Week in Review: Two titles on tap for BYU?
Cougars' men's and women's teams favored in NCAA Cross Country Champs
The margins of victory were smaller than in the previous meet, and the gaps between their No. 1 and 5 runners were larger. However, the BYU men’s and women’s cross country squads did more than enough to win team titles in the Mountain Regional championships in Reno, Nevada, last Friday.
The BYU men, choosing to compete without its No. 2 and 5 scorers from the Big 12 Conference meet on Nov. 1, had four of the top nine finishers in a 52-61 victory over runner-up New Mexico in a race in which Northern Arizona finished third with 71 points.
BYU kept its top runner out of the women’s contest, but still put four finishers among the top 10 individuals while posting a 52-65 victory over second-place Northern Arizona. New Mexico, paced by individual champion Pamela Kosgei, placed third with 111 points, followed by Utah with 122.
As a result of the above-mentioned victories, BYU maintained both of its No. 1 rankings in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association polls and will enter the NCAA championships in Verona, Wisconsin, on Saturday as favorites.
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“The approach today was to run it like a preliminary heat in track,” BYU men’s assistant coach Ryan Waite said in a heraldextra.com post. “The guys were patient, didn't go with early moves and then closed well. Luke Grundvig, who was our fifth man, closed really well to secure a team win. Now it's just about recovery to be ready for eight days from now.”
Grundvig picked up 11 places in the final 1,600 meters of the 10-kilometer race at Washoe Golf Course as BYU turned a 15-point deficit to New Mexico in the team standings after 8,400 meters into a nine-point victory at the finish line.
Senior Casey Clinger paced BYU with a fourth-place finish in 29 minutes 24 seconds and teammates Creed Thompson, David Thompson, and Joey Nokes finished sixth, eighth, and ninth, respectively, while running 29:27.1, 29:29.4, and 29:33.6 on a course that had some snow on it.
Grundvig rounded out BYU’s scoring runners when he placed 25th in 29:53.6.
Clinger, who did not run for BYU last year due to an injury, said in a youthrunnermag interview that he and his teammates were pleased with their victory and looking forward to the NCAA championships.
“We’re stoked,” he said. “We’re super excited to compete next week and do our best.”
Texas Tech received a 1-3 finish from its Kenyan duo of Solomon Kipchoge and Ernest Cheruiyot in the men’s race, but the squad was only eighth in the team standings with 191 points.
Habtom Samuel of New Mexico, the runner-up in last year’s NCAA championships, finished in between Kipchoge and Cheruiyot after he fell down early in the race and found himself in 114th place, four spots out of last, 900 meters into the contest.
The sophomore from Eritrea had moved into sixth place by the 2.5-kilometer mark, but he was 18 seconds behind first-place Kipchoge at five kilometers and 13 seconds behind when he came through 7,500 meters in third place.
Samuel was just under 11 seconds behind Kipchoge at 8.4 kilometers, but he was charging hard at that point in the race and the Kenyan’s winning time of 28:55.9 was only 3.3 seconds ahead of Samuel’s 28:59.2. Cheruiyot was third in 29:17.6 after having a five-second lead over Samuel with 1,600 meters left in the race.
While the BYU men will be shooting for their second NCAA title in program history on Saturday, the women’s team will attempt to win its sixth, and first since the 2020 championships were held in March of 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Senior Lexy Halladay-Lowry, BYU’s top runner, did not compete in the Mountain Regional. But the Cougars nonetheless finished 13 points ahead of No. 4-ranked Northern Arizona as Riley Chamberlain paced BYU to victory when she finished fifth with a time of 19:56.4 over the 6,000-meter course.
Teammates Carmen Alder, Taylor Rohatinsky, and Taylor Lovell finished eighth, ninth, and 10th, respectively, with times of 19:57.8, 20:05.6, and 20:09.2.
Carlee Hansen was the No. 5 scoring runner for BYU with a 20th-place finish in 20:15.1 in a race that was won by New Mexico freshman Kosgei, who ran 19:30.9.
Big things were expected of Kosgei this season and the younger sister of former marathon world record-holder Brigid Kosgei has delivered as she is unbeaten in four races.
