Parker Valby of Florida backed up her 5000m national title on the track outdoors with a statement victory over Katelyn Tuohy of North Carolina State and the Northern Arizona women joined their male counterparts as team champions at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational.

Results

The women’s individual competition, featuring the top two finishers from last year’s national championships, was the most highly anticipated on what was a cold, wet day of racing. 

Like she did at last year’s NCAA Cross meet and in the 5K at NCAA Outdoors, Valby set a blisteringly aggressive early pace. But unlike at 2022 NCAA Cross, where Tuohy was able to confidently respond for the win, this time Valby proved too strong and was able to break Tuohy around the midway point before going on to win easily in 19:17.2, taking two seconds off the meet record of 19:19 set in 2015 by Allie Ostrander of Boise State.

Parker Valby wins the 2023 Women’s Nuttycombe Race!! 🐊🐊🐊#NCAAXC x @GatorsTF pic.twitter.com/zOs0USJa62

— NCAA Track & Field (@NCAATrackField) October 13, 2023

Tuohy finished second in 19:29.5 with teammate and fellow New York native Kelsey Chmiel third in 19:52.9 to lead the way for NC State, which entered the meet as the top-ranked team in the country but succumbed to No. 2 NAU as fifth-year senior Sam Bush was unable to finish and Amaris Tyynismaa, a junior transfer from Alabama, did not compete. Freshmen Leah Stephens (14^th in 20:12.7), Grace Hartman (26^th in 20:29.1) and Hannah Gapes (51^st in 20:44.0) rounded out the shorthanded Wolfpack’s Top 5.

But on this day, they were no match for NAU, which placed three runners -- Elise Stephens in fourth in 19:54.6, Gracelyn Larkin in eighth in 20:01.5 and Annika Reiss 10^th in 20:06.8 – in the Top 10 and followed with Aliandrea Upshaw 12^th in 20:08.7 and Keira Moore 18^th in 20:16.9 for an easy 52-95 victory over NC State.

🧹NUTTYCOMBE SWEEP🧹#RaiseTheFlag |#BigSkyXC pic.twitter.com/ckekMaNPL2

— NAU Track & Field/XC (@NAUTrackFieldXC) October 13, 2023

On the men’s side, it was Harvard senior Graham Blanks who stole the show against a field that boasted NAU’s Nico Young and Drew Bosley, the top returning finishers from last year’s NCAA Cross-Country Championships, as well as Stanford’s Ky Robinson, who pulled off the 5K/10K double at NCAA Outdoors in June, and New Mexico’s Habtom Samuel, who destroyed the field at the Roy Griak Invitational last month.

To no one’s surprise, Robinson found himself in the lead with 500 meters to go but to everyone’s surprise Blanks not only ran him down but gapped him, Young and Samuel by two seconds over the final 450 meters to win in 23:23.4, a performance that should put him squarely in the conversation of favorites for the upcoming NCAA Championships.

It was a blanket finish behind Blanks with Young crossing second in 23:26.1 and Samuel and Robinson right behind in 23:26.2 and Jackson Sharpe of Wisconsin fifth in 23:26.4 and Wake Forest true freshman Rocky Hansen sixth in 23:27.2.

As expected, no team was able to match NAU’s depth in the team race with Young followed by Bosley in eighth in 23:32.1, Aaron Las Heras in 12^th in 23:39.0, Theo Quax in 25^th in 23:55.3, and Santiago Prosser in 29^th in 23:57.6 giving the Lumberjacks an easy 76-162 victory over BYU.