Weekend Recap: Great Racing in Minnesota & Virginia Highlights Action

EDITOR’S NOTE: This post will be updated throughout the weekend.

Welcome to the first major weekend of the collegiate cross country season!

Time is of the essence for top teams to shake off the cobwebs from the offseason.

From the USTFCCCA InfoZone: Meets & Results | USTFCCCA Scoreboard

Great racing is promised across the country, especially in Minnesota and Virginia.

Here are some highlights from an action-packed weekend of collegiate cross country.

Virginia Invitational

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Men’s 8k Race

Drew Bosley led top-ranked Northern Arizona to a resounding victory on Saturday morning at the Virginia Invitational in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Bosley captured the individual title in a loaded field by nearly three seconds over Parker Wolfe of North Carolina. The NAU standout was one of five Lumberjacks in the top-25 as they rolled to victory by 30 points over third-ranked BYU. Wolfe paced the sixth-ranked Tar Heels to a third-place finish, while 11th-ranked Syracuse and 12th-ranked Villanova round out the top-5 teams in fourth and fifth, respectively.

NAU distanced itself early, holding a nine-point lead at the 1k split. From there, the Lumberjacks only got stronger and went up by more than 70 points in the middle part of the race (NAU’s lead extended to 75 points at 3k). The Lumberjacks had a 3.1-second spread at 5k, which stretched to 24.5 seconds by the finish with Corey Gorgas capping their scoring lineup.

Women’s 5k Race

Elise Stearns and Northern Arizona left no doubt on Saturday morning.

Sterns gave the Lumberjacks the ultimate low stick and the second-ranked Lumberjacks put two other runners in the top-10 and all seven runners in the top-16 for a dominant 56-point victory. It was a close victory for Stearns, as she edged Chloe Scrimgeour of Georgetown by less than one second – 16:18.9 to 16:19.7. Behind Stearns, Annika Reiss and Gracelyn Larkin took eighth and ninth, respectively, to make it a rout in favor of NAU.

No. 9 Stanford finished runner-up to the Lumberjacks with 104 points with host No. 11 Virginia third with 123 points. No. 13 Washington ended up fourth with 131 points, followed by No. 12 Georgetown with 204.

Roy Griak Invitational

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Men’s Gold 8k Race

Talk about not looking back.

Habtom Samuel of New Mexico and No. 29 California Baptist ran away with the individual and team titles, respectively, in the Men’s Gold 8k at the Roy Griak Invitational on Friday. Samuel took the lead after the 5k split and ultimately won by more than 24 seconds in 23:36.4 for the fastest winning individual time since 2011, while the Lancers shot ahead at the 3k split and ultimately prevailed by 34 points.

CBU moved as a pack throughout the proceedings. The Lancers had five athletes in the top-20 at every split and finished with four in the top-10 as they compiled 46 points for the fourth lowest total by a winning team since 2004. CBU took down both No. 9 Portland and RV Gonzaga. The Bulldogs were second with 80 points, followed by unranked New Mexico (110), Portland (111) and Boise State (127).

Women’s Gold 8k Race

California Baptist and Utah put on a masterclass in racing on Friday at the Roy Griak Invitational. The 22^nd-ranked Lancers and the 24^th-ranked Utes went back and forth over the 6k distance, trading leads three times. Ultimately, CBU edged Utah by one point for the team title in the Women’s 6k Gold, 63-64. Both the Lancers and the Utes put three runners in the top-10, but the former’s depth with five athletes in the top-25 proved to be the difference.

Greta Karinauskatie gave CBU the ultimate low stick with the individual title. Karinauskatie crossed the finish line in 20:27.6 for the fastest time by a women’s champion since 2004 (Kim Smith of Providence went 20:10). She won by three seconds over Nicola Jansen of New Mexico.

Men’s Maroon 8k Race

Some cross-divisional racing was at its best as NAIA No. 1 Indiana Wesleyan became the first NAIA program to win the Men’s Maroon 8k race. With 58 points, the Wildcats won by 34 points over NCAA DII RV Wayne State (Mich.). The Wildcats – led by seventh-placer Braden Sweet – had a tight crew with its 1-5 gap at just 22.0 seconds with Nos. 7-8 within just 10 more seconds.

Ransom Allen of Wayne State took individual honors, covering the 8K course in 25:18.4 to top Ryan Hartman of NCAA DII No. 7 Augustana (S.D.) by 10.6 seconds.

