NAU Cross Country Preview: Can the Women Win First Title in Smith’s Final Season?

Should it come to pass this November, there would be a certain symmetry to the NAU women’s cross country team winning its first NCAA title as something of a glorious sendoff to departing coach Mike Smith and a hearty welcome to coach-in-waiting Jarred Cornfield.

After all, recall that in 2016 the NAU men’s team won its first national title in the latter days of the Eric Heins tenure, with Smith this time being the coach-in-waiting.

It a sequel that could happen. Many prognosticators, in fact, think that it will happen.

And, of course, it almost happened last November, when the Lumberjack women came within one point – one measly point! – of dethroning the dynastic North Carolina State women.

What about the NAU men? In something of a traditional role reversal with the Lumberjack women, the men must rebuild after losing four top runners, including the tag team of Nico Young and Drew Bosley.

First, the women’s team. While NAU lost two of its valuable scorers, Annika Reiss and Gracelyn Larkin, the bulk of last year’s team returns. Plus – and this is huge – NAU picked up two graduate transfers.

One is an NCAA All-American, Alyson Churchill from Florida State, who qualified for the Olympic Trials in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters last spring running unattached (redshirting at NAU). The other is Alexandra Carlson from Rutgers, who will add depth, having finished 10^th in last fall’s NCAA Mid-Atlantic Region Cross Country meet and boasts a 15:53 5K personal best.  

Churchill is certain to make a big impact, and Carlson will supplement a roster that includes Olympic Trials steeplechaser Karrie Baloga, Ali Upshaw, Nikita and Keira Moore, and two sophomores from Colorado who were highly-touted preps, Emma Stutzman and Ava Mitchell.  

Add the fact that NAU’s top runner nearly all of last season, senior Elise Stearns, is once again healthy and said to be running well, and that Maggi Congdon had a breakthrough spring in making the finals of the Olympic Trials 1,500 meters, and you can see why there is wide belief that the Lumberjacks are the team to beat in November in Madison, Wisc.

Not that they won’t face stiff competition. NC State lost its three top runners, including Katelyn Tuohy, but still figures to contend. In fact, the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coacches Assn.’s preseason poll had NAU and NC State tied for the top spot.

Florida may have lost Parker Valby but picked up three stars in the transfer portal, including Hilda Olemomoi (fourth in NCAAs last year for Alabama). Washington went the transfer route as well, picking up five quality runners, including Amina Maatoug, who placed ninth for Duke last year.

Still, on paper at least, it’s hard to top NAU in depth. One of Smith’s toughest jobs with the women this fall (other than keeping runners healthy – any coach’s concern) is picking which seven to line up for nationals.

The women’s team is not invulnerable, though. People will be watching how Stearns bounces back from a disappointing (for her) NCAA finals, when she finished 20^th. Can Stearns return to the form that saw her dominate early in the season and finish fourth at Nuttycombe behind only Valby, Tuohy and NC State Kelsey Chmiel? Last spring, Stearns was injured and missed all of outdoor track, but Smith said in July that Stearns was “back in Montana (her home) training.”

Another question: Can Congdon translate her 1,500 and 800 successes to the 6K distance in cross country? In cross country nationals last year, Congdon was NAU’s fifth runner at 60^th, three spots behind Upshaw. She started her outdoor track season late due to injury and peaked for late June’s Olympic Trials.

Upshaw, who transferred to NAU last year from New Mexico, is a model of consistency in cross country. She placed 12^th at Nuttycombe last October, third at the Big Sky Conference Championships, sixth at the NCAA Mountain Regionals.

Congdon and Upshaw would be top runners in many programs and figured to be solid scorers for NAU. Baloga, who transferred to NAU from Colorado after last year’s cross country season, has a huge upside. She has the endurance and athleticism, as shown by her steeplechase success, but she didn’t have quite as much success in cross country as a true freshman at Colorado, placing 82^nd at nationals.

As for the NAU men, not many are reserving a podium spot for NAU this year. In fact, the preseason poll by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Assn. picks BYU over NAU in the Mountain region, with BYU second overall in the nation and NAU fourth.

But you underestimate the NAU talent pool at your own risk. Sure, Young, Bosley, Aaron Las Heras and Brodey Hasty are gone. Sure, the only runners back from last year’s nationals are Santiago Prosser (21^st) and Corey Gorgas (62^nd).

But NAU picked up Florida State’s David Mullarkey, a fifth-year senior, via the transfer portal. Mullarkey finished 40^th last year to earn All-American honors.

The key for NAU will be to see which runners step up and improve in cross country as much as they did in track. Specifically, all eyes will be on Colin Sahlman and Cael Grotenhuis.

Sahlman, of course, made the NCAA finals in the 1,500 meters last spring and showed tremendous growth on the track. Will that translate to the longer cross country distance, 10K?   

Grotenhuis, a junior, is an unknown quantity in cross country. He has run just once in his NAU career, finishing ninth in last fall’s Big Sky Championship. But his standout outdoor track season is cause for optimism. He competed in both the 5,000 and 10,000 in the NCAA Nationals as a sophomore, finishing ninth in the 5,000 and 14^th in the 10,000 in a career-best 28:31:64.

Many other questions abound regarding the NAU men. Will Kang Nyoak, who finished fifth in the NCAA Mountain Regionals but did not run in nationals, continue to improve? Will Colin’s younger brother, Aaron Sahlman, live up to his NXN-winning potential as a prep? And will last year’s other redshirted freshman, Zack Munson and Ford Washburn, exhibit the promise they had in high school?

(Aside: NAU women and men has several top true freshmen, such as Clay Shively and Manny Perez for the men, and Kiki Vaughn, Payton Godsey and McKenzie McRae for the women. But Smith and staff often redshirt true freshmen.)

Whatever transpires, the 2024 cross country season is sure to be memorable – if only because it will mark the end of the Mike Smith era.