GRAD TRANSFER: Aaron Las Heras to Northern Arizona

The most iconic men's distance program of this century, Northern Arizona, bolstered their 2023 cross country roster in a major way on Wednesday when Wake Forest graduate transfer Aaron Las Heras announced that he was heading to Flagstaff, Arizona for his final year of collegiate competition.

Las Heras, who was one of the main faces of a surging Wake Forest program, is expected to have one full year of eligibility across all three seasons of competition, per TFRRS.

The Barcelona, Spain native spent five years in Winston-Salem where he was arguably at his best on the cross country course. However, Las Heras also proved adept at toggling between various distances on the track.

That distance-first focus with sneaky-good range fits NAU’s identity and ethos perfectly.

Las Heras offers range, versatility and malleability, succeeding at every distance from the 1500 meters to the 10,000 meters. In fact, arguably his best day of racing came at the 2022 Raleigh Relays where he won the 10k in a personal best 28:13 and finished toward the front of the 1500 meter field with a 3:41 mark.

World Athletics also shows that the Spanish standout posted a 10,000 meter time of 28:04 in December of 2022 in Madrid. However, that performance has been labelled with an asterisk, indicating that his time is "not legal."

His other exploits include 7:55 (3k) and 13:38 (5k) personal bests. Curiously, Las Heras has yet to qualify for the NCAA Championships on the oval, despite holding the NCAA #9 mark over 10,000 meters last spring.

However, during his time with Wake Forest, Las Heras was more consistent on the grass, and it was the cross country course where he first made his mark.

Las Heras broke onto the NCAA scene with a very solid 61st place finish at the 2021 NCAA Winter XC Championships, emerging as Wake Forest's second scorer. He then finished 74th place at the following 2021 NCAA Fall XC Championships, again serving as the second Demon Deacon to cross the line while helping his team to a top-10 finish.

It would take until the fall of 2022 before Las Heras finally broke through for an All-American finish, finishing 26th at the NCAA XC Championships, this time serving as the third Demon Deacon across the line as his team finished in 5th place overall.

The collegiate veteran was also the bronze medalist at the 2022 ACC Cross Country Championships, further proving that his national meet performance was hardly a fluke.

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When looking back at his time with Wake Forest, it feels fair to suggest that Las Heras can fill a similar role at Northern Arizona. And while he is in Flagstaff, he’ll be expected to continue elevating his performances.

Assuming Nico Young and Drew Bosley both return this fall rather than turn pro, Las Heras will slot into the middle of the Lumberjacks’ scoring lineup alongside Brodey Hasty and Santiago Prosser, who both joined Las Heras in the top-30 at the 2022 NCAA XC Championships.

And even if Las Heras finishes as only a backend All-American come November, then he will still offer necessary scoring stability and a veteran presence.

That last part will be especially important with the departure of George Kusche, who was in a very similar position to Las Heras, an international athlete joining the Lumberjacks as a graduate student (by way of Nebraska) in the spring of 2021.

Kusche had star-level times and multiple national meet appearances when he moved to Flagstaff, and he would eventually leave with a pair of All-American performances. It’s certainly plausible that Las Heras could follow a similar trajectory, adding another All-American honor on the grass and finally reaching the national stage on the track.

Las Heras will likely be a 10,000 meter runner first and foremost. He will, after all, be training at high altitude with a dominant distance program. But it’s also easy to imagine him running an eye-popping altitude-converted mile in early 2024.

This transfer move prolongs, or more so strengthens, Northern Arizona's dynasty with a star-level piece who will be expected to immediately make a noticeable impact next fall, but whose performances won’t entirely make or break this program’s deep success.