I hope you all are having a solid September and are settling into the new school year. With the track season behind us, it is time to shift gears to cross country. Every week I am going to call out some highlights to help you keep your finger on the pulse of the college season.
Setting The Scene
There are three divisions of the NCAA, three divisions of the NJCAA, and one division of the NAIA. The regular season is essentially a series of invitationals where teams build their argument for the coaches polls and the rankings. Then comes the championship season: conference championships, then regional championships, then, depending on who qualifies, the national championships.
Everybody runs farther than they did in high school. The women race 6K and the men race 8K. In NCAA Division I and Division II the men move up to 10K at regionals and nationals. The women stay at 6K all season, and in NCAA Division III the men do not move up either.
In late August and early September you see teams trickle into the season with small meets and the occasional dual, sometimes at shorter distances. Right about now is when the big invitationals give us our first real look at how teams are shaping up. You can watch individual rivalries here, but the name of the game is team rankings. Those rankings feed into the at-large team spots that get selected out of the regional results for the national championships. Performance at the regional championship is the main factor in that selection, but the rankings are a factor too.
To track the college season across the divisions, I recommend keeping a few links bookmarked: MileSplit (of course), FloTrack and TFRRS.
10 Things That Caught My Eye This Week
Last year was a big one for the Janiacs. Along with several NCAA records, Jane Hedengren finished second at the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships behind Alabama's Doris Lemngole. On Saturday in Stillwater, Oklahoma State put two runners ahead of her, both with a strong last kilometer. Billah Jepkirui won in 19:24.4, a course record, and Maureen Rutoh was second in 19:28.6.
Worth noting that Rutoh was 42nd and Jepkirui 85th at last year's NCAA Division I championships. It could be a big year for them both. BYU still took the team title with 32 points, ahead of Oklahoma State with 64 and New Mexico with 70.
The Cowboy Jamboree was also a big team matchup on Oklahoma State's home course. The women's side had #3 BYU, #2 New Mexico and #15 Oklahoma State. The men's side had #2 New Mexico, #5 Oregon and #1 Oklahoma State. What stood out to me was the Cowboys getting beaten on their own course by New Mexico, 28 to 44.
Pasanjo Kitonga won it in 23:24.4, and the Lobos ran their first four through in 22 seconds. That is a tight spread.
Alabama men and women both had a big day. The women are sitting at #10 and won the team title over #19 North Carolina, 57 to 75, with Caren Kiplagat winning the individual race in 19:12.4. The men are ranked #4 and beat #9 Syracuse for the men's title, 42 to 67.
The men in particular ran a strong front three, 18 seconds from their first to their third. Freshman Rodgers Minatum won the race in 22:59.3, Duncan Gituku was second in 23:07.3, and Dismus Lokira, who was 11th at nationals last year, took fourth in 23:17.2.
18:36 is a fast 6K in any situation. It is especially fast when you run it by yourself. At Western Oregon, Juliet Cherubet of #5 Oregon won in 18:36.6, with teammate Ava Parekh next in 20:14.9. Cherubet finished 39th at nationals last year, for reference.
The Ducks scored 18 points, with their five scorers finishing first, second, third, fourth and eighth.
Six points decided the men's team title in the Gold race. Arkansas is ranked #16 in the Division I men's coaches poll and Tennessee carries "RV" status, which means the Vols received votes but not enough to land in the rankings. Along with running Arkansas that close, Tennessee also finished ahead of #28 Missouri and #30 Kansas, which helps build the argument.
Ernest Cheruiyot won the race for Arkansas in 22:32.8 with teammate Nick Busienei right there in 22:34.0. Will the day be enough to move Tennessee into the rankings?
A big Division III matchup happened at RPI. The #4 SUNY Geneseo men battled #8 RPI and #17 WPI and backed their ranking up with 24 points and a 22 second spread through their top five. Collin Brown led them in second at 23:58.0, behind WPI's Everett Mosher, who won in 23:56.5.
Interestingly enough, the #18 Geneseo women also won with 24 points, and they pulled off an important result over #13 Vassar. Shelby Boise led them in second at 21:10.5. This will likely move them up in the rankings.
We have some key Division II shakeups coming out of the Augustana XC Invite. On the men's side it was airtight. #19 Washburn emerged victorious with 54 points over #30 Nebraska-Kearney with 62, and 13 points separated first from third, where #14 Augustana finished with 67.
Sebastiaan Horselenberg led Washburn in fifth at 24:25.4.
On the women's side, #18 Rogers State won with a team score of 81 to edge unranked Black Hills State with 86. Amaya Grant led Rogers State in fifth at 21:01.5.
#23 Nebraska-Kearney tied Dordt for third with 103 and will likely take a hit for finishing behind an unranked team, so we will have to keep our eyes out for where that lands them.
In Chicago, Virginia emerged victorious against #24 Minnesota and #12 Northwestern. What set them up was airtight pack running: Virginia's five scorers finished 11th, 12th, 13th, 17th and 18th, separated by about eight seconds.
Arizona's Mercy Chepkemoi won the race in 19:02.5.
Three points separated the first two men's teams, Arizona and Michigan, 85 to 88. Neither team is ranked, although Michigan has received votes, and both finished ahead of #13 Washington and #24 Tulane.
Arizona getting two athletes into the top six individually is what set them up to win, with Evans Tanui leading the way in 22:41.5 and Vincent Gwachi sixth in 22:57.4. Tulane's Bernard Cheruiyot won the race in 22:37.2.
I hope you find this helpful for keeping tabs on the season. I will try to keep it going weekly through the end of the season. If you want to follow along with more cross country and track observations, or bad puns, you can follow me at @predamame on Twitter. See you next week.
I hope you all are having a solid September and are settling into the new school year. With the track season behind us, it is time to shift gears to cross country. Every week I am going to call out some highlights to help you keep your finger on the pulse of the college season.
Setting The Scene
There are three divisions of the NCAA, three divisions of the NJCAA, and one division of the NAIA. The regular season is essentially a series of invitationals where teams build their argument for the coaches polls and the rankings. Then comes the championship season: conference championships, then regional championships, then, depending on who qualifies, the national championships.