Grace McLaughlin
Sep 16, 202211 min
Edits and additional commentary by John Cusick & Garrett Zatlin
It's no secret that Adams State is the powerhouse of Division Two distance running. After all, they have won 28 NCAA cross country team titles since Coach Damon Martin entered the program.
Adams State is one of the only programs in the country in which the question is not, “Will they qualify for the NCAA Championships?” but rather, “Will they WIN the NCAA Championships?”
The latter has been true for the last two national cross country meets, and they did not just win those titles; they buried their competition and set several all-time records in the process.
At the 2019 NCAA XC Championships, the Grizzly women won the title with a record-low score of 23 points while Stephanie Cotter, the individual winner, won the race by a jaw-dropping 45 seconds and set a new Division Two 6k record of 19:15.
Last fall, the Grizzlies won the team title with 59 points despite Grand Valley State having the national champion and runner-up finisher in their lineup.
The most impressive thing about those two titles is that they were won with two completely different teams despite being only two years apart.
While 2019 and 2021 were very successful years for the Adams State women, this season could (maybe) be their best one yet. The Grizzlies return their entire top-seven from last year and a member of their 2019 championship team.
Now you may be asking yourself, “Wait, who is back from their 2019 lineup?”
Well, we've actually already mentioned her.
Yep, that's right. The Stride Report has confirmed that 2019 NCAA cross country champion and 6k record holder, Stephanie Cotter, is back at Adams State and will be competing this fall.
Pairing last year's top-five women with the return addition of Cotter creates a lethal lineup for the Grizzlies that no other team can even come close to match. With the talent, depth and tradition of excellent on this team, we have no doubts about them continuing their winning streak this fall.
Looking back to last fall, the Adams State women were fairly young and inexperienced, but they managed to perform consistently throughout the season and eventually win the title.
The RMAC powerhouse opened up their season at the Joe Vigil Invitational where we got a glimpse of their future success. They scored a perfect 15 points and also had the 6th and 7th place finishers.
Brianna Robles won the race before Franziska Althaus, Precious Robinson, Ava O'Connor, Morgan Hykes and Nicole Lawrence followed her. Those six women would become the Grizzlies' usual lineup for the rest of the season.
At the Paul Short Invite, the Adams State women held their own against some of the top Division One teams in the country. And despite the mass depth of the field, they still walked away with a huge 5th place finish.
Only Northern Arizona, Villanova, Utah State and Georgetown finished ahead of them. And for perspective, all four of those teams are listed in our Division One preseason rankings.
Robles led the squad with her 21st place finish while Althaus finished 22nd overall, giving their team a lethal 1-2 scoring punch. Hykes, Fiona Hawkins and Robinson rounded out the team's scoring in 48th, 51st and 60th, respectively.
With clear low-sticks and depth that offered little room for an upset, the Adams State women looked like they may have been the most complete D2 team in the country.
Fast forward to the RMAC XC Championships and the Adams State women won with 40 points by putting five runners in the top-13 overall spots, a dominant display of mixed firepower and depth.
As expected Robles would win individual gold without much issue. Meanwhile, Althaus (6th) and Robinson (9th) also finished in the top-10.
Lawrence and O’Connor closed out their team scoring with 11th and 13th place, respectively. And while the Grizzlies did have a less-than-ideal time-spread of 1:22, that was simply because Robles was so far ahead of the field.
When you look at just their other four scorers, that time gap dropped to a far more reasonable (and much more impressive) 38-second gap. And in their final two meets of the season, that compact scoring group of four would pay dividends.
The South Central Regional XC Championships mimicked the RMAC XC Championships with Adams State winning the individual and team titles, this time with just 30 points. Robles ran away with the victory once more while Althaus cracked into the top-five with her 4th place finish, continuing her streak as one of the most underrated low-sticks in the country.
With Robinson (7th), Lawrence (8th) and Hykes (10th) finishing in a pack, and Hawkins not far behind in 14th place as the team's sixth runner, it was hard to imagine a scenario where this team was going to lose the national title.
At the NCAA XC Championships, the Grizzly women used the same scoring structure that we had seen earlier in the postseason. And as expected the results, proved to be wildly effectively.
Robles finished 6th overall, but arguably could have won if the meet had not been held in the Florida heat and humidity. Meanwhile, Althaus (10th), Robinson (11th), Hykes (15th) and Lawrence (21st) brought the team score to just 59 points while boasting an incredible 37-second time-spread.
The Grizzlies had nearly had five runners in the top-20 and had an additional All-American Fiona Hawkins place 34th overall. O’Connor also competed for the Grizzlies and ended her rookie season with a 46th place finish, just six spots off from an All-American honor.
And don't forget, Adams State returns their entire top-seven from last year.
