NCAA Division I men's cross country championships

NCAA Division I men's cross country championships

Association	NCAA
Sport	Cross country
Founded	1938;87 years ago (1938)
Division	Division I
No. of teams	32 (262 individuals)
Country	United States
Most recent champion	Oklahoma State (6th)
Most titles	Arkansas (11)

The NCAA Division I men's cross country championships (formerly the NCAA University Division cross country championships) are contested at an annual meet hosted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association to determine the individual and team national champions of men's collegiate cross country running among its Division I members in the United States. It has been held every fall (typically in November) since the NCAA split into its current three-division format in 1973. ^[1]

Teams and individual runners qualify for the championship at regional competitions approximately a week before the national championships.

Arkansas has been the most successful program, with eleven national titles.

Oklahoma State is the defending team national champion, winning their sixth title in 2025.

History

Each autumn since 1938, with the exception of 1943 and 2020, the National Collegiate Athletic Association has hosted men's cross country championships. Since 1958, the NCAA has had multiple division championships. Since 1973, Divisions I, II and III have all had their own national championships.

The field for the Division I national championship race has ranged in size from a low of 6 teams in 1938, to a high of 39 teams in 1970. From 1982 to 1997, the field was fixed at 22 teams. From 1998 to 2024, the field was increased to 31 teams, and then starting in 2025, a total of 32 teams now compete annually for the championship. The 32-team field will increase the total male and female competitors from 255 to 262. The reason for this change is an increase in collegiate programs across the country in recent years, and a belief that the increased teams will improve competition while still being comfortably accommodated on the cross-country course.

The race distance from 1938 to 1964 was 4 miles (6.4 km). From 1965 to 1975, the race distance was 6 miles (9.7 km). Since 1976, the race distance has been 10,000 meters (6.2 mi).

Wisconsin and Syracuse are the only two teams East of the Mississippi River that have won in the 21st Century.

Qualifying

Teams compete in one of nine regional championships to qualify, where the top two teams automatically advance. Fourteen additional teams will be selected for a 32 team field. 28 individuals will be selected to participate in each championship through an automatic qualifier. The first four regional finishers not from automatic qualifying teams also secure an auto-bid to the championship round.

Results

• Prior to 1958, only a single national championship was held between all members of the NCAA; Division II started in 1958 and Division III in 1973.

