Top Teams Set For First Major Test At Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational

The University of Wisconsin is set to host its second of four cross country meets this fall at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course, with the 15th running of the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational Presented by Under Armour up next on Friday, Sept. 27 in Madison, Wisconsin.

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Here are 10 storylines to follow:

Welcome to Big Ten Country

For the first time since joining their new conference, the Washington and Oregon cross country teams are set to travel to the Midwest for the very first time as members of the Big Ten conference after leaving the Pac-12 conference.

The Oregon and Washington women, ranked No. 4 and 5 in the USTFCCCA National Coaches’ Poll, both have experienced squads and national championship aspirations that’ll be tested for the first time this season.

Oregon, which finished 10th at last fall’s NCAA Cross Country Championships in Virginia, returns Maddy Elmore, Anika Thompson, Katie Clute, Harper McClain and Tatum Miller from last season’s team.

Washington, eighth at NCAAs and the final Pac-12 cross country champions, is slated to have Chloe Foerster, Julia David-Smith, Ella Borsheim, India Weir and Tori Herman from last year’s squad on the start line.

In addition to both teams returning prominent key players, Oregon and Washington also add highly talented transfers. 

Silan Ayyildiz joined the Ducks this last indoor season and has made an immediate impact within the Oregon program as an All-American in both indoor and outdoor track. Swedish sisters Wilma (Washington) and Julia Nielsen (Bradley) also joined the Oregon team this school year.

Washington adds Duke transfer Amina Maatoug, ninth at last fall’s NCAA Cross Country Championships, Penn transfer Maeve Stiles and California transfer Claire Yerby to the line-up.

The No. 27 Washington men will also travel to Wisconsin, led by Nathan Green, Evan Jenkins and Tyrone Gorze.

Third time’s the charm for BYU

The BYU men have come as close as one can get to winning the Nuttycombe Invitational title within the last two years, finishing second to Northern Arizona in 2023 and second to Stanford in 2022.

Could this be the year the Cougars finally can get over the hump?

The No. 2 team in the country brings plenty of depth and talent that could lead them to winning their first Nuttycombe Invitational title. 

Casey Clinger will make his triumphant return to the cross country scene after not racing all of last fall season and will be one of the individual favorites on Friday after a great outdoor track campaign, resulting in a fifth-place finish at the U.S. Olympic Teams Trials in the 10,000 meters.

BYU also lists James Corrigan to make his season debut a month after representing the United States at the Paris Olympics in the men’s steeplechase, along with Creed Thompson, Joey Nokes, Garrett and Jacob Stanford and Aidan Troutner.

Hungry like the Wolfe

Other than the Wisconsin athletes that have run hundreds of miles on the Thomas Zimmer course, another individual outside the Wisconsin circle that’s very familiar with the course is North Carolina’s Parker Wolfe.

Wolfe will be racing in his fourth career Nuttycombe Invitational and is still eyeing the individual crown after falling short the first three times he’s raced it.

Wolfe was 24th as a freshman in 2021, sixth as a sophomore in 2022 and then seventh as a junior this last year. With the credentials he has built up between racing at the NCAA level and the U.S. Olympic Trials, Wolfe will be one of the heavy favorites on Friday to take the men’s individual title.

Wolfe was third at the U.S. Olympic Trials in the 5,000 meters, and missed a chance to compete at the Olympic Games due to missing the World rankings quota and not having the standard.

Wolfe won’t be the only one hunting for the individual crown, with BYU’s Thompson, Wake Forest’s Rocky Hansen and Gonzaga’s Wil Smith all returning as top 10 finishers from last year’s race.

Providence Pair

No duo in collegiate distance running over the last year has been more reliable than Shannon Flockhart and Kimberely May of Providence. 

Both Flockhart and May are coming off career-best seasons on the track this last school year, both earning multiple All-American honors in indoor and outdoor. 

May saw some of the biggest improvement in the 1500, lowering her personal best time by six seconds to 4:07 over a year, which led to her finishing second in the women’s final at the NCAA DI Outdoor Championships. Flockhart took a big step as well in the 1500 with a five second personal best drop to 4:05.99, also leading her to finish on the podium at the NCAA Championships in sixth place.

Given the jump both Flockhart and May made on the track, a similar improvement in cross country wouldn’t be a surprise, starting with a big outing at Nuttycombe.

Flockhart and May are leading a veteran-led Friar team into Madison this Friday that is looking to make an early-season statement and prove to the country that Providence is a team to not take likely come championship season.

Cyclone Alert

The BYU men may have plenty of heavy hitters like Clinger, Thompson and Corrigan that’ll help carry them to the team title, but the No. 5 Iowa State men bring plenty of fire power back from last year’s fifth-place NCAA team and then some.

Cross country All-Americans Sanele Masondo and Rodgers Kiplimo lead a Iowa State team seeking vengeance in Madison after a disappointing 13th-place team finish last year, where the Cyclones saw only one athlete finish in the top 15 (Said Mechaal, 15th) and the rest finish 80th or higher.

