NEW ORLEANS, La. – Senior Graham Blanks earned more accolades this morning, as the 2023 and 2024 NCAA Men's Cross Country National Champion is the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Northeast Region Men's Cross Country Athlete of the Year. A native of Athens, Georgia, Blanks wins this award for the fourth time in his Crimson career.

After running the 5000m on the track for Team USA at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Blanks returned to Cambridge and embarked on a terrific 2024 cross country campaign. Blanks' season began where it ended, as he finished in second in the 8k race at the Wisconsin Pre-Nationals, posting a time of 22:40.5. At the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships and the NCAA Northeast Regionals, Blanks posted back-to-back first place finishes, building momentum to his eventual triumph at the 2024 NCAA Cross Country Championships.

Blanks is the first student-athlete in NCAA history to win the USTFCCCA Northeast Region Men's Cross Country Athlete of the Year four times, and is the four-time All-American in program history. After his first place finish at the 2024 NCAA Cross Country Championships, Blanks is just the 13^th student-athlete in NCAA history to win consecutive national titles. In the Ivy League, Blanks is the only student-athlete to win multiple cross country national titles in the conference's storied history.

Harvard begins the 2024-25 indoor track & field season on Saturday, Dec. 7, hosting the HBCU & Ivy Challenge at Gordon Indoor Track and heading across town to the BU Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener.

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