by Larry Eder
Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service ([email protected])
This Day in X-Country/Track & Field-November 19
1928– Maine’s Francis Lindsay and Harry Richardson finished in a dead-heat at the 16th Annual running of the New England Intercollegiate Men’s Cross Country Championships at Boston’s Franklin Park. It’s still the only tie in the meet’s 112-year history (1912-2024/no meet in 1918-WWI). Maine beat New Hampshire, 46-53, for the team title.
1973–Steve Prefontaine (28:14.8/10k), running his last race for the University of Oregon, overcame the big lead of Western Kentucky’s Nick Rose (28:20,0) to win his 3rd NCAA Div.I title in Spokane, Washington. Calling it the “toughest” of his three wins, Pre, who also won in 1970 and 1971, led Oregon to its 2nd team title in three years. Other significant finishers in the race included East Tennessee’s Neil Cusack (4th, defending champion), UTEP’s WIlson Waigwa (5th), Tennessee’s Doug Brown (7th), Washington State’s John Ngeno (9th), Illinois’ Craig Virgin (10th), Colorado’s Ted Castaneda (11th), Illinois’ Mike Durkin (18th), Penn State’s Charlie Maguire (23rd), Manhattan freshman Matt Centrowitz (29th-before he transferred to Oregon), Rutgers’ Ron Speirs, and North Carolina’s Tony Waldrop (34th).
Results:
1979–Washington State’s Henry Rono, who had set four world records on the track in 1978, beat Oregon’s Alberto Salazar, the defending champion, to win his 3rd NCAA Div.I title at Lehigh University in Bethlehem,PA (also won in 1976-1977). UTEP edged Oregon for the team title, 86-93. Rono joined Gerry Lindgren and Steve Prefontaine as a 3-time NCAA Champion.
Salazar had run one of the best races of his career, but was no match for Rono. Said Salazar, “I don’t think I could have run any faster no matter what I did today.”
Lots of big names trailed the top two: Arizona’s Thom Hunt (5th), Villanova’s Sydney Maree (7th), Colorado State’s Jon Sinclair (9th), Oregon’s Rudy Chapa (10th), Auburn’s Chris Fox (11th, former & current Syracuse coach), UTEP’s Suleiman Nyambui (12th), FDU’s Solomon Chebor (13th), Kentucky’s Mark Nenow (17th), Indiana’s Jim Spivey (21st), Richmond’s Sosthenes Bitok (26th), Georgetown’s John Gregorek (27th), Providence’s Ray Treacy (37th-Providence coach), Oregon’s Bill McChesney (43rd), Wisconsin’s Jim Stintzi (50th), Washington State’s Samson Kimobwa (57th), Michigan’s Brian Diemer (60th-Calvin coach), Northeastern’s Bruce Bickford (75th), and Villanova’s Don Paige (94th).
Results
https://trackandfieldnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/1979-men.pdf
1984–Running in cold and damp conditions at Penn State, Brigham Young’s Ed Eyestone, currently the Director of T&F/XC at his alma mater, was the Men’s Div.I individual winner, while Arkansas beat Arizona (101-111) to win its first (of 11) team titles. Scoring for John McDonnell’s Razorbacks were (with their overall placing):David Swain (14), Paul Donovan (23), Joe Falcon (24), Espen Borge (37), and Gary Taylor (56).
The women’s race was won by Cathy Branta, who led Wisconsin to the team title.
Other notable finishers:
Men-3.Yobes Ondieki (Iowa State), 6.Jim Sapienza (Dartmouth), 8.Tim Hacker (Wisconsin), 15.Brian Abshire (Auburn), 18.Peter Koech (Washington State), 39.Arturo Barrios (Texas A&M).
Women-4.Regina Jacobs (Stanford), 13.Leann Warren (Oregon)
Complete Results
Men: https://trackandfieldnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/1984-men.pdf
Women: https://trackandfieldnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/1984-women.pdf
1990–Sonia O’Sullivan’s victory (16:06/5k) led Villanova to the 2nd of its 6 straight Div.I women’s team titles in Knoxville. Finishing 2nd to O’Sullivan was Wisconsin’s Suzy Favor(16:18).