She ran just behind first-place Juliet Cherubet of Texas Tech through the 2.2- and 4.7-kilometer marks of the race before speeding away from her fellow Kenyan during the final kilometer and finishing nearly 14 seconds ahead of Cherubet, who clocked 19:44.6.
Regina Mpigachai of Northern Colorado finished third in 19:54.4 and she was followed by Elise Stearns of Northern Arizona in 19:55.4.
The Mountain Regional was one of nine meets that were held across the U.S. last Friday and helped determine the 31 teams, as well as the top individual runners not on a qualifying team, that will compete in the men’s and women’s races, respectively, in the NCAA championships in Verona, Wisconsin, on Saturday.
The meet, which will be broadcast on ESPN+, will start with the women’s race at 10:20 a.m., Eastern Standard Time, and conclude with the men’s contest at 11:10.
Oklahoma State is the defending men’s champion and is the No. 2 squad in the latest national poll, while No. 13-ranked North Carolina State has won the last three women’s titles.
Harvard senior Graham Blanks will attempt to defend his individual men’s championship from last year, but Parker Valby of Florida will not defend her women’s title as she has signed a professional contract after winning five individual NCAA titles during her junior year.
Four for four: Runners from the University of Arkansas won the men’s and women’s team and individual titles in the South Central Regional in Bryan-College Station, Texas.
The Razorbacks, who had entered the meet as the No. 3-ranked team in the USTFCCCA poll, won the team title with a 33-point total behind a 1-2-3 finish from Kenyans Kirami Yego, Timothy Chesondin, and Patrick Kiprop. Tulane placed second with 76 points, followed by Texas with 82.
Yego, Kiprop, and Chesondin had broken clear of the field when they came through the 7.7-kilometer mark and they were still running 1-2-3 at 9,000 meters. But Yego, the third-place finisher in the Southeastern Conference championships two weeks earlier, edged away away from his teammates during the last kilometer of the race at Dale Watts ’71 Cross Country Course while posting a winning time of 29:09.4. Chesondin placed second in 29:11.4, followed by Kiprop in 29:11.8.
“At 8K, we knew we were going to finish 1-2-3, so Patrick and I were trying to get Tim ready for nationals,” Yego said in a news release. “In the NCAA Championship, the 8K is where the race really starts, so we wanted to prep him for next week.
“We want to win next week as a team while Patrick and I are also going for the individual title. But the main goal is trying to win a national team title, since the last one for Arkansas was in 2000. We have a good shot this year, so we have to take [advantage] of the opportunity.”
Arkansas won the women’s title by the narrowest of margins as the No. 26-ranked Razorbacks edged second-place Texas, 80-81, followed by Tulane with 107 points and LSU with 110.
Sophomore Paityn Noe of Arkansas had a healthy margin of victory in the race as her 18:55.8 clocking over the 6,000-meter course left her well clear of Tulane’s freshman duo of Caroline Jeptanui and Blezzin Kimutai, who ran 19:22.9 and 19:24.7, respectively.
Noe had a two-second lead over second-place Jeptanui after the first two kilometers of the race and she was up by 12 seconds after 4.1 kilometers and ahead by 19 at the five-kilometer mark.
Juniors Mia Cochran and Sydney Thorvaldsen were Arkansas’ No. 2 and 3 runners as Cochran placed ninth in 19:37.9 and Thorvaldsen finished 15th in 19:56.5.
Three for four I: Oklahoma State won both team titles and Cowboy sophomore Denis Kipngetich also won the individual men’s championship in the Midwest Regional in Peoria, Illinois.
Oklahoma State, the No. 2-ranked men’s team in the national poll, had five of the top 12 finishers in a 25-43 victory over No. 4 Iowa State. Tulsa finished third with 124 points.
Kipngetich, who had finished fourth in last year’s NCAA championships while leading the Cowboys to the team title, clocked 28:51.5 over the 10,000-meter course at Newman Golf Course while finishing well clear of freshman teammate and fellow Kenyan Laban Kipkemboi, who placed second in 29:06.3.
Robin Kwemoi Bera finished third in 29:09.4 for Iowa State, but the Cyclones could not match Oklahoma State’s depth as the Cowboys’ Nos. 3-5 scorers were Brian Musau in sixth in 29:17.4, Victor Shitsama in seventh in 29:17.4, and Adisu Guadia in 12th in 29:27.8.
