Oklahoma State: At their first big meet of the season, the Cowboy Jamboree, the Pokes won with a dominant 19 point score, placing their top five runners 1-3-4-5-6. The one runner to break up OSU’s clean sweep? 2023 national runner-up and sub-27-minute 10,000m man Habtom Samuel of New Mexico. Simply put, Oklahoma State was untouchable on their home course, and it wasn’t for a lack of competition: the Cowboys toppled three ranked teams on Saturday morning; New Mexico (No. 8), Oregon (No. 22), and Texas (No. 27).

Sophomore Brian Musau (8th at 2023 NCAAs) won the individual race eight seconds ahead of Samuel, and familiar faces Denis Kipngetich (4th at 2023 NCAAs) and Victor Shitsama (four-time XC All-American, 12th at NCAAs last year) finished fourth and fifth. As a reminder, Musau and Kipngetich were only recruited to OSU last July, and still finished top-10 at Nationals just months later. Now with a full year in coach Dave Smith’s system under their belts the sky's the limit for the Kenyan duo.

As good as this Cowboys team was last year (they put five men in the top 15 at Nationals), they might be even better now. At the Jamboree, they got a third place finish from redshirt freshman Laban Kipkemboi, a 3:56 miler from the indoor season, and a sixth place finish from Ryan Schoppe, the anchor on each of OSU’s two national champion DMR squads, who coach Dave Smith nearly ran at last year’s national meet despite plans to redshirt him.

And if you somehow weren’t impressed yet, OSU did all of this without the services of veteran Fouad Messaoudi (10th at 2023 NCAAs), or sophomore Adisu Guadie (50th at 2023 NCAAs) who, running unattached, finishing 10th. The label of “one of the greatest cross country teams ever assembled” might not be hyperbole.

BYU: As we mentioned, the premier meet this past weekend was the Nuttycombe Invitational, where teams got their first of potentially a few looks at the Nationals course in Madison before the big dance in November. The No. 2 ranked Cougars entered the meet as the favorite, and came away with one of the most convincing wins in Nuttycombe history. BYU put four men in the top nine en route to a 44 point team score – the lowest by a men's winning team since 2010.

The Cougs were led by super-super-super senior Casey Clinger, who has been at BYU since 2017 and will turn 26 in just a few weeks. He redshirted last year due to injury, but built up enough fitness by June to finish fifth in the 10,000m at the U.S. Olympic Trials. Clinger opened up his season at BYU’s home meet earlier in September, and took home the win in his first cross country meet since 2022. He followed that up with a fourth place finish on Friday, showing that he can be a major factor in the team and individual races at Nationals.

BYU’s depth was extraordinary at Nuttycombe. The top individual from their third place finish at Nationals last year, Paris Olympian James Corrigan (32nd at 2023 NCAAs), was their fifth man, placing 17th. BYU put six runners before any other squad’s third man, and if the wear and tear of a cross country season gets to any of their top guys, they had the top two finishers in the meet’s ‘B race’ who should be ready to step up if needed.

Northern Arizona: While this isn’t the NAU team that many fans are used to – their No. 4 preseason ranking marked the first time they didn’t begin the season at No. 1 since 2016 – it would be foolish to exclude the six-time NCAA champions from any team title discussion.

With the Lumberjacks having skipped Nuttycombe for just the second time since 2012, we haven’t seen them against top national competition yet this season. Back in August at their home meet, the George Kyte Classic, the NAU men swept the top seven spots and were led by Florida State transfer David Mullarkey (40th at 2023 NCAAs). The Jacks’ stiffest competition on the day came from Nevada, a team that finished 17th in the Mountain Region last year.

In their first major meet of the season, NAU was upset by a Notre Dame team that used home course advantage and team tactics beautifully to secure the win. Six kilometers through the men’s “Blue 8k” at ND’s Joe Piane Invitational, the top five Fighting Irish runners were separated by 0.4 seconds, and unofficially trailed Northern Arizona by five points. They took home the win on a bad day for NAU (Santiago Prosser – 21st at 2023 NCAAs, did not finish), the likes of which they’ll have to avoid if they want to be the ones pulling off an upset in November.

