ALTHOUGH HIGH SCHOOL cross country unambiguously gets up and running in September, at the collegiate level it’s not so much until the month’s last weekend.
Throughout the autumn, before conference meets are reeled off, the at-large scoring system discourages any racing by teams’ big guns except in carefully strategized appearances at less than a handful of major invitationals. That’s a long excuse-making way of saying we have limited data to go on for predicting who’ll be hot come November 23, in Terre Haute, when Indiana State will host the 81st NCAA Cross Country Championships for men and 39th for women.
We do wonder if the sport is best served by the frequent decisions by power-program coaches to hold out their stars even from home meets, some of which in days of yore were major fixtures in the eyes of local fans? Formula rules over fans, especially in September in the current era.
Here are links to the 4 sections of our Div. I-based NCAA Cross Country Preview. Don’t be surprised by surprises when the Nationals go down; expect them.
| Men’s Teams | Women’s Teams |
| Men’s Individuals | Women’s Individuals |
Collegiate Cross Country Schedule
| Invitational Cross Country | |
| September | |
| 14 | Commodore Classic; Nashville, Tennessee |
| 20 | Battle In Beantown; Boston, Massachusetts |
| 21 | McNichols Invitational; Terre Haute, Indiana |
| October | |
| 04 | Piane Invitational; Notre Dame, Indiana |
| 05 | Chile Pepper Invitational; Fayetteville, Arkansas |
| Louisville Classic; Louisville, Kentucky | |
| 18 | Nuttycombe Invitational; Madison, Wisconsin |
| 19 | Pre-Nationals; Terre Haute, Indiana |
| Div. I Cross Country Conferences | |
| October | |
| 21 | SWAC; Jackson, Mississippi |
| November | |
| 01 | American Athletic; Memphis, Tennessee |
| ACC; Blacksburg, Virginia | |
| Heps; Bronx, New York | |
| Mountain West; Logan, Utah | |
| Pac-12; Corvallis, Oregon | |
| SEC; Lexington, Kentucky | |
| Southland; Conway, Arkansas | |
| West Coast; Van Nuys, California | |
| 02 | America East; Albany, New York |
| Atlantic 10; Leesburg, Virginia | |
| Atlantic Sun; Fort Myers, Florida | |
| Big 12; Waco, Texas | |
| Big East; Kenosha, Wisconsin | |
| Big Sky; Greeley, Colorado | |
| Big South; Buies Creek, North Carolina | |
| Big West; Riverside, California | |
| Colonial; New Market, Virginia | |
| Conference USA; Bowling Green, Kentucky | |
| Horizon League; Highland Heights, Kentucky | |
| Metro-Atlantic; West Long Branch, New Jersey | |
| Mid-American; DeKalb, Illinois | |
| Missouri Valley; Valparaiso, Indiana | |
| Ohio Valley; Edwardsville, Illinois | |
| Patriot League; Hamilton, New York | |
| Southern; Johnson City, Tennessee | |
| Summit League; Fargo, North Dakota | |
| Sun Belt; McDonough, Georgia | |
| WAC; Kansas City, Missouri | |
| 03 | Big 10; Columbus, Ohio |
| 23 | IC4A/ECAC; Bronx, New York |
| Cross Country Nationals | |
| November | |
| 02 | JUCO Div. III Championships; Westfield, Massachusetts |
| 09 | NCAA II Regionals (8 sites) |
| JUCO Championships; Albuquerque, New Mexico | |
| 15 | NCAA Div. I Regionals |
| Great Lakes—Madison, Wisconsin | |
| Mid-Atlantic—Bethlehem, Pennsylvania | |
| Midwest—Stillwater, Oklahoma | |
| Mountain—Salt Lake City, Utah | |
| Northeast—Buffalo, New York | |
| Southeast—Earlysville, Virginia | |
| South Central—Fayetteville, Arkansas | |
| South—Tallahassee, Florida | |
| West—Colfax, Washington | |
| 16 | NCAA Div. III Regionals (8 sites) |
| 22 | NAIA Championships; Vancouver, Washington |
| 23 | NCAA Championships; Terre Haute, Indiana |
| NCAA II Championships; Sacramento, California | |
| NCAA III Championships; Louisville, Kentucky | |