LOUISVILLE, Ky. – No Stanford runner ever has won an NCAA individual cross-country title, but Grant Fisher should be in the running to break that streak. Not only that, but both Cardinal teams, the men and women, also have title aspirations.
One more number to remember: 113. That's the record for NCAA team titles for Stanford and UCLA, who are tied. If a Cardinal team wins at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park, Stanford would break the tie with an unprecedented No. 114.
Stanford teams are owners of a combined nine national cross country titles, but none since the women won their third straight in 2007. The women have won five and the men four, but the men are seeking their first since an iconic 2003 title in which Stanford scored only 24 points and set a meet record for the largest margin of victory (150 points).
This is the 24th consecutive year that both the Stanford men's and women's teams have advanced to the NCAA Championships, an ongoing record.
Fisher is the Pac-12 champion and is expected to tussle with Syracuse's Justyn Knight in a matchup of Canadian-born runners. Knight holds a 3-2 edge head to head.
* * *
Meet Information:
NCAA Cross Country Championships
Where: Louisville, Ky.
Site: E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park
When: Saturday
Women:
Race time – 7:45 a.m. PT (10:45 a.m. ET)
Distance - 6 kilometers (3.73 miles)
Men:
Race time – 8:45 a.m. PT (11:45 a.m. ET)
Distance - 10 kilometers (6.21 miles)
Follow the action:
Live Results: Click here.
FloTrack Premium Webstream: Click here.
Twitter: @stanfordxctf
Stanford in USTFCCCA rankings:
Men - No. 6
Women - No. 4
* * *
Who is going to take one of these ?? home with them on Saturday? #NCAAXC pic.twitter.com/t6nR9KUghR
— USTFCCCA (@USTFCCCA) November 16, 2017
* * *
Men
Team overview:
After finishing second, third, and second the past three years, Stanford seeks its first NCAA title since 2003. Stanford's lineup is led by Grant Fisher and has received a big boost by the emergence of junior Steven Fahy and sophomore Alex Ostberg. All three placed among the top four at the Pac-12 Championships, leading the Cardinal to its first team conference title in seven years. Fahy proved his third-place at Pac-12 wasn't a fluke by finishing third at the NCAA West Region.
Stanford is the Pac-12 champ, but did not fair well in the Dellinger and Wisconsin invitationals against the likes of higher-ranked teams such as Northern Arizona, BYU, Syracuse, and Portland. However, Stanford is clearly peaking and the NCAA meet seems wide open.
The last title:
The Stanford men are seeking their first NCAA title since 2003, which came during a stretch in which the Cardinal was so dominant and deep that the program was known as The Machine. In Waterloo, Iowa, Ryan Hall was passed down the stretch by Colorado's Dathan Ritzenheim in a classic battle to the line, but the Cardinal placed four in the top six, six in the top 13, and all seven in the top 33. With Grant Robison in fourth and Ian Dobson in fifth, Stanford was led by three future Olympians. Stanford scored 24 points for 174 for runner-up Wisconsin in the most dominant display in NCAA history.
* * *
Women
Team overview:
Stanford has run its best the past two meets. A large reason has been the boost provided by junior Elise Cranny and sophomore Christina Aragon, who raced for the first time at Pac-12's on Oct. 27 and have been getting fitter by the day. Graduate student Vanessa Fraser and senior Abbie McNulty will be competing in their final cross-country meets. This will be the fourth NCAA championship race for Fraser.
Sophomore class:
Fiona O'Keeffe, Christina Aragon, and Ella Donaghu were among the top five for Stanford at last year's NCAA meet, leading the Cardinal to fifth as a team. Again, the class of 2020 forms the spine of the team. O'Keeffe and Aragon were All-Americans last year, in 38th and 39th place. O'Keeffe and Vanessa Fraser have been switching off as Stanford's No. 1. In fact, the Cardinal has not had anyone repeat as a team No. 1 all season. O'Keeffe led the way at the NCAA West Regional with a sixth-place finish. Both O'Keeffe and Aragon earned first-team All-America honors in their first collegiate outdoor track season, with O'Keeffe placing fifth in the 5,000 and Aragon seventh in the 1,500.
No. 114:
Stanford will have several legitimate opportunities at NCAA team title No. 114 this fall. Besides the No. 4 women's cross country team and No. 6 men's team, the women's soccer team and men's water polo teams are No. 1, the men's soccer team is No. 3, and the women's volleyball team is No. 4. Stanford has won at least one NCAA team title in the past 41 academic years, an ongoing record, and has won 23 consecutive Learfield Sports Directors' Cups as the top overall athletics program in Division I.
* * *
Stanford Team Honors:
Men
NCAA Titles: 4 (1996, 1997, 2002, 2003).
Top Individuals by Place:
2. Chris Derrick (2011), 10K, 28:57.5, Terre Haute, Ind.
Neftalem Araia (2006), 10K, 30:52.6, Terre Haute, Ind.
Ryan Hall (2003), 10K, 29:15.4, Waterloo, Iowa
Gary Stolz (1992), 10K, 30:56.1, Bloomington, Ind.
3. Chris Derrick (2009), 10K, 29:14.8, Terre Haute, Ind.
Grant Robison (2002), 10K, 29:36.7, Terre Haute, Ind.
Don Kardong (1970) 6M, 28:10, Williamsburg, Va.
Women
NCAA Titles: 5 (1996, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007).
Top Individuals by Place:
2. Regina Jacobs (1985), 5K, 16:29.20, Milwaukee, Wis.
3. Sara Bei (2003), 6K, 19:49.1. Waterloo, Iowa
Alicia Craig (2002), 6K, 19:48, Terre Haute, Ind.
Lauren Fleshman (2001), 6K, 20:35, Greenville, S.C.
Ceci Hopp (1982), 5K, 17:10.9, Bloomington, Ind.
Regina Jacobs (1984), 5K, 16:33.7, University Park, Pa.
Aisling Cuffe (2013), 6K, 20:09.3, Terre Haute, Ind.
* * *
Best Times on Championship Course:
The NCAA Championships have twice been held at Louisville's E.P. "Tom" Sawyer Park. Here are Stanford's best times in those races, with their places:
Men (10K)
29:52.9: Jim Rosa (2015), 6th
29:53.4: Sean McGorty (2015), 7th
30:07.9: Grant Fisher (2015), 17th
30:15.9: Benjamin Johnson (2012), 48th
30:37.3: Erik Olson (2012), 87th
Women (6K)
20:03.8: Aisling Cuffe (2012), 21st
20:05.0: Kathy Kroeger (2012), 24th
20:06.2: Cayla Hatton (2012), 28th
20:18.9: Jessica Tonn (2012), 43rd
20:27.7: Vanessa Fraser (2015), 40th