While none of the top four teams in the nation have gone head-to-head yet, Pre-Nationals on October 19th will be important for schools who still need a look at the Wisconsin course. At the latest, Oklahoma State and BYU will face off on November 1st at Big 12 Championships with a conference title on the line.

Teams/Individuals to Watch

Iowa State: With OSU and BYU taking up the Big 12 spotlight, the Cyclones may fly under the radar all the way to championship Saturday when they’ll be in the mix for a podium spot. The only team whose depth was on par with BYU at Nuttycombe was second place Iowa State, whose seventh man actually finished nine spots ahead of BYU’s (52nd to 61st).

Just three years removed from a runner-up finish on the national stage, the No. 5 Cyclones know what it takes to succeed in November. ISU returned all five scorers from their fifth place finish at Nationals last year including two All-Americans, and 8:25 steeplechaser Gable Sieperda (43rd at 2023 NCAAs), the only scorer left from that 2021 second place team.

Looking to improve upon last year’s result, Iowa State has added to that core, most notably with NCAA cross country’s newest mystery man, Robin Kwemoi Bera. Prior to his fifth place finish at Nuttycombe over the weekend (he held a commanding lead from 5k to 7k), the freshman had no prior NCAA results, a blank Iowa State roster profile, and seemingly no World Athletics page. The results speak for themselves however, and if he can replicate them on this course in November, he could provide the Cyclones with a valuable low stick with a potential top-10 finish.

North Carolina: Speaking of low sticks, they don’t get any lower than Parker Wolfe (9th at 2023 NCAAs). Wolfe opened his season at Nuttycombe by putting three seconds on the rest of the field in the last kilometer – in very similar fashion to Graham Blanks last year – covering the 8k loop in 23:04 to set a course record* on the same grass that will host the season’s biggest meet in less than two months time.

Parker isn’t a lone Wolfe wolf however. The Tar Heels were ranked No. 6 in the country (now No. 10), and placed fourth at Nuttycombe. Ethan Strand (45th at 2023 NCAAs) finished seventh on Friday coming off a summer where he made the U.S. Olympic Trials 1500m final.

UNC will need to tighten up the gap between their top runners and the rest of their scorers if they want to get on the podium for the first time in school history (their best team finish is fifth from 1985). Their 1-5 spread at Nuttycombe was 1:33, nearly a minute more than BYU, who had just 38 seconds separating their top five men.

*Arizona's Lawi Lalang ran 23:03 in 2012, but the course was changed in 2018

New Mexico: Earlier this season, CITIUS MAG’s Jasmine Fehr had a conversation with Lobos coach Darren Gauson, whose team placed 18th at Nationals last year, but comes into this campaign with a remade team, a top-10 ranking, and unbridled optimism.

Everyone knows Habtom Samuel (2nd at 2023 NCAAs), one of the biggest favorites for the individual title come November, but the squad around the star Eritrean is where New Mexico has improved in 2024. Last year, it was slim pickings behind Samuel, Evans Kiplagat (33rd at 2023 NCAAs), and Lukas Kiprop (148th at 2023 NCAAs), which gave the team no room for error when Kiprop had an off day at Nationals.

Now depth is a strength for the Lobos, they’ve added international athletes like Vincent Chirchir, who enrolled back in January and ran outdoor track for UNM, and Collins Kiprotich who only arrived on campus in early September. They also utilized the transfer portal to bring in Rikus Van Niekerk (CBU) and Iker Sanchez (Arizona). Those four runners rounded out New Mexico’s scoring five behind Samuel on Saturday, all finishing between ninth and 16th, separated by just 18 seconds.

While the women’s program in Albuquerque has two team titles, two runner-up finishes, and two individual titles in the past decade, the men’s squad hasn’t registered a top-10 team finish since 2009, but if all goes right that will change in less than two months.

Rocky Hansen: The Wake Forest sophomore came into the NCAA overlooked last season as maybe the quietest member of an extremely talented (and vocal) high school class. That all changed at Nuttycombe last year when he finished sixth as a true freshman, ahead of more experienced runners like Parker Wolfe and Drew Bosely.

Unfortunately for cross country fans, that was Hansen’s last race of the season as he struggled with injury for the rest of the fall. He recovered to have a solid but unspectacular track season. Now back on the grass, the Demon Deacons’ low stick has catapulted back into the spotlight, with a runner-up finish at Nuttycombe just behind Wolfe.

