WEEKEND ROUNDUP (XC): Great Racing Across The Nation

The Florida State Winter Cross Country Classic wrapped up on Friday morning.
CLICK HERE FOR RESULTS FROM THE MEET
The 12th-ranked Stanford men and the 8th-ranked Colorado women picked up team titles in their first races of the season, while Wesley Kiptoo of Iowa State and Ella Donaghu of Stanford earned individual crowns at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee.
Keep reading below for our recap of the meet.

Men’s Recap

A long layoff didn’t prove detrimental for Stanford.
And Wesley Kiptoo, well, the Iowa State star is still a supernova on the grass circuit.
The 12th-ranked Cardinal rolled to the team title in the Garnet Men’s 8K at the Florida State Winter Cross Country Classic on Friday morning. Stanford was the only program with four athletes in the top-20 as it cruised to a 31-point victory over No. 6 Iowa State and five other teams that were ranked in the top-30 of the most recent National Coaches’ Polls.
Kiptoo picked up where he left off in the fall and remained undefeated in cross country with a 15-second victory over a talented field in 22:48.8. He led by one second at the 3K split, opened it up to nearly seven seconds by 4K, 11 seconds by 5K and settled into a groove to the finish line.
Stanford turned the team race into a rout by the 3K split, going up 71 points over Eastern Kentucky, 45-126 (The eventual runner-up Cyclones were fifth with 166 points). While the gap closed to as few as 31 points, the Cardinal was still well in control. Cole Sprout and Charles Hicks finished fifth and sixth, respectively, while Alek Parsons took 12th overall.
Iowa State and No. 13 Colorado waged a hard-fought battle for second. While the Cyclones put some distance between themselves and the Buffs from 4K to 7K, CU rallied over the final 1K. The Buffs closed a 16-point gap and finished tied with Iowa State at 98 points. However, a tiebreaker finally went the Cyclones’ way as they had a 3-2 advantage in finishing places.
Camren Todd led No. 27 Utah State to a fourth-place finish in the team standings with his 10th-place individual effort. Zach Facioni took fourth individually to pace upstart No. 19 Wake Forest to a fifth-place showing behind the Aggies.

Women’s Recap

There was virtually no separation in the individual race or team standings through 4K of the Garnet Women’s 6K at the Florida State Winter Cross Country Classic on Friday morning.
Eleven women were within one second of the individual lead, while No. 8 Colorado led No. 4 Stanford by just seven points in a team race that could flip at the drop of a spiked shoe.
With 1K left, both races remained just as close: Four other women kept pace with Rachel McArthur of Colorado, who opened up a negligible edge on the individual field; the Cardinal shrunk the Buffs lead by one point to six, 71-77.
Ella Donaghu of Stanford proved strongest over the final 1K as she pulled away for the individual title in 20:07.0, 2.1 seconds ahead of Cailie Logue of Iowa State. Donaghu’s teammate Zofia Dudek ended up third at 20:09.2 with Taylor Roe of Oklahoma State in fourth (20:10.0) and the aforementioned McArthur in fifth (20:20.0).
The Cardinal added one more top-10 finisher in Julia Heymach (10th), but didn’t have additional depth to slingshot ahead of Colorado. The Buffs ended up putting all five of their runners in the top-25 with McArthur and Micaela Degenero (12th) as their only top-15 finishers. Colorado went 5-11-16-17-23 in the team standings for 72 points; Stanford was 1-3-9-31-33 for 77.
No. 23 Duke was a clear third in the team standings as it compiled 128 points, 53 fewer than fourth-place RV Oklahoma State and 61 fewer than No. 20 Iowa State in fifth place. The Blue Devils packed up well with a 15.9-second spread with scorers at 19-25-27-28-29.

Other Meets of Interest

American Athletic Conference Championships
Tulsa swept to proceedings on a blustery day in Wichita, Kansas.
In the men’s race, the fourth-ranked Golden Hurricane came within five points of a sweep as they went 1-2-4-6-7 for 20 points. Patrick Dever led the way for Tulsa with the individual title in 23:28.9, while Scott Beattie (2nd, 23:34.8) and Peter Lynch (4th, 23:58.7) also finished in the top-5.
In the women’s race, the Golden Hurricane notched a 40-61 victory over host Wichita State. Tulsa went 2-6-7-11-14 with Caitlin Klopfer taking runner-up honors in 20:53.9. Winny Koskei of the Shockers became the first woman in conference history to win three consecutive individual titles in cross country, crossing first in 20:49.3.
Southern Conference Athletic Conference Championships
The Colorado College men and the Trinity (Texas) women captured team titles at the SCAC Cross Country Championships this morning in Dallas, Texas.
In the men’s race, Colorado College and Trinity (Texas) alternated each of the first four finishers as the former gained minimal separation (Josh Fry of Colorado College was crowned individual champion in 26:35.6). Then the Tigers sent two of the next three across the finish line to give them some much needed breathing room. Colorado College ended up with an 11-point victory over Trinity (Texas), 26-37.
The women’s race was even closer as just five points decided the team champion. Ultimately, that distinction went to Trinity (Texas) as it swept the top-3 spots and then put two more in the top-10 (Jordan Juran was the individual champion in 21:48.1). Colorado College fought valiantly with finishers 4-5-6-7-8, but couldn’t top their rival’s top-end depth.