The 1979 NCAA Division I Men's Cross Country Championships were the 41st annual cross country meet to determine the team and individual national champions of NCAA Division I men's collegiate cross country running in the United States. Held on November 19, 1979, the meet was hosted by Lehigh University at the Saucon Valley Fields in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The distance for this race was 10 kilometers (6.21 miles).

All Division I cross country teams were eligible to qualify for the meet through their placement at various regional qualifying meets. In total, 29 teams and 237 individual runners contested this championship.^[1]

The team national championship was retained by the UTEP Miners, their fifth title. The individual championship was won by Henry Rono, from Washington State, with a time of 28:19.60. This was Rono's third individual title in four years. Along with Gerry Lindgren (1966, 1967, and 1969) and Steve Prefontaine (1970, 1971, and 1973), the former from Washington State and the latter from Oregon, Rono is one of only three Division I collegiate runners with three individual titles.^[2]

• Distance: 10,000 meters (6.21 miles)

Team Result (Top 10) Rank Team Points UTEP 86 Oregon 93 Penn State 186 4 Colorado 189 5 East Tennessee State 224 6 Auburn 230 7 Villanova 245 8 Indiana 265 9 Washington State 277 10 Arkansas 291

Individual Result (Top 10) Rank Name Nationality Time Henry Rono Washington State 28:19.60 Alberto Salazar Oregon 28:37.40 Kipsubai Koskei New Mexico 28:47.30 4 James Rotich UTEP 29:03.60 5 Thom Hunt Arizona 29:08.20 6 Michael Musyoki UTEP 29:14.40 7 Sydney Maree Villanova 29:15.20 8 Joel Cheruyiot Washington State 29:20.90 9 Jon Sinclair Colorado State 29:27.90 10 Rudy Chapa Oregon 29:28.20

• NCAA Men's Division II Cross Country Championship
• NCAA Men's Division III Cross Country Championship