Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
Iona Meet of Champions
Men's and Women's Cross Country Runs to Pair of Runner-Up Finishes at Iona's Meet of Champions
September 11, 2026 | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country
BRONX, N.Y. — Army West Point's cross country programs both turned in second-place team finishes at the Iona Br. Paddy Doyle Meet of Champions, held September 11 at the historic Van Cortlandt Park course. Binghamton took the top spot in both the men's and women's races, but the Black Knights held off the rest of the field in each to claim silver.
Women's 5000 Meters
Army finished second of six teams with 55 points, well back of champion Binghamton (25) but comfortably ahead of third-place Iona (72). Senior Kara Sinnott paced the Black Knights, taking fifth overall in 19:27.8 in her season debut. Freshman Katerina Prykhodko was right behind her in sixth (19:34.5), giving Army two scorers inside the top six. Freshman Morgan Hamilton (12th, 20:02.8) and fellow first-year Maxine Richards (15th, 20:11.1) rounded out the next pack, while senior Erika Nyberg (17th, 20:12.8) closed out the scoring five.
Men's 5 Mile
The men's squad also placed second, scoring 40 points behind Binghamton's 15 in a four-team field. Army's pack ran tight from the gun, placing five runners between 6th and 10th: freshman Tyler Blissett led the way in 27:02.3 (6th), followed by sophomore Alex Hahn-Vadstein (7th, 27:04.5), sophomore Jack Horrocks (8th, 27:11.6), freshman Judah Daffron (9th, 27:18.9), and sophomore Kevin Beltran (10th, 27:22.5). That kind of front-to-back closeness — Army's top five finished within 20 seconds of each other — is exactly the packed running low-point scoring rewards.
Coach's Corner – Head Coach Mike Smith
"We lined up our developmental team to compete today and got to measure their competitive efforts as we look toward building the championship roster for October and November. This course is extremely challenging and today the added element of warming temperatures made conditions challenging toward the end of the men's race and the start of the women's race. We got good competitive efforts from both of our teams in an unusually small race. The Van Cortlandt park course has been the same for over 100 years so what you run on it can be compared to what someone else ran many years ago. Our top runner on the men's side today was Tyler Blissett '30 who was running only the second 8K of his career. He struggled last week at Maine and made some corrections in the distribution of his race effort and got a better result today. He buried deep in the field early but was able to make up ground in the middle of the race and finished with a very strong last mile. His race today was a good indicator of his ability to solve problems. As he tolerates more training, he will make significant improvements in his race results. Some of the other young guys showed good competitive instincts that will payoff for them in later races.
When the women's race got underway at 10:45 a.m., the heat had started to come up and that made it a bit of a challenge for the athletes. Our women got out really well in the first mile with four of them up front with the leader. We had a plan to be active over the second mile of the race in the back hills. Some of our women did a good job of executing that part of the race plan and it showed in their placing at the end. Kara Sinnott '28 had probably the best cross country race of her life today on certainly the most challenging course that she has run as a collegiate. She has spent much of her career training and competing in the middle distance races. We decided to give her a shot at something a little longer today and she rose to the occasion. She was cautious early in the race and then moved up throughout finally getting up into the top five in the last 400 meters of the race. She showed some real maturity in how she handled things today and I think that will be helpful for her in her next competition. On the whole, we got what we wanted out of the race today and this marks the end of our pre-season calendar of races."
The Numbers
- Women: Binghamton 25, Army West Point 55, Iona 72, St. John's 96, Indiana (Pa.) 107, Lehman 167
- Men: Binghamton 15, Army West Point 40, Indiana (Pa.) 80, Lehman 115, Iona DNF
Army West Point Finishers — Women's 5000 Meters
- Kara Sinnott (SR) — 5th, 19:27.8
- Katerina Prykhodko (FR) — 6th, 19:34.5
- Morgan Hamilton (FR) — 12th, 20:02.8
- Maxine Richards (FR) — 15th, 20:11.1
- Erika Nyberg (SR) — 17th, 20:12.8
- Katherine Merritt (SR) — 18th, 20:22.6
Army West Point Finishers — Men's 5 Mile
- Tyler Blissett (FR) — 6th, 27:02.3
- Alex Hahn-Vadstein (SO) — 7th, 27:04.5
- Jack Horrocks (SO) — 8th, 27:11.6
- Judah Daffron (FR) — 9th, 27:18.9
- Kevin Beltran (SO) — 10th, 27:22.5
- Reid Finley (FR) — 12th, 28:08.8
- Ben Sydell (JR) — 13th, 28:17.4
- Chase Choudhry (FR) — 19th, 28:30.6
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 Superintedent 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.
