Cross country fans who went to Belmont Plateau on Oct. 19 to watch the 2026 Inter-Ac League Championship experienced a sense of déjà vu. The individual winner of the boys’ race was the same as in 2025, and so was the winner of the girls’ race.

Like last fall, Penn Charter won the girls’ team championship (their third consecutive victory) and Episcopal Academy took the boys’ team title for the sixth year in a row.

PC sophomore Mackenzie Skelly was unchallenged as she won the girls’ race in a time of 17 minutes, 55 seconds. She now has the top three fastest times ever run on the high school course at Belmont. The Quakers also dominated the team competition; all five of their scorers placed among the top six finishers overall, and their sixth and seventh varsity runners got into the top 10.

PC won with a team score of 16 points to the Episcopal girls’ runner-up total of 68. Germantown Academy was third among the girls’ teams with 78 points, followed by Agnes Irwin School (104 points), Academy of Notre Dame (127), Springside Chestnut Hill Academy (141) and Baldwin School (211).

Last fall, Malvern Prep’s Brock Yoder, then a junior, took first place in the boys’ Inter-Ac competition. An Episcopal Academy senior was second, followed by Penn Charter’s Matthew Dunn in third place and fellow junior Tyler Benson of GA in fourth.

Last week, Yoder repeated as champion in 16:29.1, while this time Benson finished second (16:40.5), getting the better of Dunn (16:41.4), who came in third.

Running very well as a pack, the Episcopal Churchmen snapped up five of the next six places to secure the team championship. They scored 31 points to Penn Charter’s 57 and Malvern’s 63. Coming in fourth through sixth were Haverford School (99 points), GA (106) and SCH (174).

The boys’ varsity race went off before the girls’ event, and after the first loop of the open portion of the plateau, the Friars’ Yoder looked comfortable in the lead. Gaining a little more separation by the time the runners emerged from the wooded section of the course, he would win by 11 seconds.

There were fairly wide gaps between the early finishers, with the exception of the battle for second place between GA’s Benson and PC’s Dunn. The Quakers’ lead man tried to make a late push against Benson, but Benson held him off.

After Dunn crossed the line, 17 seconds went by before fourth place was captured by Episcopal junior Kaleb Young. EA’s team fortunes rapidly improved as three of Young’s teammates checked in fifth, sixth and seventh.

Promising Penn Charter freshman Gavin Sutton came in eighth at 17:29.3, racing to the wire with Episcopal senior Williams Patterson. Patterson, timed in 17:29.7, was the fifth scorer for the Churchmen, locking up the team title.

Penn Charter was able to claim the second spot with its three, four and five runners placing in the top 20 overall. The three were junior Leo Kelley (11th; 17:44.7), freshman Tendo McKether (16th; 18:13.1) and junior Abel Johns (19th; 18:35.4). After Benson took second place, GA fans had to wait a while to see the next red singlets appear. Coming in together in 23rd and 24th places were sophomore John Henry Brusca (18:51.9) and senior JJ Gould (18:53.0). The Patriots’ other two scorers placed 28th and 29th.

Springside Chestnut Hill had one athlete crack the top 20, as junior Jose Martinez Toledo arrived 20th in 18:36.2. All of the other six Blue Devils in the varsity race finished in a pack in places 37 through 42.

When the girls’ race commenced, Skelly got out front and stayed there, eventually winning by 53 seconds. By the time the first six runners had finished, the team outcome was already decided, since all five scorers for the Quakers were among that group. In second through fourth were sophomore Berkeley Marcelis (18:48.8), senior Marlie Klein (19:20.5) and sophomore Beatrice O’Connell (19:33.6).

The string was interrupted by GA senior Nieve Keitel, who placed fifth in 19:40.2. When the clock reached 19:44, PC senior Meredith Tangeman crossed the line in sixth place and nailed down the team title for the Quakers. Also among the top 10 finishers were junior Davis Bauman of Agnes Irwin (7th; 19:50.7), Quakers freshman Lily Honeyman (8th; 20:06.3), Episcopal junior Hannah Todd (9th; 20:18.6) and Penn Charter sophomore Eliza Schloth (10th; 20:47.4).

Contributing to the third-place outcome for the GA team were sophomores Shyna Patel (12th; 20:57.5), Virginia Keefe (14th; 21:08.1), Millie Evarts (20th; 22:01.3) and junior Annabelle Steckel (27th; 22:44.0).

Springside Chestnut Hill placed three of its runners in the top 25 overall. Junior Bella Tinneny, who will go on to run for St. Bonaventure, led the Blue Devils with a 21st-place effort in 22:07.0. One place behind was junior Melia Echewa (22:19.1), and senior Claire Lynch came in 25th in 22:40.7.