Regionally Speedy
We're officially in the thick of it
Look, normally I start these things with a half-baked and borderline rambling introduction where I try to get you excited about the news I’m about to share with you. But this is CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON, baby, and I don’t need to do anything extra to get y’all hype. Things are heating up faster than you can say “dragonflys aren’t a cross country spike1,” so I’m gonna skip the posturing and just jump right in. Buckle up, folks.
Last Week: A Recap
Pacific Region
The Cal Poly men took the W in Sonora last weekend, led by Jackson Schenone, who finished 5th in 26:44. The individual win went to UC Davis’ Ethan Brooks, who finished in 26:07, 11 seconds in front of his teammate Frank Ramisch in second. I’m hearing reports that there was over 450 feet of climbing on this course, too, so it’s safe to say they’ve go no shortage of grit on the West Coast, either.
In the women’s race, Stanford took home the regional title with a score of 34. They were led by Chloe Taylor, who took first in 23:30. Standford runners also finished 3, 5, 10, and 15 for an average finish time of 24:49.
Northeastern Region
Meanwhile, up in MA, the Cornell women locked down a regional title with a solid score of 38. Charlotte Tysall not only led their team but finished first overall in a time of 23:21. Following Cornell was Northeastern with 54 points and BC with 69.
The men’s race also saw some fireworks: fast times, hard efforts, and a mathematical anomaly in the results! Brown took the team title with a score of 28, averaging a time of 26:02 as a team. Now, that’s a speedy time, fast enough to win you an individual title in most other races, but here’s the thing: Northeastern, the team runners-up, had a lower average time of 25:51.
“But David!” I hear you ask, “how is that possible? How did they get second with the fastest average time? Wouldn’t the fastest team have the lowest score?” Well check this out — Northeastern distance star Cam Leonard ran a BLISTERING 24:22 for the win last weekend. That placed him 70 seconds ahead of the next finisher, Brown’s Aaron Gruen, who ran 25:322. When the dust had settled, Brown's top 5 had finished 2-4-5-7-10, just edging out Northeastern's 1-3-6-11-12. So, even though they came up just a little short in the score department, Northeastern's mean time still reflects the bonkers-ness of Cam Leonard's time because, y'know, averages.
Somewhere, a coach who insists that XC is a team sport is pumping his fist.
Great Plains Region
The Wisco women took home a team title at the Great Plains Regional champs last weekend, scoring 34 points to 2nd-placers Illinois’ 50. Wisconsin, led by Lauren Fitzsimmons in 2nd, finished with 3 runners in the top 5. Illinois runner Diane Makovic took the individual win, however, dropping a 23:35 6k for the win.
In the men’s race, Illinois took the title with a final score of 29 and 4 men in the top 10. Bram Osterhout of Illinois finished first in 26:42, and last year’s runner-up from nationals, Eldon Warner, finished 8th.
Great Lakes Region
Now here’s a race that sounds like a testing ground for toughness. Course temperatures swung, according to MSU’s Aidan Bustillo, from the 30s in the morning to the 70s by the time the gun went off, leaving the course what he called a “dry, dusty wasteland.” From what I hear, it was a bonk-heavy course.
It was also, it seems, a helluva race. Michigan, as predicted, swept the podium in both races. Their men’s and women’s teams finished with scores of 49 and 28, respectively. The women’s race came down to a battle between MRun and Notre Dame, whose women’s team would, frankly, be cleaning up in any region where they didn’t have to race MRun. Notre Dame scored 36 points when all was said and done, and MRun’s Ashley Heidenrich took the win in 21:56.
In the men’s race, MRun took a hard-fought first in 49 points, ahead of OSU’s 85 and Purdue’s 89. Indiana standout Noah Scott took 1st in a who’s who field of NIRCA XC running.
This Weekend: What to Expect
Mid-Atlantic Region
Another meet featuring a number of the most oft-opined of teams and athletes in the league, the Mid-Atlantic Regional meet at Lehigh University is bound to be a slugfest. Team-wise, we’re looking at VA Tech, UVA, Pitt, Maryland, American, JMU, Penn… I could go on.
Individually we’ve got Ashton Blackwell, Austin Molitor, Lucia Larrea, Harris Nasseh, Jenny Schilling, Thi Nguyen, Alexander Horgan, Ella Johnson, Alec Venable, Caroline Beard, Eli Anish, Adam Conklin3, Abby Norton, Tim Purcell, Ethan McKeever, Sydney Szabos, Max Worley, Ben Darden.... it's gonna be fast, that's all I'm saying.
Lehigh is a relatively flat, fast course from what I understand, so — assuming weather conditings don’t get too crazy — we’re likely to see fast times and hard running from the gun. I’ve learned my lesson about betting against Tech, but Pitt and Maryland Both pose serious threats, and the UVA women are not to be underestimated.
Southeast Region
The Southeast will also be running hard at Wingate this Saturday. I admittedly don’t know all that much about the course, but in terms of teams, the North Carolina schools (UNC, NC State, Duke, etc) and the Georgia Schools (UGA, Georgia Tech, etc) are absolutely worth watching, not to mention the Floridians. Ethan Turner, Maggie McCormick, Christian Geils, Abbey McKee, and James Vlasis are all names to watch in the individual race.
Other News
Three things:
Remember Nicky Alexander? Well, it’s offical: he’s heading to run for the University of Louisville in the Spring, where he’ll compete for several seasons, but he’s still been training with Cincy’s club team all fall. Even if he hasn’t been able to compete in cross (gotta conserve that eligibility), he won a local 5-mile road race in 25:21 last Saturday, splitting 25:10 through 8k.
Ever wanted a better way to keep track of all these NIRCA teams? Well, data maverick and club running elder Beau Barber’s got you covered. Check out this interactive Google Map he made!
Not to doxx myself, but it’s no secret that I work part-time at a certain Richmond-area running store owned by a certain Richmond-area pro runner and recently-former American Record holder in the marathon. This isn’t just a flex4 — I'll probably be working for much of the week leading up to the day of Nationals! So, if you need spikes, or shoes, or Honey Stingers, or if you just wanna come say howdy, swing by PR RVA and come say hello! We'll likely be doing something fun for marathon week (the Richmond Marathon/Half/8k is the same day as Nats), so it'll be worth the trip. Also, there's a fractional but non-zero chance a former American record holder will be hanging around, and that's pretty neat, right?
I work in a running store — y’all are killin me with this. THEPLASTICSPIKEPLATEWILLCRACKONPAVEMENTANDHURTYOURFOOT you know what? Whatever. I don’t even care anymore. Whatever. It’s fine. It’s cool. I swear.
which is still, to use a technical term, blazin’ fast
The man I will forever shout out for running a sub-12 3200 while juggling
Make no mistake, though, it’s a flex