Meet Recap: 2023 NCAA DII Cross Country Championships

Champions were crowned on Friday at the 2023 NCAA DII Cross Country Championships!

The meet was held at the Tom Rutledge Cross Country Course in Joplin, Missouri.

From The USTFCCCA InfoZone: Meets & Results | USTFCCCA Scoreboard
Related: National Championships Central | Rankings & Polls Central

Team and Individual titles were taken by all different schools, as junior William Amponsah from West Texas A&M took the men’s 10k individual title, and the team race was won for the first time by Wingate.

The women’s 6k was taken by junior Lindsay Cunningham of Winona State, while the team title was captured by Grand Valley State.

Men’s 10k Race

The whole season has been working towards this highly anticipated matchup.

Colorado School of Mines had been undefeated all season and was coming in as recent champions of the South Central Region, beating runner-up Adams State by only 8 points. 

Historically, this competition has been a two-team race with the Orediggers, who have won three of the last seven titles, taking on the Grizzlies, who have won 13 team titles.

However, Wingate was the team to take an early lead, having 39 points at the first kilometer.

But an unexpected push in the middle of the race accelerated fifth-ranked East Central (Okla.) into the team lead at 6k. They would go on to finish third.

This exciting back-and-forth competition resulted in Wingate winning their first DII Championship title ever with 70 points, barely edging out the Orediggers by 9 points. The Bulldogs had five in the top-21.

The individual title was conquered by William Amponsah from West Texas A&M in a time of 29:04.3. He entered the lead at 3k and never looked back claiming the crown by 9 seconds. 

Runner-up Simon Kelati from Western Colorado came in at a time of 29:13.2 followed by Matthew Stroher of Colorado Christian (29:14.5), Hamza Chahid of Wingate (29:15.3) and Andrew Amor of New Mexico Highlands (29:18.0).

Women’s 6k Race

After being the runner-up last year, Lindsay Cunningham came in hungry.

She came in undefeated all season and the favorite to take away the crown. Hunting a sub 20-minute 6k, she took the race out hard, opening up in a 5:03 first mile. Advancing to the front by herself, she spent all 6k on her own, slowly increasing her lead as she progressed. 

Cunningham took the individual title finishing with a time of 19:30.1 becoming only the fourth woman to go sub-20 minutes at the national championship and winning by over 15 seconds. 

Three other women achieved a sub 20-minute 6k, with Eleonora Curtabbi from West Texas A&M (19:45.2), Natalie Graber from Grand Valley State (19:50.3) and Brianna Robles of Adams State (19:59.9). Khot Juac of Sioux Falls rounded out the top 5 at 20:00.0. 

From a team standpoint, the Adams State dynasty came into this race fresh off three straight national titles, and having 21 of the 44 DII titles. Although the era of Stephanie Cotter has passed, this team is still as competitive as ever. However, top ranked Grand Valley State was eager to take down the reigning champs, being the runner-up the last three years. 

And so they did, as Grand Valley State captured the team title finishing with a team score of 59, placing five runners in the top-26. Adams State came in second, still racking up an impressive 86 points. Third place was Colorado School of Mines with 121 points, followed by Western Colorado (150) and Winona State (219). 

All top 5 teams followed the order of coaches’ poll’s national ranking.