Nationals are NowNationals are Now
Spencer Allen / SportsImageWire.com
Cross Country

Nationals are Now

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.