Weekend Recap: 2024 NCAA DI Cross Country Conference Championships

The best season is the postseason.

We’re officially in that realm in NCAA DI Cross Country.

From The USTFCCCA InfoZone: Meets & Results | USTFCCCA Scoreboard

Out of the 31 conferences holding their championships this weekend, 14 have at least one nationally ranked program among their coffers.

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You probably want to know two things: how the top-10 of the most recent NCAA DI National Coaches’ Polls fared and what were the biggest meets of the weekend. Well, we got you covered.

How The Top-10 Fared
Men’s National Coaches’ Poll			Women’s National Coaches’ Poll
Team	Result		Team	Result
No. 1 Oklahoma State	Big 12 runner-up		No. 1 BYU	Big 12 champion
No. 2 BYU	Big 12 champion		No. 2 Washington	Big Ten runner-up
No. 3 Arkansas	SEC champion		No. 3 Northern Arizona	Big Sky champion
No. 4 Iowa State	Big 12 3rd place		No. 4 West Virginia	Big 12 runner-up
No. 5 Stanford	ACC runner-up		No. 5 Notre Dame	ACC champion
No. 6 New Mexico	MWC champion		No. 6 Utah	Big 12 3rd place
No. 7 Wake Forest	ACC champion		No. 7 Alabama	SEC champion
No. 8 Northern Arizona	Big Sky champion		No. 8 New Mexico	MWC champion
No. 9 Wisconsin	Big Ten champion		No. 9 Georgetown	Big East champion
No. 10 Notre Dame	ACC 6th place		No. 10 NC State	ACC 5th place

ACC Championships

CLICK HERE FOR RESULTS FROM THE MEET

Men’s 8k

From the top rope!

Virginia’s Gary Martin came out on top of a historically quick field, running 22:17.6 to notch a new 8k personal best and his first ACC title. Martin took down the talented Tar Heel duo of Ethan Strand and defending champion Parker Wolfe, who each crossed in 22:25.5 and 22:29.8, respectively.

After putting all five runners inside the top-15 places, the seventh-ranked Wake Forest squad spoiled No. 5 Stanford’s first ACC experience, and also beat defending champion No. 13 North Carolina. The Demon Deacons posted 60 points, while Stanford and North Carolina finished second and third with 69 and 80 points, respectively. 

No. 16 Virginia, No. 12 Syracuse, and No. 10 Notre Dame filled out the top-5 teams.

Women’s 6k

The streak is snapped! 

NC State’s Grace Hartman took down a talented field as she won her first ACC individual title this morning, breaking the tape in 19:15.1, making it six consecutive individual titles for the Wolfpack. Clemson’s Silvia Jelego and Hartman’s teammate Hannah Gapes weren’t far behind, running  19:22.6 and 19:26.5, respectively.

Despite Siona Chisholm being the lone Notre Dame athlete in the top-10, the fifth-ranked Irish held off both No. 15 Stanford and No. 19 North Carolina for their first conference title in program history. Chisholm and company tallied 115 points, while the Cardinal and Tar Heels were both even at 121, with Stanford winning the tiebreaker.

No. 21 Virginia, No. 10 NC State, No. 30 Boston College, No. 13 Florida State, and No. 23 Syracuse filled out the top-8 teams in the conference.

Big 12 Championships

CLICK HERE FOR RESULTS FROM THE MEET

Men’s 8k

That did NOT disappoint.

How could it with three top-5 programs in the mix?

No. 2 BYU surged over the final 1k to upset No. 1 Oklahoma State, 41-52. The Cougars went 3-7-8-11-12 with their scoring five, compared to 1-6-9-17-19 for the Cowboys. Oklahoma State led by seven points at the 7k split, yet BYU’s James Corrigan and Joey Nokes combined to move up five spots down the homestretch to help their squad win the conference crown. Casey Clinger was the top finishing Cougar in 22:09.2, just 0.7 seconds back of runner-up Solomon Kipchoge of Texas Tech.

