On September 27, the Dickinson cross country team traveled to Big Springs High School for the annual Long-Short Meet, where two athletes delivered historic performances.
In the men’s 4K, Alexander Kane ‘26 placed fifth out of 107 runners with a time of 12:03.61, breaking the program’s all-time 4K record set last year by recent graduate Brock Overlander (12:07.3). The race also shattered the facility record, with the Dickinson men’s 4K squad placing second out of 14 teams. Numerous individual PRs fueled the team’s overall second-place finish across both the 4K and 8K races. Kane’s performance follows his first-place finish in last year’s 8K (27:21.2), where he recorded the second-fastest 8K time by a Dickinson runner at the Long-Short meet.
For Kane, the milestone represents an important step toward his larger ambitions. “I actually didn’t even realize I had broken the record until I saw my mom after the race. Even after she told me, I still felt like I was dreaming. Since I’ve gotten to Dickinson, I’ve had two main goals for cross country. The first is to earn All-American honors. The second is to break the school record in the 8K. I see this school record as a stepping stone towards those larger goals,” he said.
Kane was quick to credit his teammates for their role in his success. “Honestly I would not have been in the position that I was in without Luke [Knestout ‘28] and Nathan [Caldwell ‘26]. We train together all the time and the three of us have run workouts together all season long. I like to think that if we ran this race 10times, any of the three of us could have gotten the record an equal amount of times. It’s a very positive relationship and I think the three of us pushing each other to be better will help the team accomplish big things in the future.”
Following Kane’s record in the 4K was Liza Barbash ‘28, leading the women’s 4K with a record-breaking performance of her own. She clocked 14:21.47 to take first place, narrowly edging out the program record of 14:21.9 set by Sarah Rutkowski in 2014. Barbash’s effort propelled the women’s squad to a fifth-place finish in a field of 14 teams and 113 competitors. Her performance also earned her Centennial Conference Athlete of the Week honors for the second time this season.
For Barbash, the achievement reflects both personal growth and team spirit. “Beginning last year, I never thought that I would be where I am now. I have heard stories about previous All-Americans and former female runners and their accomplishments, and now I am honored to rep the Dickinson uniform and try my best to live up to their memory. This season has been full of PRs because of our team spirit and our willingness to put in the work. It is inspiring to come to practice every day and see the effort that everyone puts in,” she said.
With a strong start to the year, the Red Devils show no signs of slowing down. They next travel to Waterford, Connecticut for the Connecticut College Invite on October 18, where they will be met with some of their toughest competition of the season. With early success as a promising indicator, Dickinson looks poised for more record-breaking milestones and top-tier performances in the weeks ahead.
