The night was dark in rural Indiana, save for the halo of light that could be spotted over the horizon just east of Terre Haute. It was the hour of Friday Night Football, when towering LED stadium lights replace the sun in the sky, but this wasn’t a football game, oh no. On South Tabortown Street, 8 miles away from the nearest high school, stadium lights were illuminating the iconic LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course, where the steady rhythm of labored breathing filled the air and a stampede of metal spikes traversed perfectly manicured, grassy hills. The 2024 D3 Pre-National meet was underway.

The date was October 4, and it was D3’s first preview of what could come 7 weeks later on those same hills at the coveted national meet. It’s hard to believe we’re here already, but in just a few days time, 64 of the nation’s best teams and 140 of the nation’s best individuals will toe the line for a shot at national glory. No matter what happens, these D3 stars will go down in history as national qualifiers, a title that lives forever. Here’s what to know about this weekend’s D3 national championships.

11 a.m. ET Women’s 6,000 Meter Championship Race

Seven weeks ago, MIT women established themselves as one of the most dominant forces in D3 on this same course when they won the D3 Pre-National Meet by 89 points over top-ranked UChicago. They have not looked back since, winning every race they’ve run in the second half of the season in dominating fashion: Conn College, NEWMAC Championships, East Regional Championships. Will they continue their winning streak this weekend? Only time will tell.

Led by Kate Sanderson and Lexi Fernandez, the squad of Engineers runs deep. Out of almost 400 competitors at Pre-Nats, all ten MIT runners were in the top 60. Out of 277 competitors at Conn College, they put 7 in the top 36. At NEWMAC championships, they had 11 in the top 25, and at the East regional championships, they won with a partial squad that put six athletes within a window of just 17 seconds. Head Coach Riley Macon has brought the national title back to Cambridge before with a team that showed impressive depth (all seven MIT runners on the 2022 men’s national title team finished within the top 60 and five were All-Americans), and it’s highly likely he could do it again.

When we spoke with the MIT women after their pivotal Pre-Nats win, they cited not paying attention to rankings and controlling what they could as keys to their success. Assuming they have continued this habit and return to competition with fresh legs after a somewhat tactical regional meet, they look to be the favorites this weekend.

The challengers? Colorado College. CMS. UChicago. NYU. Johns Hopkins. With so many talented teams running for the prize, MIT will not have an easy journey ahead of them. The most formidable foe is perhaps Colorado College, who has had a standout year that started all the way back in September when they beat NYU and UChicago at the John McNichols Invite in Terre Haute, granting them the advantage of course familiarity. Since then, they’ve gone on to sweep the home-state Ted Castaneda XC Classic, win the Augustana Interregional Invite against WashU and UChicago, and post a perfect score at the SCAC championships where they placed eight athletes in the top ten.

Their first D3 loss of the year came just last weekend at West regionals, where they fell to top-10 team CMS, who will also be a challenger for the podium this weekend. Colorado raced without usual scorer Elliot Singer, and we learned that much of the team was battling illness that could have impacted their performance. Assuming quick recovery headed into this week, the Tigers will likely be hungry to avenge their loss to CMS, making for a great rematch. With the talents of Isabel Olson and Sydney Rankin leading the charge, they may even be able to pull off an upset victory over MIT. The key for this team will be making sure they can get to Saturday refreshed after regionals and a long season of winning.

CMS brings promise to the starting line with momentum carrying over from their recent regional victory. They have a strong low-stick in West region and SCIAC champion Riley Capuano, and adding SCIAC runner-up Sadie Drucker and nationals returners Angela Gushue and Revere Schmidt makes this team even stronger up front. Their biggest challenge at nationals will be keeping their fifth close, a key to the Athenas making the podium.

UChicago and NYU both came into this season with a lot of hype, putting them both in a tough position with targets on their backs. As such, it came as somewhat of a shock when both teams endured their fair share of losses in the middle of the season. However, no strangers to playing the long game, both teams appear to be taking the right form at the right time.

