MIDDLETOWN, NY – Iona captured its NCAA-record 36th straight Metro Men’s Cross Country Championship on Saturday, Oct. 31, at Blue Sky Sports Complex, which hosted the championships for the first time. The Gaels have won the conference trophy every season dating back to 1991, and the program has claimed a conference-leading 41 total men’s titles since the inaugural championship in 1981.

Leading the Gaels was 2026 Men’s Most Outstanding Runner and individual champion Duncan Robinson, a graduate student in his third season at Iona, who won with a time of 24:55.3 on the 8k course. Robinson, who finished eighth a year ago, became Iona’s 26th consecutive individual champion dating back to 2002.

Iona swept the top seven spots for a perfect team score of 15 and placed nine runners in the top 15 to earn All-Championship Team honors. Robinson held off teammate and silver medalist Baptiste Cartieaux (24:56.4) by 1.1 seconds. Bronze medalist Oliver Boltz (24:56.4) and Billy Coogan in fourth place (24:56.8) finished close behind, putting four Gaels within 1.5 seconds of each other. Retch Baker placed fifth (25:05.2), Patrick Cantlon sixth (25:07.1) and Daniel Cova seventh (25:08.7). Flynn Jennings in ninth place (25:23.1) and Reiss Marshall in 14th place (25:38.5) completed Iona’s All-Championship Team selections.

Marist placed second with 70 points, followed by Siena (93) and Rider (129). Siena’s Colin Brunelle was the top non-Iona finisher in eighth place (25:10.5). Joining him on the All-Championship Team were Marist’s Jackson Borge (10th) and Isaac Gross (11th), Quinnipiac’s Alex Saldana (12th), Merrimack’s Aidan Dupill (13th) and Rider’s Matt McCarron (15th).

The 2026 Men’s Cross Country Rookie of the Year was Iona's Rhett Baker (22:05.2). It was a clean sweep for the Gaels on the All-Rookie Team as Baker was joined by Daniel Cova, Reiss Marshall, Sean McCauley and Noah Clancy.

NCAA regionals take place on Friday, Nov. 13 with the Northeast Regional held at Bethpage State Park (Bethpage, NY) and hosted by Hofstra. The 2026 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships will be held at LaVern Gibson Championship Course in Terre Haute, Indiana, on Saturday, Nov. 21, live on ESPNU. The 2026 NCAA cross country selection show will air on Saturday, Nov. 14 on NCAA.com.

Full results for the 2026 Metro Conference Men’s Cross Country Championship can be found here.