Grab your pumpkin spice lattes and buckle up, October is here. 

I love October for many reasons but the one primary one is the nostalgia it brings for cross country. Lucky for you all, you’re still experiencing what others fondly remember. With the change in the calendar comes a switch in mentality. Pre Nats, Inter-Regional Battles, Conference, Regionals and Nationals are the only meets that are left. While you don’t need to be nationals ready today, things are about to heat up. From here on out, we are treated to a plethora of big meets and the appetizer of this five course experience starts this weekend. Team will venture to big meets across the country to see where they stand. On tap this weekend is the Paul Short Run, Blugold Invitational, Pre-Nats, Purple Valley, Mike Woods Invite and the Dan Hutson invite. 

Here’s everything you need to know. 

Pre-National Meet

Ah, the pre-national meet: a chance for a mid-season crack at the NCAA course, nationally ranked teams, and confidence boosts for winning in a watered-down national field. 

Though not all nationally-ranked teams will be present at the nationals course in East Lansing, Michigan this weekend, this year’s pre-national meet is sure to bring forth some high-intensity lineups, making it one of the most crucial weekends yet for securing at-large bids in November. 

The biggest battle on the men’s side will take place between three top-five nationally ranked (per USTFCCCA - D3GD rankings coming next week) teams: No. 2 MIT, No. 3 La Crosse, and No. 5 North Central. 

With only one major competition on the board so far this season from the Dartmouth Maribel Sanchez Souther XC Invitational, the men from MIT have maintained a No. 2 national ranking, entering this weekend as the favorites in the absence of defending national champion team Pomona-Pitzer. At Dartmouth, MIT was led by All-American Andrew Mah, who won the meet outright amidst competitors from Dartmouth and Maine. Within 56 seconds of Mah crossing the finish line, four additional Engineers trickled in: Lowell Hensgen, Vedang Lad, Sam Acquaviva, and newcomer Tim Neumann. 800m national champion Ryan Wilson was MIT’s seventh man. 

Their team-total 43 points trailed Dartmouth by 14 and bested Maine by an impressive 21 points. All-American Matthew Kearney did not finish the race, but plugging him back into the top five is sure to make the Engineers dangerous this weekend. 

They will be strongly contested by the squad from UW-La Crosse, who comes off of a dominant performance at the Griak Invitational, in which they placed second in the Maroon race just behind Michigan Tech. They were led by Ethan Gregg, who was selected by D3GD as this week’s National Athlete of the Week for his assertive victory over the entire field. Gregg covered the challenging 8k course in 25:01, and was trailed by teammate Isaac Wegner, who placed fourth in 25:14. Behind Wegner, runners three through five crossed the finish line within 13 seconds of each other just after the 26th minute elapsed. With a split time of 1:17, a good day out of the Eagles could find them victorious over MIT.

The other team to watch out for in the front of the men’s race is that of North Central, who was the first-place D3 team on this course just two weeks ago. They beat out nationally-ranked squads Johns Hopkins and John Carroll, catapulting them to the top of the national list, a familiar place for the distance powerhouse school. With a split time of 53 seconds, the Cardinals step up to this weekend’s start line with the tightest pack of the three top-5 teams. 

No. 8 UW-Whitewater has shown they have a powerful 1-2 punch in Christian Patkza and Gunner Schlender. Justin Krause plays a nice supporting role as the third man but we’ll be looking at their 4-5 this weekend. The key for Whitewater this year is keeping their 1-5 split close together. With two low sticks and a tight pack, Whitewater can be a threat later in the season.

No. 15 Otterbein is another team to keep an eye on. Their result at All-Ohio showed some promise. Just eight points behind D1 team Dayton, Otterbein was led by Cal Yackin. He put himself in the lead pack of that race and in return, gave the Cardinals their low stick. A 50-second 1-5 split will be helpful in a big meet. This is a team that could be in the top 10 at the end of the year if everything goes right.

Other nationally ranked men’s team to watch at this meet include:

• U of Chicago (No. 20)

• Loras (No. 22)

• Calvin (No. 24)

• Connecticut College (No. 25)

• Mount Union (No. 31)

On the individual front, six of last year’s top ten finishers will return to the start line, including Wilmington’s Simon Heys, who won last year’s race in Louisville. Mount Union’s Jeff Joseph, who placed second, and La Crosse’s Gregg, who placed third, will also return to the course for a chance to try to steal the crown from defending champion Heys. 

