NCAA DIII Cross Country Championships Weekend Doesn’t Disappoint

EDITOR’S NOTE: We’ll continue to update this post throughout the weekend.

Conference Championships Weekend is rolling along!

That means the postseason is finally here.

From The USTFCCCA InfoZone: Meets & Results | USTFCCCA Scoreboard
Related: Conference Championships Central | Rankings & Polls Central

There were 43 conference championships across the nation!

Here are some meets that stood out the most to us from the slate.

Men’s 8k Race

Elias Lindgren could not be caught on Saturday.

Lindgren captured the individual title at the NESCAC Cross Country Championships in 23:25.8, which was nearly 26 seconds faster than reigning individual champion Tyler Morris of Colby. Thanks to Lindgren’s low stick, No. 7 Williams won the team title with 41 points, as his teammates also took scoring places 4-7-14-15.

There were five other ranked squads in the field – six, if you count the Ephs.

No. 23 Colby, like Morris, took runner-up honors with 104 points – just two points ahead of No. 13 Middlebury (106). No. 30 Connecticut College ended up fourth with 126 points, 14 fewer than fifth-place No. 27 Bates.

No. 31 Tufts was sixth in the team standings with 141 points.

Women’s 6k Race

Amherst got the low stick.

Williams had the depth.

The 12th-ranked Ephs won their third consecutive conference title – sixth in the past seven years – at the NESCAC Cross Country Championships on Saturday, putting four athletes in the top-10 on their way to a 37-point total. Genna Girard led Williams with individual runner-up honors with her time of 21:31.3. Molly Fitzgibbons (fourth, 21:47.2) and Ella Ball (fifth, 21:49.9) also finished in the top-5 for the Ephs.

Mary Kate McGranahan of Amherst took top individual honors, as she broke the tape in 21:15.3, 16 seconds ahead of Girard. McGranahan’s low stick, the first for the Mammoths since 2017, helped the 14th-ranked squad take runner-up laurels behind Williams. Amherst put two other athletes in the top-10: Sophia Wolmer (ninth, 22:05.6) and Allison Lounsbury (22:06.6).

No. 16 Bates finished third in the team standings with 65 points with No. 29 Tufts fourth with 157. Unranked Hamilton rounded out the top-5 with 167.

Men’s 8k Race

In a conference racing for the 35^th time, No. 10 Emory won its first-ever men’s team crown with 48 points to hold off No. 9 Carnegie Mellon (64). The rest of the top-5 showed the UAA’s impressive quality with No. 20 Case Western Reserve earning third with 80 points over No. 29 Chicago (88) and No. 12 Washington (Mo.) (92). The Eagles made their move after 4k, when Carnegie Mellon held a 47-55 edge. Emory had three top-10 placers led by the 3-4 finish of Spencer Moore and Brett Lucas.

The individual race was won by Joseph Jaster of Case Western Reserve by 4.6 seconds in 24:44.5 with John Hood of Chicago earning runner-up honors.

Women’s 6k Race

In a battle of top-10 squads, No. 1 UChicago put four scorers in the top-5 to tally 36 points to win its first team title since 2013. No. 7 Washington (Mo.) – which had won the last seven titles – was runner-up with 46 points.

Combined, the two teams claimed seven of the top-10 individual finishes. The Maroons went 3-5-8-9-11 led by Anna Kenig-Ziesler (third in 21:41.2), while the Bears featured individual runner-up Emily Konkus (21:34.9) in scoring 2-6-7-14-17. Rounding out the top-5 were No. 23 NYU (78), No. 21 Emory (118) and Case Western Reserve (133).

Individual honors went to Emory’s Annika Urban in 21:14.4, winning by 19.5 seconds after finishing as runner-up last year.

Men’s 8k Race

Ethan Gregg ran away with top individual honors.

Gregg’s teammates helped No. 4 UW-La Crosse do the same with the team title.

Behind Gregg’s dominant 30.3-second victory, the Eagles sent four other runners across in the top-10 as they crushed the competition. Gregg crossed first in 23:38.4 and by the time Parker Huhn finished the 8k tract one minute and 45 seconds later, UW-La Crosse could finally celebrate as it compiled just 27 points on Saturday.

No. 11 UW-Whitewater finished a distant second with 51 points with No. 22 UW-Stout in third with 96. No. 34 UW-Eau Claire (100) and UW-Oshkosh (109) rounded out the top-5 teams.

Women’s 6k Race

Maddie Hannan led the way for UW-La Crosse on Saturday.

Hannan captured top individual honors at the WIAC Cross Country Championships in 21:41.5 and propelled the eighth-ranked Eagles to the team title over two other ranked teams. UW-La Crosse put up 26 points thanks to Hannan’s individual title, as well as five other athletes in the top-15.

No. 14 UW-Eau Claire finished runner-up behind the Eagles with 50 points. The Blugolds were paced by Carolyn Schult, who took runner-up honors behind Hannan in 21:47.6.

No. 33 UW-Oshkosh (99), UW-Stout (108) and UW-Whitewater (120) rounded out the top-5 teams.

Other Meets Of Interest

2022 A-R-C Cross Country Championships

CLICK HERE FOR RESULTS FROM THE MEET

Men’s 8k Race

No. 5 Wartburg made it five A-R-C titles in a row, packing all five scorers among the top-10 for a total of 26 points. The Knights were led by Christopher Collet – last year’s runner-up – as Wartburg claimed its fourth-straight individual title as well. Collet’s time of 24:32.2 gave him a winning margin of 28.5 seconds, and the Knights’ remaining four scorers were within 15.3 seconds of each other.

No. 26 Loras finished as runner-up for the third-straight year, although this year’s total of 50 points was the Duhawks lowest of the three. Loras had three scorers in the top-10 led by individual runner-up Luke Guttormson (25:00.7).

Rounding out the top-5 were Luther (83), Central (Iowa) (99) and Simpson (126).

Women’s 6k Race

There were two runaway victories, to no one’s surprise.

No. 2 Wartburg won its fourth crown in a row, scoring 20 points for the second-straight year. The Knights went 2-3-4-5-6 and all ran within 27.7 seconds of each other as individual runner-up Aubrie Fisher (22:06.8) led Wartburg. No. 18 Loras was runner-up for a third-straight year, scoring 60 points ahead of RV Central (Iowa) (80), Simpson (95) and Nebraska Wesleyan (149) as the top-6 duplicated last year’s order.

Individually, Kassie Parker left no doubt early. The defending conference and national champion had a lead of 44.6 seconds at 2k and 1:06 at 4k before finishing in 20:50.9 for a winning margin of 1:15.9.