Cross country is basically the neglected step child of the track and field community. People watch Olympic track and field, but nobody watches Olympic cross country. However, I actually coached cross country at the college level, so I think I know something about what it is going on out there. There are national polls that come out every week of the season, and it is pretty unclear what races they were watching half the time. They might get the top 2 or 3 teams right, but the rest of it seems like they just drew names out of a hat or something. However, cross country is an NCAA championship sport, with the highest level of competition facing off in division 1. So here is a legitimate preview of the NCAA championships meet for cross country.

NCAA D1 Women’s XC Preview

The team title is likely going to come down to two teams. NC State and Northern Arizona are basically going to be competing in a dual meet with a bunch of other runners out there wearing different colors just to make it look interesting. They battled each other at the Nuttycombe Invitational which is basically a pre-national meet. That meet actually went down to the wire, and literally not one team there was close to either of them. Keep in mind, half of the top 25 ranked teams showed up. Including teams number 4 and 6. NC State does have the best runner between them and NAU in Katelyn Tuohy. Which is why I predict the Lady Wolfpack will repeat as national champions again, but it could go either way.

If you are looking for a sleeper team to root for, it is Lipscomb from the Atlantic Sun conference. Yes that is an actual thing in Division 1. No they don’t have a chance to win the meet, or even go top 5, but they could threaten to make the top 10 which is a very big deal. Whoever does the national rankings for the women must not be paying attention to the results. Lipscomb beat Iowa State and Colorado at Nuttycombe and are still ranked below them in the nation. On top of that they dominated their conference. So forget about all because these ladies can run, potentially as one of the nation’s absolute best teams.

However, the individual championship race is really what this meet is about. It’s Katelyn Tuohy vs. Parker Valby the rematch. Katelyn beat her outdoors in 2021 in the 5K, and in cross country for 2022. But that last win was by only 3 seconds. Parker is way better than that now, and beat her at Nuttycombe by more than 10 seconds. It’s hard to bet against the queen but Parker Valby just might have her beat, but only time will tell.

NCAA D1 Men’s XC Preview

On the men’s side there is a dynasty that has been running things for what feels like forever. Northern Arizona’s men have won 6 of the last 7 NCAA championships and are riding a three peat right now. They literally have all the best recruits, and they have the results to prove it. The only time they lose a recruit, is basically when he chooses to turn pro instead. But this year could be the year they lose. Oklahoma State on paper is literally just as good as NAU. They beat BYU in the Big 12 meet by the same margin NAU did at Nuttycombe. They are the team ranked number 3 in the nation. It’s going to be a battle but I would take NAU just because that’s the safe bet.

The only dark horse who can really make a splash to sneak into the top 5 is Stanford. It’s funny because they went fourth last year at NCAAs and have the reigning outdoor track champion in the 5K and 10k. They underachieved significantly at Nuttycombe but they are now the Pac 12 champions. Unfortunately that is the last time they will ever be able to win it. They will likely go out in style. And next year they can have fun flying to the east coast to run in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship meet, all the way from California.

Interestingly enough another team of super smart guys is my underdog pick. Princeton beat Harvard in the Ivy League championships. That actually matters because Harvard is ranked inside the nation’s top 20 and their best runner won the Nuttycombe meet out right. Clearly they can run with the Crimson. And Harvard has the talent to go top 10. So evidently the Princeton Tigers can also.

That said the individual title is likely a three way race between Harvard’s Graham Blanks, Nico Young of Northern Arizona, and the super talented freshman Brian Musau of Oklahoma State, by way of Kenya. There is no real way to know which one will win it. They all have the talent. I’m rooting for Graham Blanks because Harvard does not win national championships often, and he’s already proven he can beat all of the nation’s best runners.

The Bottom Line

Cross Country is a real sport, and the NCAA acknowledges that. They hand out a championship trophy every year for it. Regardless of who wins, this chamipionship meet will be one for the history books. So I strongly advise that you pay attention to watch the best in the nation do what only they can.

LOOK GOOD, FEEL GOOD, RUN GOOD.

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