2024 Joe Piane XC Invitational First Thoughts: Notre Dame Upsets Northern Arizona Men While NAU Women Fend Off BYU

The Joe Piane Invitational was plenty entertaining as we saw multiple podium contenders (and even a couple of national title favorites) go head-to-head in one of the bigger early-season battles of this fall campaign.

Below, we broke down the results that we saw from the top-10 teams in this field, both men and women, and gave our thoughts on the individual races as well. Let's get to it, shall we?

Men's Analysis

Individual Race

I can't help but question how 17 men ran under 23:00 for 8000 meters. Thankfully, I've never put much stock into times that were run during the cross country season (at least, not for the collegians).

Ernest Cheruiyot is awesome. He is a true national-caliber star. He is almost certainly a top-15 runner and you could make a very strong argument that he's closer to the top-10. We'll have to see where he resides in our next rankings update.

However, the more important development is that both Evans Kurui (Washington State) and Patrick Kiprop (Cincinnati) are the real deal after placing 2nd and 3rd, respectively. We knew that both of those men were absurdly talented, but we didn't have any top-tier competition to compare them to...well, not until Friday, that is.

1. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (55 points)

Well how about that?

Coming into this season, we knew that the Notre Dame men had all of the pieces to be a top-tier program. Of course, we had said that about this team in the past, and on multiple occasions, the Fighting Irish left us wanting more.

But in 2024, the firepower that this team had on paper made them look incredibly lethal. And thankfully, the South Bend men showcased that talent on Friday morning. On their home course, the combination of Ethan Coleman, Daelen Ackley, Izaiah Steury, Drew Griffith and Carter Solomon packed together to finish 8-10-11-12-14, respectively, in the overall results.

This is roughly what we expected out of Coleman and Steury seems to be rounding back into his rookie year form. Ackley is probably the biggest and best surprise of this group. He's been viewed as more of a strength-based miler in the past, but has really stepped up to offer excellent scoring value on the grass.

Griffith, meanwhile, showed highly encouraging promise in his first major NCAA cross country race. Notre Dame's course does favor his mile speed, but he looks like he can be the high-impact scorer that we suspected he would/could be.

CJ Singleton (36th) had a tough outing. He's far more talented than what he showed us, but consistency on the grass will need to be a greater point of emphasis for him moving forward. We also didn't see Josh Methner race! He could realistically be the team's top runner this fall.

Overall, Notre Dame should be thrilled. They took down a juggernaut distance program that has been viewed as contenders (and maybe even favorites) for the podium this fall. Their pack-running was great, their firepower is better than it was last year (through one meet) and there is still greater room to improve.

Kudos to the Notre Dame men.

2. Northern Arizona Lumberjacks (68 points)

Seeing the Northern Arizona men fade to 2nd place in this field is hardly ideal. The Lumberjacks were tabbed as podium favorites coming into this fall and they were clearly the top choice to win gold at this meet.

David Mullarkey (4th) delivered a strong low-stick result just like we thought he would. However, the rest of the team was too far back to keep up with a Notre Dame squad that crowded the top-15.

Justin Keyes (13th) came out of nowhere, offering much-needed scoring. That was a stunning result that we didn't at all expect from him. Behind him was Kang Nyoak (15th) and Corey Gorgas (16th), two guys who had decent races, but weren't necessarily amazing.

Colin Sahlman (20th) closed out the scoring while Cael Grotenhuis (21st) was right behind him. And frankly, we thought those two men would be stronger than they were.

Now, in NAU's defense, one of their top names, Santiago Prosser, recorded a DNF. He's a two-time top-21 All-American at the NCAA XC Championships and, usually, one of the more reliable low-sticks in the country.

If Prosser had finished in 10th place, then (after displacement) Notre Dame still would have won...but only by two points. If Prosser had placed 8th, then the victory would have gone to the Lumberjacks.

