PRESCOTT, Wis. – The Carleton College men's cross country team started the 2026 season with a team victory at the River Town Invitational hosted by the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.
 
The Knights posted a team score of 33 to edge UW-River Falls (42 points) and NCAA Division II program Minnesota-Duluth (69) atop the six-team field.
 
"The guys ran really smart in hot and humid conditions," said Carleton head coach Dave Ricks.
 
"This is a new era in Carleton cross country with more of a team-oriented philosophy. Over the past 10 years. we have been led by a few superstars year in and year out. This year's team is different with guys working together to help each other. We don't have the same star power which we depended on. We have a group of hardworking guys who had a good summer of preparation. It will be fun to see these guys develop."
 
Despite race-time temperatures in the mid-80s and having no one in the otp-10 early in the race, Carleton put six runners in the top 13 by the finish line.
 
Junior Travis Brown ran a smart race, finished second overall with a time of 26:53.7, and helped rookie Nik Abrahamsom (27:10.6) to a fourth-place result. Newcomer Malcolm Richardson took seventh 27:19.9, while Gus Schafer finished eighth at 27:31.2.
 
Sophomores Martin Moshfeghi and Dashiell Coyer crossed the finish line at 28:09.9 and 28:17.6, respectively, to place 12th and 13th.
 
Rookie Tai Brown took 21st place at 29:09.9, while Kyle Thompson (30:08.05) and Jacob Hopkins (30:13.3) were 31st and 33rd, respectively.
 
This was the Knights' first team victory since sitting atop the standings at the Hamline Invitational on Sept. 9, 2022.
 
Up Next for the Knights
The Carleton men will race at the St. Olaf Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 19.