First-Year Nike Pro Overtakes Wake Forest's Rocky Hansen To Win 10K Event, Make First U.S. Team

By Oliver Hinson of DyeStat

John Nepolitan Photo

RESULTS/RACE VIDEOS

PORTLAND — Parker Wolfe returned to the national spotlight with a bang on Saturday, earning his first Team USA berth with a win at the USATF Cross Country Championships at Glendoveer Golf Course.

For nine of the 10 kilometers of the men’s race, it looked like Wake Forest’s Rocky Hansen would continue his stellar year, but Wolfe pulled even with Hansen and then pulled away in the last kilometer to break the tape in 29:16.4. Even with the two terrace hills in the final stretch, Wolfe’s last kilometer was his third fastest on the day at 2:52.9.

“Rocky kept pushing the whole time and made it really hard,” Wolfe said. “When we got to a couple (kilometers) left, I was like, ‘If I can just stay in contact, I think I can make one more move,’ and that’s how it worked out.”

Wolfe and his Nike Swoosh TC training partner Ethan Strand both won championships Saturday (more on Strand’s victory in the 2k below). Wolfe said the two of them had been doing a few workouts on grass every week to get ready for the conditions, but much of their training was base mileage and threshold work as opposed to race-specific workouts. Knowing that, Wolfe says he’s optimistic about the upcoming indoor season.

After Wolfe and Hansen, Hoka NAZ Elite teammates Wesley Kiptoo and Ahmed Muhumed took third and fourth place, respectively. Graham Blanks and Nico Young, whom many imagined as the favorites for this race, finished fifth and sixth, rounding out the squad for the World Championships in Tallahassee.

Strand and Porter Make 2K Relay Team

There was no doubt about who would make the Team USA mixed relay squad as the field made its way up the final hill on Glendoveer Golf Course.

Ethan Strand and Wes Porter separated themselves, taking first and second place in 5:25.8 and 5:26.5, respectively. Garrett Macquiddy was seven seconds back in third place.

Strand hadn’t run cross country in more than a year before this race, but when the addition of a 2k race was announced for this year’s USATF championships, he knew he couldn’t pass up the opportunity.

“It’s not every day you get to represent the country,” Strand said. “I try to take advantage of every chance I get.”

Strand put this race on his calendar for a few reasons. In addition to being able to race at a World Championship on his home turf, he was excited to join his father, Scott, as a fellow World XC qualifier. The elder Strand qualified for Team USA in 1998 and ran at the World Championships in Morocco.

The younger Strand, now a member of the Nike Swoosh Track Club, has big plans for the winter. In addition to racing in Tallahassee, he wants to race at the Millrose Games and qualify for the World Indoor Championships in March.

Sam Gilman took fourth place, followed by Under Armour Dark Sky teammates Vincent Ciattei and Kasey Knevelbaard in fifth and sixth, respectively.

Texas' Aidan Torres Wins U20 Title

Texas freshman Aidan Torres ran 25:10.8 to win the U20 men’s 8k title, pulling away from California Polytechnic’s Tyler Daillak in the last kilometer. 

Torres’s race was the second to last of the day, and the course was in bad shape by the time he toed the line. According to him, though, those conditions worked out in his favor.

“I love messy races,” Torres said. “I love races where the conditions aren’t the best. It brings out the true runner.”

Torres finished 12th at the 2024 Nike Cross Nationals as an individual qualifer from El Paso's Eastwood High. 

Torres ran six races for Texas this fall. His most recent performance was a 15th place finish at the NCAA South Central Regional; he came within a few places of qualifying for the NCAA Championships.

Daillak took second in 25:13.8, followed by high schooler Daniel Skandera in third. Minnesota’s Salvador Wirth and New Mexico’s Dylan Maloney rounded out the top five, and NXN champion Jackson Spencer will join them to make up the six-man squad heading to the World Championships in Tallahassee.