MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Faulkner has released its 2026 cross country schedules as the programs aim to build on last season, when the programs claimed its first individual nationals berth since the sport was reintroduced to the athletic department in 2022, and as Caleb Kilpatrick enters his second season in charge. 

The squads open at Choccolocco Park for the fifth straight season, as the men run a 5K at 9 am and the women begin theirs at 9:40 am on Friday, September 4 in the 20th annual Foothills Invitational.  

As they did in 2024, the Eagles and Lady Eagles will then run in a second straight event hosted by Jacksonville State two weeks later as they travel to John Hunt Park in Huntsville for the Southern Showcase. On the 18th, the guys will run an 8K at 7:30 am with the girls to follow at 8:20 am in a 6K. 

Faulkner runs its last event in Alabama of the season on Saturday, September 26, with the annual Firehawk Invitational at the Oakville Indian Mounds. The men start their 8K at 8:30 am before the women's 6K gun fires at 9:20 am. 

As with last season, the teams' final regular season meet is the Watson Collegiate Cross Country Classic hosted by Mississippi Christian University in Jackson, Miss., on October 16, with the men's 8K at 8 am and the women's 6K beginning 40 minutes later.  

Faulkner has the added advantage of running in the same course in consecutive events as the SSAC Cross Country Championships have been moved to the Choctaw Trails in Jackson on November 6, with times to be determined.  

The only remaining pending meet is the promised land, the NAIA Cross Country Championships on November 20, a long distance away metaphorically and literally as the meet will be held in Vancouver, Washington at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site.