Multi-Meet Mania
We’re kinda crazy, aren’t we?
Happy October everyone! With that, we are just over 1 month away from Nationals! That is crazy to think about, it feels like the season just started. Well, for some teams it has! This past weekend was one we had penciled in as a weekend that could really define the team race for the season, and it definitely lived up to the hype. Between dominating performances, dramatic upsets, and insane doubling, this weekend had it all. We are in for a treat, since this upcoming weekend is the other weekend we pinned as being crucial for the team race at Nationals. We’ll recap all the performances from this past weekend as well as preview another fantastic weekend we have on tap.
If we missed your race, we’re sorry! We can only cover it if we know about it, so feel free to let us know where you raced! Also please send in some meet photos to nircacoachespoll@gmail.com to add some more color for these articles! If your club went to any of the meets we have uploaded to the Database, you can also add a photos link directly there! That would be much appreciated 🙂
The latest Coaches’ Poll is now live! If you want to get involved with the Coaches’ Poll, we have an information packet here if you are interested in learning more. In that packet we have information on how to join the Coaches’ Poll and the planned dates for the polls. So if you want to join, feel free!
Don’t forget to check out the National Running Club Database! It is an on-going project by our founder Jonathan Karr to have all of the club results in one convenient spot. There are sure to be a few meets we missed on the Database, but you can add it and it will be included! More information about that can be found on the Database website.
Little Tens Invitational
One of the fastest meets of the season lived up to the hype, as Michigan hosted their annual Little Tens Invitational. The men’s race, as expected, was dominated by Michigan. The Wolverines were one spot away from completing the clean sweep of the top 5. Henry Christiansen led the way with a fast time of 25:25.92 over his ex-D1 law student teammate, Andrew Healey, in 25:26.74. Rounding out the top 3 was yet another Wolverine as Ben Clason made his season debut running 25:31.11. The one man to break up the Michigan sweep was Purdue’s Luke Linscott as he finished 4th overall (despite making a wrong turn) in 25:35.41. Michigan put their entire scoring 5 under 26 minutes, with their 6th, Max Pfeiffer, not too far behind in 26:16.68. That was a dominant performance from the reigning champions as they put up a team score of 17 points over a field that featured 3 teams ranked in the latest Coaches’ Poll. Behind Michigan, we saw a good race for 2nd as Ohio State beat Purdue by 17 points. The Buckeyes continued their great season as their duo of Brandon Wiedl and Joseph Sigall backed up their early season 5k times running 26:05.9 and 26:08.2, respectively. Carson Rewiski secured a strong 10th place finish running 26:17.8. The Buckeyes were without Nolan Freyhof this weekend. We’re not saying it would have been enough to take down Michigan, but he would have finished somewhere in the Top 15-20 range, giving the Buckeyes a solid scoring 5. This was the first time Purdue has raced since their home opener back in early September. As mentioned, Luke Linscott had a fantastic race in finishing 4th. Behind him, he had 2 top 15 performances from Brian Barbarini and Levi Hammerback. After that, however, they had to wait a bit as a whole lot of Wolverines who didn’t factor in the team scoring finished in front of their 4th man. Let’s hope the Boilermakers are timing this peak to perfection. A 2 minute 1-5 spread at this point in the season can be scary.
Speaking of scary, who would have predicted the Michigan women getting upset on their home course?! Despite Elania Alig taking the individual win in a fast time of 22:22.58, Ohio State was able to put 3 across the line right in front of Michigan’s 2. Samantha Fobean nabbed 2nd at the line in 22:46.5 over Michigan State’s ace, Charlotte Batra (22:46.63). Emerson Greene continues to improve over the 6k as she dropped a 23:04.2 for 4th. Diona Ramos and Isabella Wyman both rank sub-24 in order to secure Top 10 finishes as well. In the end, the Buckeyes ended up winning by 7 points over the Wolverines. Supposedly Michigan was without 3 of their top runners, but given how many returners they have and just the strength of their squad, this puts them in a precarious position as we inch closer to Nationals. Notre Dame might have found a new ace, as freshman Meagan McKenna ran a strong race to finish 4th with a time of 22:50.45. Notre Dame might need all the help they can get as one of their only returners from Nationals, Emily Arenas, is just now getting into training. Rounding out the rest of the team race, we had Purdue and Michigan State finishing in a close race for 3rd. Purdue had a good showing from their top 2, Cara Karmolinksi and Emily Reeves, as the duo finished 6 and 7 overall. After those two, however, the Boilermakers had to wait a bit as their next runner finished 29th overall (20th for team scoring). On the bright side, Purdue’s 3-7 split was a very impressive 17 seconds, which would benefit them at the very large meets like Nationals. A mere 5 points back was the Michigan State Spartans. Earlier in the season, they went to a tiebreaker against Michigan, but this meet they were without two of the runners that got them in that position. They had a strong showing from Ella Showerman who secured a top 15 finish.