Kipngetich and Kipkemboi were credited with identical splits of 23:14.1 when they passed the 8,000-meter mark, but Kipngetich was 12 seconds ahead of his teammate a kilometer later.
Oklahoma State had four of the top 13 finishers while winning the women’s title with a 61-76 victory over Minnesota. Northwestern finished third with 103 points.
Josphine Mwaura paced No. 19-ranked Oklahoma State by finishing fourth with a time of 19:53.7 over the 6,000-meter course and teammates Victoria Lagat and Sivan Auerbach finished seventh and 10th, respectively, with times of 20:02.1 and 20:04.9.
Oklahoma freshman Leah Jeruto won the individual title in 19:42.9 after having finished ninth in the Southeastern Conference championships.
The Kenyan was part of a large lead pack after the midway point of the race, but the battle for first place was down to her and Minnesota’s Ali Weimer when they went through the four-kilometer mark in 13:14.3.
They were still running stride for stride at five kilometers, but Jeruto picked up six seconds on Weimer during the final kilometer of the race as she crossed the finish line in 19:42.9. Weimer placed second in 19:48.9 and Maelle Porcher of Iowa State was third in 19:52.8.
Three for four II: Like Oklahoma State in the Midwest Regional, runners from the University of Alabama won the men’s and women’s team titles, as well as the men’s individual championship, in the South Regional in Tallahassee, Florida.
Alabama received a 1-2-3 finish from the Kenyan trio of Dismus Lokina, Victor Kiprop, and Dennis Kipruto in the men’s race to total 80 points to the 91 of second-place Mississippi. Tennessee finished third with 112 points, followed by Florida State in fourth with 112.
Lokina, Kipruto, Kiprop were part of a large lead pack when they went through the three- and five-kilometer marks. But they were running 1-2-3 with 1,000 meters to go before Lokina finished first in a time of 29:30.8 over the 10,000-meter course at Apalachee Regional Park.
Kiprop placed second in 29:34.4 and Kipruto was third in 29:42.9, but No. 10-ranked Alabama did not run away with the team title because its No. 4 runner and 5 runners placed 45th and 66th, respectively.
In contrast, Mississippi’s first three runners finished sixth, seventh, and 13th. But the squad’s No. 4 and 5 runners placed 27th and 38th.
Alabama, the No. 7-ranked team in the national poll, won the women’s title with a 63-79 victory over No. 18 Florida, followed by No. 24 Florida State with 106 points.
Junior Hilda Olemomoi of Florida edged Doris Lemngole of Alabama for the individual championship after finishing second to her fellow Kenyan in the Southeastern Conference meet.
Olemomoi and Alabama teammates Lemngole and Brenda Tuwei were clear of the field after 4,000 meters, but it was down to Olemomoi and Lemmgole when they came through five kilometers.
Olemomoi and Lemngole had finished fourth and second, respectively, in last year’s NCAA championships when they were teammates at Alabama. But Olemomoi narrowly edged her now rival in Friday’s race as they were each credited with times of 19:30.6 over the 6,000-meter course.
Tuwei placed third in 19:52.8 and Alabama also received a seventh-place effort from Pheline Cheruto, who ran 20:11.4.
Team title sweep: Notre Dame swept the women’s and men’s team titles in the Great Lakes Regional in Norton, Ohio.
The Fighting Irish, the No. 6-ranked women’s team in the national poll, had three runners in the top 10 finishers while rolling to a 51-97 victory over No. 14 Wisconsin. Toledo, paced by individual champion Mercy Kinyanjui, placed third with 100 points, followed by No. 29 Michigan State with 111.
Siona Chisholm finished third for Notre Dame with a time of 19:35.1 over the 6,000-meter course at Silver Creek Metro Park and teammates Erin Strzelecki and Mary Donner Dalton placed fifth and ninth, respectively, with times of 19:37.8 and 19:49.2.
Notre Dame’s Nos. 4 and 5 runners finished 14th and 20th as the gap between the team’s first and fifth runner was an impressive 28.8 seconds.