In the pack upfront you’ll see the Whitewater duo Patzka and Schlender, who come off of a dominating 1-2 punch at the Tom Hoffman Invitational. The duo ran away from the field, finishing in 24:46 and 24:52, respectively, which was a full minute and 29 seconds ahead of third place finishing teammate Krause. Patzka, the 2022 outdoor steeplechase runner-up, is likely to be another contender for the individual crown. 

MIT’s Mah and North Central’s Max Svienty are also likely to run in the front pack. Look for them to finish well within the top 10 on their quest to lead their respective teams to victory. 

Women’s Preview

The women’s race will be led by the squad from U of Chicago, who currently ranks No. 3 in the country per this week’s USTFCCCA national rankings. This crew comes off of an impressive performance at the Gil Dodds Invitational, in which just 32 seconds elapsed from their first finisher to their final scorer. The team was led by Lucy Groothius, who won outright in 22:01, and Anna Kenig-Ziesler, who took runner-up in 22:06. Behind them, Frances Schaeffler, Katarina Birimac, and Caitlin Jorgensen placed fourth, eighth, and ninth, respectively, to round out a team total of 24 points. They beat No. 6-ranked Wash U by 18 points and have yet to race XC All-American Claudia Harnett. 

U of Chicago is the only team entered that is currently ranked in the top five, which almost secures their team victory. Their biggest competition will come from East region school MIT, who currently ranks No. 7. MIT opened their season at a five-team invitational at Dartmouth with a 28-second split from runners one through five. A tight pack is sure to be competitive but will become more challenging to replicate in bigger races such as pre-nats. 

Last year, No. 9 La Crosse found their success by keeping a tight pack and running together. The Eagles are displaying the same tactics this year as they had a 28 second split at the Griak meet. This is their formula for success. While they may not have a low stick up front, they will run as a team and put pressure on everyone else's pack to keep up. While having a low stick in a big meet is vital, a condensed pack altogether will get them the point total they need to finish as a top team.

We’re looking forward to seeing how No. 18 Loras matches up against D3 competition. It’s been a bit since they have been nationally ranked, and their squad is starting to come into form. With Kassie Parker up front, the pack needs to close the gap. Their 1-2 split was 1:55 which leaves them vulnerable for many teams to get their packs between them. A pack that can be within two minutes of Parker will give Loras an opportunity to place high as a team.

Other nationally-ranked teams to watch for this weekend include: 

• Hope (No. 12)

• John Carroll (No. 17)

• Calvin (No. 23)

• George Fox (No. 25)

• Ohio Northern (No. 31)

• St. Lawrence (No. 35)

Last year in Louisville, Trine’s Evie Bultemeyer ran away with the individual pre-nationals meet title in the absence of national champion Parker of Loras, who opted to instead compete at Augustana. There, Parker ran a blazing fast 6k time of 20:26 to beat U of Chicago’s Harnett by almost a minute and a half. Parker then went on to capture three national titles in the 2021-22 seasons: one in cross country and two indoors in the 3k and 5k. This year, fans are in for a treat as Parker is expected to line up in East Lansing on Saturday. 

While seemingly untouchable last year, there is one rising star who is sure to try to challenge Parker this weekend: St. Benedict’s Fiona Smith. Smith captured five total All-American honors last year. She was fifth in cross country, 3rd in the indoor 3k, fourth in the indoor 5k, and fourth in both the outdoor 5k and 10k. So far this season, she has only lost to one other competitor in seventh-place D2 All-American Lindsay Cunningham. 

With this performance, which took place on the challenging course of the Roy Griak Invitational, Smith became the second fastest women ever in the Maroon race and the fastest D3 athlete in history in the 6k field. Hungry to keep her momentum headed into the postseason, watch for a tight head-to-head battle to ensue between Parker and Smith. Other athletes to watch for up front include Hope’s Ana Tucker, U of Chicago’s Groothius, and freshman sensation from George Fox, Kayla Aalpoel. Don’t be shocked to see the 1500m All-American Hope Murphy from Baldwin Wallace in the front pack. Murphy has showed off her range this season as the top D3 Athlete at All-Ohio and will get a big opportunity against the best of D3.

Dan Huston 

Two midwest powerhouses will clash this weekend at the annual Dan Huston Invitational when No. 2 (women) and No. 4 (men) Wartburg and No. 6 (women) and No. 11 (men) Wash U line up next to one another on the start line. 

