A new-look women’s team and a men’s group with its sights set on the podium will give UPEI Cross Country two very different storylines to follow in 2026.

On the women’s side, change is impossible to ignore.

For the first time in several years, the women’s team will compete without graduates Katie and Grace Richard, two runners who became fixtures near the front of UPEI’s lineup. Their departures leave a younger group looking to establish its own identity.

Head coach Mike Peterson sees that transition as an opportunity.