Now officially fall, the temperatures outside are cooling down but the competition on the course is heating up. National-caliber matchups produce spicy results and team frontrunners continue to establish their dominance. Here’s what happened this week in D3 cross country.

MIT versus Williams

In the most exciting matchup of the weekend, nationally ranked programs MIT and Williams lined up next to one another at the Purple Valley Classic for a stripped-down look at each teams’ abilities. Both men’s and women’s teams had to battle to the line to emerge victorious. On the women’s side, MIT took the crown, but on the men’s side, Williams pulled off an upset victory.

MIT women were led by Kate Sanderson, the 48th-place national finisher and three-time national qualifier for the Engineers. Sanderson led a pack of four, who all finished within 21 seconds of one another, across the finish line to sweep places two through five. Sixteen seconds later, MIT’s fifth crossed the line to solidify the MIT pack time as 37 seconds and a victory over Williams, who only had three finishers ahead of MIT’s fifth.

One of these finishers was meet champion Genna Girard, who took a sweeping victory over the field, winning the meet by 48 seconds. The Williams standout is an All-American in cross country and the outdoor 10k and a national runner-up in the indoor 5k. With performances like Saturday’s Purple Valley victory, Girard shows that her name should also be in contention for this year’s top finishers. Not having placed higher than 15th in cross country, Girard appears to be on the proper trajectory to exceed her prior accomplishments.

The men’s race brought to life a highly anticipated matchup between 2022 men’s national champions MIT and 6th place national finishers Williams in a man-to-man battle that persisted all the way through 11th place. In fact, MIT and Williams were the only jerseys to cross the finish line for 25 places, showing the depth both these teams hold. Having both lost key members–for Williams, national runners-up Elias Lindgren and Grahm Tuohy-Gaydos (who’s abroad this year) and, for MIT, XC All-Americans Ryan Wilson, Matt Kearney, and Andrew Mah–both teams enter this season with a few pieces of uncertainty. Racing each other this past weekend showed each team where their strengths and weaknesses exist.

In a battle of the packs, Williams showed how strong their front pack of John Lucey, Nikhil DeNatale, and Charles Namiot is when they crossed the finish line in first through third place, only 11 seconds elapsing among them. MIT’s front pack of Lowell Hensgen, Sam Acquaviva, Henry Hardardt, and Vedang Lad lagged slightly behind, taking the next four places with 27 seconds elapsing among them. It was Williams’s next pack, however, that sealed the deal for the Ephs. The group of Nate Lentz, Chris Ratcliffe, and Pat Theveny came through within ten seconds of one another to pack six Williams athletes in front of MIT’s fifth. Their final score was 23 to beat MIT’s 33 by a narrow but comfortable margin.

While certainly a race that puts momentum on Williams’s side, it will be interesting to see where both teams’ packs finish in a race that’s not under 100 participants. Both teams posted pack times under a minute, but in a race like the national championship, a lot of bodies can fit inside this window of time. Until a Williams-MIT rematch occurs, we tip our hats to the Ephs for their impressive victory.

Out West

The Western powerhouses returned to the courses this weekend to produce some fast results. George Fox traveled to Monmouth, OR for the Mike Johnson Classic where 800-meter All-American Ellie Rising paved the way to the women’s third place team finish, and Trevor Wilbur led the men to a second place finish. Both beat several athletes and teams from different divisions, despite sidelining some key members, showing their dominance as D3 programs.

Farther down the coast in Santa Clarita, Calif., CMS, Pomona-Pitzer, and La Verne showed their chops against some D2 and NAIA programs. Pomona-Pitzer was the first D3 team to finish, in second overall, despite sidelining varsity members Colin Kirkpatrick, Lucas Florsheim, and Bennett Booth-Genthe. They were led by Cameron Hatler, who was the first D3 finisher in 7th place. From their first to fifth runners, only 45 seconds elapsed, further showcasing their depth in the absence of Kirkpatrick, Florsheim, and Booth-Genthe.

Just 39 points behind the Sagehens, the CMS Stags placed fourth overall with a 49-second split and without several of their varsity members, and 24 points behind CMS was the team from La Verne. While hard to predict where the Western teams plug in with the rest of the nation, their tight pack times cannot be denied.