This meet answered a lot of questions for the Michigan men but still leaves quite a few for the Michigan women. One thing for sure is that Ohio State has come to play this year.
Brown Bear Invitational
Until proven otherwise, the Northeast might be one of the most entertaining regions to cover. Like we were talking about last week, the Northeast teams are consistently racing each other. This time around, we had the Brown Bear Invitational. This meet was not a club exclusive meet, but there were quite a few club athletes across different clubs. In the individual race, Lauren McAdams from WPI once again showed she might be the woman to beat out of the Northeast as she dropped an impressive 22:41.16. The next fastest club runner was Hayley Norton from UMass Amherst in 23:50.85. This is the first 6k we have seen out of the Northeast and some of the times weren’t quite up to par compared to the 5k’s we have been accustomed to seeing. Factoring in all of the non-NIRCA teams, this was a close race between Northeastern and UConn, with the Huskies coming out on top! The Northeastern Huskies that is…as stated, this was a close team race as these two teams essentially traded spots.
The men’s race played out pretty similarly to the women’s for both the team race and the individual race. Justin Hong from Bryant took the club with an impressive 25:38.19 over Colin Slavin (UConn) and Ted Yee (Northeastern). It came down to the wire for the 2nd club spot as Colin snagged it 26:25.22 over Ted’s 26:25.55. This is the third straight race where Ted has run in the low 26s, he has been showing very good consistency for a team that has lost quite a bit of talent over the last several years. Opposite to the women’s race, however, it was the UConn Huskies who took the team win on the men’s side. We might finally be seeing the depth we would expect from UConn. It stacks up well in a meet like Brown Bear, we’ll have to see how they fare in a NIRCA only meet, however.
Border Battle
We’re going to start this section off by saying Wisconsin has some crazy runners. Three of their athletes, Dasha Vorontsov, Adam Kitay, and Jacob Alejandro, raced in the Nuttycombe Invitational B Race Friday afternoon, then turned around and raced the Border Battle Saturday morning. It just means more in Wisconsin. To quickly recap the Nuttycombe performances, Dasha ran 22:31.2 to lead a small squad, while Adam ran 26:45.9.
Back to the Border Battle, Dasha seemed to have no problems recovering from the previous day as she ran away from the field to run 20:51.4 on a slightly short course. The next closest runner was her teammate, Leah Remiker, in 21:16.6. Leah was one of the top runners at Nationals last year, and everyone, including the Wisconsin rep…, assumed she graduated. But she is back for more and adds a tremendous amount of firepower to this already strong squad. In 3rd was another Wisconsin runner in Claire Matthai in 23:01.4. Despite the short course, these are some impressive results from the defending champs. We haven’t seen this squad race as a full team yet, but based on their individual results, Wisconsin might be the team to beat once again. Minnesota and Iowa State had a good battle going for the next 4 spots, as the two teams traded off 4th through 7th. Chloe McCormick and Megan Cunningham helped lead the Gophers to a 2nd place team finish with a score of 51. Unfortunately, Kyra Martin and Morgan Deharde were 1 runner short for fielding a full team. Based on these performances, however, there’s a chance they’ll get the individual bids for Nationals assuming they don’t find enough runners to get a scoring team.
The men’s race ended up being just a tad closer than expected. The end result was the same, with Wisconsin taking home the team victory, but Iowa State made it difficult for them. Adrian Welton took home the individual win with a time of 27:01.0 on a slightly long course. He was joined in the Top 10 by his teammates, Ethan Hulinsky (5th) and Caleb Currier (9th). This wouldn’t be enough, however, to take down Wisconsin on their home course, as the Cows went 2-3-4-8-10 for a team score of 27 points. They were led by Adam Kitay and Jacob Alejandro, who both the day before. Scoring 3rd for them was long time Ohio State runner, Felix Boeing. He grad transferred to Wisconsin after finishing his degree. We have also heard rumors that Wisconsin has picked up another grad transfer in former Michigan standout, Andrew Quaal. He was a top runner for the Wolverines during his time in Ann Arbor, so we would expect him to feature prominently for this squad as well. Other notable names in the Top 10 were Minnesota’s Arlan Hegenbarth and Iowa’s Chris King. Both of these runners have been top dogs for their squads for several years now, they’ll need to come through for their teams to contend at the Great Plains Regional here in a few weeks.