The women’s race will see the strongest competition as both teams have strung together strong seasons so far. WashU’s varsity opened up at Gil Dodds, where they placed second to No. 3 U of Chicago by 18 points, while Wartburg opted for the fast course at Redbird Invitational, where they placed second to Butler by 13 points. When compared head-to-head, Wartburg puts four athletes ahead of Wash U’s number one. However, with similar split times and an equal playing ground, these two teams could finish closer than expected.

A good ole fashion dual meet within the bigger meet will give us an idea of where these two fall. Both have talented rosters and with matchups counting, I doubt either team will hold back.

Wartburg men appear to be slightly more dominant over WashU’s men and have an almost untouchable frontrunner in Christopher Collett, who just placed runner-up at Redbird in a time of 24:04, almost a full minute ahead of their No. 2 runner, Morgan Shirley-Fairbairn. From Shirley-Fairbairn to Wartburg’s fifth scorer, only 22 seconds elapsed. Wash U’s pack time is slightly tighter at 45 seconds, but they lack the strong front lead that Wartburg has, making a victory challenging. If either WashU’s men or women are able to pull off an upset over Wartburg this weekend, the rankings could have their largest makeovers yet. 

Purple Valley

Williams men and women will utilize a home-course advantage this weekend as they take on the Williams Purple Valley XC Invite. Williams men suffer the loss of D3 sensation Aidan Ryan, but have produced a new dynamic duo in 2021 XC runner-up Elias Lindgren and outdoor 5k runner-up Grahm Tuohy-Gaydos. The two come off of a 1-2 punch at the Little Three XC Championship, in which Lindgren won in 25:19, and Tuohy-Gaydos took runner-up in 25:21. Look for these two to attempt the winning sweep once more this weekend. 

In the women’s race, No. 8 Amherst will headline Purple Valley coming off of their nearly clean sweep at Little Threes, where they placed 1-4. They were led by Mary Kate McGranahan, who smashed the field in an impressive time of 21:38. Behind McGranahan, Julia Schor, Sophia Wolmer, Allison Lounsbury, and Sidnie Kulik finished within 28 seconds of each other. Kulik rounded out the scorers with her seventh-place finish, helping the team secure a 17-point victory, 39 points ahead of runners-up Williams. 

Amherst could be a team to watch for later in the season. With McGranahan emerging as their top runner, it shows the depth of the Mammoths. Wolmer earned All-American honors in the 10k in 2021, and Kulik qualified in the 3k this indoor season. Add in another front runner with Wolmer & Kulik, and this team has the potential to make some noise. Other women’s teams looking to defend their national weekend include No. 30 Smith and No. 34 WPI. 

Mike Woods 

If there’s any question as to why SUNY Geneseo women are ranked first in the country currently, look no further than results from last week’s Harry F. Anderson Invitational. Geneseo swept places 1-9, all athletes finishing in under 19 minutes. They were led by Geneseo standout Kathleen McCarey, who won in 17:30 over the 5,000-meter course. The week prior, McCarey posted an eighth-place finish at MSU, ahead of several D1 and D2 runners and D3 runner-up to Hopkins’s Ross. 

At Harry F. Anderson, McCarey led two teammates, Windsor Ardner and Rachel Hirschkind, under 18 minutes. Not only do the Knights have incredible depth, but their times are fast enough to propel multiple athletes into All-American status at NCAAs, a feat that almost guarantees a podium finish. 

Keep an eye on results this weekend as they take to their home course at the Mike Woods Invitational. Other ranked teams to watch in the women’s race at Mike Woods are No. 14 Middlebury and No. 24 Dickinson. This will be a good indiciation of where Middlebury as a team. We haven’t seen what they are fully capable of yet and will give a good indication of how they fair against the best in the country.

On the Men's side, Geneseo will to their pack to take down reigning NESCAC runner-ups, Middlebury. Similarly to the women, we haven’t gotten a good understanding of what Midd is capable of this season. They haven’t had too many meets yet and will look to unleash their group against the Knights. If we see their full squad tomorrow, the Knights could be in for a battle on their home course.

Geneseo will be led by Nick Andrews, who comes off of an impressive 17th-place finish at MSU, third in D3 only to JCU’s Phillip and North Central’s Svienty. 

Paul Short 

It would seem that another national-caliber competition is shaping up on the start lists of the Paul Short Run at Lehigh. Two races will take place: the all-division gold race and the smaller-team brown race, but both are sure to bring forth some big performances. 

