USTFCCCA News & Notes
Weekend Recap: Top Teams Battle Across The Midwest
Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational.
Chile Pepper Festival.
Gans Creek Classic.
From The USTFCCCA InfoZone: Meets & Results
We’re now in the thick of the collegiate cross country season.
Let’s find out some of the biggest moments from this past weekend.
Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational
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Men’s 8k Championship
Parker Wolfe of North Carolina and the second-ranked BYU Cougars posted impressive victories in the Men’s 8k Championship on Friday.
Wolfe was among the leaders at each split and then surged ahead over the final 1k to win the individual title in a course-record 23:04.0. That was five seconds faster than what Ky Robinson ran on the same 8k tract two years ago at the same meet. In fact, the next two finishers behind Wolfe – Rocky Hansen of Wake Forest and Liam Murphy of Villanova – dipped under the former course record of 23:09.0, too.
BYU left no doubt as the top-ranked team in the field. The Cougars, who led by 88 points at the 4k split, dominated the competition by scoring just 44 points, 60 fewer than runner-up No. 5 Iowa State. Those 44 points are the third fewest scored by a winning men’s team in meet history behind Syracuse’s 41 in 2009 and Indiana’s 43 in 2010. BYU put four runners in the top-10 with Casey Clinger pacing the group in fourth place.
Hansen guided No. 20 Wake Forest to a surprising third-place finish with 150 points, 46 fewer than the Wolfe-led No. 6 North Carolina Tar Heels and 96 fewer than No. 27 Washington.
Women’s 6k Championship
Sadie Sigfstead of Villanova and Washington’s team showed their strength on Friday. Sigfstead, like the fifth-ranked Huskies, pulled away over the final 2k of the Women’s 6k Championship to win their respective titles in Madison, Wisconsin.
The Villanova standout crossed the finish line in 19:55.7, some 7.5 seconds ahead of runner-up Florence Caron of Penn State after being lockstep with Rosina Machu of Gonzaga from 2k to 4k. This was another notable win for Sigfstead, who also captured the individual title at the Mid-Atlantic Region Championships last year.
Washington sat fifth at the 2k split, 18 points behind leader Virginia. The Huskies moved up 45 combined places between the 2k and 4k checkpoint to surge into the lead ahead of No. 14 Utah, 120-146. Then, Washington maintained its position and eventually won by 29 points, 110-139. This was the Huskies’ third Nuttycombe title in program history.
No. 15 Georgetown (145), No. 10 Providence (180) and No. 19 Wisconsin (182) ended up third, fourth, and fifth, respectively. Oregon, the top-ranked team in the field at No. 4, was ninth. The Badgers put on a masterclass of pack running with a 15.9-second spread at the finish.
Cowboy Jamboree
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Men’s 8k Recap
Oklahoma State, in the immortal words of Dennis Green, is who we thought they were – the unanimous No. 1 team in the the nation.
The Cowboys, led by a course record by Brian Musau, obliterated a talented field on Saturday. Musau traversed the 8k tract at the Greiner Family Cross Country Course in 22:55.6, taking more than seven seconds off the previous best set by Isai Rodriguez in 2021. That set the tone for Oklahoma State, as it put its entire scoring lineup in the top-6 and scored 19 points.
Habtom Samuel of New Mexico was the only athlete to thwart the Cowboys’ attempt at a perfect score. Samuel finished runner-up in 23:03.6, which was also under the former course record. With Samuel’s runner-up effort, the Lobos were second in the team standings with 45 points.
No. 22 Oregon (89), No. 24 Texas (116) and Incarnate Word (151) rounded out the top-5.
Women’s 6k Recap
New Mexico and Oklahoma State treated fans to an old-fashioned duel on Saturday.
By the 5k split, the Lady Lobos held a slim four-point lead over the host Cowgirls. New Mexico extended its edge by two more points by the finish and held off Oklahoma State, 34-40. Pamela Kosgei gave the Lady Lobos the ultimate low stick with her individual victory in 19:50.0.
Runner-up Oklahoma State put seven runners in the top-15, but it wasn’t enough to overcome New Mexico’s top-end depth with four in the top-8. Victoria Lagat led the Cowgirls in third place.
Lamar (76), NAIA No. 2 Saint Mary (Kan.) (158) and Incarnate Word (180) rounded out the top-5.
Chile Pepper Festival
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Men’s McDonnell Memorial 8k
Kirami Yego of Arkansas won this race convincingly for the second-straight year, this time in 22:57.0 to win by 22.2 seconds over Stephen F. Austin’s Elkana Kipruto. Last year, Yego won by 22.5 seconds in 23:14.1.
The No. 3 Razorbacks placed all five scorers in the top-10 to win the team title with 29 over a wave of ranked NCAA DII teams: No. 8 Western Colorado (127), No. 3 East Central (Okla.) (159), No. 14 CSU Pueblo (178) and RV Alabama-Huntsville (188).
NJCAA DI No. 4 Butler (Kan.) CC was seventh (207) ahead of NJCAA DI No. 9 Hutchinson (Kan.) CC in eighth (259).
Women’s Harter’s Habonero 5k
There was almost a repeat winner here, but Mia Cochran edged Arkansas teammate Paityn Noe as both were clocked in 15:56.3. Both were faster than last year, when Noe won in 16:09.4 and Cochran was 10th in 17:15.0.
The No. 12 Razorbacks finished third in the team standings behind SEC rivals Texas (42) and LSU (75). The Longhorns were led by Olivia Howell, who moved from ninth at the 3.5k split to finish third individually in 16:25.1.
