How Does Iowa Rank at NCAA's?


Going into the NCAA Division I Championship, let's see how Iowa holds up against other states. Iowa will be represented by 13 runners on November 18th at Tom Sawyer Park in Louisville, KY, including defending Champion Karissa Schweizer who competes for the University of Missouri Tigers.

The state of Iowa ranks tied for 16th in athlete representation competing in the championship. California will be the most represented state with 53 individuals, followed by Michigan right behind them with 48. The next 14 states include the following:  Texas, Utah, Washington, Pennsylvania, Colorado, New York, New Jersey, Georgia, Virginia, Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, and Wisconsin, who ties for 16th with Iowa. As expected, some of the larger geographical states have a greater representation of athletes competing.

Comparing Iowa to the 6 surrounding states that they touch, they are tied with Wisconsin with 13 representatives. This is an impressive feat considering the fact that Illinois and Minnesota are known as powerhouse cross country states coming out of high school! These two states will have 12 individuals competing this Saturday. Missouri will have 8, Nebraska has 6, and South Dakota has 2 this year.

Iowa's population totals just around 3 million people. There are 7 states with similar populations to Iowa (2.5 million people - 3.5 million people), with Utah leading the way with an astonishing 40 people that will be competing. This is an impressive number of individuals for a state this size. Iowa would be second in this group with the 13. Connecticut has 10 individuals and Kansas is right behind them with 9. The number of representative drops off with the other states like Arkansas with 4, Mississippi who will have 2, and Nevada which will not be represented at the meet.

After comparing states that are similar in population as well as regionally, Iowa proves to be producing high level talent in the collegiate realm. We are excited to see how these Iowa representatives will do in Louisville, Kentucky this Saturday.