West Virginia Women Go From Unranked To Second Place

By David Woods for DyeStat

Kevin Dorsey PHOTOS

VERONA, Wis. –  There were 510 runners entered at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, and at least that many stories. More notes from Saturday:

No dominance by Kenyan men

In a throwback to the 1970s, college men’s cross country in 2024 was dominated by Kenyan runners. Until nationals, that is.

Inexplicably, only two of the top 18 were Kenyans, both of Oklahoma State: Brian Musau, fifth, and Denis Kipgnetich, 11th. Americans took five of the top eight, including winner Graham Blanks of Harvard.

Oklahoma State’s Laban Kipkemboi, first at 4,000 meters, finished 107th. Texas Tech freshman Ernest Cheruiyot, first at 5K, was131st. Alabama freshman Dismus Lokira, 17th at 6K, was 41st. Eastern Kentucky freshman Justine Kipkoech, 12th at 3K, did not finish.

Another Texas Tech freshman, 28-year-old Solomon Kipchoge, did not start. At the Mountain Regional, he beat NCAA runner-up Habtom Samuel, an Eritrean at New Mexico, by 10 seconds.

It was a dismal day for No. 2-ranked Oklahoma State, which had five in the top 15 in winning last year and just three in the 100 Saturday. The Cowboys finished eighth.

Foreign runners dominate women’s race

In contrast to the men, the women’s race was dominated by non-American runners.

Kenyans swept the top three, and Americans accounted for just 14 of 40 All-America spots. That’s down from 25 last year, according to FastWomen.

Amy Bunnage, a 19-year-old Australian, was fourth – best by a Stanford woman since 2013.

Team Canada would have totaled 65 points: Ceili McCabe (West Virginia), fifth; Chloe Thomas (Connecticut), ninth; Sadie Sigfstead (Villanova), 15th; Rachel Forsyth (Michigan State), 16th; Florence Caron (Penn State), 19th.

Thomas, winner of the Big East and Northeast Regional, was highest NCAA finisher ever for UConn.

Forsyth was No. 3 freshman behind two Kenyans: New Mexico’s Pamela Kosgei, second, and Tulane’s Carolina Jeptanui, 12th.

West Virginia women: From unranked to podium

For the first time since USTFCCA weekly rankings began in 1995, a team that was unranked in preseason made the podium:

West Virginia’s women.

"If I had one word to describe today's performance, I would choose spectacular," coach Sean Cleary said.

Second was the Mountaineers’ highest finish ever. Besides McCabe, they had All-Americans in Kenyan freshman Joy Naukot, 17th, and Scotland’s Sarah Tait, 34th.

Only other teams with three All-Americans were first-place BYU and third-place Providence. The Friars were another surprise, improving eight spots from a No. 11 ranking.

“In my opinion, this is the hardest running team championship in the world to compete in,” said McCabe, an Olympic steeplechaser.

Don’t discount BYU women’s massive climbs

Excellence might be a given at BYU, but nothing was given to these women.

Look at their three All-Americans, compared with last year’s finishes: Lexy Halladay-Lowry, 14th (up from 103rd); Riley Chamberlain, 31st (up from 216); Carmen Alder, 39th (up from 246 out of 247).

Halladay-Lowry was also on BYU’s champions from March 2021 as the team’s No. 7 runner in 184th.

“It was such a full circle moment for me and the team,” she said.

BYU’s winning score of 147 was third-highest in meet history, evidence of parity in this sport.

Most improved women

Dramatic drops, year over year, are common in NCAA cross country. Biggest by the women were Alder (207 spots) and Chamberlain (185).

Next were Penn State’s Florence Caron, 182nd to 19th; Providence’s Laura Mooney, 185th to 56th; Stanford’s Zofia Dudek, 177th to 66th; May, 116th to 10th; Syracuse’s Emma  Eastman, 106th to 205th; Arkansas sophomore Paityn Noe, 101st to seventh; Thomas, 99th to ninth; Halladay-Lowry, 113th to 14th;

Penn State’s Sophia Toti, 229th to 150th; Oregon’s Anika Thompson, 104th to 32nd; Stanford’s  Riley Stewart, 128th to 58th; North Carolina State’s Hannah Gapes, 73rd to eighth; Harvard’s Molly Malague, 188th to 124th; Stanford soph Sophia Kennedy, 95th to 33rd; N.C. State’s Grace Hartman, 63rd to fifth; Sigfstead, 71st to 15th; Penn State’s Madaline Ullom, 150th to 94th; Bunnage, 59th to fourth.

Most improved men

Biggest drop among men was by Virginia junior Gary Martin, who climbed 206 spots – from 219th to 13th.

Yaseen Abdalla was fourth for Arkansas after finishing 187th last year for Tennessee.. He represented Sudan at the Paris Olympics marathon, finishing 33rd in 2:11:41. (He was 33rd at NCAAs two years ago).

Next biggest drops were 177 spots by North Carolina’s Colton Sands, 229th to 52nd; 144 by Butler sophomore William Zegarski, 161st to 17th; 131 by Villanova’s Marco Langon, 146th to 15th; 121 by Colorado sophomore Dean  Casey, 151st to 30th, and 107 by Georgetown sophomore Luke Ondracek, 221st to 114th.

Other All-Americans improving 30 or more spots:

North Carolina’s Ethan Strand, 45th to eighth; Iowa State’s Said Mechaal, 55th to 10th; BYU’s Creed Thompson, 46th to 12th; Wisconsin’s Bob Liking, 83rd to 16th; Portland’s Matt Strangio, 76th to 22nd; Wake Forest soph Charlie Sprott, 125th to 32nd; CBU soph Valentin Soca, 86th to 33rd.

In other news . . .

>> Blanks and Samuel became the first pair of runners to finish 1-2 in successive years since Al Lawrence and John Macy, both of Houston, did so in 1959 and 1960.

>> Notre Dame soph Izaiah Steury was 24th. He transferred from Notre Dame to Oregon, then back. He finished 28th at pre-nationals, 30th at ACC and 18th at Great Lakes Regional. He was 63rd at NCAAs as a freshman in 2022. Steury, once a child shepherd in Ethiopia, was adopted by an Indiana couple in 2013.

>> DyeStat’s Dave Devine identified seven men who were sub-4-minute milers in high school: Martin, 13th; JoJo Jourdon, Wake Forest, 47th; Colin Sahlman, Northern Arizona, 67th; Simeon Birnbaum, Oregon, 74th; Drew Griffith, Notre Dame, 90th; Rocky Hansen, Wake Forest, 100th; Leo Daschbach, Washington, 117th.

Contact David Woods at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.