NICO YOUNG, GRAHAM BLANKS, KY ROBINSON? | NCAA Cross Country Championships Men's Individual Preview

A Wide Open Race At The Top "Nico Young feels due for an individual title on the grass. From his fourth place finish as a freshman, to falling just short over the final stretch last year, Young has never had a bad performance at NCAAs – his lowest career finish is 11th. A breakthrough in his senior year would be reminiscent of Adam Goucher’s legendary 1998 win, some great company for Young to join. Young’s only two losses this season have come to arguably his biggest rivals heading into this weekend. Just last week he was edged by New Mexico’s Habtom Samuel at the Mountain Regional. Samuel is a newcomer to the NCAA scene this fall but is a two-time World U20 Medalist, placed 17th at the 2023 World Athletics Cross Country Championships – the senior race! – for his native Eritrea, and boasts a 27:20.08 10,000m PB. He’s also won three of the four races he has run this season as a Lobo. At the biggest regular-season meet of the year, the Nuttycombe Invitational, they finished in the two spots behind Harvard’s Graham Blanks. While Blanks (6th at NCAAs in 2022) was considered a surprise champ on the day, winning is all he has done this year. Blanks has started four races this season and crossed the finish first in each and every time. The big caveat to Blanks’s win at Wisco was that it came in incredibly muddy and rainy conditions that will look nothing like the weather in Charlottesville on Saturday. It is worth wondering if the fair weather in the forecast favors one of the contenders with quicker track PBs more. Another big regular-season winner was Nico Young’s teammate Drew Bosley, who started the year strong with wins at NAU’s home opener and the Virginia Invitational, but didn’t run the Lumberjack’s conference meet and was the third finisher on his own team in their regional race. There is certainly concern there but Bosley should not be counted out as you only have to look to a year ago where he stayed with Young until the closing stages of the race. Lastly, it would be impossible to move on without mentioning last year’s 5000m/10,000m champion on the track, Stanford’s Ky Robinson. Although Robinson (10th last year at NCAAs) doesn’t have a signature win over a national field on the grass this year, the 2022 Nuttycombe champion has put together a solid campaign. The Cardinal crew hasn’t made much noise in the team conversation this year, but they’ll be looking to cap the season with back-to-back individual champions. Read our full preview here: https://citiusmag.com/articles/2023-ncaa-cross-country-championships-preview SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS 🍊 OLIPOP is a prebiotic soda with only 2-5g of sugar that is actually good for your gut health. – and it's delicious. Use code CITIUS25 for 25% off non-subscription orders. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Learn more at https://DrinkOlipop.com (click the link or use our promotional code for the discount)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 📊 VDOT is offering 20% off their coaching subscription using the code citiusmag. Download V.O2 in the app stores or visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠vdoto2.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to start your 30-day free trial. Athletes without a coach can use the same code and try out their fully automated VDOT Adaptive Trainer and sync to an Apple Watch, COROS or Garmin. Leverage the world-famous VDOT formulas and take your running to the next level with V.O2 HOW TO SUPPORT THE PODCAST 💻 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Visit CITIUSMAG.com | Our brand-new website hosts tons more podcasts, articles, videos and more. Track and field storytelling all in one place⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. 🎙️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe and leave a review on Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. 💵 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pledge any dollar amount to us on Patreon.com/CITIUSMAG⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hit us on Venmo @CITIUSMAG⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🎥 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to the CITIUS MAG YouTube channel