USTFCCCA News & Notes
Elite College Competition Gathering In Madison For Nuttycombe On Friday
By Keenan Gray, DyeStat.com
WATCH THE NUTTYCOMBE INVITATIONAL LIVE ON FRIDAY|DYESTAT DISCUSSIONS
The NCAA cross country season kicks into high gear on Friday Oct. 17 with the nation’s best teams and individuals returning to Madison, Wisc. for the annual Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course.
Here are 10 storylines to follow:
Habtom Samuel Lacing Up For Another Run In Madison
Habtom Samuel has had his fair share of success in Madison over his two years at New Mexico.
His freshman season in 2023 he finished third at Nuttycombe to Olympians Graham Blanks and Nico Young, then won the Wisconsin Pre-Nationals race as a sophomore in a 8-kilometer course record 22:33.8.
As good as those races were, they don’t compare to his runner-up finish at last fall’s NCAA championships where he ran the last half of the 10k race with only one shoe.
At 5k, Samuel was spiked by another competitor, cutting not only his foot but dislodging his shoe. He remained with the lead pack all the way to finish line, finishing a little over a second behind Blanks, who repeated as the national champion.
Whether it’s on his mind or not, rest assured Samuel will come prepared Friday with the proper footwear and perhaps double, triple knot those laces.
Samuel’s return to racing comes four months after two runner-up finishes at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the men’s 5,000 and 10,000. He will be one of many in contention for this weekend’s Nuttycombe individual title, which figures to have Washington State’s Solomon Kipchoge and Evans Kurui, Tulane’s Bernard Cheruiyot, Notre Dame’s Ethan Coleman, Michigan State’s Riley Hough and Colorado’s Dominic Serem.
NC State Women Back In National Title Form
The conversation around the nation’s best women’s teams in the preseason included both BYU and Oregon. It’s time to put NC State in there, too.
Without racing All-American Grace Hartman and world steeplechase finalist Angelina Napoleon at the Sean Earl Loyola Lakefront Invitational on, NC State looked every bit like a team that could compete for a national championship.
Led by All-American Hannah Gapes winning the individual title, the Wolfpack scored 34 points, one of the lowest scores in meet history.
Gapes’ individual win was the cherry on top of a dominant team performance. NC State put six women in the top 25, including five scorers in the top 15. Gapes, Bethany Michalak and Kate Putman all ran personal bests over the 6-kilometer distance, Brooke Rauber was a second off her own best time from her freshman year and Sadie Engelhardt impressed in her collegiate debut, nearly breaking 20 minutes.
Napoleon expects to be back in the line-up and Hartman will be a gametime decision this weekend at Nuttycombe. With those two back on the start line, the possibility of the Wolfpack winning a fourth national title in five years is there for the taking. Last fall, NC State finished eighth at the national meet, the first time it missed the podium since the 2021 spring COVID season.
NC State last won a Nuttycombe team title back in 2022 when Katelyn Tuohy led the way in a course record performance of 19 minutes, 44.3 seconds. The Wolfpack are one of 19 nationally ranked squads in Friday’s field, which will also include No. 5 New Mexico, No. 6 Northern Arizona, No. 7 Notre Dame, No. 9 West Virginia and No. 10 Colorado.
Defending National Champs Return To Madison
The lilneup may be a little different, but the title “national champions” still belongs to the men of BYU in its return to Madison.
It’s been almost a year since the BYU men completed a memorable 2024 season at the Thomas Zimmer course, winning the program’s second national title behind All-American finishes from Casey Clinger, Creed Thomspon, Joey Nokes and Lucas Bons.
However, those four men, along with Aidan Troutner, have moved on. This year’s BYU team is completely revamped.
Davin Thompson and James Corrigan are the only returning members from last year’s team, which now features youthful talent in the likes of Noah Jenkins, Tayvon Kitchen, Max Davis and Dalton Mortenson. In addition, seniors Garrett and Jacob Stanford and Luke Grundvig are getting their opportunities to contribute after long careers.
The biggest edition coach Ed Eyestone acquired out of the transfer portal this offseason was Thomas Boyden from Stanford, a native of Salt Lake City.
Without Corrigan and Boyden in the line-up, BYU finished fifth at the Gans Creek Classic on Sept. 26. Add those two back in the line-up by the end of season and BYU becomes a podium contender once again.
No. 6 BYU will take another loaded field of teams at this year’s Nuttycombe, featuring 17 other ranked schools including No. 1 Iowa State, No. 3 New Mexico, No. 5 Colorado, No. 7 Wisconsin and No. 9 Notre Dame.
