Ryan Coleman, d3photography.com

Sophomore Lucinda Laughlin was named a USTFCCCA All-American with her top-40 finish at Nationals. (Photo courtesy of D3Photography.com)

The No. 7 women’s and No. 16 men’s cross country teams’ seasons culminated at the Division III national championships on Nov. 22. With top-20 finishes, both teams outperformed expectations but fell short of a national title. Despite being ranked 11th and 25th entering the race, the women’s and men’s teams placed seventh and 16th out of the 32-team field, respectively.

Sophomore Lucinda Laughlin finished in 16th place with a time of 21:27.8 and received D-III women’s cross country Midwest Athlete of the Year honors by the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). Laughlin credited the Bears’ success to their team-focused mentality. 

“There’s a team culture that we have, showing up for each other and how we all want to run for each other,” Laughlin said. “The pressure is kind of off of us individually because we want to run for someone else and not for ourselves.”

No. 11 women’s team

Coming into the meet, the Bears felt more nerves than usual ahead of the race they had been working toward all season. 

“Usually, if I’m nervous, it’s excited nervousness. This time it was more like, ‘Oh, I’m actually nervous,’” Laughlin said. “On the [starting] line, I remember being like, ‘It’ll be awesome, no matter what happens, it’s already cool to be here.’ Putting all my positive attitude and mentality into one race is really important.” 

The team showed up for each other throughout the course, allowing for the nerves to dissipate and the focus to come back to running for the team. 

“We had a bunch of people on the track and cross country team come and watch the race, and they wrapped almost every corner of the course,” Laughlin said. “You could always hear them, and that was pretty special.”

Cheered on by their teammates, the runners were able to attack the race and finish strong, coming out in seventh place, improving upon their 10th place finish from the previous year.

“I felt really great about our weekend,” head coach Jeff Stiles wrote in a statement to Student Life. “We really showed up and competed tough on the biggest stage. I was extremely proud of how we executed our race.” 

Senior Jillian Heth came in 24th, only 11 seconds behind Laughlin, with a time of 21:38.8. Both runners received NCAA All-American honors for their top finishes in the race. After the meet, Stiles received his third USTFCCCA Midwest Coach of the Year award as head coach of women’s cross country. 

Seniors Heth, Katie Rector, and Riley Clark ran their final race at nationals. The seniors showed tremendous growth in recent weeks, with Heth running her two best races of her college career with a second place finish at regionals and an impressive personal record of 24th. Stiles said that Clark broke her foot in July but persisted and ran her three best races this season, finishing with her strongest race at nationals. 

Despite falling short this year, Laughlin believes that the Bears can continue the progress they made this season into future years.  

“I’m excited,” Laughlin said. “I think that we can even just keep improving. Because last year we got 10th, and this year we got seventh. So I think we can just keep moving up in nationals; I think it will be pretty cool.”

No. 25 men’s team

WashU ran its youngest team in over 25 years at the championship, with six of the seven runners being first-years or sophomores. The young squad led the team to 16th place, which was a highlight of the tournament for Stiles. 

“Nationals was an incredible freshman performance, the best I have seen in my 25 years at WashU,” Stiles wrote. “This bodes very well for our future.”

First-year Max Sudrzynski finished in 62nd place with a time of 24:57.5, and senior Conor Daly placed 67th at a pace of 24:59.5. Despite running ahead of their times at the Midwest Regional, first-year Rishi Shadaksharappa and sophomore Sean Green placed towards the middle of the pack at nationals. Still, the young team showed promise for the men’s cross country teams future. 

Both teams celebrated successful seasons in 2025, placing higher than their ranking at the national tournament. While many cross country athletes will participate in the indoor track and field season, Stiles is encouraged by his teams’ performance at nationals for next year’s outdoor season.

“We were able to end the season with great momentum heading into next year’s cross country season,” Stiles wrote.