TSR Collaboration
Nov 26, 201918 min
Updated: Jan 13, 2020
Written by Maura Beattie, Sam Ivanecky, Ben Weisel, and Garrett Zatlin
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.
Caleb Webb was the top Pilot this past Saturday en route to an All-American 31st place finish. The Portland veteran didn't race much this season, but he did secure a 28th place finish at Nuttycombe. There is no doubt that he deserves a spot in our XC Top 50, but the performances from other athletes throughout the entirety of the season were enough to give them the edge.
Much like Webb, Haller posted a strong finish at the national meet to pair with a respectable result at Nuttycombe. The Boise State ace finished 30th overall this past weekend, complementing his 7th place result from the Mountain West Championships and 34th place finish from Nuttycombe.
It was an up-and-down season for the Harvard senior, but he came through towards the end and displayed mind-blowing grit in a race that perfectly suited his strengths. A 28th place finish at Nationals to go with a strong 2nd place Northeast regional result (and a Beantown victory) was enough to give Tuntivate a spot in our XC Top 50.
When you look at Hasty's 2019 resume as a whole, it was respectable. However, outside of John McNichols and Nationals, Hasty never really faced top-tier competition. Hasty was was 6th at John McNichols, but didn't run at Nuttycombe. He earned a pair of 3rd place finishes at the BIG Sky Championships and Mountain Regional Championships, but neither of those races were super competitive. A 46th place finish at Nationals seems appropriate, and so does a TSR #47 ranking.
Brandt will stick in the rankings despite not running at either the regional or national meets. Despite his postseason absence due to injury, there shouldn't be a question in anyone's mind that he was a Top 50 runner this season. What he did during the regular season was wildly impressive and would have made him a top 10 contender this past weekend.
Worley never really had a bad race this season, but the competition he raced was somewhat underwhelming. That, however, all changed this past weekend as Worley threw down a monster 27th place finish in a race which seemed to cause issues for his fellow South and South Central region counterparts. If Worley was going to have a breakout race, we didn't expect it to be at Nationals, but he came through and proved us wrong.
It was a relatively quiet season for ERL as he finished 19th at Nuttycombe before heading into the postseason. His runner-up finish at the West Regional Championships was impressive, but a 49th place finish at NCAA's failed to give his resume a spark.
This is where people may start getting a little upset.
Christian Allen had the race of his life this past weekend, finishing 14th overall in a race where I'm not sure I would have picked him to finish in the top 100. It was a jaw-dropping breakout performance and Allen should have a lot to be proud of.
That said, we kept Allen at the TSR #43 spot simply based on his regular season. He was 65th at Joe Piane and 40th at Pre-Nationals. Both of those finishes are respectable results, but they certainly aren't close to placing 14th at the National Championships.
Even so, Allen had an incredible performance and he will certainly be on our radar from here on out.
Kibichii had one heck of a season, finishing 9th at Joe Piane and then 13th at Nuttycombe. It was clear that this freshman was a true star low-stick for Eastern Kentucky, but he struggled in the brutal conditions on Saturday, dropping back all the way to 217th place.
We shouldn't dismiss Kibichii from our rankings just for having one bad race, but we had to move him back a few spots.
Harrison didn't have his best day this past weekend as he finished 90th overall on Saturday. Even so, we have to give this Colorado youngster plenty of credit. He stepped up into a huge scoring role this season and gave the Buffaloes a lot of stability in the middle portion of their lineup. He was 18th at Joe Piane, 11th at Pre-Nationals, and 7th at both the PAC-12 Championships and the Mountain Regional Championships.
Harrison may not have been an All-American, but the Buffaloes now have an identity for the future.
It was a bittersweet ending to the season for El-Sandali who secured a 41st place finish this past Saturday...one spot out of All-American honors. Even so, this was a great season for El-Sandali who stepped up and gave the Gaels a low-stick at the front of their lineup. He didn't race in too many competitive meets, but his 6th place finish at Pre-Nationals matches up pretty well with his 41st place result from this past weekend.