In the gold race, the biggest name entered is John Carroll’s Alex Phillip, who had what was arguably his breakout race on this same course last year. Phillip placed sixth overall, behind athletes from D1 programs such as Utah State, Villanova, and UNC. His time of 23:39 turned the heads of many as the Ohio standout went on to garner victories in the XC championship race, indoor 3k and 5k, and outdoor 10k all within the last year. Having already opened up his season with a strong runner-up finish at MSU to Grand Valley State D2 All-American Tanner Chada, Phillip is ready to throw down another fast time amidst big-school talent. He will lead No. 7-ranked JCU in their quest to emerge as the victorious D3 program at Paul Short. 

However, a recent loss to No. 6-ranked Johns Hopkins will not make victory an easy task. The Hopkins Jays put together an impressive performance at MSU earlier this year, beating JCU by a mere two points. They were the runner-up D3 team to No. 5 North Central, who finished just three points ahead. Johns Hopkins men enter this weekend as the favorites and will look to repeat their head-to-head victory against JCU. 

Another team that brings forth a strong lineup this weekend and is likely to contend for a podium spot in November are the men of RPI, who are currently ranked No. 10 in the nation. They began their season with a decisive victory at the Siena XC Invitational, in which they bested D1 program Siena by 25 points. They took down Williams without Graham Touhy-Gaydos, but even putting Tuohy-Gaydos in at second still has RPI coming away victorious. They were led by All-American Matthew Lecky, who took a narrow runner-up finish behind Willams’s Elias Lindgren in 24:56. Behind Lecky, the remaining scorers crossed the finish line within 18 seconds of each other for a total pack time of 52 seconds. Look for Lecky to be in the front of this race, hoping his teammates can finish close enough behind to pull off an upset-victory over JCU and Hopkins. Don’t be surprised if RPI comes away as the top D3 team this weekend. 

Several national ranked teams headline the men’s brown race, including:

• CMS (No. 9)

• Carnegie Mellon (No. 13)

• Lynchburg (No. 14)

• Haverford (No. 19)

• Emory (No. 21)

• NYU (No. 32)

CMS men are the strong favorites and will likely be on a mission after not making the cut for the gold race. Additionally, their early-season performance at UC Riverside was likely not indicative of the performance they’re capable of after an uncharacteristically bad race for third-place national finisher Henry Pick. With Pick back up front in addition to multi-time national qualifier Miles Christensen, who bested his time at Riverside from last year by almost 30 seconds, CMS will prove to be difficult to beat. 

Their biggest challenge will come from No. 13 Carnegie Mellon, who just dropped an impressive 25-second 1-5 split at the Robert Morris Invitational winning the meet in 21 points, and No. 14 Lynchburg, who has one of the strongest front-running duos in the nation in Frank Csorba and Maximillian Sparks. Both teams will look to contend for the upset as well. 

With Csorba contending for the win at big races and Sparks right by his side, it gives breathing room for Lynchburg’s 4-5 runners. A 76-second split at the CNU South Regional preview is impressive given where Csorba finished up time-wise. By factoring in a 76-second split into a field like Paul Short with 2 short sticks, Lynchburg could cause issues for other teams.

The men from NYU enter the national conversation after their impressive victory in Rochester two weekends ago. While placing a distant 8th in the region last year, NYU is emerging as a team that is increasing their chances of receiving an at-large bid out of the Niagara region. 

Women’s Preview

The women’s gold race will feature one D3 powerhouse team in No. 4 Johns Hopkins. Last year, Hopkins was the only representative in the more competitive gold race at the pre-national meet in Louisville, garnering a top-10 finish amidst several prominent D1 and D2 programs. This year, they lose several key members but still return enough to be dangerous. Alex Ross has been a consistent frontrunner for the Blue Jays, having already opened her season with a victory at the Baltimore Metro Meet 5k and a 6th place finish at MSU amidst D1 and D2 talent. Her 6k time of 21:33 is one of the fastest women’s times so far this year. 

Behind Ross, Sara Stephenson returns from last year’s national champion team as well as Sydney Fridel, an indoor national qualifier in both the 3k and 5k. The fate of the Jays, however, will lie in their fourth and fifth runners this year. 

This will be a good test for Hopkins after being defeated by SUNY Geneseo. They’ll be in a deep field and will have to work together to get through the big packs. They’re in a unique position as not being the #1 team in the nation, but they will respond well with a good performance this weekend.

