The Women’s race this year will feature many new faces, as only 1 All-American returns from 2019, Chloe Connor from Penn State (29th in 2019). The entire field has only 32 returners from 2019’s Championship race, and about half of the field was not even enrolled in college at the last NIRCA Nationals (115 underclassmen, 98 upperclassmen, and 18 graduate students make up this year’s field).

The fastest 6k at a regional race belongs to Savannah Carnahan of Princeton, who finished 48 seconds ahead of the field at a competitive Mid-Atlantic regional to finish in 21:50. Carnahan would be the first individual NIRCA champion from Princeton if she is able to lead the field at Nationals this weekend. Her time is a significant gap ahead of the next fastest regional winner, so expect Carnahan at the front of the race on Saturday. The Mid-Atlantic region adds three more individual contenders in Alyssa Fedorshak (Penn State, 22:38), Diana Liepinya (Maryland, 22:49), and the top returner from the 2019 Championship Race, Chloe Connor (Penn State, 22:52).

The Women’s Pacific Regional was decided over a 5k race this year, yet the shortened distance didn’t stop Catherine Ratliff from Cal Poly from having the most dominant regional victory, beating the runner-up by a minute and 23 seconds. Ratliff will be facing a deeper field at Nationals, but certainly has the potential to run away from everyone this weekend as well. The other top finishers from the Pacific regional that are racing this weekend are Ratliff’s teammate, Mira Mohan (3rd, 20:30) and UC Davis’s Ashley MacLean (4th, 20:45).

The Great Plains had the closest individual race, with Cassandra Davis of Minnesota edging out Brisa McGrath of Illinois by 5 seconds (23:55 to 24:00). They are both returning from the 2019 National Championship race, with McGrath (67th) having beaten out Davis (127th) two years ago. Lauren Fitzsimmons (3rd, 24:20) led the way for Wisconsin’s team championship at the Great Plains regional, and will be leading the way for a potential podium finish for her team this weekend.

Lauren Jenkins of Michigan took the individual title at Blue River XC two weeks ago at the Great Lakes Regional in 22:13, where she closed ahead of Lauren Murphy of Indiana (2nd, 22:20) and Anna Nagelhout (3rd, 22:29). With the second fastest time of any regional winner, Jenkins will be in a good position to take home a second individual title on the same course this weekend.

The Northeast regional saw two runners break away from most of the field, with Juliana Dudziak of Boston College winning in 23:20 over Kathryn McCarthy of Northeastern (23:30). This will be both runners’ first NIRCA XC Nationals, and their first chance to race most of the national competition between them and a podium finish.

NC State’s Clare Peters had a huge victory at the Southeast Regional, defeating the field by one minute and 9 seconds with a winning time of 23:57. Peters will be challenging for the individual championship in hopes of becoming the first individual champion from the Southeast region since Katelyn McCracken of Duke in 2017. The next highest finisher attending Nationals is Rachel McGovern of Tennessee (3rd, 25:09).

Prediction:

Of the 6 Regional Champions, only Cassandra Davis raced in 2019 (finishing 127th). With a lack of inter-Regional races between many of these athletes, and vast differences in the difficulty of their regional courses, it looks like an open race with many contenders. There might be a large lead pack to start the race on Saturday, as the runners themselves strategize in this unpredictable field.

1. Savannah Carnahan, Princeton

2. Catherine Ratliff, Cal Poly

3. Lauren Jenkins, Michigan

Highest Returning Finishers from 2019

Chloe Connor, Penn State, 29th

Anna Nagelhout, Michigan, 31st

Janet Scott, University of North Carolina, 32nd

NIRCA Women’s National Champion 

All-Time Top 25 6k Performances at NIRCA XC Nationals