Iowa State’s Jonah Koech (29:05) won the men’s race over Montana State’s Shannon Butler (29:11) and Indiana junior Bob Kennedy (29:24), the 1988 Champion. Arkansas won its 4th men’s team title.
Seamus McElligott of Haverford College got the last All-American spot in 35th place two days after winning the NCAA Div.III Championship. It was the last year the Div.III and Div.II champions were allowed to race at the Div.I Championships.
Other notable finishers:
Women-10.Sinead Delahunty (Providence), 12.Darcy Arreola (Cal.State-Northridge), 13.Geraldine Hendricken (Providence), 14.Carole Zajac (Villanova), 23.Michelle Dekkers (Indiana), 28.Cheri Goddard(Villanova)
Men-8.Todd Williams (Tennessee), 15.Peter Rono (Mt.St.Mary’s), 36.Terrence Mahon (Villanova)
Complete Results
Men: https://trackandfieldnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/1990-men.pdf
Women: https://trackandfieldnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/1990-women.pdf
2001–Eastern Michigan’s Boaz Cheboiywo (28:47) won the Men’s NCAA Div.I title at Furman, running away from a field that included Colorado’s Jorge Torres (2/29:06), Arkansas’ Alistair Cragg (3/29:10), Colorado freshman Dathan Ritzenhein (4/29:11), Notre Dame’s Luke Watson 5/29:19) and Ryan Shay (6/29:23), Stanford’s Don Sage (7/29:24), Wisconsin’s Matt Tegenkamp (8/29:26), and Michigan freshman Alan Webb (11/29:38). Colorado edged Stanford, 90-91 to win its first team title.
Winner of the Women’s race was Arizona’s Tara Chaplin (20:24), with Georgia Tech’s Renee Metivier (20:31) and Stanford’s Lauren Fleshman (20:35) placing 2-3. Brigham Young won the Women’s team title by 86 points over North Carolina State (62-148).
North Carolina sophomore Shalane Flanagan, the pre-race favorite, struggled home in 22nd place after taking a big lead late in the race.
Other notable finishers:
Women-19.Amy Mortimer (Kansas State), 28.Alicia Craig(Stanford)
Men-19.Daniel Lincoln (Arkansas), 20.Ian Dobson (Stanford), 28.Steve Slattery (Colorado)
http://facweb.furman.edu/athletics/track/championship/XCChampRelease.html
2007–For the 2nd year in a row, Texas Tech’s Sally Kipyego (19:30) beat Colorado’s Jenny Barringer/Simpson (19:47) to win the Women’s Div.I title, with Stanford winning its 4th team title in the last five years (the last three under coach Peter Tegen).
The Men’s race at Indiana State featured a memorable duel for the individual title, with Liberty’s Josh McDougal edging Oregon’s Galen Rupp, 29:22.4-29:23.4. 3rd was Northern Arizona’s Lopez Lomong (29:45) and 4th was Villanova’s Bobby Curtis (29:46). Oregon won its 5th team title, but it was the first at the school for head coach Vin Lananna, who had led Stanford to 3 Championships.
Other notable finishers:
Women:3.Susan Kuijken (Florida State), 8.Nicole Blood (Oregon), 14.Angela Bizzarri (Illinois), 18.Lisa Koll (Iowa State), 36.Lauren Centrowitz (Stanford)
Men: 22.Andrew Bumbalough (Georgetown), 27.Leo Manzano(Texas)
2016—It was a day of upsets at the NCAA Div.I Championships in cold and windy conditions in Terre Haute, Indiana.
The women were the first to run and it looked like Michigan senior Erin Finn was on her way to presenting herself with a 22nd-birthday gift when she took the lead from Notre Dame’s Anna Rohrer with less than 400-meters left in the race. But then Missouri junior Karissa Schweizer seemingly came out of nowhere, passing both of the pre-meet favorites in the final 50-meters to become Missouri’s 1st NCAA X-Country Champion (men or women). She went on to win NCAA Indoor and Outdoor titles in the 5000 in 2017 and 2018 (and the Indoor 3000 in 2018).
The team race was so close that it took officials 40 minutes before declaring that Oregon, ranked only #12 coming into the meet, had pulled off a big upset, beating Michigan by just 1 point,125-126, with pre-race favorite Colorado finishing a close 3rd with 134 points. It was the closest finish in the 36-year history of the women’s championship.