It was hard to get a gauge of these two throughout the season. They had an excellent start at the Commodore Classic as Chemadi took home the individual win (beating Indiana's Veatch and Mau) while Choge settled for 3rd (beating only Veatch). At the Louisville Classic, Athanas Kioko got the best of them, but they were able to edge out Amon Kemboi.
Despite a handful of impressive results, the Blue Raider duo needed to prove themselves at Nationals. Unfortunately, that didn't happen as Choge finished 137th overall and Chemadi finished 171st.
It was clear that Mwaura took the next step forward in his development this year. His understood how to race against elite competition and not just run all-out in hopes that his fitness would be enough to keep him competitive. 8th place at Joe Piane and 15th place at Nuttycombe are two outstanding finishes which validate Mwaura's place inside our XC Top 50. Unfortunately, his lack of experience caught up to him at Nationals as he finished 138th overall to end his season.
If I would have told you coming into Saturday that Daniel Carney was going to be an All-American, a knowledgable fan familiar with his resume would have been a bit perplexed. He was 28th at Bill Dellinger and 18th at Pre-Nationals before cruising through the postseason.
Maybe he peaked perfectly or maybe he's better suited for the 10k distance, but Carney came out of nowhere when it mattered the most. His 17th place finish at Nationals was one of the biggest reasons why BYU won the team title.
It's been a long time coming for this Butler senior who has been through so many ups and downs throughout his career. Makepeace peaked at the National Championships to secure an incredible 15th place finish. We questioned where his fitness was at after winning the BIG East title and finishing runner-up in the Great Lakes region, but he wowed us in the final meet of his cross country career.
Veatch started out the season a little rusty, but he put together a phenomenal string of performances with each passing race. 11th at Joe Piane and 17th at Nuttycombe showed us that Veatch could hang with large, competitive fields. He later went on to finish 4th at both the BIG 10 Championships and the Great Lakes Regional Championships.
A 61st place finish at Nationals isn't necessarily bad, but I think we all expected Veatch to be a little higher up and closer to the All-American spots.
6th at Joe Piane, 25th at Nuttycombe, runner-up at ACC's, and now a 46th place finish at Nationals (the results say that Hasty and Nuguse tied for the 46th place spot). Overall, this was a very strong season which proved that Nuguse could be a legitimate threat on the grass. He was consistent and never wavered from a hard race. He didn't have the same spark that teammate Dylan Jacobs did, but Nuguse stepped up and always gave the Irish a reliable low-stick to lean on.
Shanklin's season was highlighted by a 7th place finish at Joe Piane and a 3rd place finish at ACC's. He didn't run at Nuttycombe, but he made up for that by finishing 39th this past weekend to take home the second to last All-American honor.
NC State desperately needed a low-stick this year to give their incredible team depth some scoring potency. Shanklin provided that and then some, leaving him as a top returner for the 2020 cross country season,
There are really only two races on Millar's resume worth looking at: Pre-Nationals and Nationals. A 10th place finish at Pre-Nats matched with a 26th place finish this past weekend is all the proof we need in order to know that Millar is a stud who can contend with best of the best in the NCAA.
Eckstein makes a big jump this week in our rankings after placing 24th at NCAA's, a 179 spot difference from where he finished in 2018. The Purdue junior is a member of the dynamic trio which includes Jaret Carpenter and Brody Smith.
This fall, Eckstein was placing right where he was projected to in a handful of races: 20th at Joe Piane, 29th at Nuttycombe, 8th at BIG 10’s, and 16th at the Great Lakes Regional Championships. What was not expected, though, was his 24th place finish at Nationals. Eckstein's consistency throughout this season was rewarded with an outstanding result.
Meyrer of Michigan flew under the radar this fall and surprised many at Nationals when he finished 16th. After transferring from Baylor to Michigan in 2018, the senior redshirted last fall and was somewhat of an unknown heading into this season.
He posted very respectable and underrated finishes of 21st at Joe Piane and 36th at Nuttycombe, but as he drew closer to BIG 10’s and his regional meet, Meyrer found his groove. The Michigan ace finished 9th at BIG 10's and just missed out on the top 10 in the Great Lakes region. Experience, consistency, and progression told us that Meyrer had enough potential to be an All-American and that was very clearly the case.
