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BLUE CARPET

Two historic victories made for a thrilling women’s NCAA Championship 6K race on Saturday in Louisville, as Notre Dame senior Molly Seidel beat out powerful freshman Allie Ostrander of Boise State to take her first NCAA XC crown in 19:28.6, and the #1 New Mexico women won the team title with a measly 49 points.

The Notre Dame star’s victory marks the first time ever that a past women’s Foot Locker champion has won an NCAA cross country individual title, while the Lobos' thumping of the NCAA field was the lowest point total since the women's championship race moved up to 6,000m.

Ostrander would end up second in 19:33.6, as she was no match to Seidel in the final 1K. Arkansas’ Dominique Scott was third in 19:40.9. 

Although Ostrander fell short of becoming the second ever freshman to win the women's NCAA individual title (N.C. State's Suzie Tuffey did it in 1985), her runner-up finish is the best by a frosh since Arizona's Amy Skieresz was second in 1995.

The race up front didn't really get started until around two-miles, as 22 ladies were within a second of each other at 2K. However, when the leaders passed that two-mile mark in 10:40, the real contenders, namely Seidel, Scott and Ostrander, were in position to strike. 

Seidel would make her decisive move at three-miles, first shaking Scott, and then finally, ridding herself of Ostrander. When she had broken those two, she simultaneously put the nail in the coffin of the much-discussed Foot Locker curse, which finally came to an end on Saturday.

When asked about her opinion of the so-called "curse" on Friday, the Notre Dame senior pleaded the fifth by offering up a "no comment" at the press conference, clealy showing her disgust with cross country's strangest anomaly. But Seidel gave us her answer on Saturday, and her definitive victory has now brought an end to anymore discussion of such nonsense. Thank you Molly, from all of us. 

Seidel's 2015 NCAA XC win could not have been predicted just a year ago, when the then Irish junior was just 19th in Terre Haute. However, Seidel announced her presence in the title discussion in June when she unbelievably won the NCAA 10K crown in Eugene.

She looked every bit the part of an NCAA title contender throughout the 2015 XC season, but she was beaten by Ostrander at Wisconsin, which signaled to many that Allie O was the favorite. Both ladies went on to win their next two races-- conference and Regionals-- by tremendous margins, so today's championship bout essentially had no favorite. The table was set for a brilliant head-to-head race, but Seidel would prove too strong for the frosh in the final stages. 

In a battle of experience (Seidel) v. youth (Ostrander), experience would win out, and now Seidel will only have to talk about the Foot Locker curse when people bring up her 2015 victory. It's a great day to be alive. 

The team battle was never expected to be close as #1 New Mexico had been historically dominant throughout the season, and their dominance continued once more as the Lady Lobos put all five of their scorers in the top 24 to tally a meager 49 points, the lowest team score by a women’s champion since 1982. The title is head coach Joe Franklin’s first of his career and the first ever for the school.

 

A great day for Frerichs became even better on Saturday, as she got engaged to her boyfriend shortly after the race.

.@courtfrerichs8 just got engaged!!! What a day! #NCAAXC pic.twitter.com/mYrvz1zrVv

— FloTrack (@FloTrack) November 21, 2015

The Providence women grabbed the last spot on the podium in fourth, led by senior Sarah Collins in 20th (20:11.2). The Friars tallied 231 points.