To recap, the Wisconsin women might have 3 runners all capable of taking the individual title this year…
Hokie Invitational
If you like fast, flat races, then this is not the meet for you. The Hokie Invite is hosted on the brutal Blacksburg High School course, and it was made worse this year thanks to a week of rain from the hurricane. While the times might not be that super impressive, it gave us an opportunity to see how Virginia Tech would respond after the Cavalier Invitational. On the women’s side, there were only 2 complete teams: Virginia Tech and Georgia. Despite taking the individual title with Eryn Lackey, the Bulldogs didn’t have the depth to match Virginia Tech on their home course. The Hokies put all 7 in the Top 15 overall to put up a team score of 20. They were led by freshmen Audrey Fitzpatrick and Molly Weisel, who backed up their impressive races at the Cavalier Invitational by once again being in the top pack for the Hokies. Despite not factoring into the team race, there were several individuals who featured at the front of the race. VCU’s Mary Kehoe took home a close 3rd after leading for parts of the race. JMU’s Jillian Wallner finished 5th overall, while UVA’s Emma Tessler finished in 8th. Oddly enough, UVA only sent 4 women to this meet after such a dominating performance at their home meet.
The men’s race had a few more full teams compete, but the results were pretty much the same. Virginia Tech took home the team win with a score of 18 points. They also collected the individual title, as 5000m Champ Chris Nunn took an easy victory. After having off races at Cavalier, Declan Harden and Stuart Vailes bounced back for the Hokies to secure top 5 finishes. The only runner breaking up a potential Hokies 1-7 sweep was Will Chelberg from Liberty. After going out hard the first few miles, he managed to hang on for 3rd, right in front of the Hokies workout pack. Taking spots 6, 7, and 8 were a gaggle of Hokies who, supposedly, were tempoing the race. Noah LeCain, Wyatt Thomas, and Samuel Yakulis finished within 0.2 seconds of each other to give this squad an easy back end depth. Georgia had a bit of an off day, as they faded to a distant 4th with 101 points. They were without several of their top runners, but we haven’t seen some of them in a few weeks, which brings up a few questions about if they will compete more this year. JMU was another team we thought could factor into that 2nd spot on the team race, but without several of their top runners, they couldn’t get much going.
Around the Country
Top highlights from non-NIRCA meets from around the country.
Arkansas is making their presence known in their first season as Abigayle Money continues to impress with her 17:45.9 at the Chile Pepper Invitational
Illinois is back to racing. On a hot day, we saw their top runners excel as Ethan Forsell led the men with his time of 26:27.7 while Claire Casiello led the women with her time of 23:58.2
Over at Lock Haven, we saw some fast times from Princeton and Penn State. Ruaridh Mon Williams led a small but mighty group of Tigers and finished as the top club runner with a time of 25:55.7, while Penn State’s top runner finished in 26:13.9. The Princeton women are about one runner away from being a darkhorse for the Nationals podium. Rebecca Cunningham led a smaller yet mightier squad with her time of 21:41.1, with her teammate Anita Miller running 22:51.6
Early on Friday morning out in Gans Creek, Missouri was throwing down some fast times. On the men’s side, Matthew Griffith dropped a 25:20.7 with his teammate, Noah McMullen, running a 25:54.0. On the women’s side, Abigail Diggs and Ashton Turner ran 24:30.2 and 24:35.7, respectively. The Gans Creek course was just announced as the venue for the 2025 NCAA XC Nationals, so this is a legit cross country course.
Out of the west coast, Oregon has a club too! If only they competed in NIRCA like the old days :( Real ones remember when the Pacific Region actually had more than 4 teams competing. Anywhoooo, Avery Hackenberg led a small flock of Ducks at the Mike Johnson Invitational with her time of 22:09.6, while Henry Domnarski ran 26:38.5 for on the men’s side
Weekend Preview
This weekend features another great lineup of NIRCA meets as we have meets with major team implications in the Southeast/Mid-Atlantic, Great Lakes, and Northeast Regions. There’s a good chance that this weekend could rival last weekend in terms of amazing performances.
VCU Invitational
Starting off with our next Meet of the Week, we’re taking a trip back to the site of the 2022 NIRCA Nationals race for the VCU Invitational. This meet features (almost) all of the top squads in the DMV area plus NC State. We should be in for a treat, since this course is probably the only one in both the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast that could contend with the fast courses we see in the Great Lakes Region. Both races feature 4 teams ranked in the latest Coaches’ Poll, including 5 Top 10 squads (2 men, 3 women).
