NAU Men Look To Keep Dynasty Rolling With Fourth Straight Win

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Here is a look at some of the top storylines heading into Saturday's NCAA Division 1 Cross Country Championships in Terre Haute, Indiana.

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Lumberjacks Run: Northern Arizona is favored to win its fourth consecutive men’s cross country national championship and if the school from Flagstaff, Ariz., can pull it off it would be the first to win four in a row since Arkansas did it in 1990-93. UTEP also won four in a row from 1978-81.

A fourth title would also put NAU into company with some of college distance running’s historic programs. The ‘Jacks would move into a tie with Villanova (1966, 1967, 1968, 1970), Stanford (1996, 1997, 2002, 2003) and Oklahoma State (1954, 2009, 2010, 2012). 

How dominant is NAU? In a regional (the Mountain) that includes the two next best teams in Colorado and BYU, the Lumberjacks scored 21 points. Geordie Beamish, Luis Grijalva and Brodey Hasty went 1-2-3. That might not happen at NCAAs, but those three, plus Abdihamid Nur and Ryan Raff are the core of a group that is a near-lock to win title No. 4.

Arkansas Women Looking For Breakthrough: A recent spate of sub-par finishes at nationals, including 14th last year in Wisconsin, seems to be spurring a veteran and talented group to claim this year’s big trophy. Devin Clark, Katie Izzo, Maddy Reed, Carina Viljoen, Taylor Werner and Lauren Gregory have been the most dominant team all fall. 

Arkansas can lay claim to holding all three NCAA titles at once -- indoor and outdoor track championships were won in March and June -- if it can pull off something that has been, so far, elusive. The Razorbacks, surprisingly, have never won the NCAA women’s cross country championship. They’ve been runner-up four times. 

If Healthy, Stanford Women Also Have A Good Shot: When Fiona O’Keeffe, Ella Donaghu and Jessica Lawson went 1-2-3 at the Pac-12 Championships, it was a strong indication that the summer coaching change and hire of J.J. Clark to lead the program had come off without a hitch. 

Stanford rested O’Keeffe at the West Regional. Clark said Friday that O'Keeffe had been experiencing a "sore back" and that was the reason that she didn't run at the regional. The coach said he would consult with O'Keeffe prior to the race about whether she will run in the national championship race.

If O'Keeffe does not run it would be a significant blow to Stanford's national title dreams. 

With her, the Cardinal matches up pretty well with Arkansas and those individual battles between Arkansas and Stanford will be a fascinating sub-plot to Saturday’s action. Julia Heymach and Jordan Oakes have stepped up to make valuable contributions and Christina Aragon, returning from injury, has been trying to close the gap on her teammates. 

Edwin Kurgat Of Iowa State Is Pre-Race Favorite: With an undefeated season and no real challenges so far, Kurgat looks very much like the man to beat on Saturday in Terre Haute. He beat Wisconsin’s Oliver Hoare by 10 seconds at the Nuttycombe Invitational and he cruised through victories at the Big 12 Conference Championships and NCAA Midwest regional. 

Kurgat didn't start out as a runner. He played the position of center on his field hockey team in Kenya. The position requires a lot of running, and it was from there that his talent was first spotted. 

His chief competition may come from BYU’s Conner Mantz, who has a penchant for running aggressive and made an audacious move in the 2018 championships that he ultimately could not sustain against the speed of Wisconsin’s Morgan McDonald and Stanford’s Grant Fisher. Mantz will not let it boil down to a kick. 

Alabama duo Gilbert Kigen and Vincent Kiprop also have the ability to be in contention if Kurgat gets into trouble. 

Weini Kelati Ready To Win: New Mexico won team titles in 2015 and 2017, but this year the chance to make a headline comes from Kelati, who won her first NCAA title on the track in the 10,000 meters last June. 

Kelati led much of last year’s race before she was caught and out-sprinted by Colorado’s Dani Jones. Experience and strong results this fall are all on Kelati’s side as she attempts to join teammate Ednah Kurgat (2017) as an individual champion. 

Kelati won the Mountain regional by nearly a minute, clocking 18:58 for 6K. She also won her conference meet by nearly 50 seconds. Once she got into both races, she went on feel and her racing was dictated by the quality of her training.

"When I went out hard, I was prepared. It was easy for me," Kelati said.

Kelati’s biggest rival Saturday could be Wisconsin’s Alicia Monson, who could potentially try the same tactic as Jones and try to catch Kelati and use her speed at the end of the 6K race. Monson is undefeated and finished fourth at last year’s NCAA cross country final.

 BYU’s Whittni Orton and Erica Birk could be dangerous as well.

Pilots Looking To Peak At Right Time: The University of Portland men have finished second and third the past two years and are looking to place high again in what began as a rebuilding year. 

One solid piece that has been at the center of the recent push toward the top is French runner Emmanuel Roudolff-Levisse, who finished second at the West regional. 

Roudolff-Levisse, in September, ran 2:14 at the Berlin Marathon and placed 31st. That demonstrates a strength and endurance that is not common at the collegiate level, but it remains to be seen how that will translate to a muddy 10K track at LaVern Gibson Cross Country Course.

Race Conditions Could Be Wet, Cold: The weather forecast for Terre Haute on Saturday morning calls for temperatures in the upper 30s with a 50 percent chance of rain. The race course on a dry Friday was already very wet and squishy to walk on. One lower section of the course was very muddy and covered with tarps. The overnight low on Friday was expected to be 32 degrees and there could be precipitation as early as 3 a.m., according to Weather.com.

The last time the meet was at La Vern Gibson Championship Course, in 2016, the runners ran in cold conditions and were buffeted by 20 mile-per-hour winds.