Graham Blanks was named the 2023 NCAA Division I Men’s Cross Country National Athlete of the Year. Blanks, who hails from Athens, Georgia, capped a sensational undefeated season with an individual title at the 2023 NCAA DI Cross Country Championships in Charlottesville, Virginia. He and eventual runner-up Habtom Samuel of New Mexico were lockstep through 9k at Panorama Farms before the Harvard standout pulled ahead and won by more than three seconds. Blanks was the first male athlete from the Ivy League to capture top individual honors in meet history. Earlier in the season, Blanks won individual titles at the Battle in Beantown, Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational, Ivy League Heptagonal Championships and the Northeast Region Championships.