NCAA Men's Division I Cross Country Championship
Year	Host City (Host Team)		Team Championship					Individual Championship
			Winner	Points	Runner-up	Points		Winner (Team)	Time
1938 Details	East Lansing, MI (Michigan State)		Indiana	51	Notre Dame	61		Greg Rice (Notre Dame)	20:12.9
1939 Details			Michigan State	54	Wisconsin	57		Walter Mehl (Wisconsin)	20:30.9
1940 Details			Indiana	65	Eastern Michigan	68		Gil Dodds (Ashland)	20:30.2
1941 Details			Rhode Island	83	Penn State	110		Fred Wilt (Indiana)	20:32.1
1942 Details			Indiana Penn State	57	Rhode Island	79		Oliver Hunter (Notre Dame)	20:18.0
1943	Not Held due to World War II
1944 Details	East Lansing, MI (Michigan State)		Drake	25	Notre Dame	64		Fred Feiler (Drake)	21:04.2
1945 Details			Drake	50	Notre Dame	65		Fred Feiler (Drake)	21:14.2
1946 Details			Drake	42	NYU	98		Quentin Brelsford (Ohio Wesleyan)	20:22.9
1947 Details			Penn State	60	Syracuse	72		Jack Milne (North Carolina)	20:41.1
1948 Details			Michigan State	41	Wisconsin	69		Robert Black (Rhode Island)	19:52.3
1949 Details			Michigan State	59	Syracuse	81		Robert Black (Rhode Island)	20:25.7
1950 Details			Penn State	53	Michigan State	55		Herb Semper (Kansas)	20:31.7
1951 Details			Syracuse	80	Kansas	118		Herb Semper (Kansas)	20:09.5
1952 Details			Michigan State	65	Indiana	68		Charles Capozzoli (Georgetown)	19:36.7
1953 Details			Kansas	70	Indiana	82		Wes Santee (Kansas)	19:43.5
1954 Details			Oklahoma State	61	Syracuse	118		Allen Frame (Kansas)	19:54.2
1955 Details			Michigan State	46	Kansas	68		Charles Jones (Iowa)	19:57.4
1956 Details			Michigan State	28	Kansas	88		Walter McNew (Texas)	19:55.7
1957 Details			Notre Dame	121	Michigan State	127		Max Truex (USC)	19:12.3†
1958 Details			Michigan State	79	Western Michigan	104		Crawford Kennedy (Michigan State)	20:07.1
1959 Details			Michigan State	44	Houston	120		Al Lawrence (Houston)	20:35.7
1960 Details			Houston	54	Michigan State	80		Al Lawrence (Houston)	19:28.2
1961 Details			Oregon State	68	San Jose State	82		Dale Story (Oregon State)	19:46.6
1962 Details			San Jose State	58	Villanova	69		Tom O'Hara (Loyola–Chicago)	19:20.3
1963 Details			San Jose State	53	Oregon	68		Victor Zwolak (Villanova)	19:35.0
1964 Details			Western Michigan	86	Oregon	116		Elmore Banton (Ohio)	20:07.5
The race distance changes from 4 miles to 6 miles
1965 Details	Lawrence, KS (Kansas)		Western Michigan	81	Northwestern	114		John Lawson (Kansas)	29:24.0
1966 Details			Villanova	79	Kansas State	155		Gerry Lindgren (Washington State)	29:01.4
1967 Details	Laramie, WY (Wyoming)		Villanova	91	Air Force	96		Gerry Lindgren (Washington State)	30:45.6
1968 Details	Bronx, NY (Manhattan)		Villanova	78	Stanford	100		Michael Ryan (Air Force)	29:16.8
1969 Details			UTEP	74	Villanova	88		Gerry Lindgren (Washington State)	28:59.2
1970 Details	Williamsburg, VA (William & Mary)		Villanova	85	Oregon	86		Steve Prefontaine (Oregon)	28:00.2†
1971 Details	Knoxville, TN (Tennessee)		Oregon	83	Washington State	122		Steve Prefontaine (Oregon)	29:14.0
1972 Details	Houston, TX (Houston)		Tennessee	134	East Tennessee State	148		Neil Cusack (East Tennessee State)	28:23.0
1973 Details	Pullman, WA (Washington State)		Oregon	89	UTEP	157		Steve Prefontaine (Oregon)	28:14.8
1974 Details	Bloomington, IN (Indiana)		Oregon	77	Western Kentucky	110		Nick Rose (Western Kentucky)	29:22.00
1975 Details	State College, PA (Penn State)		UTEP	88	Oregon	92		Craig Virgin (Illinois)	28:23.3
*The race distance changes from 6 miles to 10 kilometers
1976 Details	Denton, TX (North Texas)		UTEP	62	Oregon	117		Henry Rono (Washington State)	28:06.6†
1977 Details	Pullman, WA (Washington State)		Oregon	100	UTEP	105		Henry Rono (Washington State)	28:33.5
1978 Details	Madison, WI (Wisconsin)		UTEP	56	Oregon	72		Alberto Salazar (Oregon)	29:29.7
1979 Details	Bethlehem, PA (Lehigh)		UTEP	86	Oregon	93		Henry Rono (Washington State)	28:19.6
1980 Details	Wichita, KS (Wichita State)		UTEP	58	Arkansas	152		Suleiman Nyambui (UTEP)	29:04.0
1981 Details	Wichita, KS (Wichita State)		UTEP	17	Providence	109		Matthews Motshwarateu (UTEP)	28:45.6
1982 Details	Bloomington, IN (Indiana)		Wisconsin	59	Providence	138		Mark Scrutton (Colorado)	30:12.6
1983 Details	Bethlehem, PA (Lehigh)		(Vacated)	108	Wisconsin	164		Zakarie Barie (UTEP)	29:20.0
