THE ONE CERTAINTY about the 2024 cross country season, was that it was going to be different. After winning a combined 34 men’s and women’s titles in the Pac-12, the Cardinal shifted to the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The Cardinal men faced some uncertainty, with the graduation of two-time NCAA track champion Ky Robinson and the addition of five freshmen. Stanford still benefitted from the old guard, with graduate student Cole Sprout serving as the team’s ace, but also was encouraged for the future.
Stanford climbed to No. 5 in the USTFCCCA rankings midway through the season and finished 12th at the NCAA Championships. It marked the 29th time the Stanford men finished in the top 12 and their 31st consecutive qualification as a team.
For the first time since 2012, the Cardinal men did not have an All-American. However, Stanford placed four among the top 100 at nationals and the spacing between top runner, Lex Young, and No. 5 Paul Bergeron was only 20.2 seconds. Paul Bergeron, in 112th, was the third American true freshman in the field.
At its first ACC Championships, Stanford expected a tight race. Six teams were ranked among the top 16 in the USTFCCCA coaches’ poll, with No. 5 Stanford, No. 7 Wake Forest, and No. 10 North Carolina State highest among them.
The race was crowded for the early kilometers on a relatively narrow course that made passing difficult. A three-man pack broke away that did not include any Cardinal, but Sprout moved up from seventh at 5K to lead the chasers over the final stages and finished fourth – Stanford’s highest placer among men or women.
The Cardinal moved into second as a team at 5 kilometers, but with a notable deficit. Through 6.5K, Stanford still trailed Wake Forest by 31 points, but improved by 22 points over the final section to close the gap. In the end of the 8K race, the Cardinal was second to Wake Forest, 60-69.
Leo Young emerged at the Gans Creek Classic on the 2025 NCAA course in Columbia, Missouri, with a strong performance, placing second in a close race, with Sprout third, Lex Young fifth, and Thomas Boyden eighth. Stanford won the meet with 31 points.
Three weeks later, Stanford placed third at the Wisconsin Pre-Nationals, on the same Thomas Zimmer Championship Course in Verona as nationals, with Sprout leading the Cardinal in ninth.
Stanford placed third at the NCAA West Regionals in Colfax, Washington, requiring the Cardinal to rely on an at-large bid to advance to the NCAA Championships, where Lex Young became the fourth different runner to lead Stanford in a race during the season. Lex Young placed 63rd overall.
Of the freshmen class, four competed in the ACC Championships, two at the West Regionals, and one, Bergeron, at the NCAA Championships. Bergeron twice was named ACC Freshman of the Week and was the second true freshman in the conference field.
Honors and Achievements
Combined Men and Women
- 31st consecutive season qualifying both men's and women's teams to the NCAA's
- Among five programs with top-12 NCAA men's and women's team finishes
- 23rd time that both the men's and women's teams placed among the top 12 in the same year
Men's Team
- 12th at NCAA Championships
- 31st consecutive NCAA Championships team appearance
- 30th consecutive conference top-three finish
- 29th time among the NCAA top 12 teams
- 73 consecutive victories over Cal in championship meets (conference, region, NCAA) when both have full teams
- 37 consecutive victories over Cal at conference championships
Coaches
- Ricardo Santos
- J.J. Clark, Franklin P. Johnson Director of T&F/XC
Individuals
- All-West Region
- Two-time ACC Freshman of the Week
- Third among American true freshmen at the NCAA Championships
- All-ACC
- All-West Region
- All-ACC
- ACC Men’s Performer of the Week (Oct. 23)
- All-West Region
- All-West Region
- All-ACC
- Stanford’s No. 1 runner at NCAA Championships
- Second among Americans at the NCAA Championships from the high school class of ’23