Chisholm and Kinyanjui led a lead group that also included Emily Paypore of Central Michigan and Rachel Forsyth of Michigan State at the 5,000-meter mark, but Kenyan Kinyanjui closed better than anyone while clocking 19:29.7 to runner-up Forsyth’s 19:31.7.
Notre Dame won the men’s title with a 70-82 victory over No. 9-ranked Wisconsin after the No. 19 Irish had finished a disappointing sixth in the ACC championships. Butler, paced by individual champion William Zegarski, and Michigan State tied for third with 104 points. But Butler finished ahead of the Spartans based on the tiebreaker.
Carter Solomon led the Notre Dame charge with a fifth-place time of 29:22.9 over the 10-kilometer course and Ethan Coleman was the team’s No. 2 runner when he finished 10th in 29:28.9.
Wisconsin had won its seventh consecutive Big Ten Conference title on Nov. 1, but it appeared that the Badgers sole goal was to grab one of the two automatic qualifying spots last Friday as their Nos. 1-4 runners placed 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th while posting times than ranged from 29:34.2 to 29:35.1.
Zegarski was part of an 11-runner lead pack at the midway point of the men’s race before being one of four runners who were in contention for the win with a kilometer remaining.
Douglas Buckeridge of Purdue and Dominic Serem of Toledo were the co-leaders of the race at that point, but Zegarski outdueled Buckeridge in the final 100 meters of the race to clock a winning 29:12.7 over the 10,000-meter course.
Buckeridge placed second in 29:12.9, followed by Serem in 29:14.1.
Pacific Northwest flavor: The Oregon women and the Washington men won the respective team titles in the West Regional in Colfax, Washington.
Oregon, the No. 2-ranked women’s team in the national poll, tallied a 43-67 victory over second-place Stanford, followed by No. 3 Washington with 101 points and Gonzaga with 134.
Oregon seniors Silan Ayyildiz and Maddy Elmore, the first-and second-place finishers in the Big Ten Conference championships on Nov. 1, finished second and third in the regional with times of 19:19.3 and 19:23.7 over the 6,000-meter course at Colfax Golf Club.
The Ducks also received seventh- and 12th-place efforts from Anika Thompson (19:41.7) and Klaudia Kazimierska (19:48.6).
Stanford’s Amy Bunnage, a sophomore from Australia who won the Pacific 12 Conference title last year, placed first in 19:17.1 after having been in the lead at the 4.2- and 5-kilometer marks.
The race for the men’s team title was much closer than the women’s as No. 12 Washington had four of the top 15 finishers while totaling 66 points to the 68 of No. 15 Oregon and the 73 of No. 7 Stanford.
Senior Nathan Green finished seventh in 29:12.0 for Washington and sophomore teammate Evan Jenkins was ninth in 29:14.4 as the gap between the Huskies’ No. 1 and 5 runner was 21 seconds.
The individual men’s title went to freshman Evans Kirui of Washington State, who ran 28:53.7 over the 10,000-meter course.
Kenyan Kirui had a 10-second lead after the first two kilometers of the race and his advantage was 21 seconds after 5,000 meters and 28 seconds after 8.2 kilometers.
Matt Strangio of Portland finished second in 29:08.4, followed by Valentin Soca of Cal Baptist.
Title streak continues: North Carolina State won its eighth consecutive women’s title in the Southeast Regional in Rock Hill, South Carolina, while Virginia took the men’s championship.
North Carolina State, the three-time defending NCAA champion, had finished a disappointing fifth in the Atlantic Coast Conference championships. But the No. 17-ranked Wolfpack won the regional with 60 points while finishing comfortably ahead of ACC rivals Virginia at 85, North Carolina at 119, and Wake Forest at 126.
Sophomores Grace Hartman and Hannah Gapes finished first and third for NC State after producing identical placings in the ACC meet, but the grouping of the Wolfpack’s top five runners was much better.
While Hartman and Gapes ran 20:04.2 and 20:08.3 over the 6,000-meter course at the Winthrop University Recreation Complex, junior teammate Brooke Rauber finished ninth in 20:42.2.
Hartman and Gapes were running 1-2 at the 1.6- and 3-kilometer marks, but the battle for first place was down to Hartman and Clemson freshman Silvia Jelego when they passed 5,000 meters.
