Each year on the Monday before Thanksgiving the NCAA holds their “big dance” in cross country. This year the Stanford women won for the third consecutive year and the fourth time in five years. The Oregon men, led by Galen Rupp, added to their prestigious trophy case. In one of the closest NCAA finishes Rupp lost by one second to Josh McDougal of Liberty College.
-NCAA website

Cross country trivia ... The closest NCAA cross country title race was Iowa’s Deacon Jones (a two-time Olympian) beating host Michigan State’s Henry Kennedy by a tenth of a second in the 1955 championships.
–“Wind Sprints,” Track & Field News Newsletter, December 5, 1962

The Deacon tries, but doesn’t get away with it… On the last leg of a two-mile relay during a service meet at Fort Lee the cause looked hopeless when Deacon Jones (see previous entry) took the baton a quarter lap behind. With a big crowd cheering him on, he cut across the infield and arrived on the backstretch ahead of his rival. The officials, however, stopped laughing long enough to disqualify him.
–“Wind Sprints,” Long Distance Log, March 12, 1962

California CCs prominent in San Jose State’s back-to-back NCAA titles… Jeff Fishback (College of San Mateo) and Charley Clark (Santa Ana College) led San Jose State to back-to-back NCAA cross country titles in 1962-3.  San Jose teammates were Gene Gurule (Cerritos CC) and Marcel Hetu (College of San Mateo).  San Jose was the first California school to win a NCAA cross country title and the second college west of the Mississippi to ever win one. Oregon State won in ’61 with Dale Story, Santa Ana CC’s legendary alum won the race.
-Track & Field News, December, 1962-63; Marcel Hetu interview