Citius Mag Podcast

"I try to divert a lot of the attention from me towards the team because it really is a lot bigger than just me and my performances. I have a lot of supportive teammates and great staff at Harvard – so that's one thing I try to do. The other thing is just to stay in the moment with the guys. In the end, I'm a part of this team and that's the most important thing. I don't really want to isolate myself as an individual on the squad. We are the squad. We refer to ourselves as 'the hive mind'. I think we even said that on the line at NCAAs – three, two, one, hive mind.” Harvard’s Graham Blanks just won the NCAA Cross Country men’s individual title and became the first man from the Ivy League to do so. Blanks completed a perfect 5–0 season that included wins at the Battle in Beantown, Nuttycombe Invitational, Ivy League Championships and the NCAA Division I Northeast Region Cross Country Championships before Saturday’s victory. At 21 years old, he is also the youngest person to win the

MEN’S INDIVIDUAL CHAMPION | GRAHAM BLANKS – Harvard’s Graham Blanks made history as the first-ever man from the Ivy League to win the men’s cross country individual title. He raced patiently before starting to make his move with a kilometer remaining in the race and was able to pull away from New Mexico’s Habtom Samuel (a 17th place finisher at the World Athletics Cross Country Championships). Blanks covered the 10K course in 28:37.7 to win by three seconds. – Blanks completed a perfect 5–0 season that included wins at the Battle in Beantown, Nuttycombe Invitational, Ivy League Championships and the NCAA Division I Northeast Region Cross Country Championships before Saturday’s victory. SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS

MEN’S TEAM CHAMPIONS | OKLAHOMA STATE – One year after losing on a tiebreaker on their home course, Oklahoma State left nothing to doubt and downed the defending champion Northern Arizona 49–71. – The Cowboys put five runners in the top 15. – Freshman Denis Kipngetich was the top OSU runner in fourth place overall in 28:59.7 for the 10K course. Fellow freshman Brian Musau was not far behind with an eighth place finish in 29:11.0. Fouad Messaoudi was 10th in 29:13.3. Victor Shitsama took 12th at 29:16.1. Alex Maier was 15th in 29:20.2. – This is Oklahoma State’s first men’s team title since 2012.  SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS

WOMEN’S INDIVIDUAL CHAMPION | PARKER VALBY – After finishing second at the 2022 NCAA Cross Country Championships, Parker Valby dominated this year’s race to win in 18:55.2 for the 6K course. She won by 10.6 seconds. – Valby completed an undefeated season that included four victories at the Nuttycombe Invitational, SEC Cross Country Championships and the NCAA South Regional before Saturday’s victory. – She is the first runner from the Florida Gators to win an NCAA Cross Country title. SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS

WOMEN’S TEAM CHAMPIONS | NC STATE THREEPEAT! – The NC State women won their third consecutive team title with a narrow one-point victory victory Northern Arizona, which marked the closest team finish in NCAA Cross Country Championship history for the women’s side. – NC State is the first school to win back-to-back-to-back NCAA team titles since Stanford won from 2005 to 2007. – The Wolfpack was led by 2022 NCAA champion Katelyn Tuohy, who was dealing with a slight sickness and still managed to finish fifth overall in 19:23.0. Amaris Tyynismaa (25th in 19:55.3) and Sam Bush (28th in 20:00.7) also earned All-American honors. – The Wolfpack had big performances by Leah Stephens (43rd in 20:08.2) and Grace Hartman (20:24.4) as the team was without Kelsey Chmiel, who was third at last year’s championships. SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS

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

Katelyn Tuohy vs Parker Valby: Part III "Stop me if this sounds familiar. Florida’s Parker Valby (2nd at 2022 NCAAs) is running eye-popping times that make her look untouchable, while Katelyn Tuohy is racking up big wins by leaving competitors in the dust over the final mile, setting up a head-to-head matchup with the hype of a heavyweight title fight. It feels like deja vu, when both runners were co-favorites headed into 2022 NCAAs. We all know how that turned out, with Valby going out hard on a grueling course and Tuohy hunting her down to run away with a convincing win. This year though, there is one key difference: unlike 2022, Tuohy and Valby have a head-to-head matchup on their cards already headed into the championships. At the Nuttycombe Invitational five weeks ago, Valby set a course record in brutal conditions, running away from the NC State star over the second half of the race. It was a shock to see Tuohy – who went undefeated last season – get outclassed and an incredible sign for Valby beli