No. 5 team CMS will not get to race Hopkins directly in the gold race (again they should be in there!), but look for a strong performance out of this team in the brown race. At UC Riverside, the Athenas garnered a 12th-place finish among several large schools at the lead of Natalie Bitetti, who placed 12th in 20:38. After Bitetti, the race strung out a bit: Meredith Bloss finished in 21:05, followed by Annika Kimme in 21:32, and fourth and fifth finishers Laura Zimmer and Elle Marsyla in 22:01 and 22:06, respectively. Though CMS’s pack time will require some condensing in order for them to finish within the top five at nationals, no other D3 women’s team on the start line this weekend falls even close to them in the rankings. Given the talent CMS has on the team, they will be contending for a Brown race team title. This will give them good practice as to how they want to execute at the front of the race come the national meet.

However, look for the following teams in the women’s brown race to try to improve their national rankings:

• Carnegie Mellon (No. 20)

• NYU (No. 26)

• Lynchburg (No. 27)

• Emory (No. 28)

• Swarthmore (No. 33)

In the brown race, Annika Urban will look to lead Emory over this pack of D3 teams. They’re facing off against South Region rival Lynchburg. This will be a test run for both schools as they’ll meet again later in the season when it really matters. They look to be fairly similar on paper, so it will be interesting to see where they actually are.

NYU is trending upwards as a program. A big win at the Yellowjacket Invite was their way of announcing to D3 that NYU is back. Identical to the men, they finished 8th in the Niagara region and are now climbing up the national rankings. They’ll have a big test this weekend at Paul Short but only feeds to the fire what they have going in the Big Apple.

Blugold Invite

While Paul Short will take center stage on Friday morning, the Bluegold invite will play the role of the half time entertainment before Pre-Nats Saturday morning. While UW-Lacrosse and UW-Whitewater will venture over to Michigan to see the national course, the majority of the North region will stay close to home to face regional foes. We’ll get a virtual rematch of St. Olaf’s invite front two weeks ago. This time, the course will be flatter and the weather will be cooler.

Freshman sensation Mohammed Bati will look to keep his undefeated season intact against a field he has seen before. He’ll face competition from Calvin Boone (St. Scholastica), Henry Bowman (Carleton) and the St. Olaf Duo Will Kelly and Logan Bocovich. 

We’ll be watching to see how 1500m champ Sam Verkeke continues to respond to the 8k distance. In the last article, we noted how little fun he was having in the over distance. However, if he continues his trend of improvement like he did in track, he could find himself in the front of some of these races. A deep sleeper name to watch for is Roy Llewellyn. The freshman was the 3200m runner-up from Illinois, will continue to figure out the 8k, and, from his high school pedigree, has potential to make some noise later in the season.

On the team side, St. Olaf, UW-Stout and UW-Eau Claire will headline the battle. These teams faced off earlier in the season but the efforts each team put in are in question. Did they tempo, did they race? With matchups counting now, the efforts may increase to help these team’s chances at an at-large bid.

Men

• St. Olaf (No. 17)

• UW Stout (No. 26)

• Uw Eau Claire (No. 30)

Women

• Carleton (No. 11)

• St Olaf (No. 15)

• UW Eau Claire (No. 22)

The historic rivalry between the two schools separated by the river will continue this weekend. Carleton narrowly edged out St. Olaf the last time these two faced off. Both teams took different approaches. Carleton was able to go 1-2-3 while St. Olaf packed things up and actually had their five in before Carleton’s five.

A big test for Carleton will be to decrease their 1-5 split. From their last meet, it currently stands at 2:26. That’s a whole lot of race between Clara Mayfield and their number five. Similar to Loras, if they can close down this gap and Clara is able to do what she does up front, this will help them in the postseason.

St. Olaf will continue to utilize their pack running this weekend. Their 17-second split gives them the ability to overtake Carleton. Sofia Carlson leads the charge for the Oles and their quest to repeat as MIAC champions.

UW-Eau Claire could give both teams a run for their money this weekend. While the focus will be on the MIAC rivals, Eau Claire showed off their pack running as well. They bested St. Olaf through three at the St. Olaf Invite but ended up falling just short. While sitting at No.22, closing the gap between St. Olaf will give them confidence when they face off against these teams in November for regionals.

Conclusion

We’re in for a big weekend. While seasons won’t be determined, it’s a great chance to find momentum as the season will only pick up from here. We’ll be keeping an eye on results nationwide, so be sure to look out for our rankings, recap article, and an episode with top performers next week.