2018 DIII NCAA XC Championships

DIII Regional Recap: Favorites Look Strong In NCAA Rehearsal

DIII Regional Recap: Favorites Look Strong In NCAA Rehearsal

The full NCAA DIII XC fields are set, plus we breakdown the performances of the two team favorites at regionals.

Nov 12, 2018 by Lincoln Shryack
Workout Wednesday: North Central Mile Repeats

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Below are the 32 men’s and women’s DIII NCAA cross country teams heading to nationals in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, this Saturday, November 17. We highlight the top stories from regionals underneath the NCAA fields.

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South/Southeast Region

MEN

Rhodes

Emory

Berea

WOMEN

Emory

Centre College

Central Region

MEN

Wartburg

Carleton

St. Olaf

St. Thomas (Minn.)

WOMEN

Carleton

Nebraska Wesleyan

Wartburg

Great Lakes Region

MEN

Calvin

Otterbein

Depauw

Case Western Reserve

WOMEN

Baldwin Wallace

Allegheny (Pa.)

Oberlin

Hope

Calvin

Otterbein

Midwest Region

MEN

North Central (Ill.)

UW-La Crosse

Washington U.

UW-Eau Claire

UW-Stout

U. Chicago

WOMEN

Washington U.

UW-Eau Claire

UW-La Crosse

U. Chicago

Wheaton

Mideast Region

MEN

Carnegie Mellon

Haverford

Johns Hopkins

WOMEN

Johns Hopkins

Dickinson

Carnegie Mellon

Atlantic Region

MEN

RPI

SUNY Geneseo

RIT

SUNY Oneonta

WOMEN

SUNY Geneseo

RPI

St. Lawrence

TCNJ

Rochester

New England Region

MEN

Amherst

Williams

Middlebury

MIT

Tufts

Bates

WOMEN

MIT

Middlebury

Williams

Brandeis

Tufts

Bates

West Region

MEN

Pomona-Pitzer

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps

WOMEN

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps

Pomona-Pitzer

D3 Men: North Central Easily Wins Frozen Midwest Regional Over No. 2 UW-La Crosse

The North Central men haven’t truly been tested by their competition in 2018 as they’ve dominated every race, but Saturday at the Midwest regional in Colfax, Wisconsin, the Cardinals battled a different kind of opponent: freezing temps and a course covered in snow.



The 18-time NCAA champions didn’t flinch. Despite facing less than ideal conditions and their stiffest competitive challenge thus far in the season—No. 2 UW-La Crosse and No. 3 Washington U.—the Cardinals put five men in the top nine as they won 30-74 over La Crosse.



With race day temperatures once again expected to be below freezing this upcoming Saturday as the DIII XC train heads three hours south to Oshkosh for nationals, the two-time defending NCAA champions will be confident that they’re prepared for anything thrown their way. Nothing is stopping this team.

In the individual battle at the Midwest region, Brad Hodkinson of Washington U. got the icy win in 24:31. With regionals and nationals separated by just a week, finishing order should certainly be taken with a grain of salt (No. 1-ranked Dhruvil Patel was just sixth on Saturday), but it was a solid win for Hodkinson nonetheless: the senior beat six top 10 FloXC individuals in Colfax.

For North Central, a new face up front led the way at regionals. Senior Chris Buechner, a transfer from the University of Alabama who was making his regional debut, finished third overall in 24:35. For a guy who had only cracked the varsity top five one other time this season, Saturday’s performance was a big breakthrough for Buechner.

D3 Women: Johns Hopkins Dominates Mideast Region...Without Several Top Runners

For the 11th straight season, the Johns Hopkins women are DIII Mideast region champions, as the Blue Jays put three runners in the top five en route to a 36-79 trouncing of Dickinson on Saturday in Valley, Pennsylvania.

All-American senior Felicia Koerner scored the individual 6K win in 22:31, with her Hopkins teammate Sam Levy just three seconds back in second. Therese Olshanski was fifth overall for the Blue Jays, while Emily Stahl and Kristin Meek were 13th and 15th, respectively, to round out the scoring. 

Like the North Central men, the Hopkins women are hunting their third consecutive DIII cross country title in Oshkosh, and all signs point to that outcome heading into the national meet. 

Not only did Hopkins rest senior Ellie Clawson—the NCAA’s top returner from 2017—on Saturday, but coach Bobby Van Allen also sat Caelyn Reilly and Tasha Freed, who were second and third behind Clawson at the conference meet two weeks. With those three back in the fold in Oshkosh to aid Koerner, Levy, and Olshanski etc., this group will be nearly unbeatable on November 17.

D3 Women: Coast Guard Sophomore Kaitlyn Mooney Wins New England Region By 20 Seconds, Rides Big Momentum Into Nationals

While men’s individual NCAA favorite Dhruvil Patel appeared to hold back at the Midwest region, his fellow No. 1-ranked individual, Coast Guard’s Kaitlyn Mooney, did not; Mooney won the New England region in Brunswick, Maine, going away in 20:43. The sophomore beat All-American Emily Bryson by 20 seconds to claim her third consecutive victory in 2018, and her second straight regional crown.



Of course, Mooney isn’t a recent revelation—she first burst onto the scene last season as a freshman when she finished fourth at NCAAs—but now she will enter nationals as a favorite coming off yet another stellar fall. On paper, the only woman standing in her way from an individual title is Hopkins’ Ellie Clawson, who beat Mooney by a place at NCAAs in 2017.

The pair have not raced this season, and Clawson will have the advantage of being fully rested after skipping regionals, but no one is riding a hotter hand in DIII right now than Kaitlyn Mooney. A victory in Oshkosh for the sophomore would mark the first women’s individual cross country title by a service academy athlete in NCAA history.