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Will Brunner was running in a championship race last weekend, but for the first time in a long time, the late-fall race wasn’t in Colorado Springs.

“It was weird to be racing on that day and not be at (Norris) Penrose,” said the Harvard freshman, who placed 43rd at the Ivy League Heptagonal cross-country championships in Princeton, New Jersey last Saturday. After winning Battle Mountain’s first individual state cross-country title last fall — and defending his 3200-meter crown with an all-classification track record in May — Brunner has found his place on the nationally .

“It’s been really great,” he said of his freshman campaign. “I’ve found a really good group of guys on this team.”

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The transition from small, mountain high school to the Ivy League and NCAA DI ranks has been an invigorating challenge academically and athletically for Brunner.

“The workouts are a lot more intricate, a lot more complex, a lot faster and a lot bigger,” he said before aptly adding, “And then also the guys you’re working out with are just so good.”  

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The stage is bigger, too, he said.

Brunner’s brush with the big time came in the season-opening Paul Short Invitational, where — even though he averaged under 5-minutes per mile — he was swallowed up by a sea of grown men en route to a 143rd-place finish. His welcome-to-the-NCAA moment was probably wiping out amongst the jostling 374-athlete field, something he’s never done in his career.

Toto, I have a feeling we’re not at Maloit Park anymore.

“I think for me that was honestly the best feeling,” Brunner said regarding the foreign sensation of racing in the middle of a pack instead of controlling the race from the front — like he did the last two years of his legendary prep career. 

“Porter (Middaugh) and I, last year and the year before, we trained on our own, led every workout and then I came here and I realized like, oh, I’m definitely not the best anymore,” he continued. “There’s a lot of stuff I have to learn and a lot more I can do with my running. …Even though you’re maybe not racing for the win anymore I think that spirit of racing isn’t gone because you’re always trying to pass people.”

When he showed up in Cambridge this fall, Brunner had no idea where he stood in the Crimson pecking order. At times, he figured he might be at the bottom of a roster that includes 2024 Olympian and defending NCAA individual champion Graham Blanks. The first Ivy League male to capture the top collegiate cross-country honor, Blanks doesn’t pretend to above anyone at practices, Brunner said.

“He might be one of the best runners in the United States, but when he’s with the team, he’s just one of us,” said Brunner, who has been most impressed by Blanks’ mind-over-matter approach and relentless work ethic.

“I haven’t seen anything get to him,” Brunner said. “He just puts one foot in front of the other and trains.”

Brunner himself has benefited from the Harvard’s depth, too. “Obviously we have a really good front runner and some other really good guys — but then there’s a good pack of eight of us who are pretty interchangeable,” he said.

The group has pulled him through weekly Tuesday threshold workouts, 30-plus minutes of sustained running at 5:05 mile pace, and Friday speed sessions — 6×1-kilometer reps bookended by an all-out 800 or mile to practice buffering lactate in real time. The increased training load, coupled with three or four hours of homework a night, meant Brunner carried some residual freshman fatigue into the IC4A championships on Oct. 18. Still, he sliced 20 seconds off his 8-kilometer best, placing third overall in 24:38.1.

“I think my baseline fitness I have right now is a lot better,” he said.

Harvard came into ‘Heps’ on Nov. 2 in the country, poised to end its half-century men’s title drought. Unfortunately, two of the Crimson’s usual scorers suffered injuries, thrusting the Vail recruit into a potential spotlight.

“We all knew it was going to be a really tight race between us and Princeton,” Brunner said, referring to the three-time defending champion Tigers. “My mentality going into it was, I’m just going to give it all I have because I never know the impact I can make.”

Brunner blasted a and came through the 5-kilometer checkpoint well under 15 minutes — a time worthy of winning most high school state meets — then passed three runners in the final kilometer to place 43rd. He finished in a season-best time of 24:21.6 as Harvard’s fifth guy.

“I really was satisfied,” he said. “I think I really gave everything I had.”

Princeton scored 51 points, however, narrowly defeating Harvard (62). The Crimson now turn their attention to the NCAA Northeast Regional in Hopkinton, New Hampshire on Nov. 15 and the NCAA championships the following week in Madison, WI. As of this writing, Brunner isn’t sure if he’ll be going to either, but he’s ready if his number gets called.

“For right now,” he said. “I’m training as if I am.”