But a promising ending to the cross country season, resulting in a fifth-place team finish at the NCAA Championships, shows some potential light for Iowa State to have a successful meet in Madison.

Joining Masondo and Kiplimo in the Cyclone’s line-up will be Gable Sieperda, third in the NCAA steeplechase final, Mechaal, Silas Winders and Timothy Sindt, all of which ran at last year’s Nuttycombe and have experience on the course.

In addition, freshman Robin Kwemoi Bera is set to make his collegiate debut.

Scrimgeour’s time to shine

Chloe Scrimgeour’s career has proven to be nothing but great during her time in Georgetown uniform, but that signature big-meet win is still missing from her resume.

Scrimgeour is the top returning finisher from last year’s Nuttycombe, finishing seventh in the championship race to lead the Hoyas to a third-place team finish. She’s also the top returner from the NCAA Cross Country Championships, earning eighth.

This will be Scrimgeour’s season opener, with her last race being at the NCAA Outdoor Championships this past June, finishing fifth in the 10,000 final.

A win at Nuttycombe this Friday would go a long way in building Scrimgeour’s confidence moving forward into the season, especially with the NCAA Championships returning to the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course two months later.

Colorado’s Carlson Era begins

While the move back to the Big 12 Conference was a big change for the Colorado Buffaloes at the start of the school year, bringing in Sean Carlson as the new Director of Cross Country and Track and Field has been an adjustment as well.

This will be the first chance to see what Carlson’s squad has to offer since taking over the program in July, replacing long-time coach Mark Wetmore after his contract wasn’t renewed following an investigation that related to an “unhealthy environment” within the program.

The men’s team, ranked No. 21 in the country, is the only team Carlson is bringing to Madison, consisting of three runners from last year’s seventh-place team at Nuttycombe with Isiah Givens, James Overberg and Grady Rauba in the lineup.

Along with Givens, Overberg and Rauba, returning Colorado athletes set to race are Kole Mathison, Lukas Haug and Charles Robertson. 

Incoming transfers will be making their Colorado debut, with Simon Kelati from Western Colorado, Anthony Monte from Princeton and Dean Casey from Tennessee in the lineup.

Lights are bright for Northwestern

Friday’s Nuttycombe Invitational will have plenty of meaning to the Northwestern program after landing a historic ranking in the recent National Coaches’ Poll.

The Northwestern women head to Madison ranked No. 24 in the Week 1 edition, earning their highest ranking in 39 years following some early-season success, including winning the Big Ten Preview on September 13 in Savoy, Illinois, over No. 19 Wisconsin by 23 points. 

Ava Earl, Holly Smith and Ava Criniti all finished in the top five individually to lead Northwestern at the Big Ten Preview, proving the Wildcats have a team worthy of competing for Big Ten Conference title.

However, this will be the first time Northwestern takes on any opponents outside of the Big Ten and their region this season. 

With 14 other ranked teams in the field, this is a massive opportunity for Northwestern to see where they stack up with some of the nation’s best.

Take caring of business on home course

The opportunities to have multiple meets at home are limited for many schools, but Wisconsin has the potential to race four meets on the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course.

While Nuttycombe is not the be-all and end-all meet, it’s important for host-Wisconsin to assert itself as a dominant force on their course, especially with the NCAA Championships being held there.

For the men’s and women’s teams, they want to put what happened at last year’s Nuttycombe Invitational in the rear-view mirror, with the men finishing 22nd and the women finishing 16th.

The men, ranked No. 13 nationally, will feature the senior trio of Australian Olympian Adam Spencer, reigning Big Ten cross country champion Bob Liking and Badger Classic champion Rowen Ellenberg on the starting line, giving the Badgers a very good trio out front that will be among the top mix of individual competitors.

For the women, ranked No. 19, Big Ten indoor 5000 champion Leané Willemse is set to make her season debut and will provide a solid low stick for a Badger team still looking to discover its identity with the addition of 12 newcomers on the team.

Don’t forget about them or you’ll regret it

The focus on Nuttycombe, of course, is team based for everyone rolling into Madison, but the individual talent across the board is incredible on both sides.

There’s UNC’s Wolfe, BYU’s Clinger and Iowa State’s Masondo in the men’s race and Georgetown’s Scrimgeour, Washington’s Maatoug and Oregon’s Elmore on the women’s side. However, that isn’t all.

Gonzaga’s Smith, Portland’s Strangio, Villanova’s Liam Murphy and Virginia’s Gary Martin add to a deep men’s field and will be among the mix of top contenders. Smith finished ninth at last year’s Nuttycombe, just behind Wake Forest’s Hansen (sixth) and UNC’s Wolfe (seventh) as the top three returners. 

Scrimgeour’s teammate Melissa Riggins is expected to be up front with her in the lead pack, along with Gonzaga’s Rosina Machu, North Carolina’s Brynn Brown, Portland’s Laura Pellicoro and Utah’s Annastasia Peters.