Loyola Women’s Track & Field 2025-26 Season Recap: School Records and Championship Performances Highlight Strong Year
Loyola University Maryland Women’s Track & Field 2025-26 Season Recap: School Records and Championship Performances Highlight Strong Year
The Loyola University Maryland women’s track and field program produced a 2025-26 season defined by individual breakthroughs, new school records, and impressive performances at the Patriot League Championship.
Competing throughout both indoor and outdoor seasons, the Greyhounds developed a young roster while producing some of the best results in program history. The campaign concluded at the 2026 Patriot League Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Annapolis, with Loyola finishing seventh out of 10 teams in the women’s standings with 22 points.
Army West Point captured the women’s outdoor team championship with 201.58 points, narrowly ahead of Navy’s 197.33. Boston University finished third with 172.25 points, followed by Bucknell with 115.25 and Lehigh with 72. Holy Cross scored 40 to take sixth place, followed by Loyola Maryland with 22, Colgate with 17.33, Lafayette with 13.25, and American with six.
For the Greyhounds, however, the 2025-26 season stood out for far more than the final team rankings, as individuals continued to improve and the program raised its standards.
School records were set, young athletes emerged as contributors, and Loyola produced multiple memorable performances on the championship stage both indoors and outdoors.
An Important Note on Loyola University Maryland Track and Field
Loyola University Maryland sponsors women’s indoor and outdoor track and field, but does not offer a men’s varsity track and field program.
The university sponsors men’s and women’s cross country in the fall, but only the women’s program competes in indoor and outdoor track seasons.
This recap focuses exclusively on the achievements of the Loyola University Maryland women’s track and field team for the 2025-26 academic year.
Indoor Season Provides Early Breakthroughs
Loyola’s indoor campaign signaled that several Greyhounds were ready for significant progress during the 2025-26 season.
The winter culminated at the Patriot League Indoor Track and Field Championships, where Loyola athletes competed against the conference’s strongest programs.
Cruz set a Loyola school record during the opening day of the championship meet, providing a major highlight for the program.
The Greyhounds’ 4×800-meter relay earned a fifth-place finish, demonstrating Loyola’s ability to compete with the conference’s best in the distance relays.
These achievements established momentum heading into an outdoor season that would see even more program history rewritten.
Outdoor Season Builds Momentum
As competition transitioned outdoors, Loyola continued to advance in sprints, distance, and relays, building on indoor successes.
The Greyhounds’ 2026 campaign led them to the Patriot League Outdoor Championships on May 15-16 at Navy in Annapolis.
Entering the meet, Loyola fielded several athletes ready to score team points and challenge school records.
The team delivered on expectations.
By the end of the conference meet, the Greyhounds had tallied 22 team points, placing seventh overall.
Most importantly, multiple Greyhounds added performances that will remain in the school record book.
Caroline Blakeslee Emerges as Championship Standout
Freshman Caroline Blakeslee was one of the top individual stories for Loyola during the outdoor championship season.
Blakeslee posted a fourth-place finish at the Patriot League Outdoor Championships, matching the best individual placement by a Loyola woman at the 2026 conference meet.
This result was even more impressive considering Blakeslee’s freshman status and her ability to compete against experienced Patriot League competition.
Blakeslee entered championship season with growing recognition in the conference, and her high-level performance set her up as an athlete to watch moving forward for Loyola University Maryland.
A fourth-place finish against top programs such as Army, Navy, Boston University, and Bucknell is a major accomplishment for any underclassman.
Blakeslee’s emergence provides Loyola with a new focal point as the program looks ahead to 2026-27.
Maeve Lowther Breaks Steeplechase Record
Maeve Lowther delivered a season-defining performance in outdoor track.
Lowther established a new Loyola University Maryland school record in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase during the final day of the Patriot League Outdoor Championships.
The steeplechase is among the most demanding track and field events, pairing distance running with barriers and water jumps. It requires stamina, technique, and a consistent rhythm.
Lowther’s record-setting race stood out as one of the major highlights from Loyola’s championship weekend.
Breaking a school record during a championship meet is the type of result programs hope to see when athletes peak as the season concludes.
Lowther accomplished that goal.
Her record cemented a 2025-26 season in which Loyola continued to elevate its historical standards.
4×100 Relay Makes Loyola History
Loyola University Maryland also broke new ground in the 4×100-meter relay.
The team of Caroline Blakeslee, Lauryn Clarke, Gabby Snowden, and Madison Van Haren earned a podium finish at the Patriot League Outdoor Championships.