Hartman was two tenths of a second in front of Jelego at that point in the race and she had that same narrow advantage at the finish line as Jelego clocked 20:04.4.
The Virginia men had finished fourth in the ACC meet, but the No. 13-ranked Cavaliers won the regional with 79 points while finishing six points ahead of No. 11 North Carolina. Eastern Kentucky placed third with 105 points, followed by Virginia Tech with 128 and No. 5 Wake Forest with 134.
Gary Martin and Will Anthony paced Virginia’s victory by finishing eighth and ninth, respectively, with times of 30:00.3 and 30:00.6, over the 10,000-meter course.
Sophomore George Couttie of Virginia Tech won the individual title in 29:41.7 after having finished sixth in the ACC meet.
Couttie had run in the middle of a large lead group for the first half of the race and he was at the back of an eight-runner pack with two kilometers remaining. But no one was quicker than him over the last 2,000 meters as he finished nearly three seconds in front of Eastern Kentucky’s Justin Kipkoech, who placed second in 29:44.3.
Dylan Schubert of Furman finished third in 29:49.8 and North Carolina was led by seniors Ethan Strand and Parker Wolfe, who were each credited with times of 29:53.6 while placing fifth and sixth.
Individual winners pace team champs: Ceili McCabe of West Virginia and Liam Murphy of Villanova placed first in their respective races while leading their teams to victory in the Mid-Atlantic Regional in State College, Pennsylvania.
McCabe, a senior from Canada, clocked 19:11.2 over the 6,000-meter course at Blue/White Golf Courses as No. 5-ranked West Virginia had five of the top 13 finishers while defeating No. 8 Georgetown, 41-58, for the team title. Host Penn State placed third with 85 points, followed by Princeton with 99.
McCabe, who had won the Big 12 Conference title two weeks earlier, was part of a six-runner lead pack after the first 1,200 meters of the race. However, she was four seconds ahead of second-place Chloe Scrimgeour of Georgetown after 3.1 kilometers and her lead had grown to 10 seconds by 4.8 kilometers.
Scrimgeour eventually finished second in 19:25.5, followed by Nuttycombe Invitational champion Sadie Sigfstead of Villanova in 19:30.8.
Joy Naukot was West Virginia’s No. 2 runner with a sixth-place finish in 19:49.4 and Sarah Tait was the Mountaineers’ No. 3 scorer in 10th place with a time of 19:58.9.
Murphy, a senior, and Marco Langdon, a junior, paced No. 14-ranked Villanova to a 1-2 finish in the men’s race and a 50-80 victory over No. 18 Princeton. Georgetown also totaled 80 points, but finished third on the tiebreaker, while Navy placed fourth with 81 points.
Langdon and Murphy were at the front of a lead pack of more than 30 runners after the first half of the 10,000-meter race, but the battle for first place was down to the two Wildcat runners by the 8.8-kilometer mark. Murphy led by a little more than a second at that point and in the race, but his final time of 29:22.8 left him nearly 10 seconds ahead of Langdon, who ran 29:32.1.
Dylan Throop of Penn rounded out the top three finishers with a time of 29:34.6.
Bailey Habler was Villanova’s No. 3 runner when he finished ninth in 29:48.7 and the Wildcats’ fourth and fifth scorers placed 13th and 25th, respectively.
Conference champs roll to individual victories: Seniors Graham Blanks of Harvard and Chloe Thomas of UConn won the men’s and women’s titles by sizeable margins in the Northeast Regional in Contoocook, New Hampshire.
Defending NCAA champion Blanks, who won his second consecutive title in the Heptagonal Ivy League championships on Nov. 2, had an 18-second margin of victory in the regional as his 29:34.7 clocking over the 10,000-meter layout at the Hopkinton State Fairgrounds Cross Country Course.
Sam Lawler placed second in 29:52.5 for No. 17-ranked Syracuse, which defeated No. 20 Harvard, 75-97, for the team title. Cornell finished third with 106 points, followed by Iona with 108.
Blanks was part of a 25-runner lead pack after the first six kilometers of the race, but he was a second and a half ahead of second-place Derek Amicon of Cornell after eight kilometers before blowing the race open in the final 2,000 meters of the contest.
