Having won six straight conference championships, the Georgetown University Hoyas are regarded as the top college women’s cross-country team in the D.C. area, as well as one of the best in the country.
The Hoyas are projected to be ranked nationally among the top 25 in an upcoming Division I preseason NCAA poll.
As consecutive conference champions, the past two seasons were the most successful in the 16-year history of the Marymount University Saints women’s cross-country team.
Marymount comfortably won back-to-back Atlantic East Conference crowns in 2025 and 2024 by margins of 30 and 21 points, respectively. The league titles were the first in history for the Division III program.
It used to be the shoes worn by college and high school cross country and track-and-field runners were mainly either black or white, sometimes blue.
That’s not the case as much anymore.
A considerable number of former high-school cross-country runners from throughout the metro area will be competing for multiple local college teams during the upcoming men’s and women’s fall season.
One of those collegiate squads with the most local runners is the Division II Bowie State University program in Maryland. There are a total of eight local runners for the Bulldogs, equally divided between men and women.
Athletes from local metro-area college outdoor track-and-field teams recently were singled out for their spring performances by earning 2026 all-conference honors.
Some of those athletes also are participating in various NCAA championship meets at different levels of competitions.
While she was worried about increased weekly mileage, fitting into a new team, and balancing running with schoolwork her first time away from home, Maddie Wittich‘s decision to run in college was ultimately easy.
“I can tell from the way I feel during my runs that I have so much left in me and I feel like I need to keep going,” said Wittich, who is entering her freshman year at the University of Richmond. “I still want to improve so much and get new PRs and I know that college will offer that to me.”