The biggest surprise of the day came in the Men’s race. Oregon senior Edward Cheserek was trying to separate himself from the legendary trio of Gerry Lindgren, Steve Prefontaine, and Henry Rono as a 3-time NCAA Champion, but his bid for a 4th title was thwarted when he failed to respond when Villanova’s Patrick Tiernan, 2nd in 2015, and Syracuse’s Justyn Knight pulled away from him late in the race. Tiernan continued on for the win, becoming the first man from Villanova to win the NCAA title since Vic Zwolak in 1963! Knight finished 2nd, with Cheserek holding on for 3rd.
Said Cheserek, “It’s kind of disappointing, because this is my last year; it was a good race and everybody was tough out there. My hamstring was a little bit tight, but I was like, I’m going to try my best for my teammates.”
Form finally held up in the team scoring, with #1-ranked Northern Arizona, led by the 4th-place finish of Futsum Zeinasellassie, winning the team title over Stanford, 128-158. It was the first NCAA title in any sport for the school.
Defending champion Syracuse finished 3rd (164), while surprising Mississippi beat SEC rival Arkansas (196-206) to claim the 4th set of trophies.
NAU’s win provided a fitting climax to the coaching career of Eric Heins, who was leaving his position in Flagstaff after spending the last 10 years as head of the school’s x-country program. He joined his wife Kaci in Houston, where she became the educational supervisor at Space Center Houston, the official visitor center to NASA’s Johnson Space Center.
(http://www.newsweek.com/top-running-coach-quits-so-wife-can-rock-nasa-518357)
Results: https://www.tfrrs.org/results/xc/11271
Race Videos:
Men: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdOTawswrOs
Women: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTG1s7td238
Marcus O’Sullivan On Tiernan’s Win: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycN0T3jvADM
Oregon:http://www.goducks.com/news/2016/11/19/cross-country-ncaa-champs.aspx
Northern Arizona:
http://nauathletics.com/news/2016/11/19/11_19_2016_6420.aspx?path=cross
http://nauathletics.com/news/2016/11/21/11_21_2016_6421.aspx?path=cross
http://nauathletics.com/news/2016/12/2/12_2_2016_6423.aspx?path=cross
Tribute To Coach Heins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSWwwSDrfZc&feature=youtu.be
A Year Later: www.letsrun.com/news/2017/11/lrc-qa-catching-former-northern-arizona-coach-eric-heins-one-year-stepped-away-sport/
2022— NCAA Div.I X-Country Championships-Stillwater, OK, Nov.19, cold, windy
Results: https://live.pttiming.com/XC-PTT.html?mid=5234
Led by the 1-3 finish of fellow New Yorkers Katelyn Tuohy and Kelsey Chmiel, North Carolina State repeated as the women’s team champion at the NCAA Div.I Championships, beating runnerup New Mexico by 26 points (114-140). Also making the podium were surprising Alabama (166) and host Oklahoma State (201).
Tuohy (6k/19:27.7), 15th a year ago, trailed Florida’s Parker Valby (19:30.9) by almost 12 seconds at one point, but patiently closed the gap and then pulled away for a convincing win. The two sophs repeated their finish in the 5000-meters at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in June. (Valby won the 2023 XC title)
The Men’s race was full of drama. Charles Hicks (10k/28:43.6) became Stanford’s first individual champion after battling the Northern Arizona duo of Nico Young (28:44.5) and Drew Bosley (28:55.9), but then everyone’s attention was drawn to the team scoring.
Midway through the race, it was a close battle between 2-time defending champion Northern Arizona, #1-ranked Stanford, and BYU. Oklahoma State soon entered the conversation and at the end it was close between the host school and NA. As runners continued to cross the finish line, ESPNU’s on-screen scores kept changing, and actually had OSU ahead by one point before posting the final scores—83 points for both teams!.
