1994, after its runners placed in six of the top seven positions in the Section IX Cross Country Championship in route to back-to-back Section IX titles. Anna Furman, 2024 and 2025 state champion and Tri-Valley senior took home her fifth consecutive Section IX individual title dating back to her eighth-grade year and looks to add more hardware to her packed resume at the state tournament. John Jay-Cross River returns to states with junior Mia Haimelin leading the team following her impressive sectional performance which saw her win her first individual sectional title. Also from Section I, Bronxville returns to the Class B state race and looks to make noise led by sophomore Mia Horgan, who won her second straight individual sectional title. Shenendehowa looks to have another strong performance at the state meet after winning the Class A state title in 2025. The team will deploy its top two runners at the state meet, reigning Section 2 individual champion junior Riley Lynch and sophomore Edith Schanz, who finished third individually at sectionals.
 
Individual tickets are only available online and can be purchased at GoFan. Prices are $13.60 per person (not by vehicle) which covers the entire day of competition. The event will be streamed on the NFHS Network via MileSplit, the official broadcasting partner of the NYSPHSAA State Championships. For a detailed schedule of events, visit the cross-country landing page on nysphsaa.org.