California State University Northridge Athletics
Photo by: Big West
CSUN Reveals 2026 Cross Country Schedules
8/12/2026 4:14:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, General, Women's Cross Country
NORTHRIDGE, Calif. --- CSUN head men's and women's cross country head coach Justin Johnson has announced the 2026 Matadors' schedule.
The season begins with the Kim Duyst Twlight hosted by Stanislaus State in Turlock, CA at the River Oaks Golf Course on September 12. CSUN then returns to action five days later on September 17 for its first of three races in Riverside this season. The first contest is the annual UCR Invitational which will take place at the UCR Ag Ops Course.
CSUN will then gear up for its first of five races in October as it will travel to Santa Clarita for the Master's Invitational hosted by The Master's University at Central Park on October 3.
The next regular season meet will be the second race at the UCR Ag Ops Course as the Matadors will compete at the Highlander Classic on October 17.
On the same day, part of the roster will compete at the Bronco Invitational hosted by Santa Clara. The race will take place at Baylands Regional Park.
The last meet of the regular season will take place in Fullerton on October 23.. The event is called The John Elders Invitational and will be held at the Titan Track Complex.
The 2026 Big West Cross Country Championship occurs a week later on October 31 in Riverside. The championship meet will mark CSUN's third appearance at the UCR Ag Ops Course in 2026.
The 2026 NCAA West Regional will be held in Sacramento on Nov. 13.
On the men's side, CSUN returns nine letterwinners from the 2025 team. Sophomore Adam Divinity finished 2025 on a high note as he led the CSUN's men's team with one of the top 10k times in school history at the NCAA West Regionals. His time of 31:34.9 was a huge highlight for the season. Other returners include Thomas Achten, Cesar Cuevas, Omar Heredia, Darrick Jacob, Jr, Diego Rodriguez, Ja'Patrick Smith, Elijah Stenberg, and Raul Verges.
The Matadors return six letterwinners on the women's side, led by Lilit Arakelyan. She paced the Matadors in the first two races of 2025. In the first meet of the year at the Wave Invite, she paced the women with the fastest 4K time in school history at the time as she finished seventh overall. Her time of 21:43.1 paced the Matadors and was good for 24th place at the Kim Duyst Twilight in the next race. Other returners include Nadia Munoz, Citaly Ruiz, Brianna Torres, Zyanya Torres and Ailani Valiente.
ACCORDING TO ASSISTANT COACH JASON ZARB-COUSIN
"We have high expectations for this season as we return several key pieces while adding very talented runners who may be impact runners for us right away. The focus has been having a good summer of training and it was tremendous across the board. We're ahead of where we were this time last year. Staying healthy and being competitive has been the key to our development over the last couple of years and with the talent we are bringing in, we have an excellent opportunity to have one of the best seasons we have had in many years."
#GoMatadors
The season begins with the Kim Duyst Twlight hosted by Stanislaus State in Turlock, CA at the River Oaks Golf Course on September 12. CSUN then returns to action five days later on September 17 for its first of three races in Riverside this season. The first contest is the annual UCR Invitational which will take place at the UCR Ag Ops Course.
CSUN will then gear up for its first of five races in October as it will travel to Santa Clarita for the Master's Invitational hosted by The Master's University at Central Park on October 3.
The next regular season meet will be the second race at the UCR Ag Ops Course as the Matadors will compete at the Highlander Classic on October 17.
On the same day, part of the roster will compete at the Bronco Invitational hosted by Santa Clara. The race will take place at Baylands Regional Park.
The last meet of the regular season will take place in Fullerton on October 23.. The event is called The John Elders Invitational and will be held at the Titan Track Complex.
The 2026 Big West Cross Country Championship occurs a week later on October 31 in Riverside
The 2026 NCAA West Regional will be held in Sacramento on Nov. 13.
On the men's side, CSUN returns nine letterwinners from the 2025 team. Sophomore Adam Divinity finished 2025 on a high note as he led the CSUN's men's team with one of the top 10k times in school history at the NCAA West Regionals. His time of 31:34.9 was a huge highlight for the season. Other returners include Thomas Achten, Cesar Cuevas, Omar Heredia, Darrick Jacob, Jr, Diego Rodriguez, Ja'Patrick Smith, Elijah Stenberg, and Raul Verges.
The Matadors return six letterwinners on the women's side, led by Lilit Arakelyan. She paced the Matadors in the first two races of 2025. In the first meet of the year at the Wave Invite, she paced the women with the fastest 4K time in school history at the time as she finished seventh overall. Her time of 21:43.1 paced the Matadors and was good for 24th place at the Kim Duyst Twilight in the next race. Other returners include Nadia Munoz, Citaly Ruiz, Brianna Torres, Zyanya Torres and Ailani Valiente.
ACCORDING TO ASSISTANT COACH JASON ZARB-COUSIN
"We have high expectations for this season as we return several key pieces while adding very talented runners who may be impact runners for us right away. The focus has been having a good summer of training and it was tremendous across the board. We're ahead of where we were this time last year. Staying healthy and being competitive has been the key to our development over the last couple of years and with the talent we are bringing in, we have an excellent opportunity to have one of the best seasons we have had in many years."
#GoMatadors
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
Friday, February 13
Saturday, January 24
Thursday, December 11
Thursday, December 11