While the calendar still reads September and coaches are still reminding their athletes “it’s early,” we were treated to an action packed weekend across the division. Teams are beginning to run their race distance, and it appears some of the reins have been lifted to give an honest effort. While it’s easy to overreact to certain results, a reminder to everyone: listen to your coaches, it’s still early!

Here’s a recap of this past weekend’s action. 

North Central men & Geneseo women make waves at MSU

Men

When initially viewing the men’s start lists for the MSU Spartan Invitational, most eyes turned to John Carroll. The fourth-place team from NCAAs last year is out a few key members, but returns a strong roster in 2022, including individual XC national champion Alex Phillip. The Streaks are expected to contend for another national trophy in November. 

While John Carroll did throw down an impressive performance amidst D1 and D2 talent, the spotlight at MSU turned its beam to a familiar veteran in men’s distance running: the North Central cardinals.

The Cardinals were led by Max Svienty, who ran a new career-best 25:01 over 8,000 meters, good for 13th place overall. Behind him, a North Central pack of four, led by Julian Higueros and Connor Riss, were working together to ensure a tight pack time. All four crossed through the mile marker at 4:58, just ahead of Johns Hopkins’s Matthew Kleiman and Gavin McElhennon. 

While Higueros and Riss forged on, the others began to separate. Andrew Guimond fell back the farthest by two miles, but was able to hang onto a scoring position when he crossed the finish line. James McGlashon moved into NCC’s fourth scoring position after a gutsy second half. The Cards finished with 163 points, fifth overall and a narrow five points ahead of D3 runners-up Johns Hopkins, who bested JCU by a single point. JCU did not race steeplechase All-American Cormac Peppard-Kramer, who is not on their roster this year. 

Here’s how close the men’s race was between the top three D3 teams:

The most impressive individual in the men’s race was the reigning XC national champion, Alex Phillip, who opened up his 2022 season with a runner-up finish to Grand Valley State’s Tanner Chada, an 11-time NCAA D2 All-American and the NCAA D2 XC runner-up last year. Phillip covered the 8k course in 24:29, beating several prominent D1 and D2 athletes along the way. Svienty was the second D3 finisher, coming in over 30 seconds behind a dominating Phillip. 

Women

Fans did not need to wait long for an exciting head-to-head matchup between defending team champions Johns Hopkins and podium finishers SUNY Geneseo. The biggest difference between the two teams this year is number of contributing returners, as Geneseo returns their entire scoring lineup, whereas Hopkins lost four of their scorers from nationals in 2021. 

The two teams clearly lined up ready for a battle, as the first mile saw three Hopkins jerseys and two Geneseo jerseys well within the top 20. Geneseo’s Kathleen McCarey went out hard with the front group of Michigan State runners and crossed through a mile in 5:41. Close behind her, teammate Windsor Ardner sat in a pack with Hopkins rivals Sara Stephenson, Alex Ross, and Sydney Fridel. 

It wasn’t until about halfway through the race that Alex Ross worked her way up to McCarey, overtaking her and not looking back. Ross finished sixth overall and McCarey 8th among several D1 and D2 names. Behind these two frontrunners, respective teammates trickled in, alternating like teeth on a zipper. Geneseo bested Hopkins with their fourth and fifth runners, who came in at 47th and 48th, compared to JHU’s 64th and 68th place runners, who opened up too large of a gap for the Blue Jays to recover. These teams placed third and fourth, respectively, both beating D1 Ohio team Cincinnati.

All lights on Heys, Murphy, and Otterbein men at All-Ohio

As the sun set on the horizon Friday night, much of the state of Ohio (or at least the collegiate runners of Ohio) could be found warming up for the first annual night meet edition of the All-Ohio Championships. Conditions were cool and fast, and a few performances shone brightest in the dark.

Hope Murphy led the way in the women’s 5k race, finishing sixth overall behind several runners from No. 8 ranked team in D2 Cedarville. Murphy qualified as an individual to the NCAA meet last year and comes off of a strong track season in which she took third overall in the outdoor 1500m. She runs without counterpart Alyssa Laughner this year, but has already begun to establish her solo act. After three races, Murphy remains undefeated against D3 runners this year. 

The men’s race was led by Wilmington’s Simon Heys, who placed third overall behind NCAA D2 national qualifier Noah Fisher of Findlay and Notre Dame transfer Zach Kreft of Walsh. Like Murphy, Heys remains undefeated in D3 this year, his first victory a 15:01 5k at the Mike Baumer Classic. Coming off of a fifth place finish at cross nationals last year, there is no doubt Heys will be in contention for another top five finish in November.