Iona teammates Matt Rankin and Lachlan Wellington placed third and fourth, respectively, with times of 29:56.0 and 29:56.9.
Benne Anderson was Syracuse’s No. 2 runner when he finished eighth in 30:08.4 and the Orange’s Nos. 3-5 scorers placed 18th, 19th, and 28th.
Thomas, a Canadian who won the Big East Conference title by 14 seconds, took the regional championship by more than eight seconds when her 19:23.1 clocking over the 6,000-meter course left her well clear of Ivy League champion Phoebe Anderson of Columbia, who ran 19:31.5.
Providence, the No. 11-ranked team in the nation, received a 3-4-5 finish from Kimberley May, Alex Millard, and Shannon Flockhart while rolling to a 51-105 victory over No. 28 Syracuse. Boston College, which was 25th in the national poll, finished third with 131 points, followed by Harvard with 144.
Thomas was one of more than a dozen runners in the lead pack after the first two kilometers of the race, but she was 10 seconds ahead of a chase group of Anderson, May, Millard, and Flockhart after four kilometers.
While May and Millard posted identical times of 19:34.4 in finishing third and fourth, Flockhart placed fifth in 19:36.3 for a Providence squad whose No. 4 runner — Laura Mooney — was 10th in 20:03.1.
Different results for favorites: Beatrice Chebet of Kenya and Berihu Aregawi of Ethiopia were the women’s and men’s favorites entering the Cross Internacional de Italica cross country meet that was held on the outskirts of Seville, Spain, last Sunday. However, Chebet was the only one to emerge victorious as Aregawi finished third in a race that was won by Thierry Ndikumwenayo of Spain.
The meet was one of three gold level events that were contested on the same day as part of the 2024-25 World Athletics Cross Country Tour.
The 24-year-old Chebet had used a big kick in winning the 5,000 and 10,000 meters in the Olympic Games in Paris, but she had a lead over the field after the first minute of the race on Sunday.
She was six seconds ahead of Daisy Jepkemei of Kazakhstan when she came through the first 2.5-kilometer loop in a reported 7:36 and her advantage had doubled after she ran the second lap in 7:44.
A third loop in 7:42 added another 15 seconds to her advantage as her winning time of 23:32 gave the two-time defending World cross country champion a 27-second margin of victory over Jepkemei, who finished second in 23:59. Charity Cherop of Uganda finished third in 24:45.
“It was my third appearance here and I managed to triumph at last so I’m very satisfied,” Chebet said in a World Athletics post. “It has also been very nice to share the weekend with my young compatriots Mercy, Diana and Sharon Chepkemoi.”
While Chebet won the women’s race by running a fairly even pace, the men’s race was led by Morocco’s Younes Kniya after he had covered the opening lap in 7:13 and Yemaneberhan Crippa of Italy was at the front of an eight-runner lead pack after he covered the second loop in 7:03.
Aregawi, the Olympic silver medalist in the 10,000 and the runner-up to Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda in the last two World cross country title races, moved to the front of group around 18 minutes into the contest. However, he was unable to break away from either Crippa, Ndikumwenayo or Rodrigue Kwizera of Burundi, who had won his first three races of the season.
Crippa began to lose ground with about 700 meters to go and Ndikumwenayo really began to apply the pressure 200 meters later. That surge helped him take a small lead over Kwizera and he managed to hold on to it all the way through the finish line.
Ndikumwenayo and Kwizera both clocked 21:24 as they had covered the last lap in 6:36. Aregawi finished third in 21:27 and Crippa was fourth in 21:32.
“I didn’t expect to win as my only target today was to help my club (Playas de Castellón) to win the national team title,” Ndikumwenayo said. “But I felt strong throughout and decided to go for the victory over the last lap.”
Youth is served: The 92nd running of the Cinque Mulini cross country meet in San Vittore Olona in Italy on Sunday was a display of young talent as 19-year-old Kenyan Mathew Kipruto won the men’s race and 17-year-old Yenenesh Shimket of Ethiopia took the women’s.
The meet was one of three gold level events that were contested on the same day as part of the 2024-25 World Athletics Cross Country Tour.
