Wide Open Women’s Races Headline NCAA DI Championships

NOTE: The following is an editorial by David Woods of DyeStat.com.

The 2024 NCAA DI Cross Country Championships are set for Saturday at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course in Madison, Wisconsin.

Races start at 9:20 a.m. CT for women, 10:10 a.m. for men. ESPNU’s live coverage starts at 8:30.

Oregon can block BYU title sweep

BYU has been No. 1 since winning pre-nationals at Wisconsin. The Cougars could run to the first half of a sweep, and the women are perhaps more able to do so than the men.

At pre-nationals, BYU’s women had a 32-second spread, beating No. 6 Washington 105-157. In the Mountain Regional, the Cougars held out top runner Lexy Halladay-Lowry and still won 52-65 over No. 3 Northern Arizona — which handed BYU its only defeat back on Oct. 4 at Notre Dame’s Piane Invitational.

BYU has rebounded from 14th place at NCAAs in 2023. BYU was second in 2019, first in March 2021 (postponed by pandemic) and second in November 2021.

The last school to sweep women’s and men’s team championships was Colorado in 2004.

Yet there is no ducking the Ducks.

Coach Shalane Flanagan, an individual champion in 2002 and 2003, has assembled a resurgent Oregon team. Milers Silan Ayyildiz and Klaudia Kazimierska opened Nov. 1 in the Big Ten, where a 1-2-7-11-12 finish gave Oregon 33 points and the team title in their conference debut.

After 1-2 in the Big Ten, Ayyildiz and Maddy Elmore went 2-3 in the West Regional for another low score (43) by the Ducks.

Oregon last won the NCAA championship in 2016. The Ducks have not reached the podium since placing third in 2018.

New Mexico’s Kosgei has the resume (and genes)

Bridget Kosgei has already beaten a Parker Valby record at Wisconsin, and now she can succeed Valby as NCAA champion.

Kosgei, a 20-year-old Kenyan freshman at New Mexico, crushed Valby’s course record by 18 seconds at pre-nationals. (Granted, Kosgei had firmer footing than Valby did in a rainy 2023 race.)

Kosgei is 4-0 as a collegian. At pre-nationals, she beat Florida’s Hilda Olemomoi, who was second at NCAAs in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters for Alabama. Olemomoi was fourth in NCAA cross-country in 2023 and sixth in 2022.

Kosgei was an under-20 bronze medalist at cross country’s World Championships in February 2023. She is the sister of Brigid Kosgei, a former marathon world record-holder who won a silver medal at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

No freshman has won since North Carolina State’s Suzie Tuffey in 1985.

Two other Kenyan contenders: Doris Lemngole, who was Olemomoi’s teammate at Alabama, and Caroline Jeptanui, a 25-year-old Tulane freshman. Lemngole, a junior, was the NCAA steeplechase champion and second to Valby in cross-country.

What about these teams?

If this is not a BYU/Oregon dual meet, it will be because of one of these four teams:

No. 3 Northern Arizona, No. 4 West Virginia, No. 5 Notre Dame, No. 6 Washington.

NAU – one point behind North Carolina State at last year’s NCAAs – was third at pre-nationals behind BYU and Washington. NAU, which did beat BYU at Piane, has not run the same lineup in any race this season.

West Virginia was second in the Big 12, fourth at pre-nationals.

Notre Dame was third at Piane before winning its first ACC title and then another Great Lakes Regional. The Fighting Irish were fourth in the NCAA in 2023, seventh in 2022, fifth in 2021.

Washington was second in the Big Ten behind Oregon on a flat Illinois course in warm temperatures, favoring the Ducks’ milers. On a harder course in colder weather, results can change. Before the Big Ten, Washington merited a No. 2 ranking.

Don’t overlook these runners

Some of the compelling narratives in this sport are not at the front, but a little farther back.

For instance, three years ago: Ceili McCabe was third, Olivia Markezich 11th, Katelyn Tuohy 15th, Valby 27th. All became NCAA champions, or Olympians, or both.

Add two more: Amy Bunnage and Paityn Noe, both age 16 in November 2021.

McCabe, of West Virginia, was fourth at pre-nationals and won the Big 12. She bypassed the 2023 cross-country and 2024 outdoor collegiate seasons in a successful bid to make the Canadian Olympic team in the steeple.

Bunnage, a Stanford sophomore from Australia, opened her season by winning the West Regional. She ran an indoor 5K in 15:11 last February.

Noe is an Arkansas sophomore who was a 4:43 miler at her Iowa high school and a former basketball player. She was seventh at pre-nationals, third in the SEC, first in the South Central Regional. She could be the top U.S. finisher.

Connecticut’s Chloe Thomas, 21, another Canadian, was fifth at pre-nationals before winning the Big East and Northeast Regional.

Power conferences fill the field

Realignment, and especially destruction of the Pac-12, has reduced power conferences to four. That is reflected in women’s cross country as much as in football.

Of the 31 NCAA spots, 23 are devoured by the big four: ACC (8), Big Ten (6), SEC (5), Big 12 (4).