NCAA Cross Country Championships Women's Team Preview: Will NAU Break Up The NC State Three-peat? "It was only a matter of time before the Northern Arizona University women caught up to their male counterparts. With the same team resources as the men, a beneficial training environment, and one of the best coaches in the country, there was no reason why top female talent wouldn’t flock to Flagstaff. Now, as the Lady Jacks sit atop the national coaches’ poll headed into the big dance in Charlottesville, the question worth asking is if they are a bigger favorite than their dynastic men's squad. Reigning champion Katelyn Tuohy is expected to add, at most, 2 points to the team score, but she’ll be relying on her teammates to outplace the competition as well. That starts with the Scottie Pippen to Tuohy’s Michael Jordan, fifth-year senior Kelsey Chmiel (3rd at 2022 NCAAs). Chmiel has been the most consistent member of the Wolfpack supporting cast in what has been a bit of a rocky season by NC State’s

Can NAU Keep The Dynasty Going? Can Oklahoma State Get Redemption? "Flashback to 2022: there was chaos at the finish line of the OSU Cross Country Course in Stillwater, Oklahoma, as officials tried to sort out the final score of the meet. The frequently-changing unofficial results made their way to the runners, and for just a moment, Oklahoma State thought they had won. It seemed that they used their home course advantage to upset the Northern Arizona dynasty, it was a storybook ending. But joy quickly turned to heartbreak as both teams ended up with a final score of 83 points – the first tie in NCAA Championship history – and the recently changed tiebreaker rules awarded the title to the Lumberjacks. There was plenty of debate following the race about whether the tiebreaker rules were fair, but no amount of arguing was going to change the result. Barely missing a prime opportunity on their home course and losing two of their top five runners as NAU improved meant that the Cowboys may have missed their

As Chris recovers from the marathon, Kyle Merber, Eric Jenkins and Mac Fleet took over the show for a special episode of "Office Hourse" – where we answer our followers, readers and listeners' questions. We'll try and do more of these when we're all together in-person. Here are the questions answered in this week's episode: – Do you like the way the U.S. selects its marathon team through the Olympic Trials system? – How much alcohol do pros actually drink? – What do you think is reasonable mileage for a "working runner" to attempt when aiming for a hypothetical sub-2:45 marathon PR? – Why don't we host more professional cross country meets in the United States? – Shouldn't pro runners practice racing without pacers more? – What does it mean when pros say they "get work done" in their training or at races? Like PT/massage/chiropractor? Who is paying for that? – Why is there a Bowerman Track Club exodus? What is happening? – Is Kelvin Kiptum and his fast pe

This is The Lap Count newsletter by Kyle Merber, as read by Chris Chavez. Join more than 15,000 people who stay up-to-date with all the thrilling action and biggest stories in the world of track & field – delivered right to your inbox every Wednesday morning. Subscribe at ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://thelapcount.com/⁠⁠ In this week's newsletter: – The top storylines of the 2023 NCAA XC Meet ✍️ – In defense of NCAA international athletes

By 2 p.m. ET on Saturday, we should have a good idea of who will be the schools competing at the 2023 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships in Charlottesville, Virginia on Nov. 18. This weekend, nine regional championships will be held on Friday, Nov. 10. Women will race a 6K and men will race a 10K. CITIUS MAG's cross-country guru Isaac Wood joins the show to preview all of the action and share his predictions on which teams will make it to The Big Dance. How do teams qualify for the NCAA Cross Country Championships? – The top two teams in each regional secure automatic bids for the NCAA Championships. That makes 18 men’s and women’s teams will know by the final results. – The top four individual finishers who do not attend a school that advances to the NCAA Championships via an auto-bid or an at-large big, will get to compete individually. They have to finish within the top 25 of their respective region. – If a team finishes outside of the top three, 13 at-large teams are determined by the NCAA

This is The Lap Count newsletter by Kyle Merber, as read by Chris Chavez. Join more than 15,000 people who stay up-to-date with all the thrilling action and biggest stories in the world of track & field – delivered right to your inbox every Wednesday morning. Subscribe at ⁠⁠⁠http://thelapcount.com/⁠ In this week's newsletter: – USATF 5K Championship

This is The Lap Count newsletter by Kyle Merber, as read by Chris Chavez. Join more than 15,000 people who stay up-to-date with all the thrilling action and biggest stories in the world of track & field – delivered right to your inbox every Wednesday morning. Subscribe at ⁠⁠http://thelapcount.com/ In this week's newsletter: – Rewarding mid-tier marathon races? – Faith vs. Sifan vs. Sydney vs. Mary vs. Athing vs. Keely vs. Femke in an 800 – Track in football stadiums – How a road race fan can get into cross country and track – Best places to train in America – NIL athletes and wearing their school's sponsor – Most notable XC conference championship performances and early NCAA XC predictions – Predicting the future of the Bowerman Track Club – Trading pro runners – How to attract more non-endemic sponsors to the sport – U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials start time latest – Biggest underdog who can qualify for Paris – NYC Marathon storylines to pay attention to + more rapid fire highlights from the past