It would be a mistake to say that the NAU men are no longer in contention for the podium. They still held their own against another top-10 team despite their projected second scorer not finishing the race. Even so, the scoring behind Mullarkey is going to have to be far more potent if this team wants to be in the top-four at this year's national meet.

3. California Baptist Lancers (112 points)

Wow! Great run by California Baptist! We truthfully weren't too high on the CBU men coming into this fall. They had lost numerous high-impact scorers from last year's team (which was already thin on depth) and they had lost their head coach as well. Sure, this group still had a respectable core of names who they could rally around, but it was going to take a big day to place 3rd in this field.

Of course, they did exactly that.

Valentin Soca (5th) posted a strong result, but that was not too surprising. Zouhair Redouane, however, is a rookie from Morocco who secured a shockingly great 6th place finish! That low-stick result came out of nowhere given that Redouane had only run 30:02 for 10,000 meters per his World Athletics profile.

However, Pedro Marin (28th) and Daniel Abdala (32nd) are probably the biggest reasons why the Lancers were able to fend off the rest of the field. Those were two sneaky-good middle-lineup efforts which stabilized this team in a big way. With Adam Trefecanty (41st) doing enough to get by, it was hard to dislike anything about CBU.

Are the Lancers going to be as good as they were last year? No, almost certainly not. However, this group likely just put themselves back into our top-25 team rankings. Kudos to new coach Sean Smith for repositioning this team for continued success.

4. Wyoming Cowboys (150 points)

Are we able to say that the Wyoming men "are for real" after seeing this result? Well, it depends on what your definition of "for real" is, but I like to think that they are.

Jacob White (9th) now looks like a national-caliber low-stick which is extremely important for the Cowboys as they move forward. However, what I loved about this team is that the middle portion of their scoring group was very stable despite them having to face a field that was far stronger than what they faced two weeks ago.

Mason Norman, Ryker Holtzen and Gus McIntyre went 26-33-35, respectively, in the overall results. That was a big run for McIntyre who was able to close down on the gap that opened up at the Roy Griak Invitational.

Dylan Van Der Hock (48th) had a fine outing to close out Wyoming's scoring, but the more important development was that Asefa Wetzel (a projected fourth or fifth scorer) recorded a DNF on Friday! As long as he returns later this season, he should raise the Cowboys' floor even more.

Friday was an extremely important race for Wyoming. The Cowboys will likely be a ranked team in the next update of the USTFCCCA Coaches' Poll. Those rankings are also going to be used for the purposes of seeding at Pre-Nationals two weeks from now. If the Wyoming men are ranked high enough, then they could get the nod to race in the championship portion of the meet and battle for highly valuable Kolas points.

5. Michigan State Spartans (167 points)

For the most part, this was a fine race for Michigan State, although they still have some work to do. Andrew Nolan (19th) was a great lead scorer for the Spartans and it was nice to see Riley Hough (24th) contributing in a meaningful way. You also have to give credit to Parker Lambers (34th) and Jack Pennewell (38th) for offering solid support as well.

However, the Spartans saw a bit of a drop-off after those four men as their fifth runner settled for a 53rd place finish. Yes, they did have three other men also crack the top-80, but that backend group will need to close down on that gap if they want to score enough Kolas points to get into the national meet.

6. Boise State Broncos (194 points)

For the most part, this was a solid run for the Boise State men. If Texas Tech brings Solomon Kipchoge back into their lineup this fall, then the Red Raiders will have a shot of making it to the national meet. And if that happens, then the Broncos will likely get a Kolas point.

Tom Graham-Marr (27th) and Brian Kiprotich (31st) mostly matched expectations, offering great scoring value at the top of Boise State's lineup. However, Joe Hudson (30th) was not originally listed in the entries and he made a big difference.

The Broncos have a very solid top-three, but a gap opened up after them. Boise State's final two scorers placed 55th and 57th while their sixth man was in 67th place. Yes, that opening in the middle of their lineup isn't great, but that scoring hole isn't necessarily massive and their backend portion was still fairly tight/stable.