If Hansen can stay healthy through November, he is a legitimate top five contender in the individual race, and the key to a Wake Forest team that skyrocketed up 14 spots to No. 6 in the polls after finishing third and beating seven schools ranked above them in Wisconsin.

Teams Still Adjusting

Colorado: Sean Carlson was announced as the Buffs head coach on July 25th, just over a month before the team’s first meet, making an eighth place finish at Nuttycombe as the No. 21 team in the country rather impressive. In fact, Colorado finished ahead of five teams above them in the polls and moved up four spots as a result. But with a brand name like Colorado and one of the highest regarded coaches in the country, fans demand results… and quickly.

Colorado had a tight 1-5 spread on Friday with just 25 seconds separating their scorers, but the runner that could elevate this team to the next level is Western Colorado transfer Simon Kelati. He was CU’s fourth runner in Wisconsin, finishing 65th overall, but was the runner-up at DII Nationals last year. If he can adjust to running in bigger crowds against DI competition and snag an All-American spot in November, that will greatly improve CU’s team prospects. Colorado hasn’t been on the podium since 2019, and while they won’t be in that conversation this year, Carlson will be expected to have them there soon.

Notre Dame: The Fighting Irish finished 14th at Nationals last year, but came into this season ranked No. 6 on the strength of a recruiting class that was widely regarded as the best in the country. That talent could have Notre Dame contending for championships in the near future, but a team relying heavily on freshmen needs patience as they adjust to longer distances.

It may seem crazy to place a team that just took down NAU in the category of “still adjusting,” but we’re still viewing this Notre Dame team through the lens of its potential. A win against this year’s Northern Arizona team over 8k on your home course is one thing, but replicating that success over 10k at Nationals is a tall task.

The Irish don’t have a true alpha yet, but their strength lies in their depth. In their surprise win they were led by Ethan Coleman (48th at 2023 NCAAs), who is their top runner from last year’s National meet. In their first home meet of the year, Carter Solomon (170th at 2023 NCAAs, 18th in 2022) took the individual win, and is the veteran presence for the young team.

One of Notre Dame’s most promising runners is true freshman Drew Griffith, a high school national champion and sub-4:00 miler, who ran unattached in his NCAA debut but would have been ND’s fifth man. Griffith officially donned the Irish jersey for the first time in their statement win at Joe Piane, and impressed as their No. 4 runner.

Best Freshmen/Newcomers

One of the biggest headlines of the cross country off-season was Texas Tech landing 28-year-old freshman Solomon Kipchoge from Kenya, who comes to Lubbock with a 59:37 half marathon PB (that’s six seconds faster than Ryan Hall’s American record). Kipchoge lived up to the hype, winning the individual title at the Lori Fitzgerald Open back in August. But Tech has had three meets since then and not run Kipchoge, so they may be keeping the true talent of their new stud under wraps until the postseason.

Kipchoge’s teammates have dominated in his absence however. First it was Ernest Cheriuyot, who joined the team last winter and eventually finished fourth in the 10,000m at the outdoor championships in June. In his first cross country season for the Red Raiders, Cheriuyot won the team’s second meet of the year by an astonishing 53 seconds.

Then at their third meet it was another international freshman in Edwin Kiprono, an 800m specialist, who won the race by 45 seconds, albeit with his top competition coming from New Mexico Junior College. The top heavy nature of Texas Tech has them sitting outside of the coaches poll, but they’ll get the chance to prove themselves at what has the potential to be a barnburner of a Big 12 Championships.

Outside of Lubbock, Washington State’s Evans Kurui made headlines with the latter of his two season opening wins by crushing Ed Cheserek’s course record at the WSU Cougar Classic. Kurui won both of his first two NCAA races by over 50 seconds, before finishing second to Texas Tech’s Cheriuyot in his first real test at the Joe Piane Invitational.

Among the U.S. high school talents transitioning to the NCAA, we’ve seen success from BYU’s Berkley Nance who won the ‘B race’ at Nuttycombe, and Washington’s Nathan Neil who finished third in the same race. 2023 NXN champion JoJo Jourdan may be taking a redshirt year at Wake Forest as he ran unattached at the adidas XC Challenge, finishing an impressive third in the 6k race.