UChicago returns standout Evelyn Battleson-Gunkel, who has been sidelined most of the season, and both UChicago and Battleson-Gunkel come off of decisive wins out of the Midwest regional championships. Battleson-Gunkel rejoins the ranks with Nora Holmes, Estelle Snider, Anna Watson, Laura Baeyens, and Elisabeth Camic, making this team a force to watch. They beat NYU at UAAs, WashU at Midwest regionals, and this weekend, will be on a mission to stand atop the podium.

NYU comes off of their own regional win against SUNYG out of the Niagara region. The crew of Janie Cooper, Kate Cochran, Josephine Dziedzic, Lucy Gott, and Daniela Sekhar posted a split of 42 seconds to overtake SUNYG and secure the automatic qualifying spot to nationals. Last year, the Violets finished second overall at nationals and will look to return to the podium once more this year.

With five teams mentioned already, we know that only four can take home a trophy, meaning at least one of these teams will not make the podium. As if that doesn’t make the margins tight enough, enter: Johns Hopkins. Eight-times the national champions of women’s cross country, the Blue Jays can never be counted out. This team has flown somewhat under the radar all season. The last time they faced other top contending teams was John McNichols when they were the fourth D3 team behind Colorado College, UChicago, and NYU. Nationals could see a similar lineup, as the squad of Adriana Catalano, Carter and Cooper Brotherton, Sydney Shock, and Aisling Callahan comes in as a deadly threat. They swept their conference meet, finishing with 26 seconds from first to fifth. At Rowan, their 1-5 had 24 seconds of separation. With a tight pack time and low stick in Carter Brotherton, Johns Hopkins has all the pieces to succeed at yet another national meet.

Another team with a quiet season that should not be counted out is Williams. They annihilated the loaded Mideast regional championships, winning by over 50 points. All of their five scorers were in the top 20 with just 50 seconds of separation, indicating this is a team that could make some noise and steal a spot on the podium.

Last year, Fiona Smith became the first woman in D3 history to run under 20 minutes for 6k at the national championships. At the time, it looked like nobody could touch her. That was until Wilmington’s Faith Duncan splashed onto the scene at outdoor track nationals and posted an upset victory over Smith in the 5k. Fast forward to cross country season and we can all see that Duncan’s win over one of the most dominant athletes in D3 was no fluke. She hasn’t lost a race since April 2024 and, as of conference weekend, joined Smith and Missy Buttry in the sub-20 club, becoming just the third woman in D3 history to dip under this barrier in the 6k. All eyes this weekend will be on Duncan, who has already won on this course in dominating fashion when she took the Pre-Nats crown in her first big D3 win of the 2024 XC season.

The top returner in the field is SUNY Geneseo’s Penelope Greene, who took third overall last year. This year, Greene has an almost-perfect winning record, her only losses being to fellow contenders Jules Bleskoski, Haley Schoenegge, and Audrey MacLean at Paul Short. Motivating Greene once more this year as it was last year is the prospect that the higher she places, the more she helps her team, which will be on the hunt for a top-10 finish.

Bleskoski, MacLean, and Schoenegge have been trading places all year, including last weekend at the Mideast regional, which crowned Bleskoski champion, Schoenegge runner-up, and MacLean third. Though racing each other likely feels run-of-the-mill at this point, there may be no trio better primed for facing the nation’s best than these three. Expect to see them in the front group, waiting to make their attack and leaning on their experience of racing each other all year to help carry them.

A contender not to be forgotten despite her small fall resume is UChicago’s Battleson-Gunkel. A four-time All-American (including one in cross country), Battleson-Gunkel is no stranger to the big stage. Though she only raced twice this year–once in a top D3 finish at John McNichols and once as Midwest regional champion just last weekend–she already possesses the experience needed to propel her to the top of the nation this weekend. Two races is really all she needed–one to preview the course and one to check her fitness after a mid-season hiatus. With a 25-second victory over XC All-American Deyanneira Colon Maldonado, we’d say she’s ready.

