Every year at NCAA XC, breakthroughs are made in Terre Haute from the most unlikely of individuals. Athletes that weren’t on the national radar will suddenly be cast into the spotlight after their odds-defying performance leave experts stunned and jaws dropped. We like to call these athletes ‘dark-horses’, which Merriam-Webster defines as “a usually little known contender that makes an unexpectedly good showing.” 

There’s a little known contender that has the Lavern Gibson Championship Course in his backyard. Indiana State’s John Mascari finished 32nd in Terre Haute last year, becoming the first Sycamore All-American in team history. Add in Mascari’s 11th place finish at the NCAA outdoor 10K, and it’s hard to believe Mascari has stayed relatively unknown for this long. While murmurs of Mascari’s name have started to be heard across the country, his full ascent to the top of NCAA cross country is still pending. Let’s look at what makes Mascari a dark-horse for a top-10 finish in November. 

Mascari’s rise on the track suggests that big things could be coming in November. His 13:59.06 from indoor was a 27-second improvement on his previous personal best in the 5k, but Mascari’s true strength rests in the 10k distance. The sophomore entered the NCAA East prelim last spring with only the 10th fastest entry time, his 29:10 from Mt. Sac, but Mascari won that race to earn his first bid to the NCAA outdoor championships. In Eugene, Mascari’s 11th place finish left him as the 3rd fastest non-senior, behind only Jim Rosa and Edward Cheserek. 

Just a year before, Mascari only managed a 19th place at the East prelim, and his drastic improvement in just one season suggests that he will make a similar jump this fall in cross country. Mascari has maintained a linear improvement trend throughout his career, as he was 60th at NCAA XC as a freshman, and improved to 32nd as a sophomore. Mascari is now established on both the grass and the track, but yet he still has not come up in pre-season individual rankings. 

The reason that Mascari has remained anonymous on the national radar may be his small school roots. Winning Missouri Valley Conference titles won’t turn heads like a PAC-12 or Big 10 title, but Mascari’s performances against the big guns from the power conferences at NCAAs show that he belongs in the top-10 discussion. Although Mascari doesn’t have the benefit of an elite team to train with, he does have the advantage of running on Lavern Gibson all year long. When the NCAA championships return to Terre Haute on November 22nd, the Indiana State junior will have put in hundreds of miles on the famous course, which gives him an extra push that could prove invaluable as the junior prepares for his biggest year yet.