Sports

Mississippi State cross country opens 2026 season at Southern Showcase

Jon Myers

Mississippi State’s cross country team will open the 2026 season Friday morning at the Southern Showcase in Huntsville, Alabama. The Bulldogs finished second at last season’s meet, which was hosted by Jacksonville State.

Mississippi State will send 10 women to the course, with the race scheduled to start at 8:10 a.m. CT. Three runners are set to make their collegiate debuts: freshmen Larkin Johnson and Lilly Overby, along with international transfer Berit Janowitz. They are three of the four newcomers in the lineup.

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Naomi Jepleting enters the season as Mississippi State’s top runner. She posted a 16:46.78 on the same course last year, the second-fastest women’s 5K time in school history. Jepleting also finished inside the top 20 at last year’s South Region Championships and was named to the All-Region team.

Brooklyn Quanz, Kaitlyn Burge and Sophie Santucci will return to the Southern Showcase, where each recorded a personal best. Milicent Kembio, Gabrielle Boulay and Mallory Streetman complete the group of runners listed for the meet.

Source: Mississippi State Athletics.

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Jon Myers

Jon Ross Myers founded Mississippi News Group in 2013. Before founding the organization, he worked at The Daily Mississippian, The Marion Salute and The Southern Sentinel. A Mississippi journalist and writer based in Ripley, he received second place in poetry in the 2025 William Faulkner Literary Competition for "The Garden."