Other names to watch for this weekend are rising talent Keira Rogan of Hamilton, who could be the top freshman finisher this weekend (unless Amherst’s Flora Biro has something to say about it), Washington and Lee’s Olivia Warr, who is on a roll as ODAC and South regional champion, Carleton’s Hannah Preisser, who took 14th at nationals last year and is undefeated in D3 this year, and Colorado College’s Isabel Olson, who was the second D3 finisher on this course at John McNichols as well as the Augustana Interregional Invitational champion.

12 p.m. ET Men’s 8,000 Meter Championship Race

An hour later, the men will hear the gun and take off to explore what the LaVern Gibson course has to offer.

While we gave our opinion on the rankings throughout the season, we’ll concede to the USTFCCCA rankings for the sake of consistency and less confusion for this preview.

The UW-La Crosse Eagles have been at the top of rankings for the entire season. They held off Wartburg at the John McNichols Invite and kept the Warhawks from Whitewater at bay during WIACs and at the North Region. They even went over to Notre Dame to take on D1/D2 competition and win the Joe Piane Gold race.

Their strength comes from their pack running. When Grant Matthai goes off the front, their spread does widen a bit. However, they’ve shown they can also run with a close spread. At regionals with the Matthai twins running together up front, their 1-5 spread was just 24s.

Beyond what they can do together on the course, their mentality has shifted. They haven’t let last year’s one-point loss get in the way of what they’re trying to achieve this year. Speaking with Grant and Aidan earlier this season, they still talk about their goals of wanting to win as a team. They’re in the right head space heading to Terre Haute.

It’s hard to poke too many holes in the lineup. The keys for the Eagles to win will be to continue having a tight spread, and if Aidan can run with Grant like he did at regionals, they could be very hard to beat.

On paper, giving them their toughest battle will be Wartburg. The Knights have been ranked behind the Eagles the entire season and will head to Terre Haute with the No. 2 rank next to their name. In the only battle with UW-La Crosse this season, Wartburg fell 52-84. That was way back in September, so the question is: how much ground has Wartburg made up? Since their battle, Isaiah Hammerand has emerged as a title contender with big wins throughout the season and he made noise by gapping the field at the Augustana Interregional. Despite Christian Patzka catching him in the final 600m, Hammerand showed he’s ready to be a fighter come Saturday.

With this type of low stick, Wartburg’s pack can do damage. At the Midwest regional, the Knights went 1-2 followed by a 20s spread 3-5. They’ll need to tighten that up a bit as their Wisconsin counterparts boasted a 9s spread 3-5. What Wartburg has going for them is national meet experience. Not only do they return 5 from last year’s team at nationals, they get individual national meet experience from the track. The emergence of Tyler Schermerhorn last year and Hammerand this year has put Wartburg in a good position. Schermerhorn hasn’t been in the lineup since Augie. While they have the depth to make up for his loss, Wartburg will need their reliable number two to take a chance at beating UW-La Crosse. If Wartburg can get their spread under 40s with Hammerand in the top six, the Knights could have a nice trophy to run down Bremer Street with.

The defending champions, Pomona-Pitzer, sit at No. 3 heading into the weekend. Despite losing some of their program’s best, the Sagehens have retooled and appear to be poised to take a shot at another title.

They only took one trip inland, and that was to preview the nationals course at Pre-Nats. They made the trek worthwhile by winning 65-82 over Whitewater. What was impressive about this win is they were able to overcome Whitewater’s head-turning 1-2-4 finish.

In the Pre Nats preview, we examined how they fared at the UC Riverside meet. The only time they didn't win nationals was in 2022. Here it is again for reference:

Looking back at the last four years at UCR, this year Pomona-Pitzer has their fastest average and total time. While time doesn’t prove a lot in cross country, look at their spread. They have a better 1-5 spread than the years they won in 2021 and 2023. They also return three from last year’s team including All-American Cameron Halter. He’ll be supported by Jack Stein and Owen Kobett. With Quinn White’s rise, Pomona can get things rolling in Terre Haute.

