grace mclaughlin

Sep 9, 20192 min

2019 D2 Recruit Rankings (Women): #2 Southern Indiana Eagles

Updated: Apr 8, 2020

Recruit rankings data has been manually collected by TSR contributors from multiple, reliable sources. Transfers and foreign recruits who are not expected to have four years of eligibility are excluded from these rankings. Order of rankings was decided by TSR contributors. Despite our research, it is possible that certain names have been erroneously omitted.

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Southern Indiana placed 12th at the Midwest Regional Championships last year, but with six incoming freshmen holding personal bests of 19:20 or faster for 5000 meters, they are looking to improve upon their finish this fall. With all six of these women being Indiana natives, it may be fair to suggest that they'll have a somewhat easier transition to the collegiate environment thanks to their familiarity with the area and possibly each other.

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Leading the way is McKenna Cavanaugh who has personal bests of 2:18 in the 800, 5:12 in the 1600, 10:55 in the 3200, and 18:19 in the 5k. She has a nice balance of speed and endurance based off of her current marks which could make her a key three-season scorer for the Screaming Eagles throughout her career.

Next up is Lilly Cummins who is strictly an endurance runner with personal bests of 11:12 in the 3200 and 18:19 in the 5k. Both her and Cavanaugh should be close together and could possibly be a nice 1-2 punch for the team, if not this season, then certainly in the future.

Like Cavanaugh, Aubrie Deal has a nice balance of speed and endurance with consistently strong results in both the middle and long distances. She has personal bests of 2:26 in the 800, 5:19 in the 1600m, 11:49 in the 3200, and 18:36 in the 5k. Deal is not too far behind Cavanaugh and Cummins in terms of cross country fitness. If they can race in a pack, the Screaming Eagles will have a solid trio of young talent.

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Aubrey Swart has personal bests of 11:37 in the 3200 and 18:48 in the 5k. She could be another scorer, but she’ll most likely have a transition year and then develop into a low-stick for Southern Indiana. Even so, she has the ability to add depth and reliable scoring to this roster early in her career.

Leah Anders is a great addition to the roster, mainly for her potential. Her personal best of 19:04 in the 5k should easily translate to under 12:00 in the 3200 and I believe she is capable of much faster times. Consistency and confidence will be key for her.

Hadley Fisher, a developmental piece of this roster, is the final recruit on our list. Her personal bests are 2:35 in the 800, 5:36 in the 1600, 11:47 in the 3200, and 20:08 in the 5k. Her 3200 time is a respectable mark which tells us that her overall resume could improve significantly as she jumps to training at the collegiate level.

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The Screaming Eagles have six great additions who should greatly improve Southern Indiana's performances from last fall. 2019 might be a transition period, but they are set up to have solid progression over the next four years with these incoming recruits.

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