VERONA, WISCONSIN, October 14 — Studded with 19 nationally-ranked teams and a boatload of talented runners, this year’s Nuttycombe Invitational men’s race saw intense competition at its finest as Stanford’s Ky Robinson won in 23:09.9 for a 10th-second margin over Northern Arizona’s Nico Young.
In a battle of sophs, the Aussie held off the NAU standout on the long upgrade to the line in a finish reminiscent of Morgan McDonald’s win over Grant Fisher in the NCAA here 4 years ago. Robinson’s time was the third-fastest in the meet’s 13-year history, trailing only Wesley Kiptoo’s runaway win in 22:11.2 a year ago and Lawi Lalang’s 23:03 from a decade back.
It was a race dominated by youth, with the first 4 and 9 of the top 20 listed as sophomores, likely a result of extra COVID-dictated eligibility, but still, the young ’uns are better than ever and showing their mettle in high-pressure races.
Stanford’s Charles Hicks ended up 3rd in 23:12.7 while Wisconsin’s Bob Liking, whose first big impact race came here last year, closed strong to claim 4th (23:14) while NAU’s Drew Bosley, racing on home-state soil, was fifth in 23:17. Cole Sprout, the third of the Stanford triumvirate that raced up front nearly from the get-go, took 7th.
Prognosticators might have expected a closer team battle among the top three teams, although the team race went sorta-kinda to form for the nation’s top trio of squads. But it was never really a nail-biter as Robinson and his front-running Stanford mates established dominance relatively early and parlayed a 1-3-7-13-30 finish into a 54-point win.
That was more than good enough for a healthy margin over #1 BYU (89) — competing without top returner from ’21 Casey Clinger — and #3 and defending NCAA champ Northern Arizona (145).
The latter two teams got to those totals in different ways. BYU, also minus graduated erstwhile two-time NCAA champ and noted frontrunner Conner Mantz, relied on pack running, with Ed Eyestone’s crew bunching up in 15-16-17-20-21.
The Lumberjacks, on the other hand, started slowly and were well back in the pack early (2K score of 450 points) but moved up nicely with Young and eventual 5th-placer Drew Bosley keying the NAU surge into contention.
Air Force (No. 12-ranked) and Notre Dame (No. 13) showed well in 4th (145) and 5th (149) to best 14 other ranked teams, including six rated…
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