At SCIACs, their spread went to 41s and jumped again to 51s at regionals. They have a great 1-2 punch in White and Cameron Hatler. Those two being in the top 5 in their last two meets has allowed their pack a little freedom. Speaking with them before the meet, the Sagehens are confident with the team they have and credit their drive to their previous teammates: Lucas Floresheim, Colin Kirkpatrick, and Derek Fearon.

Last year, Jack Stein was their fifth to help seal the deal. However, he was 119th, and their spread was 1:09. Given the team battle this year, they’re going to need their fifth to be inside the top 70 to give themselves a shot. With White and Hatler presumably going to the front, their pack can benefit from moving up throughout the race and pick off folks who went out too hard.

North Central comes in ranked fourth as they head to Terre Haute. The historic program has been titleless since 2018 but is looking to change that. Since being off the podium in 2021 and 2022, NCC has been moving back into the national spotlight with their third place finish last year.

Momentum is on the Cardinals’ side as they have trimmed the gap on Wartburg from the Interregional meet to the Regional. In October, they lost 41-144 and, this past Saturday, they trimmed the deficit to 44-48. They’re led by Emerald Svienty and BJ Sorg. Svienty will look to add to their resume after finishing third last year, and Sorg is not far behind them this year. With a low stick or two like that, NCC could be in great position to jump the teams in front of them.

They had a 40s spread at regionals and narrowly lost to Wartburg. If they can keep that spread or even trim it down while having Svienty and Sorg do their thing up front, the legendary program can see themselves back atop the podium.

Naperville is a three and half hour drive to Terre Haute. I’d expect the NCC faithful to be out in full force to will their team with their famous “N C C” chant.

RPI has been a dark horse team this entire season. They’ve run well out East to try to prove that they’re a top-four team heading into Nationals, but will have to settle for fifth in the pre-nationals rankings. They scored a whopping 29 points at the regional meet, and all five scorers were in the top 10. A 19s spread from 24:26 to 24:45 will give a lot of teams fear in Terre Haute. If Vince Simonetti can match his eighth place performance last year, RPI is going to be a serious threat to the podium with how strong their pack is.

In an effort to not name every single team, we’ll give two more teams to watch for that could be podium contenders.

SUNY Geneseo was able to take down RPI at their Mike Woods Invite. Their 1-2 punch of Charlie Wilson and Alex Hillyard has been a force all year. Add to the mix Ryan Hagan, who won Empire 8s in his first year running college cross country. This trio has brought SUNY G into this conversation after being overlooked in the preseason. SUNY G has been known to run well when it matters. 2022 comes to mind when SUNY G shocked the nation by claiming the third place trophy. When the Knights took down RPI, they boasted an 18s spread. This type of pack running can make a massive difference.

The other team to watch to get on the podium is NYU. They took down SUNY G by 1 point and overcame the Knights’ 1-2 finish by running TOGETHER. Literally. They had a 5s spread 1-5. Liam Hagerty went for glory by finishing 4s ahead of his teammates who went 5-8. But without his effort, they wouldn’t have claimed the Niagara region title. If NYU can run like this AND have a few in or around the All-American position (Top 40), this team can head back to the Big Apple with a trophy.

Individual Battle

Get ready. This individual battle is going to be so fun. Here’s what we have. Nathan Tassey beat Grant Matthai who beat Mo Bati who beat Christian Patzka. Add in Emerald Svienty, Isaiah Hammerand and Emmanul Leblond and this individual battle is anyone’s race.

