Albany, N.Y. – The UMBC men's cross country squad delivered a fantastic performance, running to their second straight third-place finish at the 8k 2026 America East Conference Championships, hosted by UAlbany on Friday afternoon.
 
Junior Justin Banks blazed through the course and claimed First Team All-Conference honors for the first time in his career, surging to a brilliant meet runner-up finish in 24:13.7. The standout performance is the highest finish for a Retriever since Hassan Omar captured the crown in 2015. Binghamton's Robert Mayclim captured the race in 23:59.7.
 
Classmate Daniel Danilovitz continued his stellar form, powering to First Team honors for the second consecutive year with a strong sixth-place finish in 24:22.4.
 
Junior Kieran Mischke delivered a clutch performance, racing to an impressive eighth place in 24:26.4 and earning Second Team honors for the first time in his career.
 
John Saltysiak rose to the occasion, clocking a speedy 24:43.5 for a hard-fought top-20 finish.
 
Sophomore Ryan Hartranft (37^th, 25:13.8), senior Sofiane Compaorg (61^st, 25:52.2), and sophomore Grayson Ruffner (62^nd, 25:53.5) completed the scoring.

Team Scores

Place	Team	Score
1	UMass Lowell	49
2	Vermont	61
3	UMBC	69
4	Binghamton	72
5	Maine	154
6	New Hampshire	170
7	Bryant	188
8	NJIT	190
9	UAlbany	261