2022 D3 XC: Nationals Recap

At 9am on the morning of the 2022 D3 NCAA National Championship, it was time to start suiting up. I didn’t check the weather–everyone knew all week it was going to be cold and snow-covered at the Forest Akers Golf Club in Lansing, Mich. We all knew what we were getting ourselves into.

I tugged on a pair of thermal tights first, then pulled a thermal long sleeve over my head–the kind many athletes would be wearing under the uniforms in a few hours. I layered on two pairs of socks, a pair of gloves and a pair of mittens, and a hat that would eventually rest under the hood of my parka. By the time everything was on my body, I looked like Joey from Friends: “Look at me! Could I be wearing any more clothes?” (Editor’s Note: Emily was also wearing a polar bear costume)

As I arrived at the course, snow and ice crunched under my feet. The cold stung my face and bit through my two pairs of socks. I saw that many had similar preparation ideas–grocery bags under socks and snow boots, blankets draped over shoulders, face masks and scarves wrapped around faces. Was this a cross country meet or a ski resort? In surveying the crowd, I could hardly tell the difference.

Athletes huddled in cars and under heated tents until moments before warm-up. SUNY Geneseo women ran by me in full parkas. As the women took to the start line, coaches surveyed the ground in front of their boxes, scooping up piles of ice and snow with their hands and tossing it to the surrounding snow banks. One coach sprayed each of his athletes’ spikes with WD-40, presumably to keep compacted snow from sticking to outsoles.

This was Michigan in mid-November. Today, the cold would act as the great equalizer. Rankings and predictions had lost all credibility. The toughest would prevail.

The gun fired and the 2022 Championship was underway.

Women’s race

The winner of the women’s race was clear from the very beginning. Loras’s Kassie Parker claimed an early lead that separated her from the rest of the field. She crossed through the mile in a brisk 5:35, a pace she would maintain almost perfectly throughout most of the race. As fans realized the winner was likely solidified just five minutes in, they turned their attention to the chase pack, where one name was making her own push to solidify her place: St. Benedict’s Fiona Smith was running comfortably in second ahead of chasers Alex Ross of Hopkins, Ana Tucker of Hope, Aubrie Fisher of Wartburg, Clara Mayfield of Carleton, and Annika Urban of Emory. Each competitor knew that early positioning in the cold was crucial for a top-10 finish.

In the team battle, last year’s podium finishing team SUNY Geneseo took an early lead. Frontrunner Kathleen McCarey and counterpart Windsor Ardner settled into the top 10 while the remainder of the squad sat just outside All-American status. Behind them, Wartburg, Hopkins, and MIT sat hot on their heels. The battle for a title would be a close one. West-region school CMS struggled to get out, crossing through the mile in 11th place.

The field looped about and competitors crossed through two miles–Parker continued to hammer away up front, passing in 11:13. Smith crossed 22 seconds later, and the chase pack unit held on strong with Smith still in sight. Only Fisher began to fade from the original contenders. Just a few seconds back, U Chicago’s Anna Kenig-Ziesler and Maddie Kelly had moved up several places to catch up to teammate Lucy Groothius. The trio led the way for the new team leaders at just over halfway. Geneseo and Hopkins fell to fifth and fourth, respectively.

The same names of teams and individuals were in conversation at the next checkpoint, but a new team now sat on the brink of a podium finish at 3.8k, as north powerhouse Carleton had moved up from seventh to fifth. A little bit of Michigan snow and wind paled in comparison to the conditions they were used to back home in Minnesota. Mayfield led the way, sitting in third place just five seconds back from Smith and three ahead of Tucker.

The field hit the mark for the penultimate kilometer. Parker was through in 17:20, still carrying a comfortable 5:35 pace. Smith followed in 17:56. At this point, the chase pack began to string out: Mayfield 18:02, Tucker 18:05, Ross 18:08. All they had to do was maintain for four more minutes of grit. U Chicago held their lead, 2021 champions Johns Hopkins climbed into second ahead of Wartburg, and Minnesota school Carleton breached into podium contention in fourth.

Parker rounded the final turn, getting ready to kick into the wind as it blew heavily against the final straightaway. No one else was in sight. As she crossed the finish line, she threw up a Loras Duhawk with her hands. Parker had just won her second XC NCAA national title, becoming the sixth women in history to win two in their career.

Several seconds later, Smith could be seen entering the straightaway. With a comfortable lead on Mayfield, she cruised to the finish as national runner-up, her highest finish at any NCAA national meet. Mayfield finished third, seven places higher than last year, and Hope’s Tucker, who finished just behind Mayfield in 2021, once again cruised behind the Carleton standout–this time, in fourth. Hopkins’s Ross rounded out the top five.