In fact, they don't just return their entire top-seven. They also bring in several names who could contribute to one of the more dominant cross country lineups in Division Two history.
Adams State already competed once this season, giving us some (very minor) insight on their potential lineup structure heading into the rest of the season.
The Grizzlies opened at the Joe Vigil Invitational and, unsurprisingly, won with a perfect 15 points. Brianna Robles won the race in a dominating fashion and had 10 teammates finish consecutively behind her, but some were running unattached.
Nicole Lawrence (2nd), Precious Robinson (4th), Emily Schoellkopf (5th), Morgan Hykes (6th), and Franziska Althaus (9th) all ran in an Adams State singlet and contributed to the team score. Meanwhile, freshmen Tristian Spence (3rd) and Maggie McCleskey (7th) made their collegiate debut unattached, but proved themselves to be in the mix for a top-seven spot.
Fiona Hawkins (10th), a consistent top-seven runner from last year, and Ava O’Connor (8th), a true star on the track, also raced unattached. Stephanie Cotter did not race, which is fairly normal considering that in 2019, she started her season at the RMAC XC Championships.
The success of those newcomers and the emerge of unattached entries leaves us wondering what Adams State plans on doing this fall. Did Tristan Spence and Maggie McCleskey show us that they're talented enough to be in this team's top-seven? Or will they be redshirted and save their eligibility for when Cotter is gone? Are Fiona Hawkins and Ava O’Connor going to redshirt their sophomore seasons? Or will they be in an Adams State uniform next race?
While this lone meet leaves us with plenty questions, they also show us that the Adams State women are in a great spot as they may have even more depth than we previously thought.
The clear low-stick for Adams State this fall will be Brianna Robles, although that may change depending on what Stephanie Cotter does. She returns this season as the RMAC champion and the South Central regional champion.
After a slightly disappointing 6th place finish at last year's NCAA XC Championships, Robles came back with vengeance on the track. She ended her indoor campaign with a national title in the 5000 meters and a 16:00 PR.
On the outdoor oval, she was the national meet runner-up in the 10k and she won the 5k title at NCAA Outdoor Championships. She also ran a 10k PR of 32:50 at the Mt. SAC Relays in the "elite" field, giving her valuable racing experience.
Robles is the clear title favorite heading into this season. That comes with its perks, but it also puts a target on her back. Luckily, Robles has proved that she can bounce back after disappointing results. And with her current momentum, she likely won’t have many of those.
On paper, she could only improve her team score from last fall's national meet, although that improvement won't have a dramatic impact in the Grizzlies' overall score.
Meanwhile, veteran teammate Franziska Althaus was the consistent secondary low-stick who ran alongside Robles (or at least, as close as she could to Robles) throughout last fall.
Althaus finished in the top-10 at NCAA XC Championships last year and was a key piece of the Grizzlies' national title win. During the indoor track season, she ran impressive marks in the 3k (9:25) and 5k (16:33) before qualifying for the NCAA Indoor Championships in both events, eventually placing 9th (5k) and 15th (3k).
During the spring season, the breakout distance talent contested the steeplechase and the 10,000 meters, but failed to qualify for the outdoor national meet in either event.
And yet, despite that, few women are able to hold the scoring value that Althaus does...while not being the top scorer on her team. What made Adams State so strong last fall was her consistency and poise in national-caliber fields such as Paul Short. We think there's (some) room for her to improve upon her 10th place cross country national meet result.
Junior Precious Robinson is another key returner for the Grizzlies. She was a consistent scorer last fall and was 11th at the NCAA XC Championships. Similar to Althaus, she qualified for the indoor national meet in the 3k and the 5k, but failed to qualify for the outdoor national meet.
Robinson ran solid PRs of 9:42 (3k) and 16:34 (5k) during the indoor and outdoor track seasons, but she did not have the same success as she did on the cross country course. That, however, may not matter in 2022 as Robinson has already shown promising results via her 4th place finish at the Joe Vigil Invitational.
Sophomore Morgan Hykes also returns as a consistent scorer. She placed 15th at the NCAA XC Championships last fall and extended her momentum into the indoor track season. She was part of the Grizzlies' 3rd place DMR team and 9th in the 3k at the NCAA Indoor Championships. She set speedy PRs of 4:51 in the mile and 9:23 in the 3k.
Hykes peaked at the Bryan Clay Invitational during the outdoor season where she ran outstanding PRs of 16:16 in the 5000 meters and 4:27 in the 1500 meters. She had a disappointing race at the NCAA Outdoor Championships with her 22nd place finish in the 5k, but it's obvious that her performance wasn't at all indicative of her true talent.
