WELCOME back Stephanie Cotter.
Cotter, an international student from Ireland, won the NCAA Division II 6K Women’s National Cross Country title and Adams State won its third straight team title at Chambers Creek Regional Park in Washington on Friday.
For Cotter it was her second national women’s cross country title. She won the race in 2019, and then the NCAA DII canceled its 2020 race due to COVID and Cotter did not race in 2021.
Brianna Robles finished fourth overall as Adams State also ran away with the team title. The 2022 team championship marks the 20th NCAA DII Women’s Cross Country title in school history.
“I’m just grateful to have the opportunity to run for Adams State and I’m so proud of the girls for winning the team title,” Cotter said.
Cotter set a blistering early pace and then ran away from the field with a sub-20 minute performance. Her finishing time of 19:45.2 was the fourth fastest in NCAA DII history, and Cotter became the ninth runner in NCAA DII history to win the race two times.
Cotter’s winning time was 42.5 seconds better than runner up Lindsay Cunningham from Winona State, which was the largest margin of victory in meet history.
In the men’s race, Colorado School of Mines’ Dillon Powell won the 10K race in 29:28.0 and Mines won the team title with a low score of 43. Adams State did not qualify for the men’s race.
Damon Martin in the record books:
Adams State’s 20th NCAA DII Women’s Cross Country Championship makes Coach Damon Martin only the third coach in NCAA history, regardless of division, to lead a team to 20 national titles in a single sport. With this 20th team title, Adams State is now winningest cross country program in NCAA history
Jim Steen, swimming coach at Kenyon College, and Anson Dorrance, women’s soccer coach at the University of North Carolina, are the other two coaches with 20 or more coaching titles to their names.
