Uncg women place eighth at 2026 SoCon championships

Five Spartans earned top-60 places as the Blue & Gold finished eighth for a second consecutive season.

How it happened

Vicky Sosa was the top finisher for the Spartans, running a season-best time of 18:01.3 as the graduate student crossed the line 22^nd among 94 runners. It is the best SoCon finish of her career, her previous top finish having been 32^nd in 2023.

The trio of Olivia Arnold (18:52.7), Camryn Oates (18:52.9), and Hailey Meyers (18:54.1) placed 43^rd, 44^th, and 45^th, respectively, to give the Spartans four finishers among the top half of the field. Arnold joined Oates (30^th in 2025) as the second freshman in the last two seasons to place among the top two for the Spartans at the SoCon Championships.

Erica Rash was the fifth member of the Blue & Gold to cross the line, taking 60^th with a time of 19:23.0 to score for UNCG.

Joelle Tonne placed 73^rd in her first SoCon championship race with a time of 19:59.1. Fellow debutants Emily Graff (78^th, 20:34.1) and Sasha Helmer (85^th, 21:14.5) rounded out the lineup for the Blue & Gold.

Furman took home the team and individual titles, the Paladins scoring 19 points, followed by Mercer with 79. Newcomer Tennessee Tech placed third with 112 points, while ETSU (115) and Samford (130) completed the top five at the Tryon Equestrian Center.

Season recap

This concludes the season for UNCG's women after five meets this season. The Spartans opened the season placing fifth out of 15 squads at the Elon Friday Night Lights meet, before battling against a strong field at the adidas XC Challenge in Cary to place eighth among 16.

Meyers earned the individual win at the Spartan Classic on Oct. 2 and led UNCG to the team win, before the Spartans placed eighth out of 36 teams at the Upstate Invitational in the last regular-season meet of 2026.