Hannah Thorn
Nov 30, 20197 min
Updated: Jan 13, 2020
Was not ranked the week before.
First number indicates how much the individual has moved in the rankings.
The second number indicates where they were ranked the week before.
Kaitlyn Mooney was a tough one to rank as there is no doubt that she is talented. I mean, she holds the record in D3 for the indoor 5k in 16:23. How could anyone not see her as a top-ranked D3 ace?
That being said, this season did not go well for her. After getting off to a dominating start at the Trinity Invitational and the Bowdoin Invitational, she stopped racing for six weeks. We don’t know if this was because of injury, but Mooney just did not look like the same runner after she came back. She finished 6th at the New England regional meet and then 34th at Nationals in a time of 22:08.
After coming in 4th last year, this was not an ideal progression for Mooney. She stays in the top 15 because, when healthy, there is no doubt that she is one of the best runners in D3. It is hard to justify kicking her out of our rankings because although her return wasn't ideal, the start to her season was still incredibly strong.
Amanda Mosborg led Carleton to a 5th place team finish last weekend as she placed 13th overall. Mosberg was overlooked this fall as she raced top-notch talent on a handful of occasions, including Parley Hannan, Paige Lawler, Kassie Rosenbum, Izzi Gengaro, Sophia Gorman, Danielle Page, and Carina Collet.
Prior to Nationals, she never finished outside of the top six, even when racing all of those fast ladies. Mosborg probably had one of the toughest regular season schedules, constantly racing against the best talents in D3 and never having a race where she had an off day.
Her tough schedule paid off at Nationals as she faced the same top-level talent, stayed composed in the moment, and was rewarded with a 13th place finish. That showing was a massive improvement from her 66th place finish last year.
Mosborg has never made a national meet in track, but that is sure to change this year.
Two more athletes from the West have made our list. While the Pomona Pitzer men got most of the (well deserved) attention, Lila Cardillo and Helen Guo both had great performances at the national meet. Cardillo finished in 12th while Guo was two spots behind in 14th.
These two swapped places all season long, with Cardillo beating Guo at SCIAC conference meet and the West regional meet (which is ultimately why Guo has the edge here). These two were quietly one of the better 1-2 punches in D3 this season while low-stick combinations from other teams received most of the attention/praise.
This was Guo’s last season, but Cardillo still has another two seasons of eligibility.
Carina Collet has faced tough competition all year long, including Paige Lawler and Kassie Rosenbaum. After finishing 15th at the cross country national meet last year, Collet knew exactly what to expect at a meet of this caliber. In fact, she was one of the most experienced in the field with this being her sixth national meet between all three season (as only a junior).
That championship experience helped her grab a good position and stay in the chase pack for most of the meet. Collet finished 11th overall which isn't a bad finish, but i’m sure Collet was hoping for a top 10 result.
Sophia Gorman had the experience from last year’s national meet where she finished 11th to propel herself to another solid result in 2019.
Gorman has been the definition of consistency over the past two years, never finishing outside of the top 11 in any meet. This year, she hung with the pack and crossed the line in 9th at NCAA's. Although there were only two seniors in front of her in this race, Gorman is one of the most experienced runners in D3 who will be returning next year.
Another runner who was slightly overlooked this season is Evie Bultemeyer from Trine. She put runners on notice when she took down Kassie Rosenbum at the Oberlin Inter-Regional Rumble and continued to roll from there. Last year, Bultemeyer finished 55th at the national meet, so for her to finish 8th last weekend is a huge improvement.
Where Bultemeyer shines is in the 800 meter and 1500 meter distances, so it was incredible to watch her increase her range all the way up to 6k. Hopefully Bultemeyer can take this fitness and translate it into some fast times this indoor season.
It was Danielle Page’s first national meet, but she competed like a true veteran. She stayed in the top 10 for the entire race and kicked past a few women down the straightaway to finish 6th in a time of 21:25. On a deep Tufts team, she emerged as a true low-stick despite her youth. She finished 3rd at the Connecticut College Invite, and runner-up at both the NESCAC Championships and the New England regional meet.
It will be interesting to see how she handles her first true indoor season and if she can make it to back-to-back national meets.
Izzi Gengaro was the final runner of the main chase pack to cross the line, recording a 10th place overall finish. This was a 42 second and 44 place improvement over her performance at the national meet from last year.
The reason she ranks higher over some of the runners who beat her at Nationals is because the only time she lost this year (with the exception of Nationals) was at the Connecticut College Invite, finishing 2nd to eventual national champ Parley Hannan. She was the NEWMAC and New England region champion, taking down some solid competition in the process. Her lack of a kick cost her a few spots at Nationals, but she had a very strong year overall.
I’m sure Kassie Rosenbum used her team's at-large national qualifying snub as motivation last weekend as she finished 5th overall to earn yet another All-American honor. She avenged losses against Paige Lawler, Evie Bultemyer, and Carrina Collet and showed up when it mattered the most. The defending 10k champion will look towards indoor track and add to her total of four All-American trophies.
Whitney Rich was often overlooked this season coming out of the West region. She quietly put together a great season as she never finished outside of the top five in any race and also won the West regional meet. In her first national meet ever, she kicked past the chase pack at the end to take 4th with a time of 21:23. Watch out for Rich during the indoor season as she seems to be on a roll recently.
Cardi had an incredible season where she did not finish outside the top three in any race. The same can be said for Nationals where she finished in 3rd with a time of 21:19. That is a 73 place improvement from her performance at last year's national meet. Cardi broke off before 3k to try and track down Corcoran and Hannan, but could not catch them. Her strength was on display as she ran almost the entire race by herself. Her breakout season should continue into the track seasons for this All-American.
I don’t think Nationals was a true look at how talented and fit Paige Lawler is. Yes, she finished in 7th, but if you look at her season as a whole, she is better than this one performance showed.
After waiting until October to debut, Lawler beat every collegian she faced this year. At Nationals, she crossed the first kilometer in 42nd place, already 13 seconds behind Corcoran and Hannan.
Lawler consistently moved up throughout the race, but it was not enough to catch the leaders. It will be interesting to see if she can build upon this fitness in track.
When two runners go out hard from the gun, it’s only normal to wonder if they can both hang on. Genny Corcoran and Hannan had separated themselves from the pack pretty early on and it was just a question of who would be left at the end. After Hannan broke away, it was just Corcoran left to fight off the chase pack. She did just that, finishing in 2nd in 21:11.
She had a spectacular season and if it weren't for Hannan, she would be the undeniable TSR #1 choice.
How can you give this spot to anybody else but the national champion? After taking the race out hard with Genny Corcoran, she put a burst in at four kilometers to break away from Corcoran and secure her first national title by 18 seconds. Incredible race and incredible season by Hannan.
Whitney Rich (Whitman)
Evie Bultemyer (Trine)
Helen Guo (Pomona Pitzer)
Lila Cardillo (Pomona Pitzer)
Amanda Mosborg (Carleton)
Rebecca Grusby (Johns Hopkins)
Ariel Keklak (Johns Hopkins)
Therese Olshanski (Johns Hopkins)
Sam Levy (Johns Hopkins)
Laurel Felt (Coast Guard)
Sabrina Gornisiewicz (Tufts)
Sam Levy (Johns Hopkins)
Rebecca Grusby (Johns Hopkins)
Theresea Olshanski (Johns Hopkins)
Ariel Keklak (Johns Hopkins)
Laurel Felt (Coast Guard)
Sophie Elgamal (U. of Chicago)
Tierney Winter (Gustavus Adolphus)
Sophie Watterson (Wash U.)
Mica Hanish (Allegheny)
- Remember, this is a gauge of how an athlete performed throughout the season. This is not a reflection of the National Championships results nor is this supposed to emulate any kind of prediction. There were many tough decisions that we had to make when establishing the order of these rankings.