On the team front, nationally ranked Otterbein showed some early-season dominance with an impressive third place finish behind D2 No. 13 Walsh and D1 program Dayton. Their split between their first and fifth runners was a tight 51 seconds, and the average finishing time of their scorers was a quick 25:00. They were led by Cal Yackin, who finished in fifth overall (second in D3 behind Heys). If there’s anyone who may be able to give conference-rival JCU a scare at the regional meet, it just might be the Otterbein Cards. 

Who’s the best men’s XC duo in D3?

The duo from Williams will have some tight competition for the best duo. Perhaps one might be Lynchburg’s Frank Csorba and Maximillian Sparks, who went one and three, respectively, at the CNU XC Regional Preview on Friday. The course was quick, as eight men finished in under 25 minutes. Five of these athletes represented D3 programs. They were:

• Csorba (Lynchburg) - 24:16

• Sparks (Lynchburg) - 24:38

• Dylan May (Southern Virginia) - 24:48

• Drew Topoly (Methodist) - 24:54

• John O’Rourke (Catholic) - 24:59

Lynchburg’s Sam Llaneza finished ninth in 25:09, helping pull Lynchburg to a second-place finish behind D1 program William & Mary by just 11 points. 

Another duo to watch for is that from UW-Whitewater of Christian Patzka and Gunner Schlender, who showed off their fitness at the Tom Hoffman Invitational on Saturday. The duo gapped the rest of the field by over a minute, finishing 1-2 in 24:46 and 24:52, respectively. Nobody else in the race ran under 26 minutes. 

Similar to Lynchburg, Whitewater has a 1500m All-American as a strong number three in Justin Krause. The 1500m All-American rounded out the three-man sweep for the Warhawks. Both teams are likely to receive a bid to the national meet from their respective regions. Finally, upon the graduation of Williams star Aidan Ryan, a new Williams duo will take the course this fall. XC national runner-up Elias Lindgren and outdoor 5k runner-up Grahm Tuohy-Gaydos are back for the Ephs and already catching steam. Lindgren is undefeated so far this year, having just nabbed a victory at the Little Three XC Championship in 25:19. Tuohy-Gaydos came in right behind him in 25:21. Williams won in a low-scoring team total of 18 points, and still has yet to race Nate Lentz, member of the 2021 indoor national runner-up DMR team. In the women’s race, Amherst beat Williams, winning the meet for the first time since 2007. 

It’s always fun to beat D1 and D2
Several D3 programs and individuals posted impressive victories over prominent D1 and D2 programs this weekend. At Robert Morris, Carnegie Mellon men dominated D2 Edinboro, almost pulling off a clean sweep of finishers. CMU jerseys crossed the finish line in second through fifth place with a seventh place finish from Freshman Ryan Podnar putting the icing on the cake. Only 25 seconds transpired from CMU’s first finisher to their fifth. Their 21 points bested Edinboro’s 34 by 13 places. 

At the Redbird Invite in Illinois, both men’s and women’s squads from Wartburg beat several D1 mid-major schools. The women put down an impressive 48-second split from their first to fifth finishers. They were led by Aubrie Fisher, who took runner-up to Butler’s Mia Beckham, covering the 6k course in a quick 21:32. Behind Fisher, Lexi Brown also posted a sub-22 effort, finishing fifth in 21:50. Riley Mayer, Shaelyn Hostager, and Ellie Meyer rounded out the scorers for the Knights, all placing well within the top 15.

The men were led by steeplechase national champion Christopher Collet, who took runner-up in an impressive time of 24:04. Teammate Morgan Shirley-Fairbairn came in just under a minute after Collet, finishing eight overall. There was a 21-second split from Shirley-Fairbairn to Wartburg’s fifth scorer, Connor Lancial. This tight pack at runners 2-5 combined with Collet’s runner-up finish helped earn the Knights a team victory. 

One state over at the Notre Dame Catholic Invite, the reigning women’s national champion Kassie Parker was back to her winning ways, crushing Notre Dame’s entire roster to win the 5k race in 17:03. Parker comes off of a near-perfect 2021-22 season, in which she won the cross title, pulled off the 3k/5k double indoors, and took two runner-up finishes in the 5k and 10k outdoors to Wellesley sensation Ari Marks. 

Parker may have something at NCAAs that she didn’t have last year: her team. Loras is making a big jump this year looks to contend in the Midwest region. They placed third overall at the Catholic Invite, ahead of D1 programs Marquette and Duquesne. 

Fast times in the West

West region powerhouses Pomona-Pitzer and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps returned to the blazing fast course at UC Riverside to show the rest of the country why they’re both top-10 national programs. 

Pomona-Pitzer won the 2021 title and will look to repeat this dominance again this year, evidenced by their 20-second 1-5 split laid out this past weekend. They were led by sophomore Owen Kobett, who ran 24:17 to place 24th overall. All nine of their varsity racers ran under 25 minutes, averaging a time of 24:28 with their five scorers. Oh yeah, and they didn’t even run 2021 10th place finisher Colin Kirkpatrick. When racing with a full roster, the Sagehens create a force that will virtually be unstoppable.

CMS showed some improvement from their performance at this meet last year, besting their 24:50 average in 2021 to 24:42 this past weekend. They were led by Miles Christensen, who was the top D3 finisher overall, placing 22nd in 24:16. Third place NCAA finisher Henry Pick was CMS’s fourth scorer, running an uncharacteristically mediocre race by his standards. When posting the performance the nation knows he’s capable of, CMS men become a much deadlier force nationwide. 

Another notable performance was that of the UC-Santa Cruz Banana Slugs, who trailed CMS men by just 57 points. They were led by Oliver Chang, who placed 42nd in 24:29. Beating some teams across regions could be just what the Slugs need to be the third qualifying team to NCAAs out of the West region.

National runners-up CMS women did not run quite as fast this year as they did last year, averaging 21:29 compared to last year’s 20:56. It’s hard to tell if this shift in time is significant or if it just happened to be a bit of a slower year. Their pack time of 1:28 was much looser than last year’s 59 seconds. One thing that is for certain, though, is the fitness of Natalie Bitetti, who led the way finishing twelfth in 20:38. 

Difficult course at St. Olaf produces impressive performances

Sure to be almost polar opposite to the UC Riverside course in terms of relative difficulty is that of St. Olaf. This already-challenging course was made tougher in hot and muddy conditions, but Carleton’s Clara Mayfield showed that she wouldn’t let such adversities bother her. She won the meet by a minute and thirteen seconds, running 21:11, a performance that clearly shows she is in a league of her own. Just when Parker thought she had shaken off all challengers when Marks graduated, enter: Clara Mayfield. 

Behind Mayfield, Carleton women went 2-3, but then saw a significant gap to their fourth and fifth runners. They managed to squeak out a victory over the 20-team invitational, but only barely. Their 45-point team total only beat St. Olaf by a narrow three points. 

The home men’s team of St. Olaf pulled off a victory over challengers UW-Stout, scoring 42 points to Stout’s 71. A new name led the way in the North, as Augsburg freshman Mohammed Bati won in 25:18, an impressive victory for someone who was just running his second 8k ever. A familiar name a little further down the line is that of Eau Claire’s Sam Verkerke. The 1500m national champion caught fire last outdoor season, setting a five-second PR in the 800 and 9-second PR in the 1500m over a single season. If his Spring season progression is any indication of how his Fall season will go, watch out for him to make XC All-American. But before then, he’ll need to have fun in the 8k:

Wash U vs. U of Chicago

As schools in both the same region and the same conference, the rivalry between Wash U and U Chicago runs deep. Both programs secured one victory each this past weekend at the Gil Dodds Invitational. 

On the women’s side, a 32-second split for U of Chicago was tight enough to edge out Wash U’s 50-second split. Chicago was led by Lucy Groothius, who won the meet in 22:01. Teammate Anna Kenig-Ziessler took runner-up in 22:06. Chicago has yet to race Claudia Harnett, who took 17th overall at NCAAs last year. Dropping her into the lineup could improve Chicago’s already tight pack time even more, propelling them into a podium spot at the NCAA meet.

Wash U was led by Emily Konkus, who took third place overall. This squad was the first team to miss a podium spot last year and will look for redemption this year. A strong performance out of their fourth and fifth runners will be just what they need to secure such a fate. 

On the men’s side, Wash U bested U of Chicago by 11 points. They put two runners in front of U of Chicago’s first finisher, as duo Cullen Capuano and Jeff Candell took first and third, respectively. U of Chicago had a tighter pack time of 41 seconds compared to Wash U’s 45, but couldn’t pull off a victory when all five WashU athletes finished ahead of their fourth scorer.