2024 D3 XC Nationals Recap
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The drive into the historic LaVern Gibson Cross Country Course is like a ride in a time machine. As one enters along the main road into the complex, they can look up and see all the cross country greats that came before them: NCAA national champions Shalane Flanagan and Jorge Torres, Galen Rupp and Sally Kipyego, Sam Chelanga and Sheila Reid, to name a few. Later on came Abbey D’Agostino and Edward Cheserek, Karissa Schweizer and Pat Tiernan, Weini Kelati and Edwin Kurgat. Each name draws traveling competitors closer to the present, and closer to their own opportunity to add their names to history.
There are two names on the road to LaVern Gibson that especially stand out. They are Christy Cazzola and Tim Nelson, and they were the national champions in 2012, the last and only time the D3 national championship was held in Cross Country Town, USA. They are the only D3 competitors to have their pictures up amidst a parade of D1 stars.
Until now.
Wilmington’s Faith Duncan and UW-Whitewater’s Christian Patzka added their names (and faces) to history in Terre Haute after capturing the 2024 NCAA D3 national titles this past weekend. They are the first NCAA champions to be crowned in Terre Haute since 2019 and just the second pair in D3. On the team front, MIT women and UW-La Crosse men sealed the victory, cementing their names in history. It was truly a weekend to remember.
Here are some of the highlights:
MIT women won their first team title.
Williams women passed SUNY Cortland for most All-American honors.
Haley Schoenegge (Vassar) and Kenzie Seymour (UC Santa Cruz) earned their programs’ first All-American honors.
Faith Duncan became the first national champion and All-American in women’s program history at Wilmington.
Whitewater’s Christian Patzka and Gunner Schlender became the 16th and 17th men to become 4x All-Americans.
UW-La Crosse men won their 4th team title joining Calvin and UW-Oshkosh for second most team titles.
Mohammed Bati (Augsburg), Jack Baronski (Marywood), and Anthony Rodriguez (Babson) earned their programs’ first All-American honors.
UW-Whitewater men earned their first trophy.
NYU posted the best combined program finish with their women capturing fourth and their men finishing fifth, missing the last podium spot by a single point.
Tara Smurla (Moravian) and Ian Petruska (Hope) improved the most from the 2023 national meet to this year, bettering their place by 242 and 249 spots, respectively.
Anthony Rodriguez (Babson) and Claire Semerod (Coast Guard) were the All-Americans who moved up the most number of places in order to earn All-American. Rodriguez went from 256th at 1k to 38th at finish, and Semerod went from 165th to 40th.
This was the fifth time the D3 national meet has been hosted in Indiana and 29th time the meet has been run in the eastern time zone.
All around, this year’s meet impressed. The air had a bite to it that lingered after the first Midwest snowfall of the season, but that didn’t stop fans from replacing their clothes with thin layers of body paint, athletes from giving it their all, and Aidan Matthai from doing a post-race interview.
The fan experience was like none other. WashU raised money to bring two buses of fans, making up over 100 of the meet’s spectators. They made their own camp, where they covered themselves in body paint, donned their signature neon, split-side, patterned spandex, sounded horns, and produced synchronized chants. Pomona-Pitzer’s entire men’s team showed up from Claremont, Calif. Friends and families waved flags and athlete fatheads and some even wore homemade t-shirts and sashes. Throughout the afternoon, a constant roar of cheers hung permanently in the air. D3 spirit was everywhere.
Women’s Race
The women’s race kicked off Saturday’s festivities and almost immediately saw Wilmington’s Duncan up front.
"We hit 500 and I was able to move up on the outside and get a good spot and just kind of heard people's breathing and I was like I still feel very aerobic," she told D3GD after the race.
By 1k, Duncan was leading by two seconds over the rest of the field. Only fellow Great Lakes competitor Paige Anderson of Kalamazoo and Vassar’s Haley Schoenegge were brave enough to chase her at this early stage in the race, trailing slightly behind Duncan but also slightly ahead of the rest of the chase pack. The rest of the pack opted to play the long game, knowing the challenges that lie ahead. UChicago’s Evelyn Battleson-Gunkel, Aurora’s Deyanneira Colon Maldonado, RPI’s Jules Bleskoski, Santa Cruz’s Kenzie Seymour, Wesleyan’s Stephanie Ager, and more ran patiently in front of the chase. MIT took an early lead in the team battle, prioritizing good positioning over reliance on a kick.
As the race raged on, Duncan stretched out her lead, crossing through 3k in 9:38.4, faster than the 9:39.47 performance she posted at the indoor national championships in March to earn 7th-place All-American. Perhaps this is the moment where Duncan’s rise to national stardom all began.
Behind her, all chasers had melded into a single front pack with many of the same key players involved. Lewis and Clark’s Riley Buese, Williams’s Kate Tuttle, and Middlebury’s Audrey MacLean now joined the party. MIT sustained their lead over UChicago and Williams, but now the Violets of NYU and the Blue Jays of Johns Hopkins started to make their way into the picture.