1984 Details	State College, PA (Penn State)		Arkansas	101	Arizona	111		Ed Eyestone (BYU)	29:28.8
1985 Details	Milwaukee, WI (Marquette)		Wisconsin	67	Arkansas	104		Tim Hacker (Wisconsin)	29:17.88
1986 Details	Tucson, AZ (Arizona)		Arkansas	69	Dartmouth	141		Aaron Ramirez (Arizona)	30:27.53
1987 Details	Charlottesville, VA (Virginia)		Arkansas	87	Dartmouth	119		Joe Falcon (Arkansas)	29:14.97
1988 Details	Ames, IA (Iowa State)		Wisconsin	105	Northern Arizona	160		Bob Kennedy (Indiana)	29:20.00
1989 Details	Annapolis, MD (Navy)		Iowa State	54	Oregon	72		John Nuttall (Iowa State)	29:30.55
1990 Details	Knoxville, TN (Tennessee)		Arkansas	68	Iowa State	96		Jonah Koech (Iowa State)	29:05
1991 Details	Tucson, AZ (Arizona)		Arkansas	52	Wisconsin	148		Sean Dollman (Western Kentucky)	30:17.1
1992 Details	Bloomington, IN (Indiana)		Arkansas	46	Wisconsin	87		Bob Kennedy (Indiana)	30:15.3
1993 Details	Bethlehem, PA (Lehigh)		Arkansas	31	BYU	153		Josephat Kapkory (Washington State)	29:32.4
1994 Details	Fayetteville, AR (Arkansas)		Iowa State	65	Colorado	88		Martin Keino (Arizona)	30:08.7
1995 Details	Ames, IA (Iowa State)		Arkansas	100	Northern Arizona	142		Godfrey Siamusiye (Arkansas)	30:09
1996 Details	Tucson, AZ (Arizona)		Stanford	46	Arkansas	74		Godfrey Siamusiye (Arkansas)	29:49
1997 Details	Greenville, SC (Furman)		Stanford	53	Arkansas	56		Mebrahtom Keflezighi (UCLA)	28:54
1998 Details	Lawrence, KS (Kansas)		Arkansas	97	Stanford	114		Adam Goucher (Colorado)	29:26.9
1999 Details	Bloomington, IN (Indiana)		Arkansas	58	Wisconsin	185		David Kimani (South Alabama)	30:06.6
2000 Details	Ames, IA (Iowa State)		Arkansas	83	Colorado	94		Keith Kelly (Providence)	30:14.5
2001 Details	Greenville, SC (Furman)		Colorado	90	Stanford	91		Boaz Cheboiywo (Eastern Michigan)	28:47
2002 Details	Terre Haute, IN (Indiana State)		Stanford	47	Wisconsin	107		Jorge Torres (Colorado)	29:04.7
2003 Details	Cedar Falls, IA (Northern Iowa)		Stanford	24	Wisconsin	147		Dathan Ritzenhein (Colorado)	29:14.1
2004 Details	Terre Haute, IN (Indiana State)		Colorado	90	Wisconsin	94		Simon Bairu (Wisconsin)	30:37.7
2005 Details			Wisconsin	37	Arkansas	105		Simon Bairu (Wisconsin)	29:15.9
2006 Details			Colorado	94	Wisconsin	142		Josh Rohatinsky (BYU)	30:44.9
2007 Details			Oregon	85	Iona	113		Josh McDougal (Liberty)	29:22.4
2008 Details			Oregon	93	Iona	147		Galen Rupp (Oregon)	29:03.2
2009 Details			Oklahoma State	127	Oregon	143		Sam Chelanga (Liberty)	28:41.3
2010 Details			Oklahoma State	73	Florida State	193		Sam Chelanga (Liberty)	29:22.2
2011 Details			Wisconsin	97	Oklahoma State	139		Lawi Lalang (Arizona)	28:44.1
2012 Details	Louisville, KY (Louisville)		Oklahoma State	72	Wisconsin	135		Kennedy Kithuka (Texas Tech)	28:31.3
2013 Details	Terre Haute, IN (Indiana State)		Colorado	149	Northern Arizona	169		Edward Cheserek (Oregon)	29:41.1
2014 Details			Colorado	65	Stanford	98		Edward Cheserek (Oregon)	30:19.4
2015 Details	Louisville, KY (Louisville)		Syracuse	82	Colorado	91		Edward Cheserek (Oregon)	28:45.8
2016 Details	Terre Haute, IN (Indiana State)		Northern Arizona	125	Stanford	158		Patrick Tiernan (Villanova)	29:22.0
2017 Details	Louisville, KY (Louisville)		Northern Arizona	74	Portland	127		Justyn Knight (Syracuse)	29:00.2
2018 Details	Madison, WI (Wisconsin)		Northern Arizona	83	BYU	116		Morgan McDonald (Wisconsin)	29:08.3
2019 Details	Terre Haute, IN (Indiana State)		BYU	109	Northern Arizona	163		Edwin Kurgat (Iowa State)	30:32.7
2020 Details	Stillwater, OK (Oklahoma State)		Northern Arizona	60	Notre Dame	87		Conner Mantz (BYU)	29:26.1
2021 Details	Tallahassee, FL (Florida State)		Northern Arizona	92	Iowa State	137		Conner Mantz (BYU)	28:33.1
2022 Details	Stillwater, OK (Oklahoma State)		Northern Arizona	83	Oklahoma State	83		Charles Hicks (Stanford)	28:43.6
2023 Details	Charlottesville, VA (Virginia)		Oklahoma State	49	Northern Arizona	71		Graham Blanks [2] (Harvard)	28:37.7
2024 Details	Madison, WI (Wisconsin)		BYU	124	Iowa State	137		Graham Blanks (Harvard)	28:37.2
2025 Details	Columbia, MO (Missouri)		Oklahoma State	57	New Mexico	82		Habtom Samuel (New Mexico)	28:33.9
2026 Details	Terre Haute, IN (Indiana State)
2027 Details	Stillwater, OK (Oklahoma State)