Brian Musau gave Oklahoma State the ultimate low stick for the second year in a row with an individual title. Musau traversed the 8k tract in 22:07.0. He was one of two Cowboys in the individual top-10, alongside Victor Shitsama in ninth at 22:31.0.

No. 4 Iowa State ran a strong third behind BYU and Oklahoma State with 62 points, while No. 30 Texas Tech upended No. 24 Colorado for fourth place.

Women’s 6k

Top-ranked BYU made quick work of the team race.

So did Ceili McCabe of West Virginia in the individual race.

The Cougars rolled to victory with 41 points, as they put four runners in the top-10: Lexy Halladay-Lowry was fifth in 19:50.5, Riley Chamberlain was sixth in 19:54.3, Taylor Rohatinsky was seventh in 19:55.3 and Carmen Alder was tenth in 19:58.8. Destiny Everett wasn’t too far behind in 13^th, giving BYU five finishers before only one other team had three (West Virginia).

Speaking of the fourth-ranked Mountaineers, they took runner-up honors behind the Cougars thanks to the stellar running of McCabe and Joy Naukot. McCabe captured the individual title in 19:02.6, 14.3 seconds faster than Juliet Cherubet of Texas Tech. Naukot was a clear third in 19:81.1, some 14 seconds ahead of the fourth-place finisher.

No. 6 Utah took third in the team standings with No. 18 Oklahoma State and Texas State in fourth and fifth place, respectively.

Big Ten Championships

CLICK HERE FOR RESULTS FROM THE MEET

Men’s 8k

Wisconsin’s Bob Liking etched his name in history with a fourth-straight individual title, running the last 3k alone to win by 7.7 seconds in 22:47.3. Only Illinois’ Craig Virgin won four-straight men’s titles (1973-76) with Bob Kennedy of Indiana (1988-90, ’92) and Kevin Sullivan of Michigan (1993-95, ’97) also having four career wins.

Runner-up honors went to Michael Mireles of UCLA in 22:55.0, who was followed by Washington’s Nathan Green (22:56.9) and the Oregon duo of Simeon Birnbaum (22:57.2) and Elliott Cook (22:57.6), the latter edging the Huskies’ Evan Jenkins by 0.1 seconds as the longtime Pac-12 rivals needed the tiebreaker in the team standings.

Wisconsin won the team title for a seventh-straight time, totaling 46 points with all five scorers in the top-15. A pair of Badger freshmen were in the top-10 – Christian de Vaal (seventh) and Matan Ivri (10^th). It was also the 16^th men’s team title for coach Mick Byrne, who now sits alone at the top in Big Ten history in that regard.

That 0.1 difference for 5^th and 6^th place wasn’t the only close finish among Washington and Oregon runners – the fourth runners for each squad were both timed in 23:08.3 (Tyrone Gorze of UW edging Duck freshman Tayson Echohawk). Both teams scored 58 points, with the No. 18 Huskies earning second place based on the tiebreaker (3-2 head-to-head) over No. 25 Oregon.

Another pair of rivals – Michigan State (125) and Michigan (158) – completed the top-5.

Women’s 6k

Silan Ayyilidiz of Oregon out-sprinted teammate Maddy Elmore to win the individual title by an even second in 19:13.6. Ali Weimer of Minnesota (19:25.0), Michigan State freshman Rachel Forsyth (19:26.2) and Penn State’s Florence Caron (19:29.1) rounded out the top-5.

The Duck duo led a stunning upset as No. 17 Oregon toppled No. 2 Washington, 33-60, with the former Pac-12 rivals making a splash debut in this conference. Oregon added Mia Barnett in seventh, Klaudia Kazimierska in 11^th and Anika Thompson in 12^th as their top-5 ran within 28 seconds of each other and their entire top-7 ran sub-20.

No. 11 Wisconsin was third with 133 points, followed by No. 24 Penn State (134), No. 22 Minnesota (146), defending champion No. 26 Michigan State (173) and RV Northwestern (201).