USTFCCCA News & Notes
Weekend Recap: Lewis Crossover, Ray Bullock Invitational Headline Action
They keep running. We keep writing.
The cross country season is in full swing.
From The USTFCCCA InfoZone: Meets & Results
NAIA and NCAA DII programs took centerstage across the nation.
Find out what stood out to us during a busy weekend of cross country.
Lewis Crossover
Men’s 8k
Ramon Rodriguez of Tiffin won the individual title in 23:44.2 – 3.1 seconds ahead of Colorado Christian’s Matthew Storer, who earned runner-up honors for the second year in a row.
Rounding out the top-5 individuals were Mario Giannini of Chico State (23:51.6), Jack Lobodzinski of Saginaw Valley State (23:58.4) and Tiffin’s Louis Ginane (24:04.3).
The team battle featured 12 NCAA Division II ranked teams, and the highest-rated of those won the team title as No. 6 Colorado Christian tallied 106 points on 2-19-25-26-34 scoring (with Nos. 6 and 7 following closely in 35th and 36th).
Runner-up honors went to No. 10 Saginaw Valley State, which packed three runners among the top-11 (and four in the top-18) to score 143 points. No. 14 Western Washington was third with 163 points, ahead of No. 8 Chico State (198). No. 13 Pittsburg State (201) edged No. 21 Florida Southern (202) for fifth place.
Completing the top-10 teams were No. 16 Lewis (291), No. 18 Northwest Nazarene (295), unranked Alaska Anchorage (317) and No. 17 Fort Lewis (324).
Women’s 6k
In a tight finish, Hannah Hartwell of Fort Lewis just held off the fast-closing Claire Rethman of Walsh to claim the individual title in 20:45.07 – just 0.02 seconds faster than Rethman.
Paige Mullen of Pittsburg State (21:09.1), Iresh Molina of Chico State (21:12.2) and Hannah Gibson of Pittsburg State (21:18.7) rounded out the top-5 individuals.
Nine NCAA Division II ranked teams finished in a much different order than their current rating, with No. 15 Chico State winning with 100 points. No. 9 Lewis was runner-up (140) while Biola – unranked but receiving votes – finished third (180). No. 28 Colorado Mesa was fourth with 210 points and No. 14 Pittsburg State completed the top-5 with 220 points.
Next in the top-10 were Western Washington (246), No. 20 Tampa (253), No. 10 Walsh (273), Alaska Anchorage (330) and No. 11 Fort Lewis (371).
Bill Dellinger Invitational
Men’s 8k
Oregon made it look easy on Friday.
The 14th-ranked Ducks nearly registered a perfect score as they went 1-2-3-4-6 for 16 points. Benjamin Balazs won the individual title in 23:08.2, less than two seconds ahead of teammate Evan Bishop. Balazs, Bishop, and Abdel Laadjel worked together through 7k before Balazs pulled away.
No. 23 Air Force took second as a team with 50 points.
Women’s 6k
Diana Cherotich dominated in her cross country debut.
Cherotich smashed the 6k course record on Friday, winning in 18:58.8 – more than 40 seconds ahead of teammate Juliet Cherubet. Cherotich and Cherubet were lockstep through 2k before Cherotich went to work and put six seconds between them by 3k and 27 seconds by 5k.
No. 4 Oregon easily won the team title with 16 points.
Ray Bullock Invitational
Men’s 8k
Five usually beats three – especially in cross country.
No. 4 Taylor went 1-2 with Luke Harber and Ryan Hanak finishing in 25:01.4 and 25:05.4, respectively – plus Nathan Burns in ninth – but No. 2 Indiana Wesleyan packed its entire scoring lineup in the top ten to earn a 32-39 victory on Friday.
The Wildcats, led by Josh Brainbridge and Hunter Wasnich, took places 4-5-6-7-10 with a 30-second spread – one that shrinks to less than eight seconds, if you remove their fifth man.
Women’s 6k
Jaynie Halterman and top-ranked Taylor left no doubt.
Halterman obliterated the 6k course record of 21:52.3 – and kept her undefeated streak against NAIA competition intact – with a commanding 20:38.0 victory on Friday. The Trojans followed her lead, overwhelming the field for a 24-67 win over No. 5 Indiana Wesleyan.
At the two-mile mark, Halterman held a slim two-second lead over Marian (Ind.)’s Katie Woods, 11:43 to 11:45. From there, Halterman shifted gears and blew the race wide open, putting more than one minute on Woods over the final 1.7 miles to win by a decisive 1:08.