I’m rooting for Nico but he’s only age 20, and recent NCAA cross country history shows it’s unlikely someone that young wins the championship.
Here are the ages of the men’s winners since 2000:
2000 - Keith Kelly, 23
2001 - Boaz Cheboiywo, 23
2002 - Jorge Torres, 22
2003 - Dathan Ritzenhein, 20
2004 - Simon Bairu, 21
2005 - Simon Bairu, 22
2006 - Josh Rohatinsky, 24
2007 - Josh McDougal, 22
2008 - Galen Rupp, 22
2009 - Sam Chelanga, 24
2010 - Sam Chelanga, 25
2011 - Lawi Lalang, 20
2012 - Kennedy Kithuka, 23
2013 - Edward Cheserek, 19
2014 - Edward Cheserek, 20
2015 - Edward Cheserek, 21
2016 - Patrick Tiernan, 22
2017 - Justyn Knight, 21
2018 - Morgan McDonald, 22
2019 - Edwin Kurgat, ??
2020 - Conner Mantz, 24
2021 - Conner Mantz, 24
The average age of that group is 22.1. Since 2000, only 3 guys have won at age 20 or younger, and one of them (Ritz) was just a month shy of turning 21.
Young and Robinson are both 20, so the safer bet among what seems to be the consensus top 4 contenders would be either Hicks (21) or Maier (22).