Stephanie Cotter wins NCAA Div II Cross-Country Championship - December 2022

Stephanie Cotter is NCAA Div II Cross-Country Champion 2022

Seattle, Washington, USA

Friday December 2nd 2022

stephanie cotter winning ncaa div ii cross country title 2022

Stephanie Cotter romps to victory!

Stephanie Cotter, Adams State University and West Muskerry AC became only the ninth woman in NCAA Div II history to win two National Cross-Country Titles, when winning last Friday's Championship by the biggest winning margin in the history of the Championship

Full Women's Race

Adams State University Report

SEATTLE, Wash.— For the 20th time in Adams State University's NCAA Division II Era (1992-Present) the women's cross country team was able to raise the championship trophy on Friday afternoon at Chambers Creek Regional Park. The Grizzlies won by 51 points as they defeated Grand Valley State. The Grizzlies scored 75 points with two runners in the top four. The top five Grizzlies all finished in the top 40 and earned All-American honors for their performances

Adams State junior Stephanie Cotter became the ninth winner and first since Kendra Foley of Grand Valley State to win two individual crowns as she won Friday's title in 19:45.2. She also won the individual title in 2019 in Sacramento. The win for Cotter is the largest margin of victory in meet history with a gap of 42.5 seconds over second place finisher Lindsay Cunningham of Winona State

The team was also historic for the Grizzlies as they became the first team to win three straight national titles on four occasions. In addition, Coach Damon Martin joined an elite group as he became just the third coach in NCAA history, regardless of division too win 20 or more titles in a single sport

The meet, hosted by Seattle Pacific University, was also a part of the NCAA Division II Fall Sports Festival that sees champions in volleyball and men's and women's soccer being crowned in the Seattle area

The race saw Cotter push the pace and take off while she and Brianna Robles were in the top four, individually, after the first mile. The Grizzlies were able to gain an 18-point lead over Grand Valley State at that moment

At the 2,400-meter mark, the lead in the team race shrunk to 11 points but Cotter continued her blistering pace in an attempt to pull away. At the two-mile mark the lead continued to grow as Cotter jumped to a six-second lead while the team lead grew to 33 points

stephanie cotter ncaa div ii cross country champion 2022

As the race finished Cotter saw her teammate Brianna Robles finish a minute shy of her in fourth place with a time of 20:44.9

Precious Robinson finished in 15 th place individually as she crossed the line in 21:00.2 and earned 14 team points

Sophomore Emily Schoellkopf finished in 25th place with a time of 21:10.1 while Morgan Hykes rounded out the scorers in 38th place and earned All-American honors. She finished in 21:20.3

Nicole Lawrence finished in 65th place, with a time of 21:41.5, and Maggie McCleskey rounded out the Grizzlies, as she finished in 118th place, with a time of 22:12.9

The win by the Grizzlies proved that the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) was the top conference in Division II as the Colorado School of Mines Orediggers won the men's title with 43 points, 133 points more than Wingate in second place. It was the first title for the Orediggers since 2019

NCAA Report

Stephanie Cotter and Adams State are a perfect match

All Cotter and the top-ranked Grizzlies know to do is to win — and win big

Cotter romped to her second career individual title at the NCAA DII Cross Country Championships, as she traversed the 6k course at Chambers Bay Regional Park in 19:45.2. The Adams State star, who also took top individual honors back in 2019, won by 42 seconds over Lindsay Cunningham of Winona State

With Cotter well-ahead, the rest of Adams State’s runners settled into place. The Grizzlies put three in the scored top-15 – two in the top-5 thanks to Brianna Robles in fourth place at 20:44.9 – and two more in the scored top-25 for a total score of 75 points. That was more than enough to outdistance runner-up and second-ranked Grand Valley State, which amassed 126 points

This is Adams State’s third consecutive national title and gave head coach Damon Martin his 35th overall and 20th in women’s cross country. Martin is the third to win 20 or more national titles in a single sport in NCAA history, joining Kenyon women’s swimming coach Jim Steen and North Carolina women’s soccer coach Anson Dorrance. To add to that, Martin is now one title away from tying current Texas A&M coach Pat Henry for the fourth-most combined national titles in NCAA history (36)

The rest of the top-5 followed the same order in which the teams entered the NCAA Championships: No. 3 Colorado School of Mines finished third with 164 points, followed by No. 4 UC-Colorado Springs with 184 points and No. 5 Augustana (S.D.) with 218 points

NCAA Div 2 National Athlete of the Year 2022

Following her win, by the biggest margin in the history of the Championship, Stephanie was honoured with the NCAA Division II Athlete of the Year Accolade

stephanie cotter ncaa div ii athlete of year 2022a