Season in Review: Women's Cross Country

Bunnage, team, shine at NCAA Championships to highlight season

STANFORD SOPHOMORE Amy Bunnage didn’t begin her season until eight days before the end of it, but made a huge impact in her short season.

Bunnage competed in two races, taking fourth in the NCAA Championships after winning the NCAA West Regional. Bunnage led Stanford to a sixth-place NCAA finish, the Cardinal’s best in four years.

Bunnage was not quite ready when Stanford raced in its first Atlantic Coast Conference Championships meet and the Cardinal placed second to Notre Dame in a competition in which the top three teams finished among six points of each other.

However, at the NCAA Championships in Verona, Wisconsin, Bunnage was the top ACC finisher and led Stanford to the highest placing among ACC teams. Her performance led to her being named West Region Athlete of the Year, and J.J. Clark, Stanford’s Franklin P. Johnson Director of Track and Field and Cross Country, was named ACC Women’s Coach of the Year.

Bunnage and sophomore Sophia Kennedy, who placed 33rd at the NCAA Championships, earned All-America honors. Bunnage was Stanford’s highest NCAA placer since Aisling Cuffe was fourth in 2013. This marked the 11th time a Cardinal woman placed among the top four.

Stanford opened the season ranked seventh by the USTFCCCA and later was as low as No. 15. The Cardinal won the USF Invitational in San Francisco and Gans Creek Classic in Columbia, Missouri, to open the season and then placed 11th at the Wisconsin Pre-Nationals on the NCAA course.

Zofia Dudek, who alternated with Kennedy as Stanford’s runner most of the season, was the top Cardinal at the ACC Championships, placing 10th to Kennedy’s 11th. Both earned All-ACC honors by placing among the top 21.

The Cardinal clinched its 32nd consecutive qualification to the NCAA Championships by placing second at the West Regional in Colfax, Washington.

Bunnage, the 2023 Pac-12 champion, became Stanford’s first regional champion since Julia Heymach in 2021 and eighth different Stanford woman to win. Bunnage covered the 6-kilometer (3.73-mile) regional course in 19:17.1 and led a group of four Cardinal among the top 16. Bunnage, Kennedy (sixth), Riley Stewart (13th), and Dudek (16th) each earned all-region honors by placing among the top 25.

At the NCAA Championships, New Mexico’s Pamela Kosgei, Alabama’s Doris Lemngole, and Florida’s Hilda Olemomoi broke into a three-person pack by 5K with Bunnage 0.5 behind. Bunnage finished 10.1 seconds behind the winner, Lemngole, and 2.4 seconds behind Olemomoi in third.

Bunnage, from Melbourne, Australia, set a school record of 19:31.1 on the Thomas Zimmer Course. Stanford’s previous best time there was Kennedy’s 19:41.7 at the Pre-Nationals.

Kennedy improved by 19 places between 4K and 5K to move up to 38th and picked up five more places over the final kilometer.

This was the career-best placing for Bunnage, Kennedy, and Stewart (58th). This was the first NCAA meet for Julia Flynn (119th), Nicola Hogg (199nd). Dudek, in her fifth NCAA cross country meet, placed 66th.

Achievements and Honors

Team

Sixth at NCAA Championships
24th top-6 NCAA team finish
32nd consecutive NCAA Championships team appearance, the longest in the country
37th NCAA team appearance
63 consecutive victories over Cal in championship meets (conference, region, NCAA) when both have full teams
34 consecutive victories over Cal at conference championships

Individuals

J.J. Clark, Franklin P. Johnson Director of T&F/XC