McDonald, NAU Make History At NCAA XC Champs

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

MADISON, Wisc. – Morgan McDonald capped a storybook cross country season by out-sprinting Grant Fisher of Stanford to win the NCAA Division 1 men’s cross country title in front of thousands of Wisconsin supporters Saturday on the snow-covered Thomas Zimmer Championship Course.

McDonald, an Australian who competed in the 2017 IAAF World Championships and then red-shirted the fall season, has been focused on winning the NCAA cross country title on his home turf for more than a year.

“It’s amazing. I can’t really describe it,” McDonald said.

McDonald is the first men’s champion to win on his home course since Indiana’s Bob Kennedy won at Bloomington, Ind., in 1992. It’s only been done six times since the late 1930s when the event began.

Grant Fisher of Stanford, hoping to become the first U.S.-born winner since Galen Rupp of Oregon in 2008, finished a half-second behind McDonald after back-to-back fifth-place finishes in 2016 and 2017.

Northern Arizona became the first school to win three straight team championships since Arkansas won in 1998, 1999 and 2000.  

A large pack stayed tightly bunched throughout nearly all 10,000 meters on a snow-covered trek around the undulating terrain of the Zimmer Course.

BYU freshman Conner Mantz asserted himself into a slight lead for a big chunk of the race, unafraid to go with his instincts in his first NCAA Championship experience. A year ago, home from his LDS mission, Mantz wasn’t fit enough to crack the Cougars’ top seven.

A dozen men, including three from Colorado, Tyler Day of Northern Colorado, Oklahoma State’s Isai Rodriguez, Iowa State’s Edwin Kurgat and Furman’s Aaron Templeton, waited out the distance until the acceleration began.

That left McDonald and Fisher to chase the after the finish line in an all-out sprint.

“It was still a little crowded with a K to go so I knew it would be a little hectic at the end,” Fisher said. “I tried to wind up my kick and did a good job of that, but Morgan had a little bit more than me. He had an incredible race and it’s a great way for him to cap off his Wisconsin career.”

As the leaders toured the grounds, throngs of red-clad Badgers alumni and fans cheered for McDonald. The hard part, he said, was staying patient.

“That’s the key word. Patience,” he said. “There is a temptation to rip it, but the smartest way to win is to be patient and make the right moves and the right time.”

Being at home helped, too.

“I think so,” McDonald said. “No travel, familiar with everything. It all adds up. And this is a game of inches.”

McDonald joins former Badgers Walter Mehl (1939), Tim Hacker (1985) and Simon Bairu (2004 and 2005) as a national cross country champion.

For Northern Arizona, the emphasis was on team performance and the Lumberjacks continued to build their legacy with a rock-solid outcome. NAU scored 83 points and had six runners finish in the top 40, which is the cut-off for All-American.

Day, the top finisher in sixth, has been part of three championships after owning a 9:28 3,200-meter PR in high school.

“Being a three-peat (winner) with this great group of guys, this coaching staff, I just have no words. It’s stupid. It’s nuts,” Day said. “I’m in a unique situation to everyone else here where I can honestly say that it’s almost one in a million chances and I’m really happy that I won this lottery.”

Matthew Baxter faded a bit to 15th after taking second last year. It barely mattered as NAU runners Luis Grijalva (23rd), Blaise Ferro (26th), Peter Lomong (29th) and Geordie Beamish (39th) made sure that the No. 1-ranked team pulled it out.

“A lot of them said the race was hard today and I asked them ‘Where did you go when it got hard? And they said each other,’” NAU coach Mike Smith said. “We talk about that a lot. We teach it, talk about it at workouts and training and I think it’s a huge piece of what we do.”

BYU and Portland returned to the podium as well, swapping 2017 positions. The Cougars were second with 116 points and the Pilots placed third with 160 points.

Colorado's trio of Joe Klecker, John Dressel and Ryan Forsyth all placed in the top 11 but the team finished fourth with 178 points. Stanford was fifth with 201 and Washington was sixth with 213.