Harvard Star Pushes When It Hurts And Gets Away From Field To Win Again; Habtom Samuel Finished Second With One Shoe; Casey Clinger Leads Cougars Past Iowa State As Oklahoma State Fizzles

By David Woods for DyeStat

Murray Schukar PHOTOS | Carol Chen PHOTOS

RESULTS | INTERVIEWS

VERONA, Wis. – If this was Graham Blanks’ virtual farewell to college running, it was historic and emphatic.

He has an NIL deal with New Balance. He is due to graduate from Harvard next spring. 

But after a second NCAA title in cross country, maybe it is time to move on to the pros, another Olympics, some World Championships.

“I’m still figuring it out,” he said.

Blanks has Wisconsin’s Thomas Zimmer Championship Course figured out. He used an app called Footpath to chart the topography, even if he did not need it. Saturday was his fourth time racing the course. He identified a late-race hill where it hurt most, and that’s where he gave most.

“You want to stop running on that thing,” he said. “That’s where you put two and two together. ‘Well, those guys don’t want to run up it, I’m going to sprint up it. I want to crush these guys when it hurts the most.’

“Once you get that gap, just run as hard as you can. By time I turned for the homestretch, I wasn’t sure if my legs were going to get me to the line.”

Before an estimated 6,000 fans at the NCAA Championships, Blanks smashed the course record by 31 seconds in building an insurmountable lead over Habtom Samuel of New Mexico. Samuel, a 20-year-old Eritrean, ran half the race with one shoe and finished with an exposed left foot bleeding.

Blanks clocked 28:37.2 for 10,000 meters, Samuel 28:38.9.

Furman’s Dylan Schubert was unexpectedly third in 28:39.6. Arkansas’ Yaseen Abdalla was fourth in 28:41.5 and Oklahoma State’s Brian Musau fifth in 28:44.9.

BYU’s Casey Clinger – who led at 6K, 7K and 8K – held on for sixth and led the Cougars to the team championship. North Carolina’s Parker Wolfe was seventh in 28:50.2.

Top 14 were all under the record of 29:08.3 set by Wisconsin’s Morgan McDonald in 2018.

Blanks, 22, of Athens, Ga., became the youngest American to win back-to-back since Oregon’s Steve Prefontaine won his second at age 20 in 1971. Blanks’ victory came 105 days after he finished ninth in the 5,000 meters at the Paris Olympics.

“It’s a little surreal,” he said.

BYU became the first school to win both men’s and women’s team titles since Colorado in 2004.

The No. 1 BYU men lived up to their ranking, building a 68-point lead by 4K and ultimately beating Big 12 rival Iowa State 124-137. Iowa State came in at No. 4.

Another Big 12 team, defending NCAA champion Oklahoma State, plummeted to eighth from its No. 2 ranking.

No. 3 Arkansas was third with 202.

No. 7 Wisconsin, the host, claimed the last podium spot with 212 for fourth. Bob Liking, a four-time Big Ten champion, led the Badgers in 16th.

As late as 8K, there were 10 runners within two seconds at the front. No one shook free until Blanks did so.

He called this “the pinnacle” of his collegiate career, then amended his statement to assert he will represent Harvard in an indoor 5,000 meters Dec. 7 at Boston. In that meet a year ago, he set a collegiate record of 13:03.78.

His aim this time will be the standard of 13:01 for September’s World Championships at Tokyo.

He conceded it took a few weeks to regroup from Paris. In October’s pre-nationals 8K, Samuel beat him by nearly seven seconds.

“Looking back to pre-nationals, I just didn’t really have that fire,” Blanks said. “At the end of the day, I just feel like I didn’t want to win that day. Habtom, he had the will.

“That fire’s coming back. It’s burning hot right now. I was lucky that flame came back before nationals.”

Samuel, also second to Blanks last year, was not so lucky. He and Musau were combatants in the incident in which Samuel lost his shoe, and Samuel made known his displeasure.

The Eritrean said he considered stopping to retrieve his shoe but didn’t want to concede ground.

“I decided, ‘Let me keep running barefoot,’ “ said Samuel, who was limping noticeably after the awards ceremony.

Schubert was 40th at pre-nationals. But he was 11th two years ago, and he said he was inspired by former Furman runner Aaron Templeton, who was fifth in 2018 after finishing 141st in 2017.

 Schubert said runners fell all around him, and he had to hurdle a few to stay upright.

“I knew I could do something special,” he said. “A lot of people were writing me off.

“I just kept hanging. There was a ton of carnage out there.”

Wolfe was third at the U.S. Olympic Trials 5,000 – ahead of Blanks – but did not make the team because he lacked the time and world ranking. He nearly did not make it here after a foot injury halted his training for about a month.

“Honestly, I’m happy to be here,” Wolfe said.                

BYU’s only other NCAA team title was in 2019, also under coach Ed Eyestone.

BYU’s score was as low as 47 through 4K. Although that score kept climbing and the margin diminishing, Eyestone said the early pace was modest enough to allow the Cougars to persevere.

“So love the way my guys got out, put some pressure on early on and we held on,” Eyestone said. “And we maybe held on by fingernails, but we held on, baby.”

Baby? Well, yes.

Clinger, an expectant father, had no trouble finding inspiration. His wife, Morgan, was watching on TV.

“I can’t get home soon enough. We’re having a baby boy next week,” Clinger said. “So Morgan, if you’re watching, keep him in there for now. I’ll be home soon.”

And Dad will have a new trophy to show the newborn.

Contact David Woods at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.