The preview of the 2024 NCAA Division I & II races, with a Washington twist
The book on the 2024 collegiate cross country season closes Saturday with the running of the NCAA Division I and II championships in Verona, Wisconsin (D1) and Sacramento, California (D2).
The Division I races get underway early, with the women's 6k starting at 7:20 am Pacific, and the men's 10 starting at 8:10 am Pacific.
ESPNU and the ESPN app will have live uninterrupted coverage of the championship, starting at 6:30 am Pacific, with John Anderson, Carrie Tollefson and Chris Derrick calling the action.
The production of the meet is a joint venture between the USTFCCCA and TrackTown Productions.
Anderson, who recently retired from hosting ESPN's SportsCenter, and Tollefson have previously teamed up on ten broadcasts of the TCS New York City Marathon as well as the past four broadcasts of the NCAA Cross Country Championships.
The two worked together this summer on the world feed of the Paris Olympic track and field competition.
Derrick is a former Stanford star and professional runner with the Bowerman TC. He has personal bests of 13:08.04 in the 5000 meters and 27:31.38 in the 10,000 meters, which ranks him eighth in collegiate history in the event. He is a three-time USATF individual champion with consecutive victories from 2013 to 2015 and a 14-time USTFCCCA All-American.
The Division II championship meet from the Arcade Creek Cross Country Course will be streamed on NCAA.com, with the men's 10k starting at 10 am local time and the women's 6k going at 11:15 am local time.
Here's our preview of both the D1 and D2 men's and women's championship races:
DIVISION I WOMEN...
For the University of Washington women's team, the Huskies will make its 18th straight and 31th overall national championship appearance all time, with the duo of Chloe Foerster (Paul Merca photo) and Maeve Stiles leading the way.
In the five meets the Huskies have run this season, Foerster has led the way in two meets, finishing 16th at the Wisconsin Pre-Nationals, and sixth at the Big Ten Championships.
Stiles, the junior transfer from Penn, was the first Husky across the line at the Nuttycombe Invitational, where she finished eighth, and at the NCAA West Regionals on Friday in Colfax, where she was 14th.
In the five meets the Huskies have run this season, their 1-5 splits have been 10 seconds vs SeattleU, 30 seconds at the Nuttycombe, 20 seconds at Pre-Nationals, 11 seconds at the Big Ten, and 38 seconds at the NCAA West Regionals.
Washington, which is currently ranked number 6 in the final USTFCCCA regular season national coaches' poll, has a legitimate shot at earning its first podium trophy since 2011, when the Dawgs finished second.
A top 4 finish would be the highest finish in UW program director Maurica Powell's tenure. Washington's highest finish since Powell took over the reins in the 2018 season came last year, when the Huskies finished eighth at the nationals in Charlottesville, Virginia.
The women of Gonzaga will make its second national championship appearance as a team in program history.
In its lone appearance at the NCAA championships in 2015, the Zags, who won the WCC championship meet that season, finished 25th with 615 points, led by Shelby Mills, who finished 82nd.
Gonzaga will be led by All-American and two-time WCC champ Rosina Machu, who looks to improve upon her 16th place finish last year in Virginia.
Machu has led the way in all four meets she's run this season, finishing third at the Nuttycombe Invitational, fourth at the Arturo Barrios Invitational, winning the WCC championship, and fourth at the NCAA West Regionals.
In the four meets Machu's run, Gonzaga's 1-5 split has been 83 seconds at Nuttycombe, 50 seconds at Arturo Barrios, 49 seconds at the WCC, and 61 seconds at the West regionals.
Washington State's Zenah Cheptoo is the only individual on the women's side competing at the NCAA championships. Cheptoo, the redshirt freshman, finished tenth at the NCAA West Regionals, after running in the top six for most of the race in Colfax.
DIVISION I MEN...
The Husky men are on a bit of an upswing after winning the NCAA West Regionals last Friday in Colfax, and making a late run at Wisconsin at the Big Ten championships, only to run out of distance.
2023 NCAA 1500 meter champion Nathan Green has sparked the Dawgs over the last two meets, finishing third at the Big Ten, and seventh at the NCAA West Regionals in his second ever 10k race.
Behind Green are a pair of sophomores in US Olympic Trials 10000m qualifier Evan Jenkins and Tyrone Gorze, and senior Leo Daschbach, all of whom have run close together.
Discounting the dual against Seattle University, which was a glorified tempo run, and the Wisconsin Pre-Nationals, where the Huskies sat out Green, Gorze, Jenkins, Daschbach, and Jamar Distel, Washington's 1-5 split this season was 31 seconds at Nuttycombe, 14 seconds at Big Tens, and 21 seconds at the NCAA West Regionals (with an extra 2k of racing; all other meets this season 8k).
