Notre Dame’s men’s and women’s cross country teams were in action this past Saturday. The runners traveled down to Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia, Missouri, to battle it out at the 2025 NCAA Division I cross country championships.
A foggy mist shrouded the starting line on race day, and a temperature in the mid-40s provided cool, albeit slightly muddy, conditions. Suitable weather conditions, paired with a relatively flat course, promised plenty of fast times.
Notre Dame’s women’s team finished seventh in the 6000-meter race with a score of 278 points. The Irish were third out of all ACC teams, behind only Stanford (sixth) and NC State (first). The Wolfpack’s women’s team has dominated the race in recent history and now holds four of the last five championship titles.
Sophomore Mary Bonner Dalton led the way for the Irish women’s team, finishing 10th with a personal record of 18:58.0. Freshman Amaya Aramini ended her first season in dominant fashion, with a personal best of 19:12.8, finishing 25th overall. Aramini was third out of all freshmen in the field. Senior Siona Chisholm (52nd), senior Sophie Novak (114th) and junior Gretchen Farley (135th) rounded out Notre Dame’s top five point-scorers.
Alabama junior Doris Lemngole took home the women’s title, finishing over 10 seconds ahead of second-place Jane Hedengren (BYU), with a time of 18:25.4.
The Irish men’s team ended the season with a 13th-place finish in the 10,000-meter race, with a combined score of 459 points. Conference rivals Syracuse, Virginia and Wake Forest finished fourth, seventh and 12th, respectively. Oklahoma State took home the national title with a team score of 57.
Senior Ethan Coleman was the lead runner for the Irish and finished 28th with a final time of 28:58.8. Junior Izaiah Steury followed Coleman with a time of 29:30.7 and finished 84th overall. Sophomore Kevin Sanchez (112th) was not far behind, with a personal record of 29:43.3. Freshman Cameron Todd (150th) and junior CJ Singleton (183rd) closed out the men’s point-scorers.
After two consecutive second-place finishes, including last year’s race, where he ran with only one shoe for a majority of the race, New Mexico’s Habtom Samuel got his hands on the coveted first-place trophy with a winning time of 28:33.9.
After a positive end to the season, the Irish men and women will look to double down on their good results this upcoming track season, which moves indoors starting in January.
