Written by Aimee Mackenzie, edits & additional commentary via Garrett Zatlin As the new year has begun, many current collegiate athletes have announced new NIL deals while recent alum have secured professional contracts. Here are the most recent group of NIL and professional signings to pop up on our radar... Hannah Gapes (NC State) NIL deal: Adidas Accolades: Three-Time First-Team All-American (XC & DMR) Two-Time NCAA XC Team Champion with NC State (2025 & 2023) Five-Time New Zealand National Champion (XC & 5k) 19th place representing New Zealand at 2026 World XC Championships NCAA #13 All-Time Indoor DMR (10:48.51) 10th place over 3000 meters at 2025 NCAA Indoor Championships 2025 ACC Indoor Champion DMR & Runner-up over 3000 meters 3rd place at 2024 ACC XC Championships 2024 Penn Relays 4x1500m Champion Brian Musau (Oklahoma State) NIL deal: Brooks Accolades: Eight-Time First-Team All-American 2025 FISU World University Games 10,000-meter Championship (28:42.39) 2025 NCAA Outdoor 5000-meter Champion in 13:20.59 2025 NCAA Indoor 5000-meter Champion 13:11.34 (Meet Record) Two-Time NCAA XC Team Champion (2025 & 2023): 4th place & 8th place individually 2024 NCAA Indoor DMR Champion Three-Time BIG 12 XC Champion (2025, 2024 & 2023) Two-Time BIG 12 Indoor Champion: 3000 meters & DMR Smilla Kolbe (North Florida) Sponsor: On Pro Group & Coaches: On Women's 800m Project // Louis Heyer Accolades: Two-Time First-Team All-American 2025 German National Champion 800m 5th place at 2025 FISU World University Games Represented Germany at 2025 World Outdoor Championships NCAA #6 All-Time Outdoor 800-meter (1:59.02) 17th place at 2024 NCAA Outdoor Championships Three-Time ASUN 800-meter Champion Florence Caron (Penn State) Sponsor: Hoka Pro Group & Coaches: Hoka Naz Elite // Jack Mullaney Accolades: Three-Time First-Team All-American 2025 Canadian National Champion 10,000 meters 3rd place at Canadian XC National Championships Three-Time Second-Team All-American (10k & 5k) 3rd place at 2025 Penn Relays 4x1500-meter relay Championship Two-Time 2024 BIG 10 Outdoor Champion: 10k & 5k NCAA #5 All-Time 4x1500-meter relay at 2024 Penn Relays (17:09.59) 57th place representing Canada at 2026 World XC Championships Two-Time Penn State Record Holder (Outdoor 5k & 4x1500-meter relay) Kelly-Ann Beckford (Houston) Sponsor: Under Armour Pro Group & Coaches: UA Mission Run Baltimore // Cory Leslie & Carrie Lane Accolades: Two-Time Jamaican National Champion (800 meters & 1500 meters) 2025 NACAC Championships 800-meter Bronze Medalist Represented Jamaica in mixed 4x400-meter relay for World Athletics Relays Championship Two-Time NCAA D2 Champion (800-meter & 4x400-meter relay) Two-Time NCAA D2 Runner-up (800-meter & 4x400-meter relay) Seven-Time First-Team All-American (D1 & D2) Three-Time 2024 BIG 12 Champion (800-meter & 4x400-meter relay) 2024 BIG 12 Outdoor Championship 800-meter Runner-up 2021 Drake Relays 4x400m relay Champion Wes Ferguson (Nebraska-Kearney) Sponsor: Under Armour Pro Group & Coaches: UA Mission Run Baltimore // Cory Leslie & Carrie Lane Accolades: Nine-Time First-Team All-American 3rd place in 800 meters at 2025 USA Indoor Championships Semi-Finalist in 800 meters at 2024 US Olympic Trials NCAA D2 #2 All-Time Indoor 800 meters (1:47.16) NCAA D2 #3 All-Time Outdoor 800 meters (1:45.46) Five-Time NCAA D2 Champion 800 meters (Indoors & Outdoors) 2023 NCAA D2 Indoor Championship 800-meter Runner-up (1:47.16) 2023 & 2024 Drake Relays 800-meter Champion 2022 Drake Relays 800-meter R unner-up Six-Time MIAA 800-meter Champion Kassidy Johnson (Rutgers / Kansas State) Sponsor: Under Armour Pro Group & Coaches: UA Mission Run Baltimore // Cory Leslie & Carrie Lane Accolades: Semi-Finalist in 800 meters at 2025 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships 5th place in 800 meters at 2022 NCAA Indoor Championships 2020 BIG 12 Indoor Champion 1000 meters (2:44.89) 2023 BIG Outdoor Championships 800-meter Runner-up Three-Time BIG 12 Indoor Championships Runner-up (1000 meters & DMR) Two-Time BIG 12 Championships 3rd place finishes (1500 meters & 800-meter) 2022 Drake Relays 800-meter Champion Alex Carlson (Northern Arizona / Rutgers) Sponsor: Adidas Pro Group & Coaches: Flagstaff based // Terrence Mahon & Jennifer Rhines Accolades: NCAA #3 All-Time DMR (if not run on an oversized track) (10:39.44) Three-Time Second-Team All-American (Mile & DMR) 2025 BIG Sky Indoor Champion 800 meters Three-Time BIG 10 Indoor Champion (Mile & 3000 meters) 2025 BIG Sky Outdoor 800-meter Runner-up 2024 NCAA XC Championship team scorer 2023 BIG 10 Indoor Championship Mile Runner-up Four-Time Rutgers School Record Holder (1000-meter, mile, 3000 meters, DMR) Carson Williams (Furman) Sponsor:  Under Armour Pro Group & Coaches:  UA Mission Run Dark Sky Distance // Stephen Haas Accolades: NCAA #10 All-Time 3000-meter steeplechase (8:19.71) 3rd place in 3000-meter steeplechase at 2025 NCAA Outdoor Championships Three-Time Second-Team All-American (Mile & 3000-meter steeplechase) Two-Ti me Southern Outdoor Champion 3000-meter steeplechase Six-Time Southern Indoor Champion (Mile & 3000 meters & DMR) Three-Time Southern runner-up (XC & 800-meter & 1500 meters) 42nd place at 2024 NCAA XC Championships

Production via Wyatt Barnsley On this week’s episode of The Stride Report Podcast, Ben is back alongside Garrett as they break down a wave of recruiting news, headlined by Karrie Baloga joining BYU, plus key additions at Clemson, New Mexico, and Tennessee. Then it’s time for one of the most anticipated episodes of the year: the annual NCAA qualifying over/unders! The guys go event by event — from the 800m to the mile, 3k, 5k, and DMR — debating where the national qualifying lines will land on both the men’s and women’s sides. Plenty of projections, disagreements, and bold takes as the indoor track season picture starts to come into focus. Be sure to listen, subscribe and review! (3:21) Karrie Baloga Joins BYU (9:33) Nancy Cherop Signs With Clemson (13:51) Pasanjo Kitonga Joining New Mexico (18:00) Faith Chepchumba Joining Tennessee (23:34) Men’s 800m National Qualifying Line (27:59) Women’s 800m National Qualifying Line (30:00) Men’s Mile National Qualifying Lines (34:35) Women’s Mile National Qualifying Lines (38:23) Men’s 3k National Qualifying Lines (41:47) Women’s 3k National Qualifying Lines (44:56) Men’s 5k National Qualifying Lines (48:00) Women’s 5k National Qualifying Lines (50:33) Men’s DMR National Qualifying Lines (52:49) Women’s DMR National Qualifying Lines You can listen to that episode (and others) on our PODCASTS  page! You can also find the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Soundcloud. If you like it, be sure to leave us a rating  and a review ! Note: If you're having issues loading the episode on the site via mobile, try refreshing  the episode page. We will look into this issue for future episodes.