Kyle Merber, one of the announcers, was quick to point out that NA would win based on the current tie-breaking rule, which measures head-to-head finishes among each team’s five scorers. (NA: 2-3-18-24-36/OSU: 5-8-11-29-30). That outcome was confirmed by officials, giving the Lumberjacks their second 3-peat in the last 7 years! Also making the podium were BYU (132) and Stanford (195). A sub-par Cole Sprout, Stanford’s #1 scorer at the PAC-12 Championships, finished 115th!
Northern Arizona’s 4th scorer, Brodey Hasty, who ran 4:00.05 for the mile as a high school senior in 2018, moved up ten positions in the last 1000-meters (35-25).
Hicks, who represents Great Britain in international competition, was the 2021 European Under-23 XC Champion—he would win his 2nd title in Turin on Dec.11. Born in London, he attended Bolles H.S. in Florida.
Additional Links
USTFCCCA Recap: https://www.ustfccca.org/2022/11/champ-news/meet-recap-2022-ncaa-di-cross-country-championships
T&F News Coverage (for subscribers): Women Men Tuohy Hicks
Tuohy-Valby Matchup (pre-race):
Hicks: https://athleticsweekly.com/event-reports/charles-hicks-wins-ncaa-cross-country-gold-1039962973/
Post-Race Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xL1b_UbSxfo
Historical Links
Div.I Women Men T&F News Archives USTFCCA
Div.II http://www.ustfccca.org/meets-results/meet-history?series=3370
Div.III https://sagehens.com/sports/2023/8/28/d3-cross-country-historians-report.aspx
NAIA https://www.ustfccca.org/meets-results/meet-history?series=3293
Born On This Day*
Grant Holloway 28 (1997) 2024 Olympic gold medalist-110m Hurdles…2021-silver medalist
3-time World Champion—2019, 2022, 2023…semi-finalist in 2025
3-time World Indoor Champion-60m Hurdles—2022, 2024, 2025
Set the current World Indoor Record of 7.27 in Albuquerque in 2024…set the previous record of 7.29 in 2021
(matched it in 2022)
Just missed the outdoor WR (12.80) when he ran 12.81 in his semi-final at the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials
4-time U.S. Champion-Outdoors (2/2021-O.T., 2024-O.T.), Indoors (2/2022, 2025)
Hasn’t lost an indoor final since his sophomore year in high school (2014)!
Won his 3rd straight NCAA title in 2019 and reached one of his goals—ran 12.98 to finally break Renaldo
Nehemiah’s 40-year old Collegiate Record of 13-flat (13.00)…needed to run that fast to beat Kentucky’s
Daniel Roberts, who matched Nehemiah’s time. Says of Roberts, “I never would have run any of my times
without my best friend on my side.” Announced soon after that he was foregoing his final year of collegiate
eligibility at Florida to join the professional ranks.
2019 NCAA Champion-4×100
Also a 3-time NCAA Indoor Champion in the 60-meter hurdles (2017-2019)–also won the 60-meter dash in 2019
Versatile: has bests of 7-1 (2.16) in the High Jump (2014) and 26-9 ¾ (8.17) in the Long Jump (twice the
NCAA runnerup in the Long Jump—indoors in 2017, outdoors in 2018).
Top football recruit coming out of high school but chose to focus on track… Has area code 757 tattooed on his
wrist in an homage to his hometown of Chesapeake, VA
Like Noah Lyles, he’s a huge fan of anime… Likens himself to Dragon Ball Z character “Super Saiyan,” known to be
the strongest warriors in the universe https://spark.adobe.com/page/nnutwYLmQp4Jn/
PBs: 6.50i (2019), 10.21 (2022), 20.66 (2019), 32.80i (2017), 1:03.35i (2016), 7.27 (2024/WR),
12.81 (2021/#2 All-Time); 2025 SBs: 7.36i, 13.11
H.S. PBs: 7.00i/55mh (2016/#3 All-Time), 7.53i (2016/#3 A-T), 25-11 ½ (7.91/2016/#3 A-T)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grant_Holloway
https://worldathletics.org/athletes/united-states/grant-holloway-14516985
Videos
2019 WC 2022 WC 2023 WC 2021 OG 2024 OG 2025 WIC 7.27 12.81
WC Streak Ends: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yawIfVu9ALU
Marquise Goodwin 35 (1990) 2-time NCAA Champion—Long Jump (Texas/201
…
