The Top 800m Specialists This XC Season

The Top 800m Specialists This XC Season

Nov 7, 2015 by Meg Bellino
The Top 800m Specialists This XC Season


Distance runners. Middle distance runners. Most times, you don’t want to confuse the two. And the middle distance runners, they’ll remind you what kind of runner they are. Phoebe Wright explains it in her most recent blog post, which you should absolutely read.

I say this as a former 800m runner. (And not even mile/800m. I have never raced a mile. Ever.) I ran limited cross country races in my five years of NCAA eligibility and wanted to cry/puke/quit every time I was forced to. It’s comical now to think of how much of a wimp I was. And I had great 800m teammates who were really good at cross country, further proving my point at how wimpy I was. Jillian Smith and Becca Addison are great examples. They ran 2:03 and 4:40 or faster on the track and could even jump in the 4x400 relay if needed. Then they would hop on the grass and act like it wasn’t a huge jump up. They were my inspiration for getting through cross country season.

I know I’m not alone in this, either. I’ve had several conversations with current and former NCAA middle distance athletes who “dread” cross country, yet so many of them excelled in the fall season. As I scanned cross country conference results, a few names really stood out to me. The usual suspects came out on top, but a few 800m specialists really shined for their respective teams. And for that, I give them mad props.

Claudia Saunders Comes In Clutch For The Cardinal Women



Take Claudia Saunders of Stanford. She is the reigning NCAA runner-up in the outdoor 800m (for two years straight) and holds a PB of 2:00.63. Last weekend she was 25th at the Pac-12 Championships as the fifth Cardinal finisher. With Stanford missing All American Elise Cranny (who is out with an injury) this squad was desperately needing someone to step up.

Enter Saunders. In her first three years at Stanford, she completed five cross country races in her Stanford uniform and never ran in a conference championship meet. This is huge! Not only did she run a fine time of 20:39 over 6K, she was nine spots ahead of Washington’s fifth, securing Stanford’s third-place team finish.

(Coincidentally, Annie Leblanc of Oregon finished right behind Saunders in 26th. Though she didn’t score for the Ducks, it was the 2x NCAA 800m qualifier’s first XC race of the fall. I’m imagining them exchanging looks like, “This is torturous. Let’s do it together.”)

Kaela Edwards Helps Oklahoma State Cowgirls To First Big 12 Title



When the Oklahoma State women won their first ever Big 12 Championship, I really hope they credited junior Kaela Edwards’ huge performance as a reason why. The 2x NCAA indoor runner-up in the 800m (with a PB of 2:02.63) finished fourth overall on the difficult Stillwater XC course. Her time of 20:51 was more than 40 seconds faster than her Cowboy Jamboree mark, and she beat her previous Big 12 Championship showing by 19 spots. It is only her seventh XC race of her college career.

Clayton Murphy Leading Akron And Looking For NCAA Championship Bid



Everybody’s favorite World Championships qualifier competed in his conference meet this weekend and finished a fine fourth place. Clayton Murphy of Akron, who finished fourth in the 800m at the U.S. Outdoor Track and Field Championships in June but was awarded a spot on Team USA after winner Nick Symmonds’ refused to sign USATF’s statement of Conditions, repeated his fourth-place finish from the 2014 conference meet on Saturday at the 2015 MAC Championships. Murphy was third in both the indoor and outdoor NCAA 800m races before running the race of his lifetime at USAs. He told us in Beijing he was fully intending on running cross country this fall the hopes of helping his teammates to a conference championship. MAC powerhouse Eastern Michigan didn’t let that happen, but now we’ll look toward next weekend as Murphy could qualify for his first NCAA XC Championships as an individual in the Great Lakes Region. He finished 23rd in the race last fall and was the seventh individual in the race. (In case you forgot, the top 4 individuals whose teams fail to qualify make it out of each region.)

The Next Great NCAA 800m Runner At UTEP?



If you’ve been following NCAA Cross Country you know that 3x NCAA Steeplechase Champion Anthony Rotich has been running very well. However you should have also noticed by now that one of his UTEP teammates has been on his heels all season. UTEP freshman Jonah Koech is only in his first year of NCAA running but comes in with a blazing fast 1:46 800m PB. Oh and he ran that in Nairobi, at roughly 5,500 ft. altitude. He fished third at the Notre Dame Invite, fourth at Pre-Nationals and runner-up at the Conference USA Championships this weekend. If he’s running well in XC, get ready to be thrilled by this athlete come indoor and outdoor season.