• A time highlighted in ██ indicates an NCAA championship record time for that distance at the time.
• A † indicates the all-time NCAA championship record for that distance.
• UTEP's 1983 championship was vacated by the NCAA Committee on Infractions.

Champions

Team titles List updated through the 2025 Championships Team # Winning years Arkansas 11 1984, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000 Michigan State 8 1939, 1948, 1949, 1952, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1959 UTEP 7 1969, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981 Northern Arizona 6 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022 Oklahoma State 1954, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2023, 2025 Oregon 1971, 1973, 1974, 1977, 2007, 2008 Colorado 5 2001, 2004, 2006, 2013, 2014 Wisconsin 1982, 1985, 1988, 2005, 2011 Stanford 4 1996, 1997, 2002, 2003 Villanova 1966, 1967, 1968, 1970 Drake 3 1944, 1945, 1946 Indiana 1938, 1940, 1942 Penn State 1942, 1947, 1950 BYU 2 2019, 2024 Iowa State 1989, 1994 San Jose State 1962, 1963 Syracuse 1951, 2015 Western Michigan 1964, 1965 Tennessee 1 1972 Oregon State 1961 Houston 1960 Notre Dame 1957 Kansas 1953 Rhode Island 1941

Individual titles List updated through the 2025 Championships. Team # Oregon 8 Washington State 7 Kansas 5 Wisconsin Colorado 4 BYU Arizona 3 Arkansas Indiana Iowa State Liberty UTEP Drake 2 Harvard Houston Notre Dame Rhode Island Villanova Western Kentucky

Appearances

• List updated through the 2019 Championships.

Most team appearances (top 15)

Rank	Team	Appearances
1	Wisconsin	57
2	Notre Dame	51
3	Arkansas Colorado	49
4	Michigan State	45
5	Oregon	44
6	Providence	42
7	Penn State	41
8	Indiana	39
9	Georgetown Texas	37
10	BYU	36
11	Michigan Villanova	34
12	Oklahoma State Tennessee	32
13	NC State	31
14	Kansas Northern Arizona	29
15	Iowa State Miami (OH) Stanford	28

Records

• Best Team Score: 17
  • UTEP (1981; Matthews Motshwarateu–1, Michael Musyoki–2, Gabriel Kaman–3, Suleiman Nyambui–5, Gidamis Shahanga–6)
• Most Individual Titles: 3 (tie)
  • Gerry Lindgren, Washington State (1966, 1967, and 1969)
  • Steve Prefontaine, Oregon (1970, 1971, and 1973)
  • Henry Rono, Washington State (1976, 1977, and 1979)
  • Edward Cheserek, Oregon (2013, 2014, and 2015)
• Best Individual Time, 4 miles: 19:21.3
  • Max Truex, USC (1957)
• Best Individual Time, 6 miles: 28:00.2
  • Steve Prefontaine, Oregon (1970)
• Best Individual Time, 10,000 meters: 28:06.6
  • Henry Rono, Washington State (1976)

See also

• NCAA Men's Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships
• NCAA Men's Division II Cross Country Championship (from 1958)
• NCAA Men's Division III Cross Country Championship (from 1973)
• NCAA Women's Division I Cross Country Championship (from 1981)
• NCAA Women's Division II Cross Country Championship (from 1981)
• NCAA Women's Division III Cross Country Championship (from 1981)
• Pre-NCAA Cross Country Champions
• NAIA Cross Country Championships (Men, Women)

References

1. "DIVISION I MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS RECORDS BOOK" (PDF). ncaa.org. NCAA. Retrieved 20 January 2025.
2. "Graham Blanks Takes NCAA Cross Country Title To Remain Undefeated This Season". 2023-11-18. Retrieved 2023-11-21.

External links

• NCAA Men's Cross Country