CLEVELAND, OH – The Oberlin men and DePauw women have been tabbed as the favorites to win their respective 2024 North Coast Athletic Conference cross country titles, based on pre-championship balloting by league coaches.
The 2024 NCAC Cross Country Championships will be held this Sunday, November 3, at LaVern Gibson Championship Course in Terre Haute, Indiana. The women’s 6,000-meter race will begin at 11:00 a.m., followed by the men’s 8,000-meter race at 12:15 p.m. DePauw is serving as the host for the championships.
The Oberlin Yeomen, who won the 2022 NCAC men’s cross country title, received four first-place votes and totaled 72 points to narrowly edge out the Wittenberg Tigers, who were voted second with four first-place votes and 71 points. DePauw was tabbed third with 66 points, while Wabash took fourth with 53 points and the final first-place vote. Kenyon ranked fifth with 48 points and was followed by Wooster (41), Denison (27), Ohio Wesleyan (18), and Hiram (9) to round out the nine-team field.
The DePauw women, who are searching for their first NCAC title since joining the league in 2011, earned six first-place votes and 62 points. The Ohio Wesleyan Battling Bishops, who also enter the meet on the hunt for their first women’s title, secured second after compiling the final two first-place votes and 57 points overall. Wittenberg, the two-time defending conference champions, totaled 49 points to rank third in the league poll. Oberlin (35) was tabbed fourth, followed by Denison (31) in fifth, Kenyon (25) in sixth, Wooster (18) in seventh and Hiram (8) in eighth.
Seven of the top-10 men from 2023 return for this season's conference championship race. Wittenberg senior
Conor Kolka (Dexter, MI/Dexter), the 2023 NCAC Runner of the Year, returns after claiming his third-consecutive All-NCAC first-team honor a season ago. Kolka is joined by Wooster senior duo
Drew Robertson (Bébalem, Chad/Rift Valley Academy (Kenya)) and
Will Callender (Seattle, WA/Roosevelt), who finished second and third, respectively, last season. Robertson was a first-team honoree in 2023 while Callender earned first-team honors in 2023 and second-team honors in both 2022 and 2021. Denison junior
Noah Cyr (Baltimore, MD/The Park School) and Oberlin seniors
Walter Moak (Charlottesville, VA/Western Albemarle) and
Jonah Barber (Tucson, AZ/University High School) are the remaining 2023 first-team honorees that return. Cyr, who finished fifth the last two seasons, was named the 2022 NCAC Newcomer of the Year in his rookie campaign. In addition to earning All-NCAC first-team honors a season ago, Moak and Barber both earned second-team accolades in 2022. Wabash senior
Brayden Curnutt (Kokomo, IN/Western) rounds out the returning top-10 after he placed ninth in 2023, earning him second-team honors for the third-straight season.
On the women’s side, eight of the top-10 performers from last fall return for the 2024 conference championship. Wittenberg senior
Megan Keys (Dublin, OH/Dublin Jerome) and junior
Emma Hawk (Marion, OH/River Valley) return after placing third and sixth, respectively, in 2023. Hawk was elevated to the all-conference first team a season ago after claiming second-team laurels in 2022, while Keys made the jump to the top team in 2023 after earning third-team honors in 2022. DePauw returns four all-conference performers including 2023 first-team honorees, senior
Sophie Porter (Westfield, IN/Westfield) and the 2023 NCAC Newcomer of the Year, sophomore
Grace Thomas (Valparaiso, IN/Valparaiso) as well as second-team finishers, sophomore
Grace Flores (Boeme, TX/Boeme-Samuel V. Champion) and senior
Lily Monnett (Cloverdale, IN/Cloverdale). Porter, who claimed second-team all-conference nods in 2022 and 2021, will take the course after finishing fourth a season ago while Thomas claimed the final spot on the first-team list, placing seventh in 2023. Last season, Flores and Monnett completed the championship less than two seconds apart, earning eighth and ninth, respectively, while Monnett also captured second-team accolades in 2022. Wooster senior
Dylan Kretchmar (Granville, OH/Granville) looks to improve on her fifth-place finish from last year, while Ohio Wesleyan sophomore
Zoe Ward (Columbus, OH/Worthington Christian), the 10th place finisher in 2023, hopes to help propel the Battling Bishops to the top of the final standings.
2024 NCAC Cross Country Pre-Championship Coaches Polls
(first-place votes in parentheses, followed by total point) |
| MEN |
WOMEN |
| 1. |
Oberlin (4) |
72 |
1. |
DePauw (6) |
62 |
| 2. |
Wittenberg (4) |
71 |
2. |
Ohio Wesleyan (2) |
57 |
| 3. |
DePauw |
66 |
3. |
Wittenberg |
49 |
| 4. |
Wabash (1) |
53 |
4. |
Oberlin |
35 |
| 5. |
Kenyon |
48 |
5. |
Denison |
31 |
| 6. |
Wooster |
41 |
6. |
Kenyon |
25 |
| 7. |
Denison |
27 |
7. |
Wooster |
18 |
| 8. |
Ohio Wesleyan |
18 |
8. |
Hiram |
8 |
| 9. |
Hiram |
9 |
|
|
|