Christian Patzka came into the season as the favorite after finishing runner-up last year and doubling up on titles in steeple/5k outdoors. Despite an injury over the summer, Patzka has rounded back into form fairly quickly. He took second to his teammate Gunner Schlender at Pre Nats, won the Augie Interregional, and looked to have had a controlled effort running next to Schlender at WIACs and the North Region. Over the years, Patzka has shown his versatility in his racing strategies. We’ve seen him make a hard move early in the race and hold on. We’ve seen him use his kick in the last lap, and we’ve seen him stay patient and track his competition down. However the race goes on Saturday, Patzka will be ready. After Augie Interregional, he said this:

Mo Bati is turning heads this season. From his super chill days on his Strava to his outlandish leads in races, Bati has presented himself as a threat. With a near perfect season, Bati’s goal was to make the national meet after a disappointing finish last year at regionals. With that goal complete, Bati will give it his all to see what he is capable of while trying to make history at Augsburg. They have yet to have a male All-American runner. Bati has stayed in Minnesota for the majority of his races and ran strong times on tough courses (St. Olaf and Carleton). Don’t expect for the hills of LaVern Gibson to be an issue for Bati.

Nathan Tassey completed his undefeated season at the Mideast Regional. What started in Terre Haute will now end in Terre Haute. He credits this season to being healthy and finally stacking his training. Even though Grant Matthai fell last time in Terre Haute, Tassey has backed up his win by winning the Conn College and Mideast region. He’s proven he can take down the competition in New England, and now he has to handle the guys from the Midwest and West.

Grant Matthai has come into his own this season. After stepping from a role player to a leader this season, Matthai has been at the front in every race. He took down Patzka at conference, run solid times on fast-flat course and should be in the lead pack Saturday. While he has individual aspirations, he’ll look to be a low stick for UWL to give them the best shot at taking home a team title.

If after the 2k Isaiah Hammerand goes to the front, don’t panic. His patented move includes a hard charge to the front after around the 2k mark. He did it at the Augie Interregional and again at the Midwest Regional. His rise to the top of D3 has been sudden but shouldn’t be overlooked. He was close to holding on to taking down Patzka at Augie. The only concern for this move is how much he comes back. He’s done this move on a flat course in Augustana, if he does it in Terre Haute will he have enough? He’s been on the course before in September so he knows what to expect. A low stick from Hammerand will be key for Wartburg, which should give him an extra push.

Emmanuel Leblond is another name to look for this weekend. After his 29th place finish at nationals last year, the Johns Hopkins leader has leveled up with only three D3 losses on his record this year: Tassey, Grant Matthai, and Isaac vanWestrienen. These losses all took place within the same race at the nationals course during John McNichols in September, and Leblond made sure to not suffer another loss after that. He was the top D3 finisher in the gold race at Paul Short, won the Rowan Border Battle over All-Americans Chasen Hunt and Peter LaRochelle, was Centennial Conference champion by 25 seconds, and won the Mid-Atlantic regional over Carnegie Mellon frontrunner Matthew Coyle, who will be looking to lead his team to a top-ten finish. Now that Leblond enters a race with all the top national contenders, he seems ready to prove himself as one, too.

2023 All-Americans who were not previously mentioned to not count out:

11 - Gunner Schlender - Wis.-Whitewater

20 - Nikhil DeNatale - Williams

32 - Nicholas Lyndaker - St. Lawrence

35 - Peter LaRochelle - Haverford

36 - Calvin Boone - St. Scholastica

37 - Ryan Champa - John Carroll

38 - Cullen Capuano - Washington U.

39 - Mason Shea - Wis.-Eau Claire

Women’s All-Americans

8 - Brigid Hanley - Emory

11 - Riley Capuano - Claremont-Mudd-Scripps

17 - Riley Buese - Lewis & Clark

18 - Lauren Iagnemma - Case Western

19 - Elisabeth Camic - U. of Chicago

22 - Elizabeth Csikai - Emory

23 - Mckayla Felton - Wis.-Stout

29 - Deyanneira Colon Maldonado - Aurora

34 - Kate Sanderson - MIT

36 - Paige Phillips - Coast Guard

38 - Addy Parrott - Central College

39 - Annika Carlson - Chapman

40 - Kayla Werner - Lynchburg

The course is laid, the work is done. See you in Terre Haute!