NCAAs: Arkansas women narrowly defeat BYU to take DI triple crown

On one of the coldest, wettest, muddiest days of cross-country races in recent memory, the Arkansas Razorbacks women’s team won a six-point victory (their first ever) at the NCAA DI Cross-Country Championships in Terre Haute, Indiana on Saturday. In the process they became only the second women’s team in history to take the indoor track, outdoor track and cross-country titles in a single calendar year (the University of Texas did it back in 1986). BYU scored 102 points to Arkansas’s 96, with Stanford women rounding out the podium (123 points).

Gonna need a bigger trophy case @RazorbackTF! pic.twitter.com/TqljfxsuvT

— Arkansas Razorbacks ? (@ArkRazorbacks) November 23, 2019

New Mexico’s Weini Kelati opened an early lead and held on for the individual title, finishing 10 seconds ahead of second place in 19:47.5 over 6K. Alicia Monson of Wisconsin was second, in 19:57.1 and Arkansas’s Katie Izzo was third, in 19:59.3.

RELATED: Canadians who qualified for the 2019 NCAA XC Championships

Meanwhile, the much-favoured Northern Arizona men could not pull off the anticipated win yesterday. Their first man, Drew Bosley, finished in 23rd position, and the team trailed the first-place BYU by a wide margin (163 to 109). Colorado finished third, with 164 points. Edwin Kurgat of Iowa State took the individual title in 30:32.7 over 10K. Joe Klecker of Colorado was second, in 30:37.1 and Connor Mantz of BYU was third in 30:40.0. Virginia Tech’s Peter Seufer took the race out hard, opening up a nine-second lead by the halfway mark, and finished fourth, a second behind Mantz.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5PEYnfBSS6/

Here’s how the Canadians did:

Canadian men

Andrew Alexander – Notre Dame – 67th (31:38.6)
Ehab El-Sandili – Iona – 41st (31:21.2)
Farah Abdulkarim – Ole Miss – DNS
Michael Coccia – Ole Miss – 192nd (32:53.7)

Canadian women

Maggie Smith – Villanova – 141st (21:33.2)
Taryn O’Neill – Northern Arizona – 123rd (21:24.8)
Shona MuCulloch – Washington – 115th (21:20.3)

RELATED: Taryn O’Neill is running her first NCAA Championship for NAU