CSU Pueblo, ranked No. 5 in NCAA DII, was fourth with 118 points, ahead of Rice (127) and NCAA DII No. 3 Western Colorado (197). In ninth was NJCAA DI No. 3 Iowa Central CC (310) ahead of two other NJCAA DI ranked teams: No. 5 Crowder (Mo.) in 11th (356) and No. 7 Hutchinson (Kan.) CC in 13th (382).
Men’s Collegiate Prairie Fire Pepper 8k
Miquel Cruz of NJCAA DII No. 6 Cowley (Kan.) ran away with the individual title, clocking 25:51.0 to win by 28.8 seconds over Gary Mata of NCAA DII West Alabama.
UT Dallas of NCAA DIII won the team title with 79 points over NJCAA DII No. 9 NorthWest Arkansas CC (106) and NAIA Evangel (Mo.) (113). West Alabama (154) and Cowley (159) rounded out the top-5.
Women’s Collegiate Prairie Fire Pepper 5k
Emina Alagic, running unattached, won the individual race in 17:29.7, while Elizabeth Hernandez of Butler (Kan.) CC was the top collegian in 17:45.8 to edge College of the Ozarks (Mo.) grad Abigayle Money (competing now for the Arkansas Running Club) by 0.1 seconds.
College of Saint Mary (Neb.) of the NAIA bettered NJCAA DI No. 10 Butler for the team title, 79-88. Next were Missouri S&T of NCAA DII (154), College of the Ozarks of NAIA (170), Missouri St. Louis of NCAA DII (175), NJCAA DII No. 21 Cowley (Kan.) (219) and NJCAA DIII No. 2 Jefferson (Mo.) (223).
Gans Creek Classic
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The site of this year’s NAIA Championships and next year’s NCAA DI Championships attracted some top-level talent.
Men’s DI 8k
Edward Bird of Kentucky ran away from Stanford’s Leo Young in the final sprint to win by 1.3 seconds. Bird set a new course record of 23:07.6.
No. 10 Stanford easily took the team title with 31 points as fellow scorers Cole Sprout (third), Lex Young (fifth), Thomas Boyden (eighth) and Paul Bergeron (13th) were among the 15 who bettered the former course record of 23:33.5 from the 2021 SEC Championships.
Tennessee (163), Auburn (167), Missouri (180) and Kentucky (185) completed the SEC-dominated top-5 teams.
Women’s DI 6k
Auburn freshman Brenda Jepchirchir (19:50.1) held on to win by 3.6 seconds over Stanford’s Zofia Dudek as both bettered the course record of 19:55.2. Jepchirchir bolted to an early lead and led by as much as 25.3 seconds at the 4k split.
No. 8 Stanford, which had four in the top-10, won the team title with 44 points over three other nationally ranked squads: No. 9 Tennessee (91), No. 26 Ole Miss (120) and No. 6 Florida (131).
Men’s Open 8k
Geofrey Ronoh of NJCAA DI No. 1 Iowa Western CC ran his winning streak to four straight, claiming this title by an impressive 5.4 seconds in 23:25.0 after running third before the final stretch.
Ronoh’s Reiver teammates followed in 3-4-8-22 to easily win the team title with 38 points. Next were NAIA No. 10 Oklahoma City (117), NCAA DII No. 25 Washburn (123), NAIA No. 17 Spring Arbor (Mich.) (137) and NAIA No. 7 Indiana Wesleyan (171).
Women’s Open 6k
Taylor (Ind.) freshman Jaynie Halterman took control in the final 2k to win by an impressive 27.1 seconds in 20:56.7 over Tula Fawbush, who competed unattached.
Halterman’s teammates followed in 4-5-14-18 but lost the team battle to NCAA DII No. 30 Fort Hays State, whose total of 40 points was just ahead of the Trojans’ 42. Taylor is ranked No. 4 in the latest NAIA poll and won the national title in 2022.
Prominent ranked NAIA programs completed the top-5: No. 5 Cumberlands (Ky.) with 86 points, No. 11 Grace (Ind.) with 153 and No. 15 Indiana Wesleyan with 170.
Heartland CC Invitational
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NJCAA DIII teams – with defending champions and three nationally ranked programs in the top-5 in both men and women – earned unique attention at Maxwell Park in Normal, Illinois, where the NJCAA Region 4 Championships are set to be held in late-October.
Women’s 5k
Nora Brady of host Heartland (Ill.) CC claimed the individual title in 18:10.3. Brady – runner-up in last year’s NJCAA DII Cross Country Championships – won by 50.6 seconds over Isabella Wojciechowski of NJCAA DIII two-time reigning champion Harper (Ill.). Wojciechowski was followed by twin sister Claudia in third and fourth-placer Jailey Pigg of NJCAA DIII No. 1 Mineral Area (Mo.).
The team battle was incredibly close, with the DIII Cardinals topping the hosts by two points, 32-34. Next were NJCAA DIII No. 5 Joliet (Ill.) JC (78). Harper didn’t have a score, with just four finishers.
Men’s 8k
Owen Whelan of NJCAA DIII No. 2 and reigning champion Harper (Ill.) won by 19.9 seconds over the host’s Collin Delagrange in 26:26.4. Nathan Ciarlette of NJCAA DIII No. 3 Joliet (Ill.) JC was third in 26:51.5.
The Harper Hawks made easy team scoring, placing six in the top-10 to score 29 points. Heartland (60) and Sauk Valley (Ill.) CC (74) – both DII programs – were closest, just ahead of DIII Joliet (86). Mineral Area (Mo.) – No. 3 in the NJCAA DIII rankings and top-3 in the nationals every year since 2019 – was sixth with 151 points.