Sarah Popovics joined the cross country staff in 2011 and became head coach in 2014. Popovics, in her fifth year as head coach of the men's and women's cross country programs and led them to the Region III titles in 2018. Hudson Valley's men had four runners finish in the top-15, led by individual champion Jared Craw. The Vikings also won meet titles at the Herkimer CC Invitational and the Mountain Valley Conference Championships.

In 2019, the men's program finished second at the Mountain Valley Conference and the NJCAA Region 3 Championships, led by All-Conference and All-Region student-athlete Joseph Degiorgio, who improved upon personal-bests in his second season under Coach Popovics. 

Coach Popovics had the women's program prepared to win the Mountain Valley Conference championship, which they claimed on Oct. 19, 2019 in Herkimer, NY. The women's program followed it up with a second place finish at the NJCAA Region 3 championships and a 5th place finish at the 2019 NJCAA National Championships.

Following the success in 2018, Coach Popovics was named the USTFCCCA Northeast Region Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year.

A 2010 graduate of the University at Albany, Popovics competed on the Vikings cross country team in the fall of 2007 where she earned both All-Region and All-Conference honors. She was also a SUNY Chancellors Award recipient during her time at Hudson Valley.

Popovics ran a Boston Marathon qualifying time of 3:28 in October 2012 at the Mohawk Hudson River Marathon, and competed in the 2014 Boston Marathon. Popovics recently qualified to compete in the 2020 Boston Marathon.

Updated: 8/11/21