They aren't going to produce any headlines, but I liked what we saw from the Broncos.

7. Texas Tech Red Raiders (224 points)

Ernest Cheruiyot winning the individual title was awesome, but hardly surprising. Vincent Koech (29th) had a sneaky-good race and Nathan Kapel (43rd) was decent enough. The same could be said about Edwin Kiprono (50th).

However, the Red Raiders' final scorer dropped all the way back to 110th place. Naturally, that took Texas Tech out of the mix with Wyoming, Michigan State and Boise State.

Now, in their defense, the Red Raiders didn't field Solomon Kipchoge, their international distance star who is projected to be a low-stick. If Kipchoge had run on Friday and finished runner-up, then Texas Tech finishes in 4th place.

The other newcomers to this team are solid and this team has greatly improved compared to previous years. Even so, some of the firepower that we were originally projecting with this team doesn't seem to be quite as potent as we maybe thought it would be.

8. Grand Valley State Lakers (252 points)

Caleb Futter (17th) validated his early-season effort with a strong low-stick performance. However, the ultimate goal for Grand Valley State was to discover more firepower to pair with Futter. And truthfully, I'm not sure that they found that.

Make no mistake, Koby Fraaza (40th) and Brock Wooderson (51st) both had strong efforts, especially as D2 scorers in a D1-laden field. In fact, Scott Spaanstra (74th) and Samuel Martens (75th) were fairly respectable backend scorers as well.

In fairness to the Lakers, they were in a larger Division One field, making it hard to compare their results to some of their opponents. They also took down a strong Adams State team that is listed in the top-10 portion of our D2 rankings.

9. Adams State Grizzlies (268 points)

Romain Legendre (7th) was awesome as expected, emerging as a superstar ace who will contend for the D2 individual title later this fall. Juan Rosales (42nd) had a quietly strong effort while Kidus Begashaw (56th) and Housem Hrabi (63rd) held their own as well.

The Grizzlies didn't have anyone else inside of the top-110 spots, leaving the team grasping for more scoring in attempt to close out their top-five. That's a bit of a surprising development for a program that is historically known to have elite depth.

Emil Bezecny can likely be better in the future and with so many newcomers entering the program this past offseason, it's too early to say that the Grizzlies can't find stronger reinforcements. However, Adams State's attempt to get back on the podium this fall may be more challenging than we initially thought.

10. Purdue Boilermakers (270 points)

I'm a bit conflicted about this result for Purdue.

On paper, a 10th place finish is not ideal and it isn't what I thought this group was capable of. But on the other hand, Purdue was still the 8th place team among Division One programs and the structure of their lineup was arguably just as good as what we saw from Grand Valley State and Adams State.

Nathan Walker (22nd) offered great scoring value, emerging as a fringe low-stick in this field. Teammate Douglas Buckeridge (37th) had a solid outing while Caleb Williams (54th) had a slight "off" day compared to expectations, but was strong enough.

Kiefer Bell (72nd) wasn't all that bad and Nerius White (93rd) gave his team a better fifth man than Adams State and Texas Tech.

This team was far from perfect, but I still think that they can be much better in the future. Walker is a great lead scoring talent, Buckeridge can finish closer to Walker and the same could be said about Williams.

Women's Analysis

Individual Race

I think a lot of people will get caught up by Lexy Halladay-Lowry winning this race in a time that went under 16:00 for 5000 meters (15:57 to be exact). However, I'm far more encouraged that she took down a top-tier talent like Juliet Cherubet by six seconds despite the course favoring the Texas Tech runner.

1. Northern Arizona Lumberjacks (52 points)

I thought that not having Elise Stearns or Ali Upshaw would open the door for BYU to get the edge on Northern Arizona at this meet. That, however, didn't happen as the Lumberjacks were simply too deep of a team.