Scottish natives David John Condra and Niall Walker wore matching kilts and bright-yellow shirts on Saturday in Tallahassee. They continued their streak as fans of the world’s top cross country event. Two friends from Scotland, Niall Walker (left) and David John Condra, have been to almost every single World Cross Country Championship event since 1999 . Photo Credit via Cory Mull TALLAHASSEE, Florida — For David John Condra and Niall Walker, few things are more relaxing than a day at the park watching the globe’s very best runners zoom around an obstacle-laden course with eyes on fast times and hardware. In fact, for much of the World Cross Country Championships at Apalachee Regional Park on Saturday, the East Kilbride residents of Scotland stood against a rail inside a VIP tent, a golden ale in their hands, enjoying the scene and weather. “It certainly is the Sunshine State,” said Condra, who lives about 40 minutes south of Glasgow. “It’s ideal for us two coming from Scotland, where it’s at this moment, cold and wet.” The two long-time friends certainly brought a little bit of Scotland to Florida. They were wearing matching kilts and bright-yellow shirts. Condra wore his Scottish tweed cap backwards. Runners begin the mixed relay at the start of the World Cross Country Championships on Saturday in Florida. Photo Credit via Steven Saccio Both were also quite known to admirers of world cross country, including World Athletics president, Seb Coe. Condra, a local runner in Scotland who enjoys running 800 meters up to 10,000 meters, had been to the last 18 world cross country championships. Walker had been to roughly as many. The back of their shirts, in fact, highlighted it. “We just love the sport,” Condra said. “We love traveling.” “Have a good time,” Walker said, “meet people.” Traveling The World To Take In World XC From Belfast to Ostend, Lausanne to Brussels, and Bydgoszcz to Guiyang, the pair had traversed the globe and seen East African dominance take flight. There was Aarhus, Bathurst, Belgrade and now Tallahassee . Wherever the race took them, they went. And notably, the pair highlighted a diverse demographic of fans on Saturday, from teenagers and children to adults and parents from the U.S. and other countries. Visit Tallahassee reasonably estimated the full crowd to be somewhere in the range of "10,000 people," which would be an unofficial record for Apalachee Regional Park. “It basically started in 1999 when we were all after the big national cross-country race in Scotland,” Condra said. “We went to the pub to have a few drinks and our friend — who has since passed away — said, ‘Why don’t you go to Belfast?’ The world cross country championships were in Belfast in 1999.” That marked the starting point for a journey that has taken them to five continents (the only two missing right now are South American and Antarctica). In 1999, Kenya’s Paul Tergat, who is now 56, won the world title. In 2001 and 2002, in Ostend, Belgium and Dublin, Ireland, they applauded when British runner Paula Radcliffe won back-to-back titles on the women’s side. A Flip To The Script Then the story took a unique spin. In 2007, about eight years into their hobby and when the event was held in Mombasa, Kenya, they had trouble getting in. They didn’t have the right badges. That’s when Coe stepped in. “He helped us along,” Condra said.   Eight years later, Coe came to the rescue again in Guiyang, China, and then again in 2024 in Belgrade, Serbia. They sometimes even bump into Coe at team hotels. Now the pair say they’re on a first-name basis with Coe, a British middle-distance legend who was knighted in 2006 by Queen Elizabeth after landing the Olympics for the UK in London in 2012. Some refer to him as “Lord Coe.” Fans take in the sights and sounds of the World Cross Country Championships at Apalachee Regional Park on Saturday in Florida. Photo Credit: Steven Sacco And as to why they love the sport so much? To spend so many thousands of dollars traveling the globe for a small slice of sports entertainment? It’s not for the faint of heart. It’s also not a routine hobby. “We’ve been asked this question quite often,” Contra said, “and it’s easy to say because if you go to the Olympics, if you go to big track meets, you’ll get the atmosphere. We’ve traveled around the globe to all these cross country courses, and we’ve found you can get so close to all the action.” “It’s getting so close and being so hands on with people and meeting them. And that’s just the difference.”