With the NCAA Cross Country Championships being tomorrow, I decided to run through a few numbers that I found intriguing in relation to this year’s race in Louisville. 

 

Here’s an inside look at the 2015 National Championships, by the numbers:

 

0- Men to win three straight individual NCAA XC titles. Ed Cheserek would be the first. Pre, Rono, and Lindgren all have three non-consecutive titles. 

 

4- Athletes that are undefeated in 2015: Tulsa’s Marc Scott, Villanova’s Pat Tiernan, North Dakota State’s Erin Teschuk, and Temple’s Blanca Fernandez. None have raced Edward Cheserek or Allie Ostrander. 

 

5- Number of men’s teams to three peat in NCAA history. Colorado looks to become first since 2000 Arkansas Razorbacks. The Hogs did it twice in a 10-year span. 

 

58- Years since the Syracuse men last finished on the podium. They were 5th in 2014. This is their best shot, well, ever.

 

18- Sub-4 milers entered in men’s race (Cheserek, Rotich, Knight, McGorty, Hehir, Yorks, Fisher, Awad, Maton, Noelle, Tobin, Lederhouse, Bartlesmeyer, Bile, Oelstad, Joyce, Williamsz, Denault) I’m particularly interested to see how true milers Yorks, Noelle, and Williamsz fare in Louisville.  

 

6- Years in row that men’s winner has been from Kenya. That’s not ending for awhile. 

 

30- Years since a freshman woman won the individual title. Allie Ostrander could become the first since N.C. State’s Suzie Tuffey in 1985. Correction: Allie Ostrander will…

 

2- Times that one program has swept both men’s and women’s championships: 2003 Stanford, 2004 Colorado. Colorado has a shot, albeit slim, in 2015. 

 

30- Smallest 1-5 spread in seconds by a women’s NCAA champion since distance moved up to 6K in 2000. 2001 BYU ladies own the record, but New Mexico Lobos have a shot after 16-second spread at Wisconsin Invite.

 

24- Number of 2014 men’s XC All-Americans returning for 2015 race. And that’s obviously not counting Jonah Koech, Thomas Curtin, or Justyn Knight. SO DEEP. 

 

10- Number of 2014 women’s XC All-Americans returning for 2015 race. So. Many. Injuries. 

 

19- Nations represented in Louisville: U.S, Kenya, South Africa, England, Australia, Spain, Italy, France, Canada, Ireland, Portugal, Poland, Germany, Norway, Scotland, Estonia, Finland, Wales, and Hungary. For whatever reason, I was surprised to find Italy represented, but props to you, Illiass Aouani.