From Worlds To Cross Country
Nearly a month since the conclusion of the World Athletics Outdoor Championships in Tokyo, three collegians are making the quick turnaround from the track to the cross country scene.
NC State’s Angelina Napoleon is expected to be on the start line for Wolfpack after making the world final in the women’s steeplechase for the United States. Napoleon finished 81st at Wisconsin Pre-Nationals and 96th at the NCAA Championships fall.
Cal Baptist, which won the men’s team title at Roy Griak in September, welcomes back star Valentin Soca. The CBU school record holder at 1,500, 5,000 and 10,000 distances qualified for the world 5,000 final for Uruguay. Soca was 16th at the Wisconsin Pre-Nationals and 33rd at the NCAA Championships last fall.
North Carolina welcomed Vera Sjöberg to the program this offseason after spending three years with Boston University. She expects to make her Tar Hell debut a month after representing Sweden at worlds in the women’s 1,500. Sjöberg finished 42nd at the NCAA championships in the fall with Boston.
Can Wazzu Complete Another Big Meet Individual Sweep?
At the Gans Creek Classic, the Iowa State men and Florida women asserted themselves as national championship contenders.
Washington State, one of two teams left to keep the Pac-12 intact, completed the individual title sweep at Gans Creek, appearing to now have some national title contenders themselves.
Texas Tech transfer Solomon Kipchoge has impressed in his first three races with the Cougars, highlighted by his eight-second win at Gans Creek in the men’s gold 8k race in a blazing 22:24.7 for a course record. Along with Evans Kurui, the Cougars arguably have the best duo in the entire country.
And then there’s freshman Rosemary Longisa, who in three races with Washington State has set two course records at both the Cougar Classic and Gans Creek Classic. At Gans Creek, Longisa ran 19:07 to win the women’s gold race, beating Tennessee’s Mary Ogwoka right at the line.
Based on time alone, Kipchoge and Longisa are both No. 2 in the NCAA in their respective divisions and have helped elevate Washington State’s men and women into the national coaches’ poll together in the same season for the first time ever, according to USTFCCCA records.
Kipchoge returns to Madison for the first time since the NCAA Championships last fall where he didn’t complete the race. This will be Longisa’s first time racing at the Thomas Zimmer course.
A Glance At NAU In Post-Mike Smith Era
It came as a shock when Mike Smith announced last fall that he would be leaving the Northern Arizona University program to pursue professional coaching with Nike’s newest elite training group Swoosh TC.
That moment has since passed, and the Jarred Cornfield era is now underway in Flagstaff.
Both the men’s and women’s program entered the season ranked No 14 and No. 10, respectively, in the national polls. A month into season, the Lumberjack men are No. 13 and the women are No. 6.
The women showed their depth at the Gans Creek Classic, finishing second to No. 3 Florida by 20 points in the gold race. Agnes McTighe and Hayley Burns finished in the top 15 and the top five scorers had a 38-second spread. Karrie Baloga, two-time All-American in steeplechase, was not in the line-up that day and is not on the start list for Nuttycombe.
The men were just as impressive at Gans Creek, finishing eighth in a very competitive gold race. 42 seconds separated the top seven finishers and 29 seconds separated the top five scorers. Erik Le Roux finished 21st as the low stick. Colin Sahlman, the team’s lone senior, wasn’t in the line-up at Gans Creek but expects to race at Nuttycombe.
Both teams, which feature a handful of underclassmen, will learn more about each other this Friday in Wisconsin.
Are the Northwestern Women This Year’s West Virginia?
To think the West Virginia women would go from receiving votes at the beginning of the 2024 season to finishing second at the NCAA Championships was unimaginable.
This year’s Northwestern women’s team has shown similar signs in this early season of making an incredible run just like last fall’s Mountaineers team.
West Virginia had the luxury of having two low sticks in Ceili McCabe and Joy Naukot that helped propel them to a historic team finish in Madison. Northwestern has three: Ava Earl, Holly Smith and Ava Criniti. On any given day, those three could be Northwestern’s No. 1, especially with how close they were (within seven seconds) at Lakefront Invitational.
What sets Northwestern apart from last year’s West Virginia team is its depth. The top eight runners on this year’s Northwestern team have a spread of 59.4 seconds, compared to 66 seconds for West Virginia’s top five from last season.
Northwestern put up pretty good fight against NC State at Lakefront Invitational, finishing only 23 points behind the nation’s No. 2 team. That performance moved Northwestern to No. 18 in the latest national poll, the highest ranking ever in program history.
