Arkansas men 4th, women 9th at NCAA Championships

EARLYSVILLE, Va — Scoring 211 points in the NCAA Cross Country Championships earned No. 7 Arkansas a fourth-place podium finish on Saturday at Panorama Farms along with a pair of All-America honors for Patrick Kiprop and Kirami Yego.

No. 2 Oklahoma State ended the recent streak of team titles for No. 1 Northern Arizona as the Cowboys produced 49 points to the total of 71 for the Lumberjacks. No.3 BYU placed third with 196 points. It’s the first team title for OSU since 2012.

This is the third fourth-place finish in the past four years by Arkansas, who placed fourth twice in 2020 and 2021, as well as the fifth time to place among the top five since 2016.

The Razorbacks scoring tally went 7-1336-72-83 among its five finishers, while two members of the team didn’t finish the 10k race.

Finishing behind Arkansas was No. 17 Iowa State (230), No. 4 North Carolina (249), No. 5 Texas (262), No. 9 Stanford (291), No. 15 Syracuse (299), and No. 5 Wisconsin (330). Tennessee, runner-up to Arkansas in the Southeastern Conference Championships, finished 26th (556).

Harvard’s Graham Blanks claimed the individual title in a time of 28:37.7, finishing three seconds ahead of New Mexico freshman Habtom Samuel (28:40.7). Stanford’s Ky Robinson placed third in 28:55.7.

Kiprop and Yego repeated All-America performances from a year ago while improving their respective places among a field of 236 finishers. Kiprop clocked 29:07.7 to place seventh while Yego ran 29:17.2 for 13th place.

The finish by Kiprop was the best by a Razorback in the NCAA Championships since Stanley Kebenei placed sixth in consecutive years (2013, 2014). Yego produced the best secondary finish by an Arkansas runner since Peter Kosgei placeed 12th behind Josphat Boit (7th) in 2005.

With the top 40 finishers in the race earning All-America status, Ben Shearer missed the accolade by two places as he finished 42nd in 29:53.8, moving ahead 10 places with a 2:46.6 final 1k to the finish line. Florida State’s David Mullarkey claimed 40th in 29:50.8.

Myles Richter, who has been on a pair of Razorback fourth-place teams at the NCAA Championships, completed the course in 30:27.2 to place 87th overall, and 72nd in team scoring.

Jacob McLeod, the lone entrant in the m e n ’ s field who competed in the 2018 NCAA Championships while at Belmont, placed 100th overall and 83rd in team scoring. This marked the third fourth-place team finish for McLeod with the Razorbacks.

The Arkansas women placed ninth in the NCAA Cross Country Championships during the 6,000-meter race.

Arkansas registered its 17th top 10 finish in program history. Recently the Razorbacks finished eighth in 2021 and had consecutive years among the top 10 in 2014 (fifth) and 2015 (ninth).

No. 1 North Carolina State claimed its third consecutive national team championships, totaling 123 points. Runner-up with 124 points was No.1 Northern Arizona while No. 3 OSU placed third with 156 points. In fourth with 237 points was No. 7 Notre Dame.

The rest of the top 10 teams included four SEC programs for the first time in conference history. No. 8 Florida placed fifth and were followed by No. 11 Tennessee (294), No. 20 Alabama (314), No. 10 Washington (323), No. 12 Arkansas (329), and No. 9 Oregon (335).

A total of five SEC schools were part of the women’s field, eclipsing the previous best of four schools in 2016. Three SEC programs placed among the top 12 in 2020.

Parker Valby of Florida claimed the individual title in 18:55.2 over Alabama’s Doris Lemngole (19:05.7) while Notre Dame’s Olivia Markezich (19:10.0) finished third.

Thorvaldson, a Razorback sophomore, led the Arkansas crew in placing 11th overall in 19:33.8, to earn an All-America honor. It’s the best Razorback individual finish since the 2019 national championship squad when Katie Izzo and Taylor Werner placed second and third.

Racing with the lead pack that followed Valby, Thorvaldson was among the top three through the first half of the race with 1k splits of 2:55, 3:18.1, and 3;20.2. Over the latter half of the race, splits for Thorvaldson went 3:14.7, 3:29.3, and 3:16.8.

Laura Taborda, the lone senior competing with Arkansas cross country this season, placed 83rd overall and 63rd among team scoring. She posted a time of 20:33.8.

Mia Cochran, a sophomore, clocked 20:39.6 to place 73rd overall and 54th in team scoring. Freshman Paityn Noe posted a time of 20:41 in placing 90th overall and 69th in team scoring. The fifth finisher for Arkansas was Mary Ellen Eudaly, who covered the course in 20:56.1, placing 139th and 109th.

Also racing for the Razorbacks were Heidi Nielson and Nyah Hernandez, who ran 21:51.7 and 21:56.