Mizzou’s Lofty Ambition As Host Of 2025 NCAA DI Cross Country Championships: “Our Goal Is To Attract Over 10,000 Spectators”

If University of Missouri cross country head coach Brett Halter has his druthers, the upcoming 2025 NCAA DI Cross Country Championships will be the most well-attended meet in history.

“Our goal is to attract over 10,000 spectators,” Halter said. “Audacious, yes, but we believe we can draw upon our centrally located and easily accessible community to hit that goal for the student-athletes who qualify for the championship.”

The Gans Creek Cross Country Course, home of this year’s NCAA Championships, is based  in Columbia, Missouri. Columbia, or CoMo, is about two hours from both Kansas City and St. Louis, which together have a combined population of roughly 5.1 million in their greater metro areas. The Columbia Regional Airport also offers direct flights from major airline hubs such as Chicago and Denver.

Convenience aside, Halter sees the Gans Creek Cross Country Course itself – which opened in 2019 and was awarded with the 2025 championships less than one year later – as a beacon.

“In an extraordinary partnership between the City of Columbia Parks & Recreation Department and the University of Missouri Athletics Department, we were able to draw upon some of the best components of stand-alone cross country courses around the United States and incorporate them into a course that was built from scratch – a blank canvas,” Halter said. “The result is the most technologically advanced, athlete driven and spectator friendly cross country venue that showcases sport while providing a world class experience for both the student-athlete and spectator.”

Student-athletes and spectators will get their first glimpse of the course at the Mizzou Opener later this month, followed by the loaded Gans Creek Classic on September 28, which will feature at least 20 teams per gender from last year’s NCAA Championships. Three weeks later, the Mizzou-hosted Pre-National Invitational will be the last stop for many before the postseason. Then, it all comes to a head in the Show-Me State on Saturday, November 22.

This will be the first time that the NCAA DI Cross Country Championships will be held in Missouri. The Show-Me State previously hosted the NCAA DII and NCAA DIII Championships as early as 1976 and 1988, respectively, with the most recent installment in 2023.