Karrie Baloga (7th) looks like she's evolving into the national-caliber low-stick that we projected her to be while Maggi Congdon (9th) has seemingly translated her track fitness to the grass. Nikita Moore (11th) had a breakout race, Alex Carlson (12th) used her mile prowess to take advantage of a fast course and Ava Mitchell (13th) had the single-best race of her career.

All of this was done with Alyson Churchill (16th) not evening emerging as a scorer. If you had told me before the race that NAU would beat BYU by 13 points despite not having Stearns, Upshaw or Churchill emerging as a scorer, then I would have had significant doubts.

But the aerobic factory in Flagstaff, Arizona seems to be incredibly strong. This group was not at full strength and they still took down a group that we thought were their biggest threats for the NCAA title this fall.

2. BYU Cougars (65 points)

As expected, the firepower in BYU's lineup was outstanding. Lexy Halladay-Lowry looks like a true national superstar after earning a marquee win. Meanwhile, Jenna Hutchins (4th) looks like she's ready to take that next step into a higher tier of NCAA distance running excellence. With Carmen Alder (10th) producing a great low-stick result of her own, the Cougars were giving NAU a major run for their money.

However, the last few women in BYU's lineup did allow a gap to form between them and the team's top-three. That is not to say that Taylor Rohatinsky (25th), Riley Chamberlain (29th) and Taylor Lovell (30th) had poor races, but they will need to bridge that gap if they want to have a shot at winning NCAA gold in November.

Thankfully, this team can still improve by adding Carmen Riano to their lineup and Chamberlain has proven that she can be better as well. Let's also remember that BYU took down a podium favorite in Notre Dame (on their home course) who looked very strong in their own right.

3. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (70 points)

I really liked what we saw from the Notre Dame women. They were only five points out from a title-contending BYU team and most of their women matched or beat expectations.

Siona Chisholm (5th) has returned to star low-stick form while Emily Covert (8th) had one of the better races as of late. Erin Strzelecki (14th) quietly put together a valuable middle-lineup performance while underclassmen Gretchen Farley (21st) and Arianne Olson (22nd) did a very nice job of closing out the Fighting Irish's scoring group.

Caroline Lehman (32nd) offered solid insurance and we're fairly confident that Sophie Novak (43rd) will be significantly better in the future.

Across the board, this was a strong team effort which further cemented the idea that the women of South Bend are, in fact, podium favorites.

4. Liberty Flames (189 points)

In our meet preview, I made sure to say, "Do not sleep on the Liberty women this season." And after seeing them place 4th at the Joe Piane Invite, I feel like my initial warning was plenty validated.

The Flames had an awesome top-three as rookie Allie Zealand secured an encouraging 16th place finish. Meanwhile, teammate Ava Gordon (20th) had a quietly great race in her own right while veteran Adelyn Fairley (28th) offered very strong scoring value as well.

The top-three of this team is awesome and their backend, while far from perfect (their latter two scorers placed 62nd and 75th), was more than serviceable. If the Flames can sustain this kind of lineup structure throughout the rest of the season, then they'll almost certainly find themselves on the national stage in November...right?

5. Boise State Broncos (204 points)

You could argue that, from an individual perspective, Kaiya Robertson's 6th place finish was the most stunning women's result of the meet. Yes, Robertson has been a sneaky-good runner before, but that low-stick effort was monumental for a Boise State team that needed the firepower to stand out.

Emily Jobes (39th) had a solid outing, but it was Ines Borba (50th) and Autumn Ost (55th) who offered reliable scoring stability. And with Bianca Boehnke (71st) not letting the team's point total get out of hand, the Broncos were able to snag a top-five finish.

Boise State didn't have Yasmin Marghini on Friday. She was a 35th place All-American in the fall of 2022. And while she hasn't been in that form since then, she is talented enough to further improve this team's scoring presence. The same can be said about Julia Kieser who holds a 16:16 (5k) PR.

