The 2022 men's and women's cross country regular season came to an exciting close at invitationals around the country, highlighted by the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational.
Here's what you need to know and what it means ahead of the postseason.
Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational
Men's 8K
No. 2 Stanford won the men's Nuttycombe, outpacing 18 other ranked teams, including seven from the top 10. The Cardinal scored 54 points as Ky Robinson took home the individual title in 23:03.9, with Charles Hicks and Cole Sprout finishing in third and seventh place, respectively.Â
Robinson's win came down to the wire as he held off No. 3 Northern Arizona's Nico Young, who had a strong push over the last 200 meters, but finished 0.1 seconds behind. Robinson's effort gave him the fastest time on the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course since the course was altered in 2018.
Stanford used a strong final 2,000 meters to move into first place, blasting past No. 1 BYU, who saw four of five runners fall from the top 15.
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Women's 6K
The women's portion of the Nuttycombe came down to a tiebreaker between the nation's top two teams. In a race that saw 24 of the top 30 ranked teams, No. 1 NC State and No. 2 New Mexico each finished with 80 points when it was all said and done. Here's how the top two teams finished.
| Place | Team | Finish |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | NC State | 1-2-18-23-36 |
| 2 | New Mexico | 8-9-12-25-26 |
To settle the tiebreaker, NC State ended up with the title after its top five runners won head-to-head 3-2. The Wolfpack now have three straight team wins. With the win, NC State and New Mexico flipped finishing spots from last year, where the Lobos beat the Wolfpack 93-102.Â
Individually, NC State was led by Katelyn Tuohy's win in 19:44.3 and Kelsey Chimel's 19:49.4 second-place finish. It was Chimel's first race of the year. Meanwhile, New Mexico's top five runners were separated by just 12 seconds, led by Samree Dishon's eighth-place finish in 20:05.9. Dishon improved by 11 spots over the last 2,000 meters.
Women's final results at the #NuttycombeInvite
— Wisconsin Track & Field (@BadgerTrackXC) October 14, 2022
1. Tuohy (NC St) - 19:44.3
2. Chmiel (NC St) - 19:49.4
3. Stearns (NAU) - 19:57.5 pic.twitter.com/zxuHrUToio
More from the final regular-season weekend
In other races around the country, a trio of elite runners carried their teams to team wins. Starting at the Alabama Crimson Classic, Alabama's Victor Kiprop won his third individual race to remain undefeated, finishing in 23:16.9. With Kiprop's win, the Crimson Tide men won at their home invitational.
At the Weis-Crockett Invitational — the Pre-Nationals Invitational — Montana State's Duncan Hamilton finished in 23:28.8 to win the invitational and lead the Bobcats to the team title by a single point.
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West Virginia's Ceili McCabe finished her regular season undefeated by taking home the individual win at the Penn State National Open in 20:00.8. McCabe's time was the sixth-fastest in the course's history and the second-fastest in the invitationals history. Overall, the West Virginia women won the invitational by 20 points.
Elsewhere, Florida's Parker Valby won the Arturo Barrios Invite hosted by Texas A&M in her first race of the season. While the Gators didn't win the team title at the invitational, Valby reminded everyone how talented she is.
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What it all means
Eight of the last 14 team cross country champions across genders have won the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational during the same year. That's great news from NC State and Stanford, my title picks at the midseason mark.Â
From an individual perspective, the final weekend of the regular season showed off some of the nation's top runners. Tuohy, McCabe, Valby, Robinson, Kiprop and Hamilton are all in contention for the individual trophy at the end of the season. Beyond the individual winners above, the conclusion of the regular season showed off the depth of the potential championship field.
NCAA XC:Â Here's how the cross country championships work
A month remains between now and the DI cross country championships. That's a lot of time for things to change, especially with most conference championships up next Oct. 28. Nonetheless, the postseason is here, carrying over the built-up excitement from throughout the fall.