This week’s Nuttycombe, where they finished 18th in last year’s meet, is another chance to show the country what the Wildcats bring to the table this fall against nationally ranked competition.
What Individuals Can Take The Next Step?
A meet like Nuttycombe gives improving runners a chance to show what they’re made of on a national stage.
Athletes like Riley Hough and Melissa Riggins appear to have taken that next step at the start of their senior seasons.
Hough of Michigan State had his fastest season opener for 8k to date on Sept. 12 at the Spartan Invite, running 23:41.2, followed by an eighth-place finish at the Gans Creek Classic in an 8k personal best time of 22:50.8. Hough, No. 13 in the NCAA on time, is not only looking like a front-runner in the Big Ten, but a top 10 runner at the NCAA Championships.
Riggins of Georgetown opened her season with a 6k personal best time of 19:34.8, winning the Paul Short Run title on Oct. 3. Her time ranks No. 12 in the NCAA and is 13 seconds ahead of where she was at last season. Riggins is the top returner from last fall’s Big East Championships and should be a favorite to win the individual title.
Hough and Riggins aren’t the only runners aiming to prove their worth this weekend. Tulane’s Bernard Cheruiyot, Notre Dame’s Ethan Coleman and Colorado’s Dominic Serem on the men’s side and NC State’s Bethany Michalak, NAU’s Agnes McTighe and Colorado’s Jessie Secor aim to their fast starts to the season.
Impact Freshmen
The next wave of the NCAA’s future stars have arrived in a big way to begin the 2025 cross country season. Their journey continues in Madison this Friday.
Eastern Kentucky’s Brian Kimutai and BYU’s Tayvon Kitchen were the fourth and fifth fastest freshmen, respectively, at the Gans Creek Classic. Kimutai ran 23:08.42 and Kitchen followed in 23:11.12 for 8k, ranking them the sixth and seventh fastest freshman in the country this year. Kitchen won the 2024 Nike Cross Regional Northwest title before going on to run a sub-four mile (indoors) and a sub-8 3,000 meters (outdoors) at Crater High.
Louisville’s Elsingi Kipruto impressed in his collegiate debut, winning the Lakefront Invitational by over seven seconds in an 8k time of 23:14.5, the eighth-fastest freshman time in the country.
Notre Dame’s Cameron Todd, the 2023 Nike Cross Regional Midwest champion, and Harvard’s Tamrat Gavenas, the 2024 Foot Locker Cross Country champion, are another pair of American freshmen who have shown signs of impact in the early season. Todd ranks ninth in 23:19.1 and Gavenas is 10th in 23:20.1 at the 8k distance.
On the women’s side, two of the top four freshmen in the country had a great battle already at the Gans Creek Classic. Washington State’s Rosemary Longisa ultimately won the gold 6k race in 19:07 but she was challenged by Iowa State’s Mercyline Kirwa, who finished just six seconds behind Longisa in the end.
Colorado’s Mia Larochelle and Tulane’s Dorcas Naibei also put together great debuts for their schools at Gans Creek. Larochelle ran 19:46.8, ranking her 10th in the nation for freshman, and Naibei ran 20:14.1, 16th in the nation.
Engelhardt perhaps garnered the most attention in her collegiate debut at the Lakefront Invitational, running an impressive 20:00.2 to rank her 14th for freshman this fall.
From Nuttycombe Champs To National Champs
The past Nuttycombe Invitational team and individual champions have routinely continued on to have success at the NCAA Championships.
On the men’s side, seven of the 15 Nuttycombe team champions went onto win the NCAA national title the same season (BYU, 2024; NAU, 2023; NAU, 2018; NAU 2017; NAU, 2016; Syracuse, 2015; Wisconsin, 2011). Six of the 15 Nuttycombe individual champions won the individual title at nationals (Graham Blanks, 2023; Edwin Kurgat, 2019; Morgan McDonald, 2018, Justyn Knight, 2017, Lawi Lalang, 2011 & 2012).
On the women’s side, six of the 15 Nuttycombe team champions won an NCAA title (NC State, 2022; Arkansas, 2019; Colorado, 2018; New Mexico, 2017; New Mexico, 2015; Michigan State, 2014). Five of the 15 Nuttycombe individual champions won the NCAA title (Parker Valby, 2023; Katelyn Tuohy, 2022; Ednah Kurgat, 2017; Abbey D’Agostino, 2013; Shelia Reid, 2011).