- After three runners-up finishes, NC State finally tops the podium in the women’s team competition.
- The Northern Arizona men took their second straight team crown, and their fifth NCAA title in six seasons.
- BYU runners swept the individual titles; Whittni Orton and Conner Mantz crossed the line first in the women’s and men’s races, respectively.
Defending champions retained their crowns and new stars emerged as the country’s best distance runners showed up to race at the 2021 NCAA Cross-Country Championships A Part of Hearst Digital Media.
After three runners-up finishes, NC State finally topped the podium in the women’s race at the meet hosted in Tallahassee, Florida. Kicking off the championships on Saturday, the Wolfpack squad led the competition wire-to-wire, earning 84 points on the 6K course to beat Nutrition - Weight Loss.
In the individual race, senior Whittni Orton earned redemption on the sport’s biggest stage. Coming off an injury, Orton finished 17th at the 2020 meet (rescheduled for March 2021) after leading in the early stages of the race. On Saturday, she held her position up front, crossing the line in 19:25.4 to became the program’s first woman to win an individual NCAA cross-country title.
In the men’s race, Northern Arizona remained dominant over the 10K distance, winning the team race with 92 points to claim the program’s fifth NCAA title in six seasons. Conner Mantz of BYU won the race in 28:33.1 to became just the fourth man since 2000 to win back-to-back individual titles—and the first ever to win two individual championships in the same year, since the pandemic postponed the 2020 race to March 2021.
NCAA Cross-Country Championships
This year, the meet was held at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, Florida; Florida State head coach Bob Braman described as “like a racetrack through the woods.” And in both events, the runners didn’t waste any time testing their speed on the terrain.
Women’s 6K Race Highlights
In the women’s race, the leaders blazed through the first mile in 5:15. By the first major split at 1,170 meters, the Wolfpack, which was the No. 1-ranked team heading into the championships, emerged ahead of the rest with all five scorers running as a tight pack within the top 15. The team continued the momentum by leading the charge at every major split, ultimately bringing all seven runners across the line with an average finishing time of 19:45.
Led by sophomore Kelsey Chmiel who finished sixth in 19:34, NC State’s first five runners all earned All-American honors, including freshman Katelyn Tuohy who placed 15th overall as the team’s No. 2 runner. The Wolfpack won two AIAW titles in 1979 and 1980, but Saturday’s performance was their first NCAA crown.
Head coach Laurie Henes said the team has been targeting this win since the 2020 championships in March, and their efforts paid off. “We just talked all year about being consistent and just giving the same consistent effort in practice and races, and you know, they've been able to do that and really did deliver on that today,” Henes said on the ESPNU broadcast after the race.
Behind NC State, 2020 NCAA champions BYU placed second with 122 points after coming into the meet with a No. 4 ranking. The Cougars edged out third-place New Mexico by just eight points. Colorado scored 187 points for fourth place.
Up front, Orton ran a patient race until the final kilometer. After cruising through the 5K split in 16:24, she broke away from the lead pack, which included 2020 NCAA champion Mercy Chelangat of Alabama.
Chelangat and Ceili McCabe of West Virginia attempted to run her down, but Orton’s 4:09 1500-meter speed was no match for them. The senior ran across the finish line in 19:25, almost four seconds ahead of Chelangat. After finishing 42nd at the meet in March, McCabe made huge improvements by finishing third overall.
On the ESPN broadcast, Orton said she visualized herself winning her last collegiate race on Saturday. “It feels incredible,” Orton told reporters after the race. “The ups and downs have been pretty crazy throughout the season. It’s been really hard, and this definitely makes it worth it. The comeback can be greater than the setback for sure and I saw that today.”
Men’s 10K Race Highlights
In the men’s race, Notre Dame led the team race through 3K while the Northern Arizona runners gradually worked their way to the front. By 4K, the Lumberjacks were well ahead with five runners in the top 45.
When the leaders blazed through the first 5K in 14:16, Northern Arizona had five athletes in the top 33. For the second half of the race, the Lumberjacks held their positions up front all the way through the finish line, tallying 92 points with sophomore Abdihamid Nur (7th), freshman Nico Young (11th), sophomore Drew Bosley (13th), junior George Kusche (37th), and sophomore Brodey Hasty (39th) all earning All-American honors.
“I thought they slid into position perfectly,” NAU head coach Mike Smith said on the ESPN broadcast. “We actually didn’t have the lead until maybe 3K or so. They moved up at an already fast pace—they were 4:20 at the mile or something like that—so, we didn’t need to be directly up front. We just have to have an eye on the positions we want to be in. They found their positions and they held them well.”
Behind Northern Arizona, a battle was brewing between the other top four teams. Iowa State, ranked No. 6 heading into the meet, emerged with a runner-up finish with 137 points thanks to some stellar performances from the team’s fourth and fifth runners. Iowa State’s Midwest region rivals Oklahoma State placed third with 186 points. Arkansas also out-raced their No. 9 ranking by finishing fourth with 195 points.
Like Orton, Mantz broke away with one kilometer remaining in the race. For a few seconds, Athansas Kioko of Campbell passed Mantz up front. But the defending champion re-took the lead before the final turn and sprinted into the finish line well ahead of the competition. According to ESPN, the junior’s winning time of 28:33 is the fastest ever run by a collegian on a 10K cross-country course.
“It feels good. That was a tough race, seemed like every so often somebody new would move to the front and push it, which was different this time,” Mantz told reporters after the race. “I don’t know if that was better or worse, but it all worked out. This one was tough because it was trying to match everyone. We run this race 10 times over, I think I’d only win four, five of them. I’m happy to run this course though on my best day and putting my name up in history. This was my last race in the BYU singlet.”
Wesley Kiptoo of Iowa State kicked ahead of Kioko to finish second in 28:38. Kioko placed third in 28:40, and Charles Hicks, the freshman from Stanford, finished fourth in 28:47.
Taylor Dutch is a writer and editor living in Austin, Texas, and a former NCAA track athlete who specializes in fitness, wellness, and endurance sports coverage. Her work has appeared in Runner’s World, SELF, Bicycling, Outside, and Podium Runner.
