Army West Point Athletics
Cross Country's Cheney Earns Second Straight Patriot League Weekly Honor
October 06, 2026 | Women's Cross Country
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Army West Point senior Mikayla Cheney has been named the Patriot League Women's Cross Country Runner of the Week, the league announced Tuesday.
Cheney led the Black Knights at the Paul Short Run presented by ASICS on Friday at Lehigh's Goodman Campus Cross Country Course, placing 8th overall in the Women's College Gold 6K with a time of 20:45.0. She was the top Patriot League finisher in the race and Army's first runner across the line.
Army finished 5th out of 37 teams with 193 points, the best finish in program history at the Paul Short Run. The Black Knights beat every Patriot League team in the field (Bucknell, Lehigh, Colgate and Navy) and every Big Ten team (Ohio State, Rutgers and Maryland). They also finished ahead of ACC member Pittsburgh and LSU, which they beat by 32 points.
The race was run in extreme heat that led officials to cancel the final six races of the day. Army's race was the last one contested, and 26 women did not finish.
"Mikayla is talented and works very hard, but her biggest strength is her ability to execute in competition," said head coach Milke Smith. "She has very good recognition of her sensory data in-race. She can measure effort, shift gears, control the pace, and attack on command. She has great command in competition, and our team feeds off of her example."
Cheney, a native of New Castle, Colo., is coming off a spring track season in which she set a Service Academy record in the 1500 meters with a time of 4:11.25. She is the Patriot League's Women's Runner of the Week for the second straight week.
About Army West Point Cross Country
The Army West Point cross country programs compete in the Patriot League. For more information, visit GoArmyWestPoint.com and follow @ArmyWP_TrackXC on Instagram and X.
Media Contact
Contact Toni Bianco, Army West Point Assistant Director of Athletic Communications, for all media inquiries.
tonibianco518@gmail.com | (516) 941-6310
Army West Point Athletic Association, Inc. (AWPAA)
AWPAA is an IRS code 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation established to execute the United States Military Academy's intercollegiate athletics program. AWPAA is led by a board of directors that provides guidance to the director of athletics, who serves as the primary advisor to the USMA Superintendent and the USMA leadership on all NCAA operations. The AWPAA mission is to recruit, educate, train and inspire leaders of character who are committed to the Army values through an extraordinary Division I athletic experience.
