With so much going on and so little time to try and dig deep into everything so far across all three NCAA divisions, we chose to put the spotlight on several things that stuck out to us from the last month or so since the 2025 NCAA XC Season began with at least 2-3 talking points per division.

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(8/29) - Iowa State (DI #1 - Men) Cyclones ready to bring a storm.

This is going to be a very fun season to watch on the grass, as the Iowa State Men's Cyclones will be looking to win their third national team title, with the previous being from over 30 years ago in 1994. As with many of the premier programs, Iowa State showcased their early depth back in August with a huge win on home turf at the Iowa State Cyclone Preview, putting all 5 in the top 10 and scoring 22. Highlighting the line-up began with sub-18 efforts over 6-kilometers from Allen Bonnessen and Emanuel Galdino in 1-2 and then followed up by Seth Clevenger, Isaac Rivera, and Nathan Pestka in 4-5-10. 

Looking deeper into the roster that we are yet to see is where the force lies, they bring back 5 of 7 athletes from last year's runner-up finish behind BYU which consist of Sanele Masondo, Joash Ruto, Robin Kwemoi Bera, Gabe Sieperda, Devan Kipyego. To add absolute powerhouses to their depth as well, they brought and/or brought back on Meshack Kimutai (13:50.33 5k // 28:23.83 10k), Rodgers Kiplimo (13:34.99 5k // 27:52.12 10k), and Ryan Watts (13:37.23 5k // 28:22.71 10k).

The Cyclones are on deck for Pre-Nationals at the Gans Creek Classic on September 29th.

(8/29) - Notre Dame's (DI #6 - Men, #17 Women) Youngsters Show Out.

This one is going to be very interesting to see play out this fall, as the defending NCAA DI Great Lakes Regional Champions opened up their season with both only underclassman lineups at the Winrow-Valparaiso Open and essentially sweeping perfect scores on both sides with 15 points each, including the redshirts on the women's side. As a whole, The Fighting Irish arguably brought on one of the strongest recruiting classes in the country from 2025, and that is being proven early this fall.

Starting with the women, including redshirts, the lineup began with two sub-17 efforts with Rosie Mucharsky and Chloe Huyler, followed by fellow newcomer Helen Sachs, then sophomores Reagan Riley and Addison Knoblauch. Without including the redshirts, Notre Dame still would have dominated with 22 points and all five within the top 10 to finish ahead of Purdue's 33; adding in Nicki Southerland, Grace Schager, and Kaleigh Gunsiorowski. The men's side was not much different, including redshirts, as Notre Dame took the top 8 places in the competition with a spread of only 30-seconds, which is astoundingly low for 1-5 let alone 1-8. 

Looking forward, we should expect the upperclassmen to open up their season on September 19th and/or October 3rd at meets hosted on home turf at the National Catholic Invite and Joe Piane Notre Dame Invite

(9/6) - Fort Lewis' Hannah Hartwell (DII #4 - Women) to soar this fall?

When it comes to the distance scene for NCAA Division II, the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, also known as the RMAC, has proven to be both the top conference in the country and one of the hardest conferences to win given its sheer depth on both the team and individual sides. This is no exaggeration either, as this conference alone has notched 41 out of the 111 (between men and women) national team title opportunities with 14 on the individual side.

Often, during the fall, when people refer to this conference primarily reigning out of the Rockies, most may think of the household names including Adams State, who currently holds 37 national titles in cross-country, and Colorado School of Mines with a tally of 4; along with CSU-Pueblo and several others.

For Fort Lewis University out of Durango, Colorado, this is a team that has been on a steady rise the last few years, and this fall could see its first individual national champion through Hannah Hartwell. Following a breakout year that saw the now senior scrape 16:00 in the 5k and take All-American honors last fall and winter, she kicked off the year with a huge win and course record at the 32nd Joe I. Vigil Open, finishing ahead of Adams' State 5 who went 2-3-4-5-6, with national champion Tristian Spence in the mix. Hartwell was 5th at the NCAA DII Cross-Country National Championships last fall.

(9/12) - Grand Valley State (DII #6 - Men, #2 - Women) sets sail against Power 4 programs.

Not even arguably, but definitely one of the few NCAA DII distance programs that can be labeled as a, "dynasty," Grand Valley State University out of the GLIAC was one of many programs from around the country that opted to delay their season opener until the 12th; roughly a week after all divisions were off and running at the Michigan State Spartan Invite/BIG Ten Preview. As expected, and admittedly more than expected, the multi-time DII National Champions opened up the season on a high note for both men and women, putting up a 2nd-place finish for the men and 3rd-place finish for the women ahead of notable teams including Michigan, Purdue, Indiana, Cincinatti, and Ohio State.