Kipruto, the bronze medalist in the U20 race of the World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, in March, was part of a large lead pack at the end of first longer loop of the 10.2-kilometer course. But the front group was down to Kipruto, fellow Kenyan Andrew Kiptoo and Tanzania’s John Wele by the conclusion of the second lap.
Kipruto picked up the pace on the third lap and he had a seven-second lead over 17-year-old Kiptoo at the conclusion of that loop. Although he slowed some during the remainder of the race, he was able to hold on to some of his lead and crossed the finish line in 27:26.
Kiptoo placed second in 27:29 and he was followed by 18-year-old compatriot Mathew Kipchumba, who ran 27:45.
In contrast to Kipruto’s victory in the men’s race, Skimket’s win in the women’s event was regarded as a big upset as she defeated Olympic 10,000-meter silver medalist Nadia Battocletti of Italy in the process.
Battocletti pushed the pace during the early part of the race, but Shimket, 18-year-old Kenyan Sheila Jebet, and Burundian Elvanie Nimbona were also part of the lead pack.
However, Shimket, Battocletti, and Jebet had formed a leading trio at the end of the second loop.
Many of those in attendance were no doubt expecting Battocletti to take control of the race on the final lap, but it was Shimket who applied the pressure and broke away for a winning time of 18:35 over the 6.2-kilometer course.
Jebet eventually overtook Battocletti and ran 18:48 to the Italian’s 18:49 clocking.
Contrasting victories: Jimmy Gressier of France won a tight men’s race and Grace Loibach Nawowuna of Kenya was a runaway winner in the women’s race of the Cross Internacional Le Maine Libre-Allonnes-Sarthe cross country meet in Allonnes, France, on Sunday.
The meet was one of three gold level events that were contested on the same day as part of the 2024-25 World Athletics Cross Country Tour.
The 27-year-old Gressier, who had set a national record of 26:58.67 while finishing 13th in the terrific 10,000-meter race in the Olympic Games, clocked 23:20 over the 8.42-kilometer course to edge 18-year Kuma Girma of Ethiopia, who placed second in 23:21. He was followed by 19-year-old compatriot Milkesa Fikadu, who ran 23:25.
The 21-year-old Nawowuna made a breakaway move fairly early in the women’s race while on her way to a winning time of 22:55 over the 7.61-kilometer course.
Sarah Chelangat of Uganda placed second in 23:18 and she was followed by Manon Trapp of France in 23:46.
Kiplimo at it again: Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda, the two-time defending World cross country champion, set a course record of 40:42 in winning the Zevenheuvelenloop in Nijmegen, Netherlands, on Sunday.
Kiplimo’s winning time cut 23 seconds off the course record of 41:05 that he had set in last year’s race and is the fastest time ever recorded in a 15-kilometer race. However, he did come through 15 kilometers in 40:27 when he set a then-world record of 57:31 in the half marathon in Lisbon in 2021.
The 24-year-old Kiplimo, who had finished a disappointing eighth in 26:46.39 in a historically deep 10,000-meter final in the Olympic Games in Paris, was in the lead by the time he passed two kilometers in 5:26 and he was never challenged after that.
He came through the first five kilometers in 13:44 before passing 10 kilometers in 27:15 after running the second 5,000-meter segment of the race in 13:31. He then covered the final five kilometers in 13:27 to finish in 40:42.
Mike Foppen of the Netherlands finished second in 43:19, followed by Marc Scott of Great Britain in 43:21.
The women’s race was won by Mizan Alem of Ethiopia, whose 46:51 clocking was a minute better than second-place Diane van Es of the Netherlands.
The 22-year-old Alem, who won the World U20 title in the 5,000 meters in 2021, trailed van Es by nine seconds after the first two kilometers of the race. However, she had caught van Es by 3.5 kilometers and was unchallenged after that.
She passed five kilometers in 15:54 before coming through 10 kilometers in 31:27 after running 15:33 for the second 5,000-meter segment of the race.
She then clocked 15:24 for the final five kilometers on her way to winning time of 46:51 in her road racing debut.
Behind van Es, Enyish Mengie of Ethiopia finished a distant third in 49:21.
