MADISON, Wis. – Graduate Camren Todd finished in 25th place, earning All-American honors, and Utah State’s men’s cross country team finished 22nd at the 2024 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships on Saturday. Todd became the seventh cross country All-American and the first since the 2020 season.
“I am so proud of these guys,” said Artie Gulden, USU’s director of track & field and cross country. “To be a top-25 team in the NCAA is a special thing.”
The Aggie men, ranked No. 23 entering the race, took 22nd in the 10K team competition with 554 points, defeating No. 18 Princeton, No. 19 Eastern Kentucky, and No. 21 Harvard. Todd, running at nationals for the third time, led the Aggies with a time of 29:17.4, followed by graduate Spencer Nelson’s 133rd-place time of 30.06.7. Junior Logan Garnica was Utah State’s third scorer, finishing in 141st place with a time of 30:10.4. Freshman Joshua McKee finished in 170th place with a time of 30:27.0, and junior LJ Floyd rounded out the Aggie scoring with a 203rd-place finish, clocking in at 30:51.6.
The Aggie men, positioned next to Harvard and eventual individual champion Graham Blanks, got off to a difficult start, coming in at 31st place after the first kilometer. USU found its footing over the back half of the race, rising from 29th place to 22nd over the final five kilometers. Todd, who found himself in 179th place at the initial checkpoint, recovered well over the first half of the race, moving to 75th by the halfway point. From there, Todd finished the second half of his final cross country race with a flourish, rising a further 50 places, most among any of this year’s All-Americans, to clinch the best Aggie individual finish at nationals since Dillon Maggard’s sixth-place finish in 2017.
Todd joins Alisa Nicodemus (1992), Trever Ball (2005), Dillon Maggard (2016, 2017), Alyssa Snyder (2017) and Caleb Garnica (2020) in the exclusive club of Utah State cross country All-Americans.
“Camren ran an incredible race,” said Gulden. “He locked into a great rhythm and was able to move up throughout. There have been a lot of ups and downs in his cross country career and to finish as an All-American is very special.”
BYU, ranked No. 1 in both the men’s and women’s rankings, swept the team titles. Alabama’s Doris Lemngole won the women’s 6K individual title with a time of 19:21.0, and Harvard’s Graham Blanks won his second straight men’s 10K title with a time of 28:37.2.
“I hope years down the road, they will be telling their families and kids stories about today and this year,” said Gulden. “I will remember them and this season forever.”
For more information on the Utah State cross country programs, follow the Aggies on Twitter at @USUTF_XC, on Facebook at USUTrack and on Instagram at USUTF_XC.
2024 NCAA DIVISION I CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS | November 23, 2024 | Madison, Wisconsin
Women’s 6K Team Results
1. No. 1 BYU – 11, 23, 31, 33, 49, (62), (66) – 147
2. No. 4 West Virginia – 6, 13, 26, 52, 67, (188) – 164
3. No. 11 Providence – 9, 16, 19, 41, 98, (157), (162) – 183
4. No. 3 Northern Arizona – 17, 28, 45, 53, 63, (73), (75) – 206
5. No. 2 Oregon – 10, 20, 24, 77, 79, (97), (125) – 210
Women’s Top-Five Finishers: 1. Doris Lemngole (Alabama) – 19:21.0; 2. Pamela Kosgei (New Mexico) – 19:27.8; 3. Hilda Olemomoi (Florida) – 19:28.7; 4. Amy Bunnage (Stanford) – 19:31.1; 5. Grace Hartman (NC State) – 19:39.5.
Men’s 10K Team Results
1. No. 1 BYU – 6, 12, 28, 35, 43, (54), (69) – 124
2. No. 4 Iowa State – 10, 21, 31, 33, 42, (79), (80) – 137
3. No. 3 Arkansas – 4, 19, 20, 48, 111, (156), (192) – 202
4. No. 7 Wisconsin – 16, 39, 46, 51, 60, (72), (125) – 212
5. No. 6 Northern Arizona – 18, 34, 52, 58, 75, (106), (128) – 237
22. UTAH STATE – 23, 109, 114, 140, 168, (170), (178) – 554
Men’s Top-Five Finishers: 1. Graham Blanks (Harvard) – 28:37.2; 2. Habtom Samuel (New Mexico) – 28:38.9; 3. Dylan Schubert (Furman) – 28:39.6; 4. Yaseen Abdalla (Arkansas) – 28:41.5; 5. Brian Musau (Oklahoma State) – 28:44.9.
Utah State Men’s Results: 25. Camren Todd – 29:17.4; 133. Spencer Nelson – 30:06.7; 141. Logan Garnica – 30:10.4; 170. Joshua McKee – 30:27.0; 203. LJ Floyd – 30:51.6; 205. Brennan Benson – 30:52.4; 213. Joseph McKee – 30:59.6.s
