2019 Men's XC Top 25 Teams: Update #6 (FINAL)

(Unranked)

Was not ranked the week before.

First number indicates how much the team has moved in the rankings.

The second number indicates where that team was ranked the week before.

All things considered, this wasn't a bad season for Villanova. They finished 23rd at Nationals despite not having their top low-stick (Comber) at 100% this season. They only had one runner inside the top 80 (Marston), but they had three in the top 120 which isn't totally awful.

Even so, this team was simply not as strong as a few other teams in Saturday's race and that was what held them back from advancing any further down the results. It will be interesting to see how this team performs in 2020 after losing veterans like Comber, Marston, and Rodriguez.

A 21st place finish for Boise State is far from surprising. Miler Haller was an All-American in 30th place while Ahmed Muhumed finished inside the top 70. However, the rest of their lineup wasn't able to put it all together. The gap between the first half of their scoring and the second half of their scoring five continued to be a major problem for the Broncos as they had no one else finish inside the top 160. Even so, a 21st place finish isn't terrible and it's about what we expected from the Broncos this season.

What an unbelievable turnaround by the Crimson men this season. They were an afterthought after finishing 28th out of 33 teams at Nuttycombe. When they couldn't even win the Ivy League title, it seemed pretty fair to say that the Crimson weren't going to be factors in the postseason...or so we thought.

The Crimson went on to stun the Northeast region, taking home the win on the roads and showing incredible firepower. While many thought that a race like that would be a one-time fluke, Harvard proved us wrong with a miraculous 15th place finish at the National Championships.

Tuntivate showed off his grit with an incredible 28th place finish while freshman Colin Baker secured a surprisingly strong 48th place finish. To see their usual #2 runner (Will Battershill) fall into their #4 scoring role and have this team STILL finish 15th overall is super impressive.

Kudos to the Harvard men. When everyone doubted them, they thrived.

They didn't run at Nationals after failing to qualify, but they were clearly a top team in the country this past year and I refuse to kick them out of our XC Top 25 just because they got extremely unlikely with an untimely injury.

I don't have much to say about this team. They had a great pack, excellent depth, and quietly held their own throughout the season. Their scoring five wasn't super compact this past weekend, but I don't think they ran any better or worse than we expected them to.

What. A. Race.

The Furman men came out of nowhere this past weekend to finish 14th overall after not being ranked all season long. Ryan Adams capped off an incredible season by finishing as the 32nd best individual while Daniel Bernal was a very solid #2 option in 54th place. Their top four scorers all finished inside the top 100 of the team scoring while their #5 runner was only eight points behind.

The Paladins combination of low-sticks and depth is what gave them the edge over a handful of teams who had their vulnerabilities exposed this past weekend.

Admittedly, Furman didn't do much during the regular season to excite us, which is why we're not giving them a better ranking than #20. Even so, this team peaked at the right time and for that, you have to give them a ton of credit.

There are some teams where you never know what you're going to get.

Syracuse is one of those teams.

The Orange dominated Beantown, but we're abysmal at Nuttycombe. They stunned everyone to win the ACC title, but were simply bad at the National Championships. It was an up and down season and you never really knew what you were going to get from this team.

We shouldn't forget the fact that this team lost Aidan Tooker, so the fact that they won ACC's without him is wildly impressive. Even then, this team lacked firepower. They were inconsistent and the youth on their backend proved to be a liability.

There is a lot of exciting development that could happen with this program come 2020, but they may have needed 2019 to act as a transition year.

In all, the Hokies had a very solid season. Seufer was clearly the star for his team this past weekend, earning a heroic 4th place finish. Meanwhile, Fitsum Seyoum quietly finished 58th overall. The backend of their lineup, which had given them some issues all season long, is what ended up holding them back from advancing any further, but Virginia Tech should be relatively happy with a 17th place finish.

I wont try to recap all of the oddities surrounding this Washington program. They finished 19th this past weekend, but didn't even run Andrew Jordan and Talon Hull. The decision was made by Coach Powell to hold out his two veteran low-sticks despite being cleared by a doctor to compete. The emphasis on long-term health is what ultimately shelved these two potential All-Americans.

If there is a storyline that epitomizes their season as a whole, it's this one. No one outside of Andrew Jordan ran well this season and just when they needed their star ace the most, he was voluntarily sidelined.

For a team that was supposed to contend for a podium spot, this was frankly just a very bad season for the Washington Huskies.

An outstanding 2nd place finish at Joe Piane really impressed me, but the team faltered a bit throughout the rest of the season. They finished an unexciting 5th place at Pre-Nationals (behind BYU, Colorado, Iona, and Washington) and after cruising through their required postseason meets, they ended up faltering to 22nd at Nationals.

Waleed Suliman was the lone bright spot for this team on Saturday with a 20th place individual finish, but no one else finished inside the top 110 and the gaps between the rest of their scorers were significant.

There is no doubt that this team is deep and talented, but it's clear that the less challenging Joe Piane course clearly favored the Rebels far more than LaVern Gibson did.

