Meet Recap: 2024 NCAA DII Cross Country Championships

Champions were crowned on Saturday at the 2024 NCAA DII Cross Country Championships!

The meet was held at the Arcade Creek Cross Country Course in Sacramento, California.

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

Teams from the RMAC swept the team titles – Colorado School of Mines in the men and Adams State in the women.

Men’s 10k Race

The team battle came down to just three points. 

No. 2 Colorado School of Mines claimed top honors, taking down No. 1 Wingate by a mere three points, 63-66. This is Orediggers’ fourth national title and first since 2022.

Wingate led the way in the team scores for nearly nine kilometers. But over the final 1000 meters, the Orediggers dug deep and placed three in the top ten with Logan Bocovich, Loic Scomparin and Ethan Grolnic placing 7-8-9 to seal the deal.

No. 5 West Texas A&M’s William Amponsah took home the individual glory, winning in 29:40.8. He led the entire race to win his first second straight individual title and become the first back-to-back winner since Adams State’s Tabor Stevens, who won in 2013 and 2014. Amponsah led his team to a massive fourth-place finish, which matches their result last year. 

No. 4 Adams State (113) and No. 3 Grand Valley State (171) rounded out the top five teams, placing 3rd and 5th around the 138 points by West Texas A&M. 

Women’s 6k Race

Adams State was the No. 1 team all season long, and that standing didn’t change here.

The Grizzlies won the team title, the program’s 21st national title on the women’s side as they stepped up from last year’s runner-up finish.

Adams State packed up around the 3.8k mark, holding onto four back-to-back spots at one point, and never looked back. The Grizzlies had five runners in top-20 with Elena Cary (seventh), Tristian Spence (11th), Morgan O’Keefe (14th), Precious Robinson (18th) and Ava O’Connor (19th). They scored 61 points, which was nearly 70 points ahead of the rest of the field.

It was quite the day for the South Central Region, which swept the top-3 team positions. No. 7 West Texas A&M placed second with 127 points after being neck-and-neck with Adams State for most of the race. No. 9 CSU Pueblo bounced back from a tough regional meet to secure third (160). No. 2 Grand Valley State placed fourth (179), ahead of yet another South Central Region team in Colorado School of Mines (238). 

Grand Valley State’s Lauren Kiley took home the individual win, crossing the line in 20:28.5. Alaska Fairbanks had two runners in the top-10 – Kendall Kramer (2nd) and Rosie Fordham (8th). Jenna Ramsey-Rutledge of Mines was third, followed by Seattle Pacific’s Annika Esvelt and Fort Lewis’ Hannah Hartwell to round out the top-5 individuals.