Duncan reached 5k in 16:41, three seconds faster than she ran outdoors to win the 5k national title over standouts Grace Hadley and Fiona Smith. If this doesn’t get you excited for what Duncan will do come track season, then we don’t know what will (but that’s a conversation for next week). A battle for second, individual and team, was shaping up behind her. Bleskoski, Schoenegge, and Battleson-Gunkel broke away from the pack, and UChicago significantly passed MIT in the team standings. The last 1k, and particularly, the final last straightaway, would be crucial to the end result.
Photo by: Seawon Park
As Duncan powered up the home stretch, fans crossed sides behind her, as she had left that much room between herself and the next competitors, 42 seconds to be exact. She crossed the finish line a cross country national champion, adding her name beside the legendary Cazzola’s in the history books.
Fans settled into their final viewing spots for the battle that was coming behind Duncan and saw none other and Vassar’s Schoenegge, the 1500m national champ, alone out front. Schoenegge took runner-up, and eight seconds behind her, Geneseo’s Penelope Greene rushed in for third, an honor she would repeat from last year after moving up 9 spots in the final kilometer. Bleskoski and Battleson-Gunkel ran neck-and-neck, with Bleskoski taking the upper hand by two-tenths of a second.
Photo by: Seawon Park
The top 10 ended up being:
Duncan
Schoenegge
Greene
Bleskoski
Battleson-Gunkel
MacLean
Carleton’s Hannan Preisser
Tuttle
Washington and Lee’s Olivia Warr
Colorado College’s Isabel Olson
MIT, who might not have known that they had fallen to second at 5k, made a hard charge to home. Every single scorer except their fifth passed multiple athletes in the final kilometer, but in true team fashion, their sixth and seventh were coming to the rescue, passing 7 athletes between the two of them. All seven of their athletes finished in the top 55 and three of their athletes, Kate Sanderson, Rujuta Sane, and Christina Crow, finished as All-Americans. It was this hard charge by each team member that allowed MIT to reclaim first place, giving them their first women’s program national title.
UChicago finished second, claiming the most All-American honors of any other team at four in Battleson-Gunkel, Anna Watson, Elisabeth Camic, and Estelle Snider. They trailed MIT by only 10 points. Williams captured third after steadily holding their ground in third for the entire race. Tuttle, Tamar Byl-Brann, and Kate Swann captured the Eph’s three All-American honors. NYU secured the final podium position with their team of Janie Cooper (14th), Lucy Gott (39th), Josephine Dziedzic (41st), Kate Cochran (43rd), and Daniela Sekhar (96th). There was clear separation of the top 4 teams from the rest of the competitors, as the next team was 79 points back, 30 more points than the 49 that separated the podium teams from first to fourth.
Though the winners were fairly clear, there were many teams that ran impressively well. Emory finished seventh after coming in ranked 12th per USTFCCCA, No. 10 Washington & Lee finished eighth, No. 22 Calvin finished 15th, No. 21 Carleton finished 18th, No. 26 Santa Cruz finished 19th, No. 28 George Fox finished 21st, and No. 30 Wartburg finished 26th.
On the individual front, Moravian’s Tara Smurla saw the largest improvement from last year’s national meet to this year’s. In 2023, Smurla finished 271st, and this year was 29th, the Metro region’s only All-American honor. Several other athletes saw jumps of almost 100 places or more between years, including eight freshly-minted All-Americans. Perhaps those young athletes who were disappointed in their finishes this year or got caught up in the chaos of their first national meet can look upon these athletes’ performances for inspiration.
Men’s Race
The men’s race played out much more tactically, as many could perhaps predict based on the depth of this field. No one wanted to lead early, which put MSOE’s Xander Gottner up front through the first 1k. All of the big players chose to blend in with the crowd, planting themselves in the middle of the pack. Patzka was 98th at 1k. UWL was in eighth.
Photo by: Seawon Park
By 2k, some contenders took the bait and started to stretch out their legs toward the front. RPI’s Vince Simonetti moved to second behind Gottner, Williams’s Chuckie Namiot moved to fifth, Pomona’s Quinn White, UWL’s Grant Matthai, and Johns Hopkins’s Emmanuel Leblond found places in the top 10. UWL made their charge to first place. Patzka continued to lurk behind, moving up to 53rd with teammate Dan Anderson. He was after two trophies, afterall: one for himself and one for his team.
At halfway, the race continued to take shape with Wartburg’s Isaiah Hammerand taking the lead as he has been known to do. Behind him, his teammate’s helped move Wartburg into the second position behind UWL, but they still had a lot of ground to make up if they wanted to steal the national title. Patzka finally broke into the top-10 finding fellow North region competitor Mo Bati, his biggest rival to the national crown.
UWL’s Grant Matthai charged to the front by 5k, knowing this was the point in the race where it usually starts to break open. With 3k remaining, he led the way for the UWL Eagles, who now had almost a 100-point lead. His brother and teammate Aidan was just one second behind him, but so were six more athletes. The pack was still dense, making this anyone’s race. Competitors were starting to get just the slightest bit antsy.
In just 600 meters, the race morphed again. Now, Williams’s Namiot was leading, and the pack of Roger Williams’s Nathan Tassey, Whitewater’s Gunner Schlender, and NCC’s Emerald Svienty broke into the top 10. Whitewater moved up three places from ninth to sixth. They were just 15 points out of podium position behind rivals NYU and SUNY Geneseo.
