Annapolis, Md. – Junior
Justin Banks charged to a thrilling ninth-place finish out of 47 competitors, powering the UMBC men's cross country team at the 2026 Cantello Invitational, hosted Saturday at the U.S. Naval Academy.
UMBC battled to a strong third-place finish with 66 points, placing three Retrievers in the top 20. Navy dominated the 6K, while UMBC outpaced local rival Loyola.
Banks blazed to a personal-best 24:53.4, shattering his previous mark from last season's race by well over a minute.
Senior
John Saltysiak surged to 12th with a career-best 25:07.0, followed closely by junior
Daniel Danilovitz (17
th, 25:25.9) and sophomore
Kieran White (18
th, 25:31.0) as UMBC's top-20 standouts.
Junior
Kieran Mischke (21
st, 25:38.6), sophomore
Ryan Hartranft (25
th, 25:52.6), and sophomore
Rayyan Dheini (30
th, 26:20.5) capped off the Retrievers' scoring effort.
UMBC will compete at the Paul Short Invitational at Lehigh on October 2.