CMS led the team battle on the women’s side led by Natalie Bitetti. The two-time D3 XC national champion posted an impressive runner-up finish to Hannah Fredericks, NAIA third-place All-American in the 10k. Her time of 20:59 trailed Fredericks by 19 seconds but was still a full 13 seconds ahead of third place finisher Bethany Mapes from D2 program Biola. Bitetti will certainly be an individual to continue to watch this 2023 season.

Bitetti was joined by teammates Elle Marsyla and Riley Capuano, who finished within 21 seconds of Bitetti’s low stick runner-up finish. With a solid three, CMS women just need to close the gap between third and fourth place to strengthen their chances at a top national finish. Fourth and fifth runners Angela Gushue and Laura Zimmer were only a second from one another, but over a minute from Bitetti.

Between Capuano and Gushue was Pomona-Pitzer’s number one runner, Katie Cline, who finished eight overall.The Sagehens were much more spread out in the women’s race, falling to rivals CMS by almost 100 points.

SUNY G Continues their Reign

It was a SUNY G. sweep at the Harry F. Anderson Invitational in Rochester. The Knights placed six of their men in the top 10 race, winning handily with an impressive 20 points. Nick Andrews kicks off the 2023 season in style with a 10 second win over Cortland St’s Hunter Brignall. Keep your eyes on Brignall this season. The last time we saw him on an XC course he finished 31st in the Niagara region. He ran a PB of 8:27 in the indoor 3k and was just 11 seconds back of Andrews. Bringnall could be the next D3 runner to breakout.

Andrews will look to improve upon an impressive 6th place showing at the 2022 National Championships. With a 1-4 split of just 23 seconds, this is just the kind of close pack they’ll need come November.

In the women’s race, depth proved to be the key to victory. While 2022 National Qualifier Roberts Wesleyan swept the top 3 positions, SUNY Geneseo’s 38 second 1-5 split proved to be too much for the Redhawks to handle, as the Knights took home the win 51-66. SUNY G was led by Sierra Doody and Ann Brennan in 4th and 5th respectively. If SUNY G can continue to replicate that 1-5 split, they will be a team to look out for.

A Rookie Star Emerges

Calvin freshman Hailey Erickson ran her first college 6k this weekend. Most freshmen weather an adjustment period from starting college classes, adjusting to new training, or, at the very least, moving up in distance from 5k to 6k. Not Erickson. She won her first race in a Calvin jersey by 11 seconds, beating several D3 national qualifiers like Wesleyan’s Stephanie Ager, Aurora’s Deyanneira Colon Maldonado, and W&J’s Claire Anderson.

Hailing from Mt. Prospect, Illinois, Erickson boasts some pretty impressive high school PRs. Not only are her times solid, but she has incredible range, from sub-60 in the 400 all the way to 17:36 in the 5k (this also includes a sub-5 1600, sub-11 3200, and 2:16 800). She’s competed in Nike Cross Nationals and countless Oregon Relays at Hayward Field.

It’s rare to see female athletes with this base level of talent entering the D3 ranks, but it’s what the division needs more of. With recent women’s distance standouts like Kassie Parker and Fiona Smith, D3 has gotten just as competitive as other divisions up front, but both of these athletes have remained mostly unrivaled (with some exceptions). Depth is what elevates the division and puts fans on the edge of their seats for November matchups.

Though she still has a long college career ahead of her, it will be exciting to see how Erickson plugs in on a national level on both the cross country course and the track. Her name is one to remember all year long.

All I do is Win

With only one race in cross country as opposed to track, a win becomes just a little more meaningful. While the above hits some of the biggest highlights from the weekend, we want to shout out some race winners from over the weekend.

In addition to Girard and Erickson’s impressive victories, RPI’s Olivia Pisacano continued her winning streak at the Bard Fred Pavlich Invite, where she won outright by 16 seconds. In the men’s races, Lucey and Andrews both posted noteworthy wins, as did Middlebury’s Alec Gironda, who won the men’s Bard Fred Pavlich Invite race. Though only one person each can be crowned the winner in November, the regular season wins are pretty good indicators of who to expect up front on the largest stage in D3 cross country.

Looking Ahead

While many of the top teams in the nation are taking a weekend off ahead of what is sure to be a barnburner of a Pre Nationals Meet; we have plenty waiting for us this coming weekend. This weekend features 25 ranked Men’s and Women’s teams toeing the line from coast to coast.