It was hard to find any flaws for the Utah State Aggies this year. Sure, their 14th place finish at Nuttycombe lacked excitement, but the performances that we saw from them throughout the rest of the season were encouraging. They dominated Paul Short, cruised to the Mountain West title, and ended up securing a 16th place finish at Nationals this past weekend.

This team never really had a true superstar low-stick, but Dallin Farnsworth brought a lot of stability to the front-end of this lineup when complementing Luke Beattie (despite what his result at Nationals may say). Great pack running, consistency, and experience is what helped this team stay competitive in 2019.

What a weird season for Wisconsin. They weren't great to start off the year, finishing an underwhelming 8th place at Joe Piane before replicating that finish on their home course at the Nuttycombe Invite in a much more competitive field. After winning the BIG 10 title, it seemed entirely realistic that the Badgers were going to be a top 10 at Nationals.

That, however, didn't happen.

Hoare did his job by placing 18th overall, but Olin Hacker was the only other Wisconsin runner to finish inside the top 100. All other Badgers fell outside of the top 130.

There is no doubt that this team was talented, but youth and inexperience on their backend is what pushed Mick Byrne's group to finish 18th at Nationals this past weekend.

Ironically, Wisconsin ends their season with a ranking that matches their preseason ranking...which is exactly what happened to them in 2018.

Overall, it was a very solid season from Indiana. Mau and Veatch were the lethal scoring duo that we expected them to be while Arjun Jha stepped into the #3 role incredibly well. Their backend wasn't always the strongest, but it could've been worse. A 13th place finish seems to be on par with expectations for Indiana and frankly, it's an impressive result considering that Veatch wasn't even an All-American and Horter didn't even finish as a scorer.

To say that Notre Dame struggled this year would maybe be an overreaction. Did they hit expectations that were originally set for them? No, but they weren't awful either.

The Irish finished a respectable 5th place at the Joe Piane Invite, but then faltered to 15th at Nuttycombe. After finishing a close 2nd to Syracuse at the ACC Championships (and cruising through their regional meet), Notre Dame posted their best performance of the season at Nationals, finishing 8th overall in the teams standings.

Jacobs was slightly better than expected, finishing 29th overall while Nuguse slightly underwhelmed just a bit in 46th place. Meanwhile, Danny Kilrea had his best race of the season after struggling all fall long. He finished 50th to round out ND's top three.

Andrew Alexander was a nice option at the #4 spot, but the drop off between him and the rest of their scorers is ultimately what held Notre Dame back from performing any better.

In the grand scheme of things, 2019 was not a bad year for Notre Dame. Sure, they could have been better, but I still think there is a lot to like about this team. The future is still very bright for the Irish in 2020.

We didn't see the Gaels challenge too many top-tier teams this year. They beat Washington at Pre-Nats, but it's clear that the Huskies weren't the team that we thought they could be. Even so, them stepping up to place 11th at the National Championships is huge and truly validates this team as capable challengers to the best programs in the nation.

Johnjack Millar finished 26th to cap off a breakout season for the Gael ace while Ehab El-Sandali was only one place out from an All-American finish of his own (41st). This team is expected to return everyone in 2020, making them a very interesting contender 365 days from now.

Yes, I know Portland beat Purdue at the national meet (10th place to 11th place), but when I look at their season's as a whole, I struggle to believe that the Boilermakers didn't accomplish more. Purdue was very impressive at both Joe Piane and Nuttycombe, and although they struggled at BIG 10's, I think their 11th place finish this past weekend shows us that their season as a collective whole merits a top 10 ranking.

Meanwhile, Portland still had a very strong season of their own. When they did run their full lineups, they looked strong, but Purdue still bested them at Nuttycombe and their performance at the West Regional Championships was against a handful of teams who were mainly looking to qualify for NCAA's rather than display their overall fitness.

Regardless, both of these teams had very solid seasons and they have a lot to be proud of.

It feels a little odd to be placing Michigan the #8 spot in our rankings, but when you look at everyone else as a whole, they were the better team.

The Wolverines lost to Purdue twice in the regular season, but they also beat the Boilermakers twice in the postseason (when it mattered the most).

They may have lost to Wisconsin at BIG 10's and Nuttycombe, but Michigan beat the Badgers at the National Championships (where Wisconsin struggled) and Joe Piane.

They lost to Portland at the Nuttycombe Invite, but beat the Pilots at the always more important National Championships.

Indiana got the best of Michigan pretty consistently this year, but Big Blue was never far behind and never had an upset loss to teams like Middle Tennessee State.

In the grand scheme of things, Michigan was consistently a strong and impressive squad. They never faltered, they consistently improved, stepped up when it mattered the most, and never had a race that made you question just how good they were.

Kudos to one of the most overlooked teams in the NCAA this year.

