No. 2 Stanford men’s cross country won the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational in Madison this past Friday. Racing against 12 of the top 14 ranked teams, three male Cardinal runners placed in the top seven for Stanford to win the meet for the first time since 2012. 

Junior Ky Robinson placed first, running the eight-kilometer course in 23:09.9. Senior Charles Hicks was right behind in third with a time of 23:12.7, while junior Cole Sprout took seventh in 23:18.6. 

The trio stayed close in the lead pack of six runners during the final kilometer. In the last stretch, Hicks had the lead and Robinson was in third with No. 3 Northern Arizona’s Nico Young between them. Young then overtook Hicks for the lead until Robinson made a big move to pass both Hicks and Young in a final push. Robinson crossed the finish line 0.1 seconds before Young to win the race and set a new course record.

In addition to the three runners in the top ten, the Cardinal saw senior Devin Hart take 13th in 23:26.0 and fifth-year Meika Beaudoin-Rousseau take 30th in 23:36.1. Beaudoin-Rousseau gained 54 places in the second half of the race. Sophomores Nolan Topper and Robert DiDonato placed 101st and 111th, respectively, of the 225 runners. 

The men’s team earned 54 points scored by its top-five racers to triumph over No. 1 BYU with 89 points and defending champion No. 3 NAU with 145 points. 

On the women’s side, No. 7 Stanford placed seventh overall with 285 points. Junior Zofia Dudek led the Cardinal, running the six kilometers in 20:11.9 to place 16th. Also adding to the Cardinal’s point total, junior Lucy Jenks finished 58th in 20:35.2 and sophomore Audrey Suarez finished 65th in 20:37.5. Sophomore Audrey Dadamio placed 72nd with senior Abi Archer close behind in 74th. 

Runners who did not fly to Wisconsin raced close to home at the Santa Clara Bronco Invitational on Saturday. Next up, on Oct. 28, Stanford will race at the Pac-12 Championships. The race is set to start at 8:45 a.m. PT.