Paul Short

If we had to pick the meet of the weekend, we’d be hard pressed to not pick Paul Short. Both races will be loaded with ranked teams representing multiple regions. As teams begin to lock in their travel squads, we’re excited to see how these talented teams match up at full strength.

The Gold Race features four top 10 ranked Men’s teams. Headlined by #3 ranked UW-La Crosse & #6 ranked SUNY Geneseo, we’ll get a taste of how strong these teams are in a larger field. With 47 teams in this field spanning all three divisions, this is sure to be a nice preview of a nationals type environment for these squads.Speaking of the national meet, this race will feature two men who have had plenty of experience racing each other at the biggest stage as UW-La Crosse’s Ethan Gregg and SUNY Geneseo’s Nick Andrews get to mix it up with some tough D1 competition.

The Brown Race is sure to be interesting as it features four ranked teams as well as two teams receiving votes this past week. This is headlined by #16 ranked Haverford racing in their first 8K of the season. Valuable points are up for grabs and upsets could prove to be crucial once it’s time to fill out the nationals field come November.

Men’s Ranked Teams:

Gold Race

• UW-La Crosse (#3)

• SUNY Geneseo (#6)

• Carnegie Mellon (#9)

• Johns Hopkins (#12)

• Lynchburg (#18)

Brown Race

• Haverford (#16)

• Middlebury (#19)

• Emory (#21)

• NYU (#31)

• Washington & Lee (Receiving Votes)

On the women’s side, the Gold Race features reigning national champions Johns Hopkins (#5) facing SUNY Geneseo (#6). SUNY Geneseo has to come in confident coming off a win at the Harry F. Anderson Invitational last weekend but they’ll have their hands full with Johns Hopkins and UW-La Crosse (#8) coming off bye weeks. On the individual side, look for returning All-Americans Sara Stephenson (Johns Hopkins) and Maddie Hanan (UW-La Crosse) to be in the mix for top D3 honors.

As was the story in the men’s field, the Women’s Brown Race has valuable points for the taking. This race features five ranked teams headlined by 12th ranked NYU. Look out for returning All-American Grace Richardson (NYU) to be an important low stick for the Violets in this race coming off an impressive program record time at the Jasper Cross Country Invite. Redland’s Chloe Bullock will look to be in the hunt for top D3 honors, as the returning All-American will toe the line for her 6K season debut. Teams need to be on the defensive; a couple squads on the fringe will have a prime opportunity to snatch valuable points in this race.

Women’s Ranked Teams:

Gold Race

• Johns Hopkins (#5)

• SUNY Geneseo (#6)

• UW-La Crosse (#8)

Brown Race

• NYU (#12)

• Lynchburg (#17)

• Emory (#19)

• Middlebury (#29)

• Carnegie Mellon (#31)

• Connecticut College (Receiving Votes)

• Hamilton (Receiving Votes)

BluGold Invite

The action kicks off late Friday afternoon in Colfax, Wisconsin as teams head to the Eau Claire Blu Gold Invitational. Both races feature returning All-Americans and potential contenders for the podium and individual titles this November. How’s that to kick off your weekend?

The men’s race is headlined by 4th ranked UW-Whitewater. They’ve finished the last two races with a team score of under 20 points. Led by Pocket Aces Award winners Christian Patzka and Gunner Schlender, the Warhawks look to continue a strong start to the season with another strong showing against ranked competition. Look out for returning All-American Will Kelly (St. Olaf) to make it a battle up front, after handily winning the St. Olaf Invitational earlier this month.

Men’s Ranked Teams:

• UW-Whitewater (#4)

• St. Olaf (#13)

• UW-Oshkosh (#30)

• Carelton (#33)

The Women’s race is headlined by returning podium team, Carleton (#4). The Knights had a close victory over UW-La Crosse (#8) earlier this month and are looking to continue a very impressive start to their 2023 campaign. They’ll face another returning top 10 team in St. Olaf (#9) who are also coming off an impressive win at their home invitational. In the individual race, D3 Runner of the Week recipient Fiona Smith will look to add to an already dominant start to the season.

Women’s Ranked Teams:

• Carleton (#4)

• St. Olaf (#9)

• UW-Eau Claire (#22)

• St. Benedict (#33)

Final Thoughts

The team at D3 Glory Days is looking forward to the business that this part of the season brings. The meets begin to count, teams start to face off which means one thing: it’s truly cross country season.