Women’s Maroon 8k Race

NCAA DII No. 8 Augustana (S.D.) had unmatched depth to win the Women’s Maroon 6k race with 80 points – all five of the Vikings were within the top-22, an no other squad had more than three within that group. Finishing second was a surprise as unranked U-Mary (N.D.) was second with 106 points, ahead of three DII ranked teams.

Gianna Bomarito of Sonoma State (Calif.) ran away with the individual title, clocking 21:44.2 for 6K to win by 31.4 seconds over Jessica Kampman of NAIA Dordt (Iowa).

Bill Dellinger Invitational

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Men’s 8k Race

Davis Bove and the Cal Poly Mustangs reigned in the Men’s 8k at the Bill Dellinger Invitational.

Bove, who transferred to Cal Poly from LSU this past offseason, captured the individual title in 23:40.1 to give the Mustangs the ultimate low stick. That, coupled with another top-5 finish by William Fallini-Haas and other strong efforts by the rest of their top-7, paced unranked Cal Poly to the team title over host No. 15 Oregon. The Mustangs outpointed the Ducks, 41-58.

Women’s 6k Race

In an early season matchup of top-10 teams, No. 6 BYU ruled the course on Friday.

The sixth-ranked Cougars steamrolled the field in the Women’s 6k at the Bill Dellinger Invitational, scoring just 42 points en route to a 36-point victory over No. 7 Oregon. BYU put all seven of its athletes in the top-15, led by a 4-5 finish by Lexy Halladay-Lowry and Aubrey Frentheway. Heralded freshman Jenna Hutchins placed eighth for the Cougars.

Kaylee Mitchell of Oregon State dominated the individual race. Mitchell romped to victory by nearly 18 seconds in 19:37.2. UC Davis Brianna Weidler and Sierra Atkins took second and third, respectively.

The Master’s Cross Country Invitational

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Men’s 8k Race

The Master’s (Calif.) proved to be hostile hosts on Saturday.

The Mustangs, who are ranked third in the most recent NAIA National Coaches’ Poll, romped to victory at their Cross Country Invitational. TMU put three runners in the top-5 and scored just 44 points to easily outclass NCAA DIII No. 1 Pomona-Pitzer (97) and NCAA DII Biola (Calif.) (107).

Senzo Sokleha of Westmont (Calif.) earned top collegiate honors in a close finish with Jack Anderson of The Master’s. Sokelha nipped Anderson at the finish line by 0.5 seconds – 24:08.2 to 24:08.7. Both were more than one minute behind unattached individual champion Terry Hearst in 23:06.0.

Women’s 6k Race

Boila (Calif.) and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps battled it out on Saturday.

The 15th-ranked Eagles from NCAA DII and the tenth-ranked Athenas from NCAA DIII both put two runners in the top-5 and were tied at 7-all. Then, an athlete from CMS came through in sixth, followed by another BU athlete, giving the Athenas a slim lead. That’s when the Eagles turned the tide with two more runners in the top-10 to pull away for good. BU ultimately won by 11 points over CMS, 33-44.

Hannah Fredericks of The Master’s (Calif.) captured the individual title in 20:40.4. Fredericks won by nearly 19 seconds over Natalie Bitetti of CMS.

Cougar Challenge

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Men’s 8k Race

Cross-divisional action made for interesting results at the Cougar Challenge at Cal State San Marcos.

NCAA DII teams claimed the top two spots, with No. 6 Chico State (27) besting No. 19 Cal Poly Pomona (35), while third place went to NJCAA DI No. 4 Salt Lake (Utah) CC – a program in just its second year – with 100 points. Daniel Hernandez of Chico State won the individual title in 24:27.4, 5.7 seconds up on unattached Nathan Dunn, a Wright State standout.

Women’s 6k Race

NCAA DII No. 12 Chico State won the team title over NJCAA DI No. 1 Salt Lake CC, as the Wildcats scored 46 points to take the team title over the Bruins’ 80 points; in third was NCAA DI UC San Diego (84). Unattached Jennifer Sandoval, the 2022 NCAA DII 10,000 champ for Azusa Pacific, won the individual race in 19:53.0, with UCSD’s Isabelle Shepherd taking top-collegian honors as runner-up in 20:52.4.