TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – On a crisp cold day at the LaVern Gibson Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Indiana, the UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs made history at the 2024 NCAA Division III Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships. The Slugs women's cross country team earned their highest finish as a team in program history, cracking into the top 20 with a 19th place finish, ending the meet with an even 500 points. Most notably, the program celebrated their first-ever All-American in history as Kenzie Seymour led the team with a 21st place finish through the 6k Championship race. On the men's side, Luke Holland and Eric Anderson both turned in great performances in the 8k with Holland earning a 66th place finish with Anderson taking 139th overall.
 
Women's 6k
The Banana Slugs started their day in box 43 on the outer portion of the start line and made their start as a pack in a crowded field of Division III's finest runners in the country. The pace was set early and Kenzie Seymour was up for the challenge as the sophomore runner went with the lead pack, fighting through 3k in 7th place. Over the last half of the race, Seymour continued to dig deep through the bitter cold and rough terrain, working to a 21st place finish in 21:31.0 to earn the program's first All-American honor. Helena Janku ran a strong race for UCSC, starting in 97th at the 1k split before climbing into 59th by the 5k split. Janku continued to stride to the finish over the last 1k, jumping two more spots to take 57th with a time of 22:00.5. Jordan Baden was the next Slug across the line, making her biggest jump from 1k to 3k, going from 256th to 171st. Baden continued to make large drops as the sophomore closed the gap on 41 more runners over the last 2k to take 130th with a time of 22:31.9. Sara Teitelbaum and Hanna Hekkanen rounded out the top five for UC Santa Cruz as the duo took 221st and 248th with Teitelbaum crossing the line in 23:13.2 while Hekkanen finished the 6k in 23:35.5. Faith Dyogi and Jordan Robinson finished the historic race for the Slugs, taking 271st and 285th overall with times of 23:56.2 and 24:38.2.
 
Men's 8k
Luke Holland and Eric Anderson represented UC Santa Cruz well at the NCAA Championships with the duo both qualifying as individuals following strong showings at the West Region Championships. The duo started in box 50 and ran just strides away from one another with Holland hitting the 1k split in 2:46.0 in 142nd while Anderson went 2:46.3 in 153rd. Holland and Anderson continued to climb in unison as Holland moved into 92nd at the halfway point with Anderson moving into 134th.  From there, Holland surged forward, moving up 11 spots before making one final push with 1.5k to go, passing 15 runners down the home stretch to take 66th with a time of 24:59.2. Anderson briefly dropped in place but had a strong kick as well, moving up seven spots towards the end of the race to take 139th overall in 25:25.4.