At NCAA nationals, the Stanford men’s and women’s cross country teams both dipped far below expectations and finished a devastating 10th and 16th, respectively.
The Nov. 23 meet did not go as planned for the men’s team. They were ranked No. 1 going in and had their eyes set on the win all season. However, with a score of 354 points, they did not even make the podium.
“Our objective — was clearly to put ourselves in position to win the meet,” said Coach Jason Dunn. “We had a rough day, things weren’t going our way and we didn’t respond well. We didn’t imagine any scenario in which we finished 10th.”
Oklahoma State won the meet with 127 points, followed by Oregon with 143 and Alabama with 173.
Sophomore Chris Derrick led the team with a 29 minutes, 15 seconds third-place finish in what was a strong run for him, and the best time he ran all season. Junior Elliot Heath followed him in 30:20, coming in 33rd overall, followed by junior Jake Riley in 46th, who crossed the line in 30:31. Redshirt freshman Miles Unterreiner came in at 31:06, finishing 93rd. The fifth runner was redshirt junior Justin Marpole-Bird, finishing a disappointing 180th in 32:24.
Not scoring for the team was junior Brendan Gregg, a consistent contributor all season who finished 196th in 33:04. Redshirt freshman Benjamin Johnson also did not score for the team, finishing 209th in 34:21. There were a total of 250 runners in the elite race.
Marpole-Bird and Gregg finished dramatically slower than at Regionals just 10 days before, where they finished 30:42 and 30:57, respectively. Derrick and Heath both improved on their 30:38 regional time, and Riley had been out on injury.
The Cardinal came in planning to run as a team, but quickly fell apart. The runners left Indiana disappointed after losing to teams they had beaten earlier in the season, including Oregon.
“It’s left a very, very sour taste in our mouth. It’s hard — When you have three months of perfection evaporate in 30 minutes, it’s difficult to accept,” Dunn said.
The team will return in full next year, and will look for a strong performance next year.
“We will learn from it, we’ll get better next year,” Dunn said. “It’s one of those things we have to go through, and we’re going to be better for it.”
The team now moves into indoor track season, which will intensify into January. The team has a lot to think about going into track and especially next cross-country season.
The finish to the cross-country season was disappointing for the Cardinal women as well, as they took 16th at the NCAAs despite having set their eyes on the podium.
“We are definitely disappointed with our finish at NCAAs,” said senior Kate Niehaus. “It is pretty unacceptable for our program.”
After a troubled season of injuries and slow returns, the Stanford women were prepared to come back full force this past weekend in Terra Haute, Ind., but failed to do so. Sophomore Stephanie Marcy placed the highest for Stanford, finishing in 53rd with a time of 20:57.4. Marcy barely missed earning All-American honors, but has clearly established herself as the No. 1 runner on the team.
The other Cardinal women who competed in the race were freshmen Kathy Kroeger and Alex Dunne, sophomore Georgia Griffin, seniors Maddie O’Meara and Niehaus. Junior Alex Gits started the race but was unable to finish.
“We can’t change what happened,” Niehaus added. “We can only take what lessons we can from the meet and look forward.”
Indeed, the women are grateful that six of the seven runners will be returning, which means that they will have an opportunity to redeem themselves as early as in the upcoming months.
“We are lucky as distance runners that track is right around the corner,” Niehaus agreed. “And I can guarantee that we are extremely motivated to show how capable our team actually is.”
With the upcoming indoor track season, these women will have a chance to prove themselves and better their season record and times.
“We have high hopes for track season,” Kroeger said. “I’m looking forward to running indoor track for the first time.”
Kroeger is also looking forward to returning to cross country next year, helping the team place higher at Nationals and utilizing the experience she gained at this year’s NCAAs.