2019 Men's Recruit Rankings: #2 Stanford Cardinal

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 all TSR contributors. Despite our research, it is possible that certain names have been erroneously omitted.

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The initial publication of this article erroneously omitted Canadian Evan Burke.

We have since updated the article to include this recruit.

Stanford has big shoes to fill, not only in regards to athletes, but with their head coach. Shocking news was released last week that - after his seven year tender at Stanford - Coach Chris Miltenberg would be taking a position at North Carolina. However, before Miltenberg left, he picked up a handful of elite-level recruits to help build a roster with enough firepower that could compete for a national title (if not now, then certainly in the near future). With Grant Fisher no longer on the team, and a handful of top scorers nearing the end of their eligibility, it was crucial that this recruiting class was a good one (and it is).

The first big-name recruit we have on our list is defending NXN champion and course record holder (14:57.6) Liam Anderson from Redwoods High School in California. During his time at Redwoods, Anderson had personal bests of 4:09 and 8:51 along with a 14:55 for 5000 meters. Anderson is one of the few recruits in the country who doesn't really have a weakness. An NXN title is absolutely huge and it should put him in the discussion to be a potential scorer for Stanford this year (if he isn't redshirted) despite the lineup already showing some insane depth. Having Anderson paired with Ostberg, Fahy, Ratcliffe, and Parsons sounds awfully scary.

Along with Anderson, Stanford is also adding another nation champion to the crew with Devin Hart from Point Pleasant Borough (NJ) High School. Just this past spring, Hart claimed the New Balance Indoor two-mile national title in a blistering time of 8:56.89. Even better? Runner-up was soon to be teammate and Stanford recruit Ryan Oosting of Arlington High School in Massachusetts. Oosting was the 2017 New Balance Outdoor national champion in the 5000.

Yep, you read that right. The first three runners we mentioned are all national champions.

Devin Hart has impressive range, owning PR’s of 4:09 in the 1600, 8:53 in the two-mile, and 14:44 in the 5k. And Ryan Oosting's resume? Just as good, if not better. His times of 8:53 for two-miles and 14:36 for 5k already put him in an elite category. However, his recent 4:03 personal best in the mile (from this year's Adrian Martinez Classic) is what really catches your attention. Having a miler like Oosting could be a huge boost for a team that hasn't always been the best when it comes to the 1500/mile distances compared to other powerhouse programs.

Both of these Stanford recruits have been battling throughout high school, so it will be interesting to see how these national champions now compete as teammates.

Out of Florida, Charles Hicks of The Bolles School will be joining this powerful Stanford recruiting class. Hicks is a Footlocker national qualifier and even owns 9th place finish at Nike Cross Nationals. Hicks has personal records of 4:07 in the mile, 8:49 in the 3200, and 14:53 in the 5k. It's tough to truly appreciate how talented Hicks is when compared to the rest of these recruits. His overall ceiling and potential to contribute is just as high as the rest of these incoming freshmen.

Mathew Rizzo from Bronxville (NY) High School made history earlier this year by winning the Millrose Games boys mile in February, becoming the first New York high school boy to win the prestigious mile since 2015. Along with his monumental victory, Rizzo also sports PR’s of 1:50 in the 800 and 4:09 in the mile. Stanford is getting a special talent who can help a middle distance group that has been slightly underwhelming as of late.

Let's talk about Canadian Evan Burke who might be the best recruit of this entire class. The incoming freshman has been an absolute superstar on the track. He broke the Canadian U18 3k record with a monster time of 8:14 at the Youth Olympic Games. Not only that but he secured a personal best of 3:53 for 1500 meters (which roughly equates to a 4:10 mile). On a team that just lost a superstar in Grant Fisher (who has Canadian roots) the Stanford Cardinal may have found their next standout low-stick with Burke.

A late addition to Stanford’s recruiting class was Zane Fodge from McMinnville High School in Oregon. Fodge is a two-time NXN finalist and is one of Oregon’s top high school middle-distance runners. His PR’s include: 1:54 in the 800, 3:56 in the 1500, and 15:16 in the 5k. He will be a very underrated addition to Stanford's middle distance group along with Rizzo. In fact, he could even contribute to the team at some point in his career for cross country.

The plethora of talent in this recruiting class is overwhelming. Five of these men have 3200 PR's (or 3k/two-mile equivalents) well under the nine minute barrier. Three of these men are national champions and another is a Millrose champion. The other is the best distance runner in Canada. In total, they have six different recruits with 1600/mile PR's at or under the 4:10 mark (if you include Burke's converted 1500). What more could you possibly ask for?

Stanford is going to be a serious problem for their future PAC-12 competitors in the near future. It will be interesting to see who is named as the next head coach for the Cardinal now that Chris Miltenberg is gone. Whoever it is will be blessed (and maybe burdened) with the development of this all-star recruiting class.