TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- Stanford sends both its men’s and women’s teams to the NCAA Cross Country Championships for the 21st consecutive season. Stanford teams have won a combined nine NCAA titles -- the women five and the men four.
Stanford has intriguing possibilities in the individual races. Maksim Korolev was third last year and is coming off an NCAA West Regional upset victory over defending NCAA champ Edward Cheserek. Pac-12 Freshman of the Year Elise Cranny, the conference runner-up, will see if the future is now.
MEET INFORMATION:
What: NCAA Championships
Where: Terre Haute, Ind.
Site: LaVern Gibson Course
Women:
Race time - 9 a.m. PT (noon ET)
Distance - 6 kilometers (3.73 miles)
Men:
Race time - 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET)
Distance - 10 kilometers (6.2 miles)
FOLLOW THE ACTION:
Live results: Click here
TV/Webstream: Click here
Stanford in USTFCCCA rankings:
Men - No. 9
Women - No. 10
STANFORD'S NCAA ROSTER
Men
Michael Atchoo Sr. Troy, Mich. (Troy HS)
Jack Keelan So.# La Grange Park, Ill. (St. Ignatius Prep)
Maksim Korolev 5th Sr. Harrisonville, Mo. (Harrisonville HS/Harvard U.)
Sean McGorty So. Fairfax, Va. (Chantilly HS)
Joe Rosa Sr.* W. Windsor, N.J. (W. Windsor-N. Plainsboro HS)
Garrett Sweatt Jr. Edwardsville, Ill. (Edwardsville HS)
Sam Wharton So.# Tipp City, Ohio (Tippecanoe HS)
Women
Sophie Chase So. Burke, Va. (Lake Braddock HS)
Elise Cranny Fr. Longmont, Colo. (Niwot HS)
Emma Fisher So.# Elmhurst, Ill. (York Community HS)
Vanessa Fraser So.# Scotts Valley, Calif. (Scotts Valley)
Claire Howlett Fr. Stamford, Conn. (Westhill HS)
Molly McNamara Sr.* Little River, N.J. (Red Bank Catholic HS)
Abbie McNulty Fr. Cumberland, R.I. (Bishop Feehan HS)
* has eligibility remaining; # freshman in eligibility
STANFORD'S NCAA HISTORY
Women
NCAA Titles: 5 (1996, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007)
NCAA Runners-up: 5 (1982, 1983, 1984, 1997, 2002)
Top NCAA Finishes by Place:
2. Regina Jacobs 1985 5K 16:29.20
3. Sara Bei 2003 6K 19:49.1
Alicia Craig 2002 6K 19:48
Lauren Fleshman 2001 6K 20:35
Ceci Hopp 1982 5K 17:10.9
4. Arianna Lambie 2006 6K 20:43.8
Lauren Fleshman 2002 6K 20:35
Julia Stamps 1997 5K 16:47
Regina Jacobs 1984 5K 16:33.7
Men
NCAA Titles: 4 (1996, 1997, 2002, 2003)
NCAA Runners-up: 3 (1968, 1998, 2001)
Top NCAA Finishes by Place:
2. Chris Derrick 2011 10K 16:29.20
Neftalem Araia 2006 10K 30:52.6
Ryan Hall 2003 10K 29:15.4
Gary Stolz 1992 10K 30:56.1
3. Chris Derrick 2009 10K 29:14.8
Grant Robison 2002 10K 29:36.7
Don Kardong 1970 6M 28:10
4. Grant Robison 2003 10K 29:19.2
Greg Jimmerson 1996 10K 30:38
Marc Olesen 1985 10K 29:52.67
STANFORD’S MEN’S OVERVIEW
Stanford is seeking a podium finish after struggling as a team at this meet in recent years. The Cardinal will have a contender in graduate student Maksim Korolev, who placed third last year as a senior at Harvard. Korolev is using his fifth season of eligibilty to work toward his master’s in management science and engineering. Korolev beat Oregon’s Edward Cheserek at the NCAA West Regional, ending the defending NCAA champ’s seven-race cross country winning streak. The Cardinal has another potential top-five finisher in Joe Rosa, an indoor and outdoor first-team track All-America in the 5,000. If Jim Rosa, the fifth-place finisher last season, would have been healthy, there’s no telling what the Cardinal might have accomplished. But it’s no time for what-ifs. This will be an important race individually for its top runners and in the development of the rest of its young squad, as Stanford strives to return to the podium for the first time since 2011.
MEN’S KEYS TO THE PODIUM
• Top-10 finishes for Maksim Korolev, a contender to win, and Joe Rosa.
• It’s a lot to expect of a sophomore running in only his second race this season, but Sean McGorty will have to be the bridge between Stanford’s top two and Nos. 4-7. He was 13th at Pac-12, and has been building from injury all season for this race. An All-America performance (top 40) would be ideal.
• Team racing from Nos. 4-7, as they follow the lead of fifth-year senior Michael Atchoo, a 3:57 miler who should lead that pack.
STANFORD WOMEN’S OVERVIEW
Stanford will race five freshmen -- three true frosh and two sophomores who are freshmen in eligibility -- among its top seven, all of whom will return next season. That group will be joined by Aisling Cuffe, last year’s fourth-place finisher, who is taking an injury redshirt season, plus veterans Cami Chapus and Megan Lacy. Meanwhile, this will be the first national test for Stanford’s freshman sensation Elise Cranny. Arizona State’s Shelby Houlihan has beaten Cranny in all three meetings and Boise State’s Emma Bates also got the better of Cranny at the West Regionals. But Cranny, who won the Washington Invitational in her collegiate debut and was seventh at the Wisconsin Invitational, learns something at every race. She has high hopes for herself that aren’t necessarily reserved for future seasons.
WOMEN’S KEYS TO THE PODIUM
• The Stanford women have been more consistent at nationals than the men -- with finishes of 10th, third, and 11th the past three seasons -- and the program will count on that consistency once again.
• A victory doesn’t seem likely for Elise Cranny, based solely on her head-to-head results against the top runners this year. But Cranny has a competitive spirit that is not satisfied with second place. It will be fascinating to see how she competes and how long she is able to hang. If she can remain with the lead pack at 4K or 5K, she will be determined to cover any move down the final stretch.
• Stanford has only one runner -- senior Molly McNamara -- with any NCAA experience, and she was the team’s No. 7 last season. If this young group can overcome its lack of experience and stick to the coaches’ race plan, the Cardinal could be in business.
THE FUTURE LOOKS BRIGHT
Not only should Stanford return injured All-Americas Jim Rosa and Aisling Cuffe next season, but the Cardinal men will benefit from redshirt freshmen like Blair Hurlock and Steven Fahy. Chris Miltenberg is stacking young talent on both teams, and though the head coach likes to redshirt true freshmen males, he may have to take a hard look at incoming frosh Grant Fisher and Alex Ostberg and whether they’re presence can make the difference on a team that may have national-titles aspirations. Fisher won the Foot Locker high school national cross country championship as a junior last season and Ostberg captured the New Balance Outdoor Nationals in a U.S.-leading 14:16.61. The women will be aided by Canadian recruit Claire Smith (16:31.88), a host of true frosh, and others who redshirted in 2014.