Mantz First American To Win NCAA Men's XC Title Since Rupp; NAU pack runs slightly ahead of Notre Dame's

By Doug Binder and Erik Boal, DyeStat Editors/Photos by Chuck Aragon

Conner Mantz of BYU accomplished a years-long quest to win the NCAA Division 1 Cross Country Championship on Monday in Stillwater, Okla., taking on the challenging hills and a confident NCAA Indoor 5,000-meter champion. 

Mantz went with Iowa State's Wesley Kiptoo, undefeated in NCAA competition, for the first 3,000 meters and saw that the pace was too fast for a hilly course. 

Mantz led Kiptoo go for a bit, but he said a pivotal moment came when Florida State's Adriaan Wildschutt came up alongside him and said, "Let's work together. We can catch these guys."

Mantz needed a bit of assistance at that point and Wildschutt took the wind for a couple hundred meters before Mantz returned the favor. The duo worked together to reel in Kiptoo and Hofstra's Alex Masai by 6,200 meters. 

"At 8.5K, someone yelled at me that I was up a second and a half," Mantz said. "I thought, 'It looks like the best time to go is now, maybe it's a little early, but I was looking back. I was happy to hold on and win a individual title for my team.'"

Mantz previous finished third in 2019 and 10th in 2018.

RESULTS

Northern Arizona waited 16 months to eliminate the taste of an upset loss to BYU in Terre Haute, Ind. and the Lumberjacks, strengthened by the addition of freshman Nico Young, won for the fourth time in five years.

"I've been sick to my stomach for a year now," said Blaise Ferro, who was sixth overall and one of four 'Jacks in the top nine. "Seeing it go away to someone other than us was heartbreaking."

NAU scored 60 points and Notre Dame clumped five scorers in the top 23 and finished second with 87 points. 

The Irish, led by Danny Kilrea in 10th and four more scorers from 20th to 23rd, logged the program's best finish. The team was third in 1990 and 2005. 

Mantz's performance was one for the ages and makes him an instant distance running legend. The Utah native is the first American-born winner of the race since Galen Rupp of Oregon did it in 2008. 

After appearing to let go of contact with Kiptoo in the first half of he race, he stormed to the win by 22 seconds. He is the third BYU champion, joining coach Ed Eyestone (1984) and Josh Rohatinsky (2006).

NAU, with Young (fourth), Ferro (sixth), Abdihamid Nur (seventh) and Luis Grijalva (ninth) all in the top 10, became the first team to do that since Stanford in 2003, and only the fifth school to achieve the feat in meet history. 

Oklahoma State, which knows the course as well as anyone, finished a strong third with 142 points and was led by Isai Rodriguez, who was eighth.

Arkansas, led by Amon Kemboi securing 11th, rebounded from a disappointing seventh-place finish at the Division 1 indoor final at its home Randal Tyson Track Center and placed fourth with 181 points, marking the first time the Razorbacks were on the podium since taking second in 2005.

Stanford, with one of the youngest lineups in the final, had freshmen Charles Hicks and Cole Sprout earn 14th and 15th overall to finish fifth with 194 points. It marked the seventh straight year the Cardinal placed in the top 10.

BYU came in as the defending champion and ranked No. 1, but the team lost a key runner when Brandon Garnica was unable to finish, collapsing in the final 500 meters, after being 13th at 9K. The Cougars got a 13th-place finish from Casey Clinger, racing at the meet for the first time since 2017, but the team dropped to seventh.

It marked the biggest drop for a defending national champion the following year, since Colorado won in 2006 and placed seventh in 2007.