They finished 9th overall and although a few teams beat them at the national meet, the Ducks were still the better team overall. They beat BYU at the Bill Dellinger Invite earlier in the season, and in retrospect, that result looks much more impressive when you consider that the Cougars just won the national title. Add in a 2nd place finish over Stanford at the PAC-12 Championships, and it's hard to dismiss just how good the Ducks were this season.

Teare was an absolute stud this season, West was a reliable supporting scorer, Cole Hocker showed tremendous poise in his first season of collegiate competition, and the rest of their depth stepped up when Affolder went down with an injury.

In the grand scheme of things, this was simply a darn-good team.

What a weird season for the Stanford Cardinal. All season long, the team relied on front-running from Alex Ostberg and Thomas Ratcliffe while Steven Fahy and Alek Parsons struggled to find their form from years past.

But at the national meet, that narrative was flipped a bit. Ostberg held his own and ran well enough to finish 25th place overall, but Thomas Ratcliffe struggled quite a bit, falling back to 183rd overall. Instead, it was Fahy and Parsons who finished 34th and 35th overall.

Despite a trio of All-Americans, the gaps between those three and the rest of their scorers simply wasn't enough to put Stanford on the podium. As a result, Stanford settled for another missed podium result in 6th place overall.

After Tulsa finished a surprising 3rd place at Nuttycombe, we questioned whether or not they would be able to replicate a performance like that on the big stage. Well, the Golden Hurricanes quickly erased any doubts as they finished 5th this past weekend behind two phenomenal low-sticks. Patrick Dever secured an outstanding 11th place finish while Peter Lynch finished close behind in 13th place overall. Only Colorado and Alabama had their top two runners across the line before Tulsa did.

With their bottom three scorers all finishing within the top 100, it wouldn't have been crazy to suggest that the Tulsa men were going to be on the podium. Unfortunately for them, Iowa State simply had a backend pack of scorers that finished higher up in the overall results.

Regardless, we have to give a lot of props to a Tulsa team that wasn't even on our radar this season. They stepped up and consistently showed us that they were a legitimately talented group.

I think you could make an argument that Stanford and maybe Tulsa were the better teams throughout this season as a whole. Even so, Iowa State's clutch 4th place finish finally gave them the podium spot that they have been hunting for years now. Edwin Kurgat will get all of the attention, but their group of scorers behind him were really the backbone of this team.

Chad Johnson, Mitchell Day, Milo Greder, Addison DeHaven, and Thomas Pollard all finished within the top 100 overall places this past Saturday, giving Iowa State plenty of reliable scoring options just like they had been all season long.

If I would have told you that Iowa State was losing Andrew Jordan and that their newest star transfer Addison DeHaven wasn't going to be an All-American, would anyone have believed that this team was going to be on the podium? Probably not, which is what makes this result that much more impressive.

Lost in the shuffle of attention from BYU's upset was Colorado who ran so unbelievably well, finishing 3rd overall, just one point behind NAU. Klecker was an absolute tank in 2nd place and Dressel finished 7th while Alec Hornecker was the standout star for this team, securing a 38th place All-American finish to cap off an incredible breakout season. Eduardo Herrera in 55th and Kashon Harrison in 90th (both in the overall standings) was ultimately where Colorado relinquished a few points, but it shouldn't take away from the fact that they had a great performance.

It just wasn't NAU's day this past Saturday. They got caught in a scoring hole early in the race and couldn't dig themselves out of that deficit. The end result was NAU finishing 2nd overall, only one point ahead of Colorado.
 

I saw a few running fans pointing to NAU's youth and inexperience on the national stage as their main vulnerability, but three of their top four runners were freshmen (Bosley, Hasty, Nur). I don't think there is any other way to look at this other than the Lumberjacks simply not having their best day.

I think you could maybe make an argument that Northern Arizona was the better team throughout the entirety of the 2019 cross country season. They were simply more dominant and won with relative ease.

That said, BYU simply got better as the season went on. After an early-season loss to Oregon, they rebounded by beating out a fully-stacked Colorado team at Pre-Nats and now a fully-stacked NAU team at Nationals.

Sometimes, you just have to give credit where credit is due. BYU was the better team on the biggest stage when it mattered the most. Their Bill Dellinger loss wasn't ideal, but their dominating win at NCAA's should be enough to validate them for this #1 spot.

Harvard Crimson

Furman Paladins

Middle Tennessee State

NC State Wolfpack

Gonzaga Bulldogs

Alabama Crimson Tide

Florida State Seminoles

Texas Longhorns

NC State Wolfpack

Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders

Charlotte 49ers

Princeton Tigers

Penn Quakers

Temple Owls

Georgetown Hoyas

Weber State Wildcats

Oklahoma State Cowboys

Furman Paladins

You could also argue in favor of the Harvard Crimson here, but no one was even looking at Furman coming into NCAA's. To finish 14th after not even being ranked all season long is wildly impressive.
 

BYU Cougars

I don't think I need to explain myself for this one.

- Remember, this is a gauge of a how team performed throughout the season. This is not a reflection of the National Championships results nor is this supposed to emulate any kind of prediction.