The women’s race should be a good battle between UVA, Georgetown, and Virginia Tech. Georgetown has been one of the surprise teams of the season after their very impressive season opener at the DC Invite. They will be without one of their top runners in Cynthia Gudaitis, however, which could leave this squad in a vulnerable position. That being said, they might have the individual title favorite in Jane Smith. She dusted everyone at the DC Invite to run 23:11.7. She might face some challengers as the two women who were right behind her at the DC Invite: Beatrice Wermuth (Maryland) and Grace O’Connell (American) are entered in the race. Not to mention the top 2 finishers at the Cavalier Invitational in UVA standout Gabby Santucci, and new Virginia Tech ace, Addie Brinkley. Other names to keep an eye on are VCU’s Mary Kehoe and NC State’s Hannah Clarke. Mary has shown she has the ability to contend at the front of races over the last couple years, while Hannah is a newcomer to the NIRCA scene and has performed well on courses like this so far in her career. Virginia Tech will be without one of their top freshmen in Audrey Fitzpatrick, so they will need to find someone to step up in order to compete with the other top teams. UVA, on the other hand, looks to have their entire squad back from the Cavalier Invitational, so we predict another strong performance out of this squad.
The men’s race has a very dramatic storyline to follow. The last time Virginia Tech lost in the regular season was the 2021 Cavalier Invitational by 2 points to UVA. That win streak was snapped at this year’s edition of the Cavalier Invitational. There’s been a lot of talk heading into this meet about whether or not UVA can go 2/2 in pulling off the upset over the Hokies. That was a very strong performance from UVA at their home meet as they fielded their entire squad, including former LSU runner Jackson Martingayle. The Hokies, however, were without their top 3 runners from Nationals. This time around, things might be a little different. Virginia Tech looks to be fielding their entire top squad. Which means we finally get to see the Virginia Tech Hokies race everyone at the same meet at race effort! Will we finally see the results we have been expecting to see out of the Hokies? Outside of these two teams, there should be a good battle for 3rd between Maryland, NC State, and Georgetown. Maryland finished 10th at Nationals last year and returned a good number of runners on that squad, but we have yet to see them live up to those expectations. What better way to get back on track than securing a good position at a meet like this? NC State has been the perennial powerhouse of the Southeast for years, but they have been quiet in the last few. They have only raced once so far this season, but they put together some good 5k times. If they can translate those 5k times to a good 8k, they could get back in contention. Georgetown is another team that has a few questions surrounding them. We haven’t seen them since the DC Invite, but they have been receiving quite a bit of hype on the Coaches’ Poll as of late, let’s see if they can live up to the hype. The individual race will most likely come down to a battle between UVA’s top runners and Virginia Tech’s top runners. Jackson Martingayle took a commanding win at the Cavalier Invitational, with his teammates Cayden Stoner and Victor Kering in 2nd and 3rd. From Virginia Tech, we have 3 runners who placed in the Top 10 at Nationals last year in Noah LeCain, Samuel Yakulis, and Chris Nunn. This race really could come down to who has the better depth. At the Cavalier Invitational, that was UVA. We’ll have to wait and see who wants it more this time around.
Spartan Grand Classic
We hoped you enjoyed Little Tens, because the Spartan Grand Classic will basically be Little Tens…again! Historically, the Spartan Grand Classic is one of, if not the fastest races in NIRCA, so we should be in for some fireworks. This meet features most of the same teams from Little Tens last week, but Michigan might be able to relax a little since Ohio State is not here this time around. Without the Buckeyes or Purdue, this should be another head-to-head battle between Michigan and Michigan State. The Spartans are still without two of their top runners who threatened Michigan early in the season, but at least they still have Charlotte Batra. She will have another fun battle against Michigan’s Elania Alig for the individual race. At the end of the day, Michigan is still too deep to compete against, especially if Michigan State will continue to be short-handed.
There is a very good chance that the Michigan men 15 this race. They almost did it last week and the only people in their way won’t be here this time around. After putting 5 sub 26 last week, it will be interesting to see what the Wolverines decide to do. If they race it, it will just be a team time trial basically. There is a chance they keep their pack together to flex their depth and put 12 guys across the line at once. Given the field, there’s really no reason to make this another all-out effort after last week’s. That being said, they could take this opportunity to firmly establish their spot as the top team in the country.