At this point, the finishing pack increased in its density. Urban and RPI’s Morgan Lee ran stride for stride with each other with Urban ultimately winning on a lean, Geneseo’s Ardner and McCarey came in next, separated by Hopkins’s Sydney Fridel. U Chicago’s Kenig-Ziessler and MIT’s Olivia Rosenstein trickled in–the team race was still anyone’s to capture.

As Brockport State’s Kerry Flower took the final All-American position, it looked like Wartburg would clinch the national title from the vantage point of spectators in the stands and on the broadcast. They had four All-Americans to Hopkins’s and U Chicago’s three. But as bodies kept flying by, Wartburg’s fifth was nowhere in sight. Chicago’s four-five crossed in 45th and 60th, while Hopkins fourth and fifth crossed in 53rd and 73rd. Hopkins had moved up 10 points in the final kilometer, but the race was still too close to call. Wartburg’s fifth would have to cross in the 70th scoring position or better to have a chance at the win.

When Carleton’s Helen Cross claimed this position (70th) as Carleton’s sixth, there was no Wartburg in sight. At this point, Carleton could finish as high as third. Behind them so far was Geneseo, then Wash U, MIT, and St. Olaf. As the final scorer for Wartburg came up the final stretch, athletes held their breath, waiting for the scores to populate on the board. Several anxious minutes later, the board lit up, showing the official podium teams:

Johns Hopkins
U Chicago
Wartburg
Carleton

Johns Hopkins had claimed their third consecutive national title and eighth all-time to surpass SUNY Cortland as the winningest D3 Women’s program. The huddle of Hopkins athletes let out a cry of celebration. Despite losing the majority of last year’s title team, this year’s roster showed up on a mission to defend what their forerunners had established in 2021 and 2019. They weren’t the only teams making history, either. Chicago posted their highest finish in program history and third podium finish, Wartburg captured a program record for most All-Americans in a single XC race and the highest number of any other women’s team this year, and Carleton made the podium at XC nationals for the first time in program history.

This marks the deepest team race in D3 women’s history. In 1993, the field expanded to 21 teams and stayed that way through 2005. It wasn’t until the final year of having 21 teams that six teams scored under 200 points. In 2006, the field switched to the one you know with 32 teams. This is the first year with a field of 32 that six teams have scored under 200 points.

Johns Hopkins - 144
U Chicago - 147
Wartburg - 178
Carleton - 179
SUNY Geneseo - 198
WashU - 198

Men’s race

The men’s race did not establish any clear favorites–a pack of La Crosse’s Ethan Gregg, Simpson’s Spencer Moon, Whitewater’s Christian Patzka, Williams’s Elias Lindgren, and Geneseo’s Nick Andrews camped behind Carthage’s Craig Hundley, who, in a bout of confidence, ran several yards out front of the field for the first half mile. Eventually, an impatient Gregg overtook Hundley, running comfortably up front. Without hats, gloves, tights, or sleeves, the only warmth evident from Gregg’s body was the breath blowing tiny clouds into the brisk, Michigan air.

Photo Credit: Seawon Park - Craig Hundley heads to the front

Gregg crossed through the mile in 4:55 with a zealous Mohammed Bati of Augsburg just behind him. The rest of the field formed a dense pack just one second back. The early leaders in the team race were that of Mid-Atlantic standouts Carnegie Mellon. La Crosse, Wartburg, and MIT waited patiently in podium position. Several places back, Pomona-Pitzer and Williams sat in 16th and 17th place. It was clear the defending champs would try to employ a similar strategy to last year where they got out conservatively and moved late.

By mile two, Gregg still held a comfortable lead. Perhaps he wished to try to run away early, or perhaps he knew that pushing the pace in the middle would cause other contenders to drop back. Regardless, Gregg continued to press ahead. Defending champ Phillip and runner up Lindgren sat four seconds back, ready to move if the gap should grow too large. Still hanging onto the pack waiting for the right move was Geneseo’s Andrews and Simpson’s Moon, and joining the group was MIT’s Sam Acquaviva, St. Olaf’s Logan Bocovich, and Wartburg’s Christopher Collet, all knowing that they had to have a front row seat to the pack’s lead in case they needed to cover a breakaway move.

MIT moved into first place after massive moves out of Ryan Wilson and Matt Kearney, who moved up together. Between the two of them, they covered 93 places from mile one to mile two. Carnegie Mellon fell hard to eighth, and now Wartburg, La Crosse, and Geneseo held podium positions. Hopkins, John Carroll, and North Central all sat behind them. Pomona moved up to 11th but still had a lot more ground to cover in the next three miles.