Junior Nicole Lawrence was a consistent fourth or fifth scorer for the Grizzlies last year who placed 21st at the NCAA XC Championships. She worked on her speed during the indoor and outdoor track seasons, eventually running times of 4:45 in the mile and 9:41 in the 3000 meters.
Lawrence was part of her team's 3rd place DMR lineup and she also placed 18th in the mile at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Lawrence dropped down in distance to the 800 meters and 1500 meters in the spring and then placed 20th at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the latter event.
Sophomore Fiona Hawkins was Adams State’s sixth runner for most the 2021 fall season and earned All-American honors as a freshman with her 35th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships.
However, one could argue that Hawkins was even better on the oval. She placed 6th in the 3000 meters with a PR of 9:26 at the NCAA Indoor Championships this past winter. She also ran very well at the Bryan Clay Invitational in the spring, posting a new 5000 meter PR of 16:07 and a new 1500 meter PR of 4:24. However, she struggled throughout the rest of the season and ended up placing 19th in the 5k at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Regardless it was quite the year for the true freshman. If she was able to do all of that as an inexperienced rookie, then what could she do in year two? Her ceiling is sky high and her extra depth, in conjunction with Cotter's return, makes it almost impossible for this team to lose NCAA gold come December...right?
And shockingly, we haven't detailed the accolades of Ava O’Connor yet who was a consistent top-seven runner for the Grizzlies last year. She finished her cross country season barely missing All-American honors with her 46th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships.
However, O’Connor is more of a middle distance runner who happened to show greater fitness on the track than she did the grass. If even half of her fitness from this past winter and spring translates to this fall, then there's a good chance that Adams State will have an All-American candidate not running their varsity lineup.
O’Connor had a phenomenal race at the NCAA Indoor Championships where she placed 3rd in the mile. She was also the RMAC champion in the 800 meters during the outdoor track season. The young Irish standout also posted impressive marks of 4:21 in the 1500 meters, 2:09 in the 800 meters and 4:46 in the mile during her rookie campaign.
Unfortunately, O’Connor was a bit inconsistent during the outdoor track season and she could not replicate her success from the winter months. She faded back to 22nd place in the 1500 meters at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
However, with a full year under her belt, O’Connor should improve and be more consistent this year -- that is, if she's even racing in a Grizzly uniform this fall.
Outside of the seven returners from last year, four more athletes could be influential to Adams State’s lineup in 2022: Stephanie Cotter, Emily Schoellkopf, Tristian Spence and Maggie McCleskey.
As we previously mentioned, Stephanie Cotter won the 2019 NCAA XC Championships in record-breaking fashion. But then the 2020 track season was canceled and Cotter transferred to Northern Arizona.
During her time in Flagstaff, she never really hit her stride and barely put out any race results. She only started one cross country race last fall. On the track, she 4:59 in the mile and 2:16 in the 800 meters last winter, but she has proven in the past that she is much more talented than those results show.
Now that she is back in Alamosa in a familiar environment, one has to think that she'll return to being the same dominant distance juggernaut that she was last year. But after an extended hiatus from true high-level racing, just how good will she be this fall? Can she take down her teammate, Brianna Robles, and repeat as a national champion?
And how about Emily Schoellkopf? She placed 13th in the 3000 meters at the NCAA Indoor Championships this past winter and ran a 5k PR of 16:57 during the outdoor season. Her main event on the track is the steeplechase and she steadily improved throughout the season, but failed to qualify for the outdoor national meet.
Still, Schoellkopf was the RMAC champion in the event and has seemingly benefited from the strength built up from running the steeplechase. We predict that this will be Schoellkopf’s breakout season. In our eyes, she has a shot at being a top-five runner for Adams State.
Newcomers Tristian Spence and Maggie McCleskey placed 3rd and 7th, respectfully, at the Joe Vigil Invitational earlier this month, but were running unattached.
Both women are true freshmen and chose to stay in their home state of Colorado. While we are unsure if they will redshirt this season or not, it is clear that both women have the potential to make an immediate impact on this program.
The Adams State women are the Northern Arizona men of Division Two.
Honestly, they may be even better.
They have multiple low-sticks who should be individual title contenders and just making this team's top-seven will likely require numerous All-American-caliber names to be left off.
They are the very obvious title favorites at the beginning of this season.
We often use these rankings articles to analyze the lineup structure of the team in question. We talk about their strengths and details some of their weaknesses. But for the Adams State women, there are no weaknesses. And when it comes to their strengths, it's not like you can single out any singular aspect of their roster.
That's because, in the end, the greatest strength of this team is just being flat-out better than everyone else. There's no other way to dance around that fact.
So back to the question from the beginning: Will Adams State win this year's national title?
Well, in 2022, our reply would be...how could they not?