11/22/23: 2023 NCAA XC Championships Recap

This past weekend in Earlysville, Virginia at Panorama Farms Cross Country course, the 2023 Division1 NCAA Cross Country Championships were held. Across both the men's and women's races there were great performances. Today, I will be talking about both races and how they went down. Let me begin with the women's race. 

Going into the race it was apparent that it would be a rematch of the previous year's championships. Last year, Katelyn Tuohy of North Carolina State was able to win the race by a little bit more than three seconds as she passed the runner who had broken off of the lead and took the lead herself, Parker Valby of Florida. A fun fact about her is that she said in a pre race interview that she only runs three times a week, a training method very uncommon amongst the world’s best.  This year however, Valby has had the upper hand over Tuohy. She beat her in their only meeting this year by 12.4 seconds, in the Nuttycombe Invite. 

Through the opening stages of this race, it was obvious that it would come down to these two runners, in a very fast race. The lead women went through the first kilometer right around 2:55, Valby and Tuohy were in first and fifth place respectively. But that didn't last long as Valby broke off the pack, opening a lead of 8 seconds, just like she did last year. However, unlike last year the runners behind her couldn't close the gap and she ended up winning by 10 seconds, in a new NCAA record of 18:55.2, the previous record was run by New Mexico University’s Ednah Kurgat in 19:19.5. Besides Valby, two other athletes broke the previous record. Unfortunately for Tuohy she was unable to retain her title due to a sickness, but she helped her team win their second straight team title.

NC State narrowly beat the number one ranked team in the nation, Northern Arizona University, which has had a great year, by one point, the final score was 123-124. NAU over the last kilometer was able to close a small gap between them and NC State, but unfortunately, they were one point short. 

Like the women's race, this men's race was a fast one upfront. So fast that six runners were on a sub-4-minute mile pace through the first kilometer, a split that can only be run by the best. Up until the eighth kilometer the top pack was solidified as a group of nine runners who were running fast. 

At that eighth kilometer, four runners broke off and continued to pick up the pace. One runner that was withstanding it all was Graham Blanks of Harvard, Blanks rolled with the punches and was able to stay at the front through all the differing paces. Through the course of the next kilometer Blanks and another runner Habtom Samuel of New Mexico University broke off again and began their run for the finish. Over that last kilometer Blanks was able to open up a gap and finish easily with the first National Title won by an Ivy League runner, a lead of three seconds, and a finishing time of 28:37.7. 

In the team race, it was a battle of the giants as the dynasty Northern Arizona University and Oklahoma State University battled it out. Throughout the race, it was back and forth but four kilometers into the race Oklahoma State broke away from NAU and would eventually run away beating NAU by 22 points in a score of 49 to 71. 

Across both races there were great races and every athlete or team I've talked about today will be one to watch for in the coming years.