Irish Invitational
Entries are still open for this meet at the time of writing, but the Irish Invitational looks to be a good battle between Illinois, Notre Dame, and Missouri (hopefully). The Illinois men have been fairly consistent this season behind their front runner, Ethan Forsell. He has some great middle distance teammates but he will be missing his other distance ace in Adam Gorcyca this weekend. That could open the door for the home team, Notre Dame to pick up a nice victory. Notre Dame is a very interesting team to consider, they have an absolute stud in Pieter Heesters, and it appears that he is pulling a Wisconsin by racing 2 days in a row. If he is actually running this meet, even at an 80-85% effort, there are very few people in the country who could match this man. He also has a fellow All-American teammate in Ryan Fryer who is entered to race. There is a strong possibility that these two don’t actually race since they are on Notre Dame’s officer board and are probably responsible for running the meet, but one can hope.
On the women’s side, Joy Dudley is back in the lineup for Illinois and should be the individual title favorite, along with her teammate Claire Casiello. Notre Dame will be without their new stud freshman, Meagan McKenna, but they will still have their top runner from Nationals in Emily Arenas. The Notre Dame course is a fairly technical trail, so that will definitely favor the stronger runners in the field.
Harvard Invitational
Another week, another Northeast head-to-head, this time in the form of the Harvard Invitational. This will once again give Northeastern the chance to establish their dominance in the region. They’ll be racing for the 4th weekend in a row and have basically the same squads, so this is definitely a team that will be used to racing by the time the post-season rolls in. On the women’s side, UMass Amherst will be without their top runner Hayley Norton, which should leave the door open for Northeastern to secure the team win. On the men’s side, however, this is one of the largest squads we have ever seen from the Minutemen. They have been flying a little under the radar this season, but look for them to make some noise.
Dashing Dukes Invitational
There is another meet in Virginia this weekend, but unfortunately the Dashing Dukes Invitational will be a little smaller than in years past in terms of teams due to conflict with the VCU Invitational. JMU hosts an interesting group of William & Mary and Penn State in a good tri-meet. The JMU men look to defend their home course as they finally are getting some of their top runners back in their lineup. Patrick Gaffney returns for the Dukes after a strong few couple of races in his debut year. They will still be without George Austin III, however, which is a huge loss for this team. It won’t be easy to defend their home, as Penn State has a strong group of underclassmen who have been running well so far. That being said, they might be a little short-handed this time around as they will be without their top 2 runners.
This might be the first time we have seen a school have a larger entered roster than the Penn State women. JMU is going all in to defend their course as they have a big squad entered, led by Jillian Wallner and Mary Raterman. These two freshmen have been pretty impressive so far for the Dukes. They will have to contend with the army of sophomore Nittany Lions, as Penn State is bringing a pretty young squad down to Harrisonburg. Unlike their men, the women will have their top runner in Angelina Hunkele this weekend.
Mountaineer Invitational
Due to Hurricane Helene, this meet has been canceled. We hope everyone who has been affected by the hurricane is safe and recovering. This meet was supposed to feature a good number of clubs who haven’t competed in NIRCA in quite some time, we hope to see them later in the year. If any clubs in the area want to reach a wider audience for relief supply donations, feel free to let us know and we will do what we can.
Other Meets of Note
This article will probably get out of hand quickly, so we’ll cover the non-NIRCA meets quickly.
Pieter Heesters (Notre Dame) might have established himself as the individual title favorite after his last race, he’ll be back in action this weekend as he is entered in the Joe Piane - Notre Dame Invitational.
Indiana had an intersquad time trial a few weeks ago, but we don’t have those results so for all intents and purposes it didn’t happen. That being said, they are set to race this weekend at the DIII Pre-Nationals meet in Terre Haute.
Ohio State doesn’t get tired of racing as they are once again taking the field at the OWU Invitational. This team has been on a tear as of late, so we are very interested to see how they do on yet another flat and fast course.
West Virginia will be competing at the Daniel Mullen Invitational this weekend in New Concord, OH. We haven’t seen too much of this squad after their season opener win
Wisconsin will be back in action at the Warrior Invitational. Looking at the teams they will be racing against, there is a very good chance that they actually win this meet.
Iowa and Iowa State will meet each other for the second straight week as they are both entered in the Dan Huston Invite
Cal Poly will finally field their complete squad as they take on the fast Masters Invitational. Historically this has been a very fast course, so we should expect some fireworks out of this squad
Even though they don’t compete in NIRCA, we’ll still cover Oregon. They finally began classes this week, so they should have a more complete roster as they will compete at the Willamette Invitational
Once again, this article really got out of hand. It will continue to do that as long as meets continue to be as impressive as they are. :)
Not enough UNC content!!! I expect we'll be getting our own article soon?!