For the women, the Lakers return several names from last year's DII national championships, notably the individual champion, Lauren Kiley who took 10th as individual on Saturday, who will be coming into this fall looking to defend her title. Alongside her, based on the result, will be Allie Arnsman, Abby VanderKooi, Maggie O'Malley, Cara Newman, freshman Natalie Mello, and Megan Postma. On the men's side who took second behind Michigan State but finished ahead of Ohio State and Purdue, they only returned a few from last year's national lineup but that hasn't shaken up their sheer strength. Koby Fraaza took runners-up honors in 23:44.8, with Steeplechase All-American Owen Westerkamp stepping up this year in addition to Bahozhoni Church, Sebastian Ramirez, and Conor Somers to round out the top 5. 

It doesn't stop here however, as the Laker men showcased far more than just these 5, as they also had 12 put up collegiate cross-country debuts with sub-26 efforts over the 8-kilometer distance.

(9/12) - Carnegie Mellon (DIII #27 - Men, #23 - Women) rallies both present and future at Robert Morris University Colonial Invitational.

At the Robert Morris University Colonial Invitational, (NCAA DIII) Carnegie Mellon University managed to put together a stellar showing on both the men's (27th) and women's (23rd) side, sweeping huge wins on the team scores against (NCAA DII) Walsh University (27th, 21st) and Davis & Elkins (30th, 16th). The men managed to slot their scoring-5 within the top 12 (3-5-8-10-12) for 38 over Davis & Elkins' 50, while the women replicated a similar effort with 5 in the top 11 (2-3-7-8-11) for 31 over Walsh University's 42.

Breaking down Carnegie Mellon's team itself, to put it short from what Coach Connelly had told us last Friday, the experience level is essentially polar opposites, as the women brought back 6 of their 7 from last year's cross-country national lineup + on top of bringing in Chloe Bonson (graduate transfer) from Allegheny, while the men were the opposite and only returned All-American, Ryan Podnar from last November to lead the Tartans this fall. The men's side in particular, it is often seen that a team ends having a "down year" after losing a majority of their top line-up and then comes back stronger the following year, but in this case, it could be completely different, as the names stepping up seem to have already found a foothold for the fall.

(9/12) - The Lady Buffalos of West Texas (DII #1 - Women) continue their stampede.

Another week, another victory for the Women of West Texas A&M as they go 2-0 to open up the early stages of the cross country season, having won the Aggie Duels in a perfect score of 15 (1-2-3-4-5) in a meet that also held fellow NCAA DII's East Central, and then following that up with a recent 23-point victory at the Texas Tech Open, finishing ahead of hosts Texas Tech.

As ranked #1 on the FloTrack College XC Pre-Season Rankings presented by HOKA, this is one team to keep a consistent eye on this fall for as they will be looking to secure their first national championship title on the grass following a runner-up finish last year against NCAA DII dynasty, Adams State.

Looking at the current lineup, particularly from the most recent competition, Sarah Koomson, Eliette Chaput, Naomi Addo, Julie Lafare, and Abigail Abugire will presumably be the top 5 for West Texas A&M throughout the fall. However, the #6, newcomer Andrea Monchatre, should not be overlooked, as if one were to take away Koomson from the scoring and add Monchatre as the #5, this lineup still would have won this previous competition by a fair margin. It will be interesting to see how this crew performs against a much bigger field in October at the Louisville Classic.

(9/12) - Wartburg (DIII #2 - Men) showcases absurd strength and depth.

No surprise here as Wartburg continues to have one of the craziest rosters in the entire NCAA in terms of sheer depth and strength on the men's side, putting up seven under 25-minutes over 8 kilometers for a huge showing at the Redbird Invitational and almost securing a perfect 15 on the team score with 16 points ahead of Illinois State's 50. Digging deeper into the results past placements, not including the seven, they also had 11 under 26-minutes, with five of those 11 being under 25:30.

This is no coincidence though, as they made headlines after putting up a whopping 19 athletes under the 15-minute barrier last spring, with 12 more being under 15:30. There honestly is nothing that can be said about this statistic except to just stare in disbelief.

Compared to the rest of the NCAA, this men's program might be the one crew that could quite literally run several different combinations of their top 5 and/or 7 at almost any given meet and run away with the victory. While November championships are still a ways away, this is going to be a team that will be fun to watch over the next few months.

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