USTFCCCA News & Notes
Weekend Preview: Lewis Crossover, NCAA DIII Pre-Nationals Take Spotlight
Welcome to October.
Business is about to pick up.
From The USTFCCCA InfoZone: Meets & Results | USTFCCCA Scoreboard
We’re going to see some big meets over the next few weeks.
That starts this weekend with two notable forays in the Lewis Crossover and the NCAA DIII Pre-Nationals Invitational.
Lewis Crossover
Allen Iverson would be jealous of the Lewis Crossover.
Eighteen teams that were ranked in the most recent NCAA DII National Coaches’ Polls will convene on Saturday at the Lewis XC Course in Romeoville, Illinois. If that’s not enough, 64 teams are entered between the top races and those teams represent six of the eight regions in NCAA DII: Atlantic, Central, East, Midwest, South Central and West.
2023 Lewis Crossover |
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| Men’s Ranked Teams | Women’s Ranked Teams | |
| No. 1 Colo. School of Mines | No. 1 Grand Valley State | |
| No. 5 Colorado Christian | No. 3 Colo. School of Mines | |
| No. 10 Saginaw Valley State | No. 4 Winona State | |
| No. 11 Western Washington | No. 9 Colorado Christian | |
| No. 15 Wayne State (Mich.) | No. 13 Biola (Calif.) | |
| No. 18 Walsh | No. 16 Lewis | |
| No. 22 Lewis | No. 23 Wayne State (Mich.) | |
| No. 30 Alaska Anchorage | No. 26 Saginaw Valley State | |
| No. 27 Western Washington | ||
| No. 29 Walsh | ||
The women’s race, which starts at 9:45 am CT, features ten of those ranked teams, including four top-10 squads: No. 1 Grand Valley State, No. 3 Colo. School of Mines, No. 4 Winona State and No. 9 Colorado Christian. It should be a dynamic battle between the top-ranked Lakers, the third-ranked Orediggers, the fourth-ranked Warriors and the ninth-ranked Cougars. Just this past weekend, GVSU romped to victory over No. 2 Adams State at the Live in Lou Cross Country Classic in Louisville, Kentucky. This will be the first test for Colo. School of Mines as it raced a younger squad at the Roadrunners Invitational in mid-September. And don’t you dare forget about Winona State star Lindsay Cunningham, who won eight of her past nine races on the grass circuit and captured three national titles on the track last year between indoor and outdoor.
Top-ranked Colo. School of Mines will look to make a statement in the men’s race, which begins at 10:30 am CT. Just like their female counterparts, the Oredigger men have yet to unveil their full hand this season. Colo. School of Mines faces seven other ranked squads, including fellow RMAC rival and fifth-ranked Colorado Christian and tenth-ranked Saginaw Valley State. The Orediggers are led by Duncan Fuehne and Loic Scomparin, who are two of five athletes entered in Saturday’s race that finished top-10 at the NCAA DII Championships last year: Fuehne was third; Cole Nash of Alaska Anchorage was sixth; Dayton Brown of Saginaw Valley State was seventh; Ransom Allen of Wayne State (Mich.) was ninth; and Scomparin was tenth.
If either of these races are like what we saw last week in the Men’s Gold 8k at the Live in Lou Cross Country Classic, we’re in for a treat. In case you missed it, just one point separated No. 2 Grand Valley State and No. 4 Adams State. The Lakers topped the Grizzlies, 104-105.
NCAA DIII Pre-Nationals Invitational
CLICK HERE FOR RESULTS FROM THE MEET
Buckle up, folks.
We’re in for a ride.
There will be 11 ranked teams in both the Men’s 8k and Women’s 6k at the NCAA DIII Pre-Nationals Invitational on Saturday in Newville, Pennsylvania. The meet, which begins at 11 am ET with the men’s race and follows at noon ET with the women’s version, will be held on the same course that will host the upcoming NCAA DIII Championships in mid-November.
2023 NCAA DIII Pre-Nationals Invitational |
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| Men’s Ranked Teams | Women’s Ranked Teams | |
| No. 2 Pomona-Pitzer | No. 4 MIT | |
| No. 5 Williams | No. 8 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps | |
| No. 8 MIT | No. 11 Williams | |
| No. 9 RPI | No. 13 Amherst | |
| No. 13 Mount Union | No. 14 George Fox | |
| No. 14 George Fox | No. 19 Vassar | |
| No. 20 Tufts | No. 22 Washington & Lee | |
| No. 27 Amherst | No. 26 John Carroll | |
| No. 32 Haverford | No. 27 Pomona-Pitzer | |
| No. 34 SUNY Brockport | No. 29 Hope | |
| No. 35 Hope | No. 33 Tufts | |
Where do we start? We’re like parents asked to pick a favorite child.
Let’s start sequentially with the men’s race that features four top-10 teams: No. 2 Pomona-Pitzer, No. 5 Williams, No. 8 MIT and No. 9 RPI. This quartet hasn’t competed on the same course since the NCAA DIII Championships last year in East Lansing, Michigan. That’s where the Engineers ran away with the NCAA title to thwart a three-peat by the Sagehens. Speaking of the NCAA Championships, at least eight All-Americans from that meet will go head-to-head on the Big Spring High School course.
The women’s race sees only two top-10 programs in No. 4 MIT and No. 8 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, but five more ranked among the top-25 in No. 11 Williams, No. 13 Amherst, No. 14 George Fox, No. 19 Vassar and No. 25 Washington & Lee. There should be a great race for the individual title between several athletes, namely Genna Girard of Williams and Natalie Bitetti of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, among others. Girard recently won top individual honors at the Purple Valley Classic, while Bitetti was runner-up at The Master’s Invitational two weeks ago and tenth at a predominately NCAA DI UCR Cross Country Invitational the week before that.