In one of the most commanding wins of the season, Kate Avery battled her way to her first NCAA title, improving over her third-place finish from 2013 and beating second-place finisher Sarah Disanza by eight seconds. The Iona Gael’s performance was the first time a female student-athlete has won a national championship in the school’s history. The Newton Aycliffe, England native also led her team to a ninth-place finish in the Gaels’ second ever team appearance at the meet.

The pace started off quickly with the leaders entering the mile at 5:13, but by the 2k mark the pace had slowed. Avery didn’t want to leave anything to chance so she decided to push the pace while in the lead, and she never looked back.

“We got to 2k really fast and the girls kind of eased off and I was like, I’m not doing that because that leaves it up to questions. I wanted it to be a true hard race,” she said.

From that point on, Avery had control of the field. She put a 50-meter lead on the pack, entering the 5k mark in 16:03 and closing in to clock an NCAA title-winning time of 19:31.



Other FloRunner nominees:

Lincoln's pick: Luis Vargas
Luis Vargas of Elon placed 25th at the NCAA championships on Saturday in his only appearance at the meet, becoming the first Phoenix runner to earn All-American honors. The senior from Angier, N.C. is the first person in his family to go to college, and has a special connection with Milesplit's Jimmy Stevenson, who ran with Vargas at Elon.

Gordon's pick: Nate Jewkes
Nate Jewkes is my FloRunner of the week not because of his 15th place performance or the fact that he is a 7th year senior or the fact that he joined Cam Levins in Southern Utah team history. No. He is my FloRunner of the week for throwing up deuces mid-race! He knows how to set his priorities: 1) Family 2) Posing for Flotrack Photos 3) Running Fast.

Meg's pick: Madison Zimmerman and Kate Buckman 
Madison Zimmerman (Baylor) and Kate Buckman (Minnesota) probably would have never spoken if it weren't for the NCAA Championships. Zimmerman's teammate Anne Marie Dunlap collapsed before the finish line in Terre Haute. When Zimmerman approached, she picked up her teammate and used her strength to help guide Dunlap to the finish. Enter Buckman, the Minnesota Gopher who selflessly took Dunlap's open arm and threw it around her shoulder. Zimmerman and Buckman gave up their race to help Zimmerman finish hers.

Joe’s pick: Edward Cheserek
Edward Cheserek losing the West Regional proved to be little more than a ruse allowing you to believe for a week that his reign as NCAA Cross-Country champion was somehow vulnerable.

Not even kinda.

Employing a well-timed kick, King Ches pulled clear of the field with 2-K to go and covered the rest of the ground at LaVern Gibson uncontested for his second straight victory in 30:19.4, joining Steve Prefontaine (1970-71) as the only Oregon runners to win back-to-back NCAA cross-country titles.

James' pick: Maksim Korolev
My FloRunner of the week is none other than Maksim Korolev. This guy showed up, threw down, and led his team to a surprise 2nd place finish. When everyone (including me, honestly) doubted Stanford's ability to perform well at NCAA's, the lead Cardinal picked him and his team up by their boot straps after a sub par conference. After a huge regional win, the Harvard transfer nearly replicated last year's performance with a fourth-place finish.