This accomplishment marked the first-ever podium result in the 4×100 relay at the Patriot League Championships for Loyola women’s track and field.
The milestone represented a crucial advancement for Loyola’s sprint group.
Relay success requires more than individual speed. Clean baton exchanges, discipline in acceleration zones, and strong team chemistry all contribute to podium finishes.
Loyola executed when it counted most.
Blakeslee, Clarke, Snowden, and Van Haren now occupy a unique place in program history as Loyola’s first 4×100 women’s relay squad to reach the Patriot League podium.
Young Talent Provides Optimism
The most promising takeaway from Loyola’s 2025-26 season was the impact of younger athletes.
While Blakeslee’s freshman success immediately stands out, the Greyhounds benefitted from vital contributions throughout the roster.
Developing athletes with the ability to consistently score at Patriot League championship meets is essential for Loyola’s long-term ascent in the league.
The Patriot League features well-established programs with larger, deeper rosters. Loyola’s path to rising in the standings centers on developing individual scorers and relays who reach finals and amass points.
The 2026 championships illustrated steady growth for the Greyhounds in that respect.
Patriot League Outdoor Championship Results
The final women’s team standings at the 2026 Patriot League Outdoor Track and Field Championships:
- Army West Point — 201.58 points
- Navy — 197.33
- Boston University — 172.25
- Bucknell — 115.25
- Lehigh — 72
- Holy Cross — 40
- Loyola University Maryland — 22
- Colgate — 17.33
- Lafayette — 13.25
- American — 6
Loyola’s seventh-place team finish put the Greyhounds ahead of Colgate, Lafayette, and American.
Although Loyola remains behind the conference’s largest programs in overall points, the team demonstrated its ability to deliver high-level individual and relay performances on the conference stage.
Season Highlights for Loyola University Maryland Women’s Track & Field
The 2025-26 Loyola University Maryland women’s track and field season produced several defining moments:
The indoor campaign included a new school record at the Patriot League Championships and a standout fifth-place showing in the 4×800-meter relay.
The outdoor season brought historic achievements including:
- Maeve Lowther setting a new school record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase
- Caroline Blakeslee delivering a fourth-place finish at the championships as a freshman
- The 4×100-meter relay team of Blakeslee, Lauryn Clarke, Gabby Snowden, and Madison Van Haren earning the program’s first-ever podium in the event at the Patriot League Championships
- A seventh-place overall finish at the outdoor conference championship with 22 team points
Together, these breakthroughs mark the season as an important step in the Greyhounds’ program development.
MSB Take
Loyola University Maryland may not possess the roster depth of Army, Navy, or Boston University, but the Greyhounds demonstrated significant progress throughout 2025-26.
The most important development in the 2025-26 campaign was not simply the seventh-place outdoor finish, but the context of how those team points were earned.
Young athletes stepped into starring roles, school records were broken, relay squads made history, and multiple individuals achieved their season-best results at the Patriot League Championships.
These are essential building blocks for a developing Division I track and field program.
Blakeslee’s emergence offers Loyola an exciting young talent to build around, while Lowther’s record-setting steeplechase performance elevates the team’s distance credentials. The 4×100 relay’s historic podium finish marks notable progress in the sprint group.
The next challenge lies in expanding that individual and relay success across more events and building additional roster-wide depth.
If Loyola continues developing more finalists and point-scorers for Patriot League meets, the Greyhounds can climb in future conference standings.
Looking Ahead to 2026-27
The 2026-27 season offers another opportunity for Loyola University’s young core to develop and build on this year’s results.
Blakeslee will return for her second collegiate year after already showing she can compete among the conference’s elite. Combined with the experience gained by relay and distance athletes, Loyola’s returning roster has clear targets to pursue.
There is a new school record in the steeplechase to challenge. There is a new standard for the 4×100-meter relay. And there are young athletes with proven championship potential.
The program’s objective will be to continue building upon these achievements and translate individual success into improved team results.
Final Grade: B+
Loyola University Maryland’s 2025-26 women’s track and field season earns a B+.
The Greyhounds did not contend for the Patriot League team championship, but measuring success solely against the conference’s deepest teams fails to account for the progress achieved.
Setting new school records, breaking through with a historic relay podium, registering a seventh-place finish at the outdoor championship, and seeing the emergence of young talent all made 2025-26 a productive step forward for the program.
As Loyola finished the year with its top performances at the highest level of Patriot League competition, the Greyhounds enter 2026-27 with a clear sense of momentum and measurable goals for the future.