With a mile to go, Namiot wanted to run away from the pack, but Bati sensed the charge and covered the move. The top seven cemented themselves as the top seven, but would still need to overcome what feels like one of the longest finishing straights in cross country before the crown could be theirs. UWL would look to pull off a landslide victory, barring any catastrophes, but the battle for second was separated by five points between Wartburg and Pomona, and the battle for the final podium position was separated by an astonishing three points between NYU, Whitewater, and Geneseo.
Patzka, separated by a small gap from the top three, made a smooth surge along the tangents of the course’s final curves to make contact with the top three. As they came into the final loop, it was clear the battle for the win would be between three north region standouts: Bati, Patzka, and Grant Matthai.
At 7k, Bati made his move. He peered over his shoulder to see if anyone was coming with him and saw Patzka start to open up with Matthai, who was trying to hang on. The upcoming finishing straight was long, and Patzka knew it from Pre-Nats and his wealth of cross country national meet experience. He drafted off Matthai and calculated his final move.
As they passed the iconic spike tree and entered the final straight, Tassey moved to fourth and Patzka ordered a smooth and patient charge toward Bati, who was tying up from his early surge. Grant Matthai hung on in third and made his own charge to overtake Bati.
Photo by: Seawon Park
Patzka stormed past Bati, looked over his shoulder, and, when it was clear he would be the champion, threw his fingers up in the air in celebration. He crossed the finish line earning his very first cross country national title after two runner-up finishes. Bati gritted his teeth to hold off a charging Matthai and successfully captured runner-up after missing the national meet last year. Matthai crossed in third after fading 42 places back in the final stages of the race last year when his team missed the national title by a single place. Each athlete served as a testament that if you keep showing up, your day will come.
The top 10 ended up being:
Patzka
Bati
Grant Matthai
Tassey
Aidan Matthai
Leblond
Namiot
Pomona-Pitzer’s Cameron Hatler
Hammerand
Svienty
It took every meter of the 8,000 meter race to determine the top finishers, and this went for the team race as well. UWL sustained their lead and finally captured gold after last year’s devastating loss. Wartburg moved up to capture second after missing the podium by one place last year. Pomona-Pitzer captured third, and in a nail-biting finish for fourth, the Warhawks from Whitewater captured their first men’s program nationals trophy and the final podium position over NYU by a single point. Geneseo finished sixth by just six points. What a day for D3 cross country.
There were several other teams who had productive national meets. St. Olaf finished eighth after being ranked 10th by USTFCCCA, No. 12 Williams finished tenth, No. 29 Stevens Point finished 16th, No. 22 George Fox finished 18th, No. 24 Eau Claire finished 19th, No. 26 Amherst finished 20th, No. 30 Moravian finished 22nd, and No. 32 Carthage finished 28th.
In the individual race, Hope’s Ian Petruska improved the most from last year’s national meet, bettering his 268th place finish to 19th, an All-American finish. Nine athletes total improved by 90 places or better to earn All-American honors this year (and the national runner-up didn’t even make the meet last year). We will again remind you that these improvements serve as a huge inspiration to racers this year. A disappointing performance this year perhaps only makes a stronger candidate for earning the most improved award next year.
Though many are still likely riding the emotional high from Saturday, there are others who left Terre Haute with their appetite not quite so satiated. They look to stories like UWL’s of triumph following defeat and they feel hope. Returners are awarded another chance next year, and the future of D3 looks very bright based on Saturday’s performances.
Seven of the top 10 women are underclassmen, including one freshman in Williams’s Tuttle, whose 5k PR a year ago was 20:06. Six of the top ten men are underclassmen and will likely be returning next year, including Bati and both Matthais. Many of the teams represented at nationals will return a fair portion of their rosters, meaning next year’s battle is already shaping up to be a good one.
UW-La Crosse men have the deepest squad in the nation and should be returning 6 of their top 7. The men of Wartburg should also be returning 6 of their top 7. The Pointers of UW-Stevens Point are returning 6 of their top 7 and just gained important national meet experience.
Other men’s teams that may be returning 6 of their top 7 include:
Williams
Wesleyan (Conn.)
Amherst
Washington and Lee
Tufts
Johns Hopkins
On the women’s side, three of the podium teams should return at least five of their athletes. MIT and NYU should return five and Williams, six. Emory, who placed seventh, returns five of a young squad of mostly freshmen and sophomores. CMS, who placed 11th, should return six.
The champions this weekend shone brightly, but even they had their humble beginnings. As we close the chapter on another great year of cross country, we begin to daydream about the next. Who will use their experience this year to rise to the top next year? A new generation of D3 is taking form and we couldn’t be more excited about what is to come.
When Terre Haute hosts the national championships next in 2027, new D3 hopefuls will look up at the gritty determination on the faces of Flanagan & Torres, of Kelati & Kurgat, of Cazzola & Nelson, of Duncan and Patzka. Seeing D3 represented in some of history’s greatest cross country stars will give them hope that there may just be a place there for them, too.
