Jamie Nicholson | Student Life

With just meters left in the NCAA Championships on Nov. 18, senior Cullen Capuano fell to the ground. But motivated by his teammates running in the race and those who came to cheer his team on, Capuano began crawling across the finish line to place first for Washington University and 38th overall with a time of 25:06.50.

“I was like, ‘Okay, I gotta get across this line because six other people in this race are counting on me and the rest of the team who drove 12 plus hours each way to cheer are counting on me”, Capuano said. “So I had to find a way to get across the line.”

Capuano crossed the two-mile mark in 25th place and surged to 12th place at the 5,000 meters. However, with around 600 meters left in the 8,000-meter race, according to Head coach Jeff Stiles, Capuano had to slow to almost a walk, as his legs began to shut down.

“With about 600 to go, he started to shut down, and about 100 meters to go he had to almost move to a walk so he didn’t collapse because he had given so much,” Stiles said. “I mean, obviously to give that level of effort is pretty heroic.”

Over the weekend, the #17 Washington University men’s cross country team finished 17th place at this year’s NCAA Division III country championship meet, while the No. 13 women’s team finished 13th overall.  Senior Alexandra Blake finished first for the Bears and 28th overall in the 6,000-meter race with a time of 21:37.10. Both Capuano and Blake’s performance earned them All-American honors.

This year’s meet proved to be one of the most competitive in recent memory if not NCAA history. In the men’s race, Pomona-Pitzer College finished first by only one point; in the women’s race, only seven points separated fourth place Claremont-Mudd-Scripps from champions Carleton College.

“I believe that might be the closest [finish] in Division I, II, or III history for cross country,” Stiles said. “So [that was] unprecedented and then just the level of individuals is extremely competitive.”

Stiles was happy with the team’s results, in this highly competitive field. While they may not have achieved a top 10 finish, Stiles believes they ran “probably to where we’re at” with both teams finishing around where they were ranked going into the meet.

“I would say it wasn’t perfect, but it was good,” Stiles said. “Everyone ran their hearts out and [there is] lots to be proud of.”

Another standout performance came from junior Julia Patterson, who finished second for the Bears and 61st overall with a time of 22:10.40 in her NCAA Championships debut for the Bears.

The Bears were able to take seven runners and one alternate runner to the meet on each side. Out of these sixteen runners, only one — Vivienne Larson — was a first-year. The Minnesota native finished third for the Bears and 79th overall with a time of 22:18.30.

Blake credited part of Patterson and Larson’s success to their ability to handle mental pressure and embrace the team’s motto to run “for fun and personal bests.”

“I think they handled the mental pressure really well and honestly are some of the people who have the most fun out there, which is really what it is all about,” Blake said.

The other fifteen runners were sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Stiles explained that the reason behind taking more upperclassmen to the meet and one first year was because older runners have more experience with running and have a better understanding of how to balance their athletic lives and school.

“School is very difficult,” Stiles said. “So the younger you are, the more stressed you are, and as you get older, you kind of figure out how to balance school and develop a harmonious relationship with school and running.”

However, even though most first-years did not compete, both of this year’s first-year classes have bought into the team culture and have stayed motivated throughout the season, Stiles and Capuano said.

Jamie Nicholson | Student Life

Though only fourteen runners could compete in the meet, over 50 WashU runners made the 14-hour drive to watch two 20-minute races.

“This team is so special,” Blake said. “[That] just says a lot about the team and how much we love celebrating each other.”

Along with the field of competitive runners, the course proved no less difficult. Hosted by Dickinson College and held at Blue Springs High School, the course quickly narrowed down, packing runners in, before forcing them to face rolling hills between the 2,000 meter and 5,000 meters of the mark.

“It was a good and true cross-country course,” Blake said. “The first mile was pretty flat and [had] nice grass but was a little bit tight. So we had to kind of alter our usual team strategy of working our way up [to the front] and get out a little bit harder than we usually try to.” 

While the conditions on race day proved tricky, for Stiles the race was a culmination of the Bears’ hard work throughout the season that started in the summer. He credited the runners’ commitment to not only the sport of running but their teammates, practicing for two to three hours every day, while studying at WashU, as a reason for the teams’ success.

“That’s a pretty big deal,” Stiles said. “You know, so [there is] lots to be proud of.”

While the season is now over and runners will begin to focus on the track season, the Bears have a lot of upperclassmen returning next fall. 

Returning talent in the form of runners like juniors Julia Patterson and Matthew Hornung as well as Capuano, who will return for a fifth year to compete on the cross country team and graduate in the winter with a Masters in Accounting.

Noting that potentially six of this year’s seven nationals runners, including possibly seniors Drew Sidamon-Eristoff and Kyle Puckett, are returning, Capuano believes the Bears have a bright future ahead of them.

“I was just excited about the future and the potential and what we could do next year,” Capuano said.

While the Bears will switch their focus to the upcoming indoor track season, the cross country squad–armed with many talented and returning runners– have their sights set on next year’s season.

“We have a lot of people coming back,” Stiles said. “I think a goal for us going forward is how can we get back on the podium.”

This article was updated on Nov. 20, 2023 to include additional reporting.