And the winners are…: USA Track & Field has selected Gabby Thomas and Grant Holloway as its women’s and men’s athletes of the year for 2024.
Thomas, 27, was chosen to receive the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Athlete of the Year Award after a season in which she had a hand in three gold medals in the Olympic Games in Paris and produced five of the top seven times in the 200 meters, including a yearly world-leading time of 21.78 seconds in a semifinal of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Eugene, Oregon.
She won her first gold medal in Paris when she won the 200 in 21.83 and she followed that by running the third leg on both of the winning 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 relay teams. Her 49.30 split in the 4 x 400 relay contributed to a winning time of 3:15.27, the second fastest in history.
In addition to her yearly world-leading mark of 21.78 in the 200, she also posted times of 21.81, 21.82, 21.83, and 21.86.
She won five of seven finals in the 200 during the season and also ran a wind-aided 10.88 in the 100 and 50.37 in the 400.
The 27-year-old Holloway was chosen to receive the Jesse Owens Athlete of the Year Award after winning his first Olympic title in the 110-meter high hurdles and his second in the 60 high hurdles in the World Athletics Indoor Championships.
Holloway’s best time of 12.86 in the 110 high hurdles came in the final of the Olympic Trials and was the fourth fastest in history. But he ran under 13 seconds five other times and had 10 of the 13 fastest times of the year.
Holloway’s performance in the Trials was particularly noteworthy as he clocked 12.92 in his first-round heat, 12.96 in the semifinals, and 12.86 in the final. He won eight of 10 finals outdoors and he was 4-0 indoors.
He set a world record of 7.27 in the 60 high hurdles in a heat of the USA Track & Field Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and he clocked 7.29 in winning the World title in Glasgow, Scotland. That was one of three 7.29 efforts he has recorded and it was tied for second on the all-time performance list.
In another category, USATF selected Quincy Wilson as its Youth Athlete of the Year.
The 16-year-old Wilson, who is now a junior at Bullis High School in Potomoc, Maryland, lowered the world U18 and U.S. national high school record three times in the boys’ 400 meters during the season.
His first record run came in a first-round heat of the U.S. Olympic Trials when he ran 44.66, and he lowered that mark to 44.59 in the semifinals before finishing sixth in the final in 44.94.
His final record effort occurred when he ran 44.20 in winning the Holloway Invitational in Gainesville, Florida, in July.
His last performance of the season came in a first-round heat of the 4 x 400 relay in the Olympic Games when he ran the opening leg on a U.S. team that placed third while advancing to the final.
Because am American foursome of Chris Bailey, Vernon Norwood, Bryce Deadmon, and Rai Benjamin won the final, Wilson was also awarded a gold medal because he had run in the heat.
The schedule is set: Grand Slam Track announced last week that the sites and dates for its four meets to be held during its inaugural season in 2025 will be as follows:
National Stadium in Kingston, April 4-6;
Ansin Sports Complex, Miramar, Florida, May 2-4;
Franklin Field, Philadelphia, May 30-June 1;
Drake Stadium (UCLA), Westwood, California, June 27-29.
Grand Slam Track had previously hoped to hold two of the four slams in the U.S. and two outside of the country. However, the league suffered a bit of a setback when its desire to stage a meet in either London or Birmingham, England, did not come to fruition because UK Athletics had concerns about the meet’s profitability.
As of last week, 32 athletes had signed contracts with Grand Slam Track for next year,
Those performers combined to win five gold medals, eight silver, and eight bronze in individual events in the Olympic Games in Paris.
GST, which is the brain child of four-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Johnson, will consist strictly of track events and will pit performers against one other in the following men’s and women’s categories: short sprints (100/200), long sprints (200/400), short hurdles (100 or 110 hurdles/100), long hurdles (400 hurdles/400), short distances (800/1,500), and long distances (3,000/5,000).
Each slam will be held over the course of a weekend, with each competitor running in the two events in their designated category to determine an overall champion for that meet. The winner will be awarded $100,000 in prize money, with the runner-up receiving $50,000 and the third-place finisher winning $30,000.
The remaining prize money for the fourth- through eighth-place finishers will be awarded on a $25,000-$20,000-$15,000-$12,500-$10,000 basis.
You can click here for more details about the league.