TERRA HAUTE, Ind. — Julia Flynn’s second-straight individual win and Paul Bergeron’s top 25 outing highlighted a strong Saturday for the Stanford cross country team as the Cardinal claimed top-five team outings at the John McNichols Invitational. Flynn led the Stanford women to a first place outing in the women’s open race while Bergeron and the Cardinal men shocked the field with a fourth place finish in the men’s championship race.Â
Flynn claimed her second-straight win of the season in blistering fashion, moving into the lead after the four-kilometer checkpoint and outpacing the rest of the Stanford trio behind her by 12 seconds. Following the Stanford senior, Chiara Dailey showed strong in her collegiate debut, earning a second place finish with a time of 21:14.5, narrowly besting out fellow Cardinal freshman Amaya Bharadwaj who took third place.Â
Behind the top trio, Hanne Thomsen made her season debut with a seventh place finish while Jaelyn Williams - who also made her collegiate debut - and Hillary Studdert showed strong in their first races of the season, placing 11th and 22nd, respectively.Â
On the men’s side, Paul Bergeron led the way for the Cardinal with a 24th place finish and a season-best time of 24:11.3 to pace the Cardinal into fourth. Behind the sophomore, Lex Young made his return to the course after missing the 2025 season, blazing through the field to place 35th overall while freshman Sean Fries showed strong with a new collegiate-best time of 24:23.1, placing 38th in the field.Â
Stanford also earned strong outings to run into fourth overall with the season debut of James Dargan, Evan Noonan and Leo Young with the first of the trio placing 46th overall running sub-24:30. Rounding out the Stanford contingency, Joshua Bell and Byron Grevious set new season-bests while Marshall Vernon claimed a new personal best as well with a sub-25 minute 8K.Â
In the Men’s 8K Open race, Alexander Fisher turned in a solid performance, finishing in 14th overall with a time of 25:57.5 while racing teammates Cooper Barr and Quinn White who also performed well.
Stanford is back in action in just under two weeks, heading up to Stockton, Calif., to take part in the Pacific Invitational on Friday, October 2.Â
Women (6K Open, 3.72 miles)
Team leaders - 1, Stanford, 18; 2, West Virginia, 74; 3, Michigan State, 83; 4, Washington State, 84; 5, Northwestern, 103
Individuals - 1, Julia Flynn 20:10.3; 2, Chiara Dailey 21:14.5; 3, Amaya Bharadwaj 21:17.6; 7, Hanne Thomsen; 11, Jaelyn Williams 21:59.7; 22, Hillary Studdert 22:26.9
Men (8K Championship, 4.97 miles)
Team leaders - 1, BYU, 71; 2, Florida, 119; 3, Washington, 190; 4, Stanford, 205; 5, Washington State 212
Individuals - 24, Paul Bergeron 24:11.3; 35, Lex Young 24:21.2; 38, Sean Fries 24:23.1; 46, James Dargan 24:27.7; 62, Joshua Bell 24:35.0; 87, Marshall Vernon 24:51.0; 100, Byron Grevious 25:00.1; 132, Leo Young 25:17.0; 146, Evan Noonan 25:27.4