The Case Western Reserve University men's cross country team utilized a group of experienced returners and a talented group of younger talent to turn in another successful season in 2024.

The Spartans were led throughout the season by senior Aidan Nathan, who was the team's top finisher in each of the seven races he competed in during the year. Nathan earned an individual berth to the NCAA Division III Championship for the first time in his career after placing seventh out of 274 at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championship. Nathan, who made his third NCAA Championship appearance in his career after qualifying as part of a team in 2021 and 2022, went on to record the best finish of his career at the national meet, placing 102^nd out of 294 total finishers.

It was the 21st straight year that the CWRU cross country program has been represented by at least one men's or women's runner at the National Championship meet. Nathan was the first Spartan to qualify as an individual since Sam Merriman in 2017 and it was the 13^th time overall that a CWRU men's runner has qualified individually.

Nathan was one of three Spartans to earn All-Region honors at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championship as sophomore Jacob Slater placed 27^th and first-year Donovan Crowley placed 30^th to also secure the award. It was the second all-region honor of Nathan's career, while Slater and Crowley each claimed the first all-region certificates of their careers. Rounding out the team's top-five finishers were first-year Adam Esa, who placed 36^th overall, and graduate student Stephen Henry, who was 37^th.

The Spartans finished the season ranked fourth in the Great Lakes Region, matching their highest regional ranking in the last two seasons. CWRU has now been ranked among the top 10 teams in each of the last 53 USTFCCCA Great Lakes Region polls and in all but one poll dating back to 2010.

Earlier in the fall, CWRU placed sixth out of eight teams at the UAA Championship in Attleboro, Massachusetts led by an All-UAA Second Team finish from Nathan, who placed 12^th overall, and a UAA Rookie of the Year performance from Crowley, who was top-finishing first-year runner, crossing the line 23^rd overall. Crowley became the first Spartan since Jack Begley in 2019 and just the third runner in program history (along with Begley and Aaron Johnston-Peck in 2004) to earn UAA Rookie of the Year honors for men's cross country. Slater (35^th), Esa (36^th), and Henry (42^nd) also scored for the Spartans at the conference championship meet.

Another strong performance from the Spartans came at the All-Ohio Invitational, where the team was the top-finishing Division III squad and placed fourth in the overall standings. Nathan earned UAA Athlete of the Week after leading all Spartans with a seventh-place finish out of 432 total runners (second among DIII runners), while Slater (26^th), Esa (30^th), senior Michael Lombardi (38^th), and Crowley (58^th) completed the team's top five.

Following the All-Ohio Invitational, Head Coach Kathy Lanese Yohann was awarded the Marv Frye Award for distinguished service for the sport of cross country in Ohio. Lanese Yohann, who completed her 24^th season at CWRU this year, became the first woman to ever win the award.

CWRU opened its season with a win over John Carroll at the Sudeck Invitational, with Nathan winning the race and senior Luke Kishna and sophomore Finn Bonner placing third and fifth, respectively. The Spartans went on to finish third out of 21 teams at the Grizzly Invitational the next weekend behind a third-place finish out of 325 competitors for Nathan, who went on to earn UAA Athlete of the Week honors for his performance. Senior Nate Gilbert was the team's second finisher, placing 24^th overall, while Crowley and Bonner followed in 26^th and 27^th place, respectively.

Other highlights from the season for the Spartans include a third-place finish out of 22 teams at the Ohio Wesleyan Invitational, led by a third-place finish out of 246 runners by Slater, who was CWRU's top finisher for the first time in his career, and a ninth-place finish out of 32 teams at the Mike Woods Invitational. Twenty Spartans recorded their best 8K time of the season at the Mike Woods Invitational, including nine career-best times.

In addition to the team's athletic success in 2024, 18 members of the team - junior Danny Becker, sophomore Reese Cardella, Gilbert, junior Nathaniel Hahn, Henry, senior Hans Holst, Kishna, senior Victor Nash, graduate student Liam O'Reilly, junior Ethan Richter, sophomore Owen Schessler, Slater, graduate student Matthew Smutny, sophomore Praveen Sureshkumar, graduate student Arjun Thillairajah, sophomore Seth Tivakaran, junior Nathan Webb, and sophomore Angel Zeferino - received UAA Fall All-Academic honors for their academic achievements.

The Spartans earned the following individual honors during the 2024 season: