Elon’s cross country teams enter the 2026 season with defined goals and an emphasis on culture, according to head coach Mark Rinker.
Women’s team defends conference championship
The Elon women’s cross country team has already shown it can handle the pressure of a championship season. Now, the Phoenix want to prove they can do it again.
Elon enters the 2026 season as the defending Coastal Athletic Association champion, bringing back much of the group that helped capture the conference title last fall.
But head coach Mark Rinker does not want the team to become consumed by the pressure of defending it. Instead, he wants the Phoenix to keep doing what got them there in the first place.
“We want to have fun, we want to train really hard, we want to win,” Rinker said.
That balance has become central to the team’s identity.
Rinker said the coaching staff encourages the runners to be comfortable being themselves, whether they are at practice or preparing for the biggest race of the season.
This approach was on full display at last year’s CAA Championships.
While other teams appeared serious and focused before the race, Elon’s runners were dancing to music at the starting line. Rinker said that if an outsider hadn’t seen the end result, they probably wouldn’t have thought the team was very serious.
Then the race started.
The Phoenix moved to the front, controlled the race and ultimately won the conference championship. For Rinker, that moment captured what the program has tried to build. The team can take its training seriously without taking itself too seriously.
That culture remains alongside a roster with plenty of experience.
Graduate Katie Blount returns to the group after an outstanding 2025 season, ultimately winning CAA Women’s Cross Country Runner Of The Year.
Rinker said Blount’s success showed younger runners that hard work and dedication could translate into consistently strong performances.
“She just brings a confidence to everybody,” Rinker said. “Especially for developing younger athletes. They see that through the program, if you come, you work really hard, and you're dedicated to what you do, you can continually get better and improve.”
Blount said the goals remain the same.
“The goals are just to kind of stay focused on improvement,” Blount said. “Like not getting caught up in all of the different little things that you can worry about in running.”
Around her, Elon returns several runners who took strides last season.
Seniors Abby Beville and Hannah Weber went from finishing 11th and 12th at the conference meet the year before to finishing third and fourth last season. Both continued their development on the track, with Beville becoming a conference champion in the mile during track season.
Fellow senior Quinn Smith also made a major jump.
After finishing in the 50s at the CAA Championships previously, she moved up to 15th last season and earned All-CAA honors. Rinker said Smith is now in even better shape than she was at the same point last year, excited about her potential for the year.
That returning core gives Elon a strong foundation as it attempts to defend its conference title.
The Phoenix will also add new runners who could make an immediate impact.
Rinker singled out international freshmen Brynne Gordon of New Zealand and Millie Gold of Wales as two newcomers to watch, saying both could surprise people and push into Elon’s top seven.
Gordon was recently named CAA co-runner of the week after finishing runner-up in the women's 5K at the Queens City Invite. Her time of 17:23.8 was the eighth-fastest in Elon history.
With that combination of experience and new talent, the expectations remain high.
“It’s a really long season, so trying not to get burnt out, staying strong and obviously the team wants to come back and win another CAA championship,” Beville said.
But the team rarely talks about winning as its primary focus. Instead, the Phoenix emphasize showing up every day, working hard and enjoying the process.
Rinker said the goal is to create an environment where athletes are excited to come to practice and enjoy being part of the team — saying if Elon can maintain that identity while continuing to develop its runners, another championship could be within reach.
But for the defending champions, the formula has not changed: have fun, work hard and let the results follow.
Men’s team gains experience for 2026
Graduate Evan Taylor (left) and sophomore Luke Chisum (right) pace each other at the Elon Opener on Sept, 4. Taylor finished 10th and Chisum finished 11th.
The Elon men’s cross country team is already seeing the difference a year can make.
As the Phoenix enter the 2026 season, several of the young runners who gained their first taste of collegiate competition last fall have returned stronger, faster and more experienced.
Head coach Mark Rinker said the improvement was noticeable almost immediately when the team returned to practice.
“We have a deeper group of guys that's better at running faster in workouts than they were same time last year,” Rinker said.
That development has given Elon confidence as it looks to improve on last season’s seventh-place finish at the Coastal Athletic Association Championships.
The Phoenix entered last season hoping to move up from a fifth-place finish in 2024, but injuries and the inexperience of a young roster ultimately kept the team from reaching that goal.
This year, Rinker said he believes that experience can become an advantage.
Juan Pablo Castillo-Zima, Franklin Wimbish, Luke Chisum and Max Bixler all contributed as freshmen last season and are now entering their second year with a better understanding of what it takes to compete at the college level.
The transition from high school to college running can be difficult, Rinker said, but the group made significant strides throughout the spring. Chisum was one of the best examples.
He qualified for the U.S. U20 Championships in the steeplechase over the summer, an accomplishment Rinker called a “massive” moment for the program.
Now, Chisum is entering the season with the confidence that comes from that experience while also taking on a larger leadership role as one of Elon’s captains.
He will have a veteran teammate to learn from in graduate student Evan Taylor.
Taylor is returning for a fifth year after missing the majority of last season with injury, giving a young Phoenix team an experienced runner at the front of the roster. But Rinker said Taylor’s biggest value may not show up on a results sheet.
He described Taylor as calm and steady, someone the younger runners trust and look up to. Taylor said he can’t wait to work with the youth on the team.
“I’m super excited,” Taylor said. “We have a really young team — six freshmen and six sophomores. But a lot of super talented guys. So I think we can be really good this year and in the years to come. I’m pumped.”
Elon is getting back two more runners from injury as well.
Juniors Josh Driscoll and Jack Kane are both healthy and training well, according to Rinker, providing additional depth to a group that struggled to stay healthy last year.
The Phoenix will also rely on a freshman class that Rinker believes can make an impact quickly.
Freshmen Trey Kelly, Gavin Hassan and Kevin Steinman are among the newcomers expected to contribute early. Rinker hopes they’ll provide additional depth as they develop.
For all the individual improvement, though, the team has one clear benchmark for the season. Rinker wants Elon back in the CAA’s top five.
The goal is a step forward from last season, but getting there will require the Phoenix’s young runners to turn their development into consistent performances throughout the fall.
For now, Rinker said the signs are encouraging.
The runners are stronger. The team is deeper. And Taylor’s return gives a young group an experienced voice to follow.