The Huskies, who are ranked number 12 in the final USTFCCCA regular season coaches' poll, are running with a large chip on their shoulders, after not making it to Virginia and the national championships. They were the first team not to receive an at-large bid after finishing fifth in a tight three-way battle involving Portland and Cal Baptist for what turned out to be two spots to Virginia.
Washington State's Evans Kurui (Paul Merca photo) and Gonzaga's Wil Smith are the two individuals entered.
Kurui is coming off a performance where he dominated the West Regional race, leading by as much as 29 seconds with a lap to go, before WSU coach Wayne Phipps told him to slowly shut it down. Kurui covered the 10k course in 28:54.
Kurui, who won the WCC title last month, is in the conversation for a possible top ten finish on Saturday. His only two losses this season have come against Texas Tech's Ernest Cheruiyot at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational, and against Utah Valley's Mohamed Guled in the B section of the Wisconsin Pre-Nationals.
Cheruiyot was fifth at the Big 12s, and third at the NCAA Mountain regional meet, while Guled won the WAC championship race, and was 22nd in the NCAA Mountain regional meet.
The other individual running for a Washington school in the D1 meet is Gonzaga's Wil Smith. Smith, a senior from Spokane, will line up for his fifth career NCAA championship cross country race.
Unlike his previous four championship meet appearances, Smith will line up as a solo act, after the Zags finished sixth at the West Regionals. That sixth place finish ended a streak of four straight championships which Gonzaga has qualified for the nationals as a team.
Smith was fifth at the regionals in Colfax, clocking 29:12, and held off Washington's Nathan Green.
DIVISION II PREVIEW...
The Western Washington Vikings, which won its third straight Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's and women's titles, are off to Sacramento for Saturday's championship races.
Since joining the NCAA in 1999, both the WWU men's and women's cross country teams have qualified for nationals, marking the tenth time in program history both teams are headed to the final meet.
The Viking men's team, which goes into the national championships ranked tenth in the country according to the final regular season USTFCCCA D2 coaches' poll, are led by a trio of experienced racers in West Region runner up Ryan Clough, and the last two GNAC individual cross country champions, '23 champ Kevin McDermott, and this year's winner, Jeret Gillingham.
DubDubU finished 16th at last year's championships in Joplin, Missouri.
Western's 1-5 splits this season were 41 seconds at the Bill Roe Classic; 28 seconds at the Lewis Crossover; 30 seconds at the GNAC championships; and 37 seconds at the NCAA West regionals (10k), demonstrating their depth.
Central Washington's Johan Correa (Paul Merca photo) and Ramon Rodriguez are the two individuals with Washington ties competing Saturday. Correa, who was an All-American last year with his 17th place finish, looks to improve his placing from 2023.
His teammate and GNAC Newcomer of the Year Rodriguez actually nosed out Correa at the NCAA West regionals in Bozeman two weeks ago, finishing in identical times of 30:36 for 10k as they placed fifth and sixth. Rodriguez looks to join Correa as the only two cross country All-Americans in school history.
In the women's race, the Vikings are looking to improve upon their 14th place finish last year. They come into the national championship race ranked 14th in the final regular season USTFCCCA coaches' poll.
All-American Ashley Reeck, who was 30th at last year's nationals, has led the team in its last four races this season.
The Vikings' 1-5 splits over the last four races were 20 seconds at the Bill Roe Classic; 29 seconds at the Lewis Crossover; 20 seconds at the GNAC championships; and 35 seconds at the NCAA West regionals.
Seattle Pacific's track All-American Annika Esvelt (Paul Merca photo) and Ferndale native Jaclyn Denham of Chico State are the two runners with Washington ties competing as individuals.
Esvelt, a multi-time national qualifier and four-time All-American in indoor and outdoor track, has never competed at the NCAA cross country championships, either because of injury or not placing high enough at the regionals to earn an individual at-large berth.
Denham, who did not compete at the NCAA West Regionals two weeks ago for Chico State, would make her third career start at the NCAA championships Saturday. In her two previous races, she was 179th last year, and 199th in 2021.
NOTE: The USTFCCCA, NCAA, and the sports information offices of Central Washington, Seattle Pacific, Western Washington, Gonzaga University, the University of Washington and Washington State University contributed to this report.
paulmerca.blogspot.com may receive a commission for any purchases made from links clicked. Please support this site and our sponsors by clicking on the links. You can also support the site by clicking the yellow "Buy Me A Coffee" link below.
Comments