In other words, the Broncos should be very excited about the rest of this season. If Marghini and Kieser return, then this team could put themselves on the national stage.

6. Texas Tech Red Raiders (236 points)

This was a surprisingly great run from the Texas Tech women. Yes, we knew how good Juliet Cherubet (2nd) was and we were fairly confident that Anastasia Chepkorir (15th) was going to be a top-25 talent (although her performance was on the better end of expectations).

However, the more encouraging part of Texas Tech's race was seeing freshman Sheilah Bii, a new addition from Kenya, secure a promising 37th place finish. That third scoring position elevated the Red Raiders to a better-than-expected result. Of course, with their final two scorers placed 85th and 114th, the ceiling of this time admittedly feels limited to how well their backend performs.

7. Adams State Grizzlies (243 points)

I'll admit, I'm not entirely sure how to gauge this result for the Adams State women given that there was only one other Division Two team in this field (Grand Valley State in 14th place). The Grizzlies were a bit more spread out than I thought they would be, but at the same time, they didn't seem to have any glaring weaknesses, either.

Ava O'Connor (18th) is flat-out awesome and is every bit of the top-10 runner (in D2) that we thought she could be. Elena Carey (45th) had a nice race and for a D2 runner, you could probably argue that she produced a low-stick result. Maggie McCleskey (57th) and Precious Robinson (64th) also had strong outings, although I did think that they could have placed a little bit higher.

Fiona Hawkins (77th) validated her promising early-season result by emerging as the final scorer for Adams State. And while she didn't necessarily appear to look like a low-stick, she still did an admirable job of ensuring that the Grizzlies' team score didn't get out of hand.

We didn't see Vienna Lahner or Tristian Spence compete on Friday which is important to note. Those two women have the potential to be (roughly) as good as O'Connor, theoretically altering entire complexion of this team.

8. Wyoming Cowgirls (261 points)

I love that Kylie Simshauser (19th) has emerged as a legitimate low-stick for her team. Not only that, but her teammates put together a fairly cohesive scoring group.

Abigail Whitman (48th), Eowyn Dalbec (56th), Madelyn Blazo (70th) and Hailey Uhre (87th) weren't going to alter this race in any significant way, but that was a nice string of respectable results. The Cowgirls fielded what seemed to be a complete scoring contingent void of any major gaps.

I don't know what their ceiling is, but their floor seems to be fairly high.

9. Michigan State Spartans (300 points)

I have to admit, I was a bit underwhelmed by Michigan State's performance.

Rachel Forysth, the superstar freshman, had a nice outing, earning a 31st place finish to act as the Spartans' lead scorer. However, a handful of veterans on this team such as Eleanor Kendell (69th) and Kaitlyn Hynes (92nd) weren't quite as strong as I had hoped they'd be.

We also didn't see low-stick Makenna Veen, 15th place BIG 10 XC Championship finisher Emily Bardwell or 9:48 steeplechaser, Katelyn Stewart-Barnett race on Friday. That's important to note as all three of those women could have been scorers. In fact, the former and latter names could have been the team's top-two runners in this race!

Admittedly, even if Veen and Stewart-Barnett had run, the Spartans still would have had a tough time cracking the top-five. At the same time, it would be wrong to hit the panic button. Both Kendell and Hynes can be better in the future and a fully-stacked version of this lineup will likely run better at their next meet.

10. Oklahoma Sooners (356 points)

In our meet preview, I said that, "...it feels like Oklahoma still has a long ways to go if they want to be a top-10 team in this field."

And, as it turns out, it didn't take long at all.

The Sooners cracked the top-10 of the team standings on Friday thanks to Leah Jeruto making a huge statement with her potent 3rd place result. That low-stick effort was complemented by decent-ish efforts from Gabi Barrera (68th) and Megan Johnson (73rd).

No other woman in this lineup cracked the top-110, but for what Oklahoma was trying to accomplish as a team, that didn't seem to matter too much.