“I make 800 meters. 800 meters does not make me. You must go back to the statistics. You will understand. If you look at my stats, you’ll understand what I mean. So for me, I have no unfinished business in the 800 meters because I have done what I was supposed to do.” Caster Semenya is a two-time Olympic champion and three-time world champion in the 800 meters. She just released her book, The Race To Be Myself, where she opened up for the first time about the personal and professional effects of taking hormone-suppressing medication for six years following her win at the 2009 World Championships at 18 years old. Semenya is considered a female athlete with differences in sexual development (DSD) due to her hyperandrogenism, which leads to higher-than-usual levels of natural testosterone in her body. For the past few years, World Athletics has required DSD athletes to medically reduce their testosterone levels in order to compete in events from 400 meters to the mile. As a result, Semenya has not raced her sig

"Everyone's so different... For me, it’s just getting B+ training in and hopefully getting A+ results because I'm not burning out. I can be consistent and get brilliant training blocks in throughout the year without burnout or anything. And I think that's got me to this point. It's nothing crazy, it's nothing fancy, it's just simplicity. You think in your head for the longest time that you need to be doing ‘this, this, and this’. And actually, it's just taking a step back like, and enjoying running for what it is… Take away the goals, take away the times. Just enjoy running for the simplicity of it and the results will hopefully show.” Calli Thackery just ran the second-fastest marathon by a British woman in her marathon debut at the McKirdy Micro Marathon in New York. She crossed the finish line in 2 hours, 22 min and 11 seconds. Only Paula Radcliffe is ahead of her on the all-time list. She’s also now No. 3 on the all-time European list behind Radcliffe and Sifan Hassan. Wit

This is The Lap Count newsletter by Kyle Merber, as read by Chris Chavez. Join more than 15,000 people who stay up-to-date with all the thrilling action and biggest stories in the world of track & field – delivered right to your inbox every Wednesday morning. Subscribe at ⁠http://thelapcount.com/ In this week's newsletter: –The Valencia Half Marathon got real!

"There have been seasons and periods of my NCAA journey where it hasn't felt fun. To me then it's like, Why are you doing it? Otherwise, it's just painful… The fun part is warming up with my teammates and chatting on the cool down about whatever drama happened with their friends that day. This year at camp when we sat down as a women's team to think through what we want out of this season, that was a big part of our conversation. We want to be successful, absolutely. That’s a top priority here. But how we go about doing that is up to us." 2023 NCAA 1500m champion Maia Ramsden, a junior at Harvard, just signed an NIL deal with On. In this episode, you’ll get to hear a bit more of her story as she’s lived in so many awesome places including New York. New Zealand (which she represents internationally), Fiji, the Solomon Islands, Ethiopia and now Cambridge. She had an amazing season that included a personal best of 4:08 to win the NCAA title in Austin. She’s also having a really great c

This is The Lap Count newsletter by Kyle Merber, as read by Chris Chavez. Join more than 15,000 people who stay up-to-date with all the thrilling action and biggest stories in the world of track & field – delivered right to your inbox every Wednesday morning. Subscribe at ⁠http://thelapcount.com/⁠ In this week's newsletter: - The New Age of Marathoning: Short Loop

“After Berlin, I came home thinking I have a chance to make this team. I’m a stats guy, I’m a realist, it’s not this astronomically high chance — but I have a chance again… I have some of the best training partners in the nation and I have the pieces I think that I need now. So it's a fun opportunity.” My guest for today’s episode is 2016 U.S. Olympian Jared Ward, who just ran 2:11:44 at the Berlin Marathon. It’s been a while since Jared joined us on the show but he’s back to recap that race and how he somehow ended up in a tight battle with Ethiopia’s Tigist Assefa, who ended up breaking the women’s world record in 2:11:53. He also shares some of his thoughts on training partners Conner Mantz and Clayton Young’s big performances in Chicago. Plus, Ward gives us an update regarding some discussion about the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials.  Last week, several of the top U.S. marathoners met with USATF CEO Max Siegel and other members of USATF’s team to discuss the noon start time for the 2024 U.S. Olympic Mar