Who hasn’t run yet?

One team notably absent on the men’s side at Nuttycombe this weekend? The meet’s host, Wisconsin. Last year the school held most of its big dogs back at Nuttycombe, prioritizing postseason meets, and finished 22nd. It looked like the strategy paid off when the Badgers placed three in the top six at the Great Lakes Regional, but they went into Nationals ranked fifth and finished an underwhelming 10th.

This year Mick Byrne’s squad took it a step further and completely skipped their home invitational. Now in their, defense, it’s not like the Wisconsin men need another run on the course ahead of Nationals, but it’s a bold plan that will ultimately be judged by how well Adam Spencer (70th at 2023 NCAAs), Bob Liking (83rd at 2023 NCAAs), and crew perform in November. As a reminder, the last time the championships were held in Madison, it was the Badger’s Morgan McDonald who took home the individual title.

Also passing on Nuttycombe was the meet’s reigning champion, Harvard’s Graham Blanks (1st at 2023 NCAAs). Now Blanks’ decision was more than understandable as his outdoor season stretched to August 10th with the Olympic 5000m final where he finished ninth. Blanks’ undefeated 2023 campaign spanned five races and opened on September 29th, but a later season opener may actually allow the defending champ to fly under the radar as the rest of the country’s top runners duke it out.

Lastly Patrick Kiprop (7th at 2023 NCAAs) should be a major player in both the individual and team title races for No. 3 Arkansas. The Razorbacks had their first major competition of the season on Saturday, hosting the Chile Pepper XC Festival, but Kiprop was absent, leaving room for teammate Kirami Yego (13th at 2023 NCAAs) to win the meet for a second straight year

WOMEN

Team Title Favorites

Northern Arizona: Last year it looked like NAU had taken down the NC State dynasty – and coach Mike Smith had finally built his first title winning women’s team. The Lumberjacks claimed the throne of the No. 1 team in the nation halfway through the season and headed into Nationals as the favorites… and then NC State spoiled it all as they eked out their third straight title by just one point.

The Wolfpack may have only delayed the inevitable by a year though. While NAU sat second in the rankings to start Smith’s final year at the head of the program, they brought back almost every piece from their title favorite team and reloaded with even more talent.

Among their top seven from last year, returners include Elise Stearns (20th at 2023 NCAAs), Ali Upshaw (57th at 2023 NCAAs), Maggi Condon (60th at 2023 NCAAs, made Olympic Trials 1500m final), and Maisie Grice (76th at 2023 NCAAs), only two of whom they had to use in order to put 11 runners in the top 12 in their season opener.

They also have runners like Nikita Moore, their top finisher in that season opener, who have continued to develop under Smith and are ready to take the next step. On top of all that, NAU went into the transfer portal and added Colorado freshman (now sophomore) Karrie Baloga (82nd at 2023 NCAAs) and Florida State’s Alyson Churchill (22nd at 2023 NCAAs) last winter.

The Jacks had their first test of the season on Notre Dame’s home course at the Joe Piane Invitational, and won with five runners in the top 13, beating fellow top five teams Notre Dame and BYU without running their top returner in Stearns.

NC State: The Wolfpack can thank last year’s title winning team for their current No.1 ranking, but if they want to replicate that success this year, it will need to come from new blood. The roster no longer features Katelyn Tuohy (4x NCAA champion), Kelsey Chmiel (4x cross country All-American) or Amaris Tyynismaa (2x cross country All-American), and veteran Sam Bush (3x cross country All-American) only has track eligibility remaining.

The young guns who have to step up would ideally start with Leah Stephens, who finished 43rd at Nationals as a true freshman last year, but her track season ended prematurely due to injury, and she is still sidelined. The next women up are Grace Hartman (63rd at 2023 NCAAs) and Hannah Gapes (73rd at 2023 NCAAs) who finished fifth and sixth for the Pack at Nationals last year, and were their top two runners at their only meet so far this season.

Among newcomers, six-time DIII champion Fiona Smith (transfer from Saint Benedict), and Ellie Shea (3x New Balance Nationals champion) could end up being major contributors to the team.