As the field reached halfway, the chase pack finally caught up to Gregg. Acquaviva and Moon now led the way with a swarm of athletes on their heels. It was still anybody’s race. Williams, having kept a close eye on Pomona-Pitzer the entire race, moved up five places alongside them. They now sat in sixth (PP) and seventh (Williams), just a few places separating them from trophy contention. Last year, Pomona was up to third by this point in the race, leaving fans to question if their strategy this year was working or if they were just utilizing a more patient progression in the cold.

When the blue and orange jerseys ran by 6k, however, it was clear that the Sagehens were in trouble. The focus and control present in their eyes last year was snuffed out by the bitter cold, leaving a look that could be seen displayed on many competitor’s faces: this was a look of mere survival.

As the cold numbed legs and infiltrated lungs, it made moves late in the race almost impossible. On this day, early positioning was paramount and it was evident who had taken advantage of this strategy. MIT men continued to uphold their lead. The pack of Phillip, Acquaviva, Patzka, Lindgren, Moon, and Gregg pulled away from the field.

The race entered its final minutes, and the front pack began to stretch out. Acquaviva made a decisive mood, while Phillip and Patzka covered. The rest began to fade back. This was a battle of grit, now. Who had the most left to give?

Gaining momentum from their response, Phillip and Patzka started on a fast break together. The race started to mimic that of last year’s: in the final 800, only Phillip and one challenger remained. This year, it would be Christian Patzka of Whitewater. Lindgren was nowhere in sight.

Phillip, as if to prove nobody else could challenge him, stepped on the gas and opened up his lead over Patzka. As he snaked into the final stretch, it was clear he would soon be a two-time NCAA D3 XC national champion. In typical Phillip fashion, he threw up a fist to the audience and stretched his arms out wide in celebration. He crossed the finish line, earning his fifth career national title.

Behind him, Patzka kicked ahead of Acquaviva for runner-up. Gregg’s valiance in the middle set him up well to glide in at fourth. And then, in somewhat of a surprise, it was none other than two-time 800-meter national champion Ryan Wilson of MIT hammering up the home stretch for fifth.

MIT would finish with two athletes in the top five, three in the top 15, and five All-Americans. Their sixth, Vedang Lad, missed All-American by three places, and their seventh finished 57th, ahead of Pomona’s third. MIT men had just won their program’s first XC national title. As the squad walked back to the team tent together, Kearney turned around, the implications of the afternoon’s events finally hitting him: “Ohymygod, we did it, boys! We actually did it!” He exclaimed. Moments later, they were greeted by a swarm of hugs, high fives, and celebration by their supporters. In a race where anything could happen, MIT took charge and stole the show.

Wartburg men would end up national runners-up, redeeming themselves from last year’s ninth-place finish. Collet finished in seventh, and Jacob Green and Connor Lancial trailed him, capturing All-American status and helping set a new Wartburg record for number of All-Americans in a single men’s XC race. Morgan Shirley-Fairbairn finished in 41st, narrowly missing All-American. Between the men’s and women’s teams, Wartburg had the best combined program finish and was the only school to put both teams on the podium this year.

In somewhat of a surprising finish, SUNY Geneseo and John Carroll captured the remaining podium positions. Neither had breached the D3GD top-10 rankings all season based on their wins and losses, but both took advantage of a race where national powerhouses Pomona, North Central, and Williams had off days, proving that they, too, deserve to be in the conversation for best men’s programs in the country.

Geneseo was led by Andrews, who took a gutsy sixth place finish ahead of Wartburg’s Collet. Teammates Ezra Ruggles and Alex Hillyard also earned All-American status. This was Geneseo’s highest men’s team finish since 2016.

JCU repeated their fourth place finish from last year. Though Phillip was the highlighted name of the weekend, another crossed the finish line with an inspiring story to tell: Joe Backus finished an All-American at 31st after coming off of a major hip surgery earlier this year. Listen more about Backus’s comeback on the latest D3GD podcast episode .

As I peeled off my layers in a Michigan diner, I sipped a hot cup of tea and invited warmth back into my extremities. I found, however, that there was a bit of warmth inside of me that had never left. It came from the feel-good stories like Backus’s, the smile on Kearney’s face when he turned to his teammates, the jubilant cries of Hopkins women when they learned they had won another national title. It was a warmth that came from recognition: it feels good to overcome.

Though many did not have the day they wanted in Lansing, this feeling of accomplishment does not come without adversities. As the cross season closes and the track chapter begins, I anticipate many more warm feelings coming from the stories of D3 athlete accomplishment. After all, it is what D3 athletes do best. They overcome that which is working against them. In doing so, they are shaping their present and their future, paving the way for later glory days.

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