Teams/Individuals to Watch

Washington: While the earlier Nuttycombe date discouraged a few of the nation’s top teams from attending, UW’s win should not be discounted. They came into the meet as co-favorites with Big Ten rival Oregon, and they produced. The same of which could not be said about U of O (more on that later).

All five of the Huskies scoring runners placed in the top 34 of the race, and they posted an impressive 1-5 spread of just 30 seconds. Most crucially however, they have room to improve. Duke transfer Amina Maatoug (9th at 2023 NCAAs) placed 27th after finishing 11th in a loaded Nuttycombe field last year. Similarly, Chloe Foerster (47th at 2023 NCAAs), the top runner on UW’s eighth place Nationals team last year, was only their fourth finisher this weekend. They’ll count on her to improve on this same course in November.

The Washington women were led this weekend by Penn transfer Maeve Stiles (60th at 2022 NCAAs), who is looking to return to the big dance with a team this season after she qualified as an individual two years ago. Stiles finished eighth at Nuttycombe.

Providence: The Friars finished fourth in Madison this weekend, but they had the best score of any team’s top three runners at the meet. Kimberley May (116th at 2023 NCAAs), Shannon Flockhart (69th at 2023 NCAAs), and Alex Millard make up one of the most dangerous trios in the NCAA and will be looking to avenge a disappointing 28th place finish for the Providence women at Nationals last year.

May and Flockhart finished second and sixth in the 1500m final at last summer’s outdoor NCAAs, and will be looking to carry over positive momentum from the track onto the grass this fall. Millard is a transfer from Loughborough University in the UK who won the British Universities and Colleges Sports (BUCS) cross country title in 2023.

Props to some of the other top performers at Nuttycombe, including team runner-up Utah who finished 15th at the meet last year before improving to 13th at Nationals. The Utes’ performance was reflected in their rise from No. 14 to No. 6 in the polls this week.

In a field that was perceived to lack star power, the individual race saw some lesser known runners make a name for themselves, led by Villanova junior Sadie Sigfstead. The last time the Nova women ran at Nuttycombe in 2021, Sigfstead was their top runner, finishing 36th. This weekend however, she beat every woman that lined up against her, earning the biggest win of her collegiate cross country career. Sigfstead won the Mid-Atlantic Region last year, but finished 71st at NCAAs the next weekend.

The woman that led the breakaway from the field with Sigfstead – before fading slightly at the end to finish 3rd – was Gonzaga’s Rosina Machu. While the Zags haven’t made Nationals as a team during Machu’s tenure in Spokane, Washington, the senior made the meet individually and finished 16th last year. She looks like even more of a threat in the individual race this year, and could be bolstered if her team breaks through and joins her (the No. 18 Zags have been a top-20 team each of the past three seasons, but have struggled to overcome the hurdle of making it out of a competitive West Region)

The title of early favorite in this year’s individual race would go to Alabama sophomore Doris Lemngole (2nd at 2023 NCAAs), the top returner from last season. Her first season in the NCAA saw her play second fiddle to Parker Valby all fall before she made a name for herself as the best steeplechaser in the nation come springtime. Lemngole was part of a 1-2 punch with Hilda Olemomoi (4th at 2023 NCAA’s) at Alabama last year, but Olemomoi transferred to Florida to fill the Valby-sized hole in Gainesville over the summer, leaving Lemngole with no proven peers on the No. 15 Crimson Tide. As a result they likely won’t be much of a factor in the team title race.

Lemngole won Alabama’s season opener, finishing over 30 seconds ahead of her second place teammate. The only time she may be challenged all season are the races in which she faces off against her training-partner-turned-conference-rival, Olemomoi.

One other group of individuals that deserves mentioning is the Clemson Tigers’ trio of Judy Kosgei (19th at 2023 NCAAs for South Carolina), Silvia Jelego (redshirt freshman), and Gladys Chepngetich (24th at 2023 NCAAs). The group went 1-2-3 at the adidas XC Challenge, all three of them outpacing the entirety of the No.1 ranked NC State team on their home course. Although it’s hard to derive much from such an early season meet, NC State ran nearly all of their healthy runners and none of them were able to keep up.

Clemson has a strong case to put three in the top-25 at Nationals, something only NAU did last year. The challenge will be elevating two other runners so that the Tigers can bring a full squad to the big dance for the first time since 1993.

Teams Still Adjusting