Ole Miss may have had a rough day as a team, but Suliman certainly did not. The Rebel low-stick picked up a 20th place finish in a deep field, 16 spots higher than where he finished in 2018.
Suliman had a respectable season heading into NCAA's. He only cracked the top 10 twice, once when he placed 3rd at SEC’s and again after a 10th place finish at the South Regional Championships. However, he was always consistent and put himself in contention for a top finish in a handful of large meets. On his way to an All-American finish, Suliman never fell out of the top 38 and was consistently moving up throughout the field.
Kusche was having an excellent season leading up to NCAA's, but the course conditions may have taken a toll on the Nebraska sophomore as he finished 165th overall. He had not finished outside of the top seven during the course of the season and was projected to finish within the top 30 at Nationals. Unfortunately, that never came to fruition.
At the big meets, Kusche finished 5th at Pre-Nationals, 2nd at BIG 10’s, and 7th at the Great Lakes Regional Championships. Finishing runner-up at his conference meet was a one place improvement from the 2018 season. Cold he jump up another place next fall and take home the crown?
Notre Dame’s Dylan Jacobs competed six times this season and in the end, he walked away from Terre Haute with his first All-American cross country honor. Jacobs was a stud in high school and won the 2017 Foot Locker XC Championships, but he redshirted his first season at Notre Dame to gain some experience and acclimate to training.
In his first collegiate cross country season, Jacobs was one of the leading men for the Fighting Irish. His 83rd place finish at Nuttycombe wasn't ideal, but the rest of his results were outstanding for someone of his age. A 15th place finish at Joe Piane, 5th place finish at ACC's, and 29th place finish at Nationals is extremely impressive for someone who had never run a season of collegiate cross country prior to 2019.
Jordan was a top 40 contender heading into NCAA's, but he did not start the race due to concerns surrounding "long term health" according to Coach Powell.
The Washington senior had entered the national meet after winning the West Regional Championships, beating out many men who had earned All-American honors. After transferring this season to Washington from Iowa State, Jordan got a slow start at the Battle in Beantown, finishing only 26th. He quickly rebounded from that and posted two top seven finishes, including a 7th place finish at Pre-Nationals and 3rd place finish at PAC-12's. Jordan will still have track eligibility which should give him an opportunity to prove that he is still a legitimate All-American.
Bosley only competed three times this fall: Nuttycombe, the BIG Sky Championships, and NCAA's. In his three races, he competed like a veteran. At NCAA's, Bosley led Northern Arizona to a 2nd place team finish after he finished 22nd amongst the nation’s best. Between that result, a 21st place finish at Nuttycombe, and the BIG Sky title, it's safe to say that Bosley has earned his place amongst the NCAA's elite.
It was surprising to see Bosley compete this fall rather than redshirt, but without his points, NAU would have been in trouble in Terre Haute.
As a side note, Bosley was also the “Top True Freshman” at NCAA's this fall.
Beamish is such a difficult name to figure out and I feel like we're going to regret giving him a ranking all the way back at the TSR #23 spot. However, his 37th place finish at Nationals, although respectable, wasn't quite on par with expectations that we had set for him. His 8th place finish at Nuttycombe was super encouraging (and a big reason why he didn't drop all the way into the 30's), but his 2nd place finish at the BIG Sky Championships and his Mountain regional victory doesn't hold much weight in my eyes.
Nur had an incredible first season with the NAU men. 5th at John McNichols and 9th at Nuttycombe are scary good results for someone who was so new to this level of competition. He capped off his season with a 33rd place finish at Nationals, but slides a few spots after thinking that he could be a top 20 finisher.
Overall, it was a very solid season for Adams who stepped up and proved that he was equally dangerous (or maybe more) on the grass than he was the track. A 6th place finish at Dellinger and 11th place finish at Nuttycombe proved that Furman could find a low-stick replacement for Aaron Templeton. Adams ended his season with an All-American 32nd place finish at Nationals. Although that may be a bit higher than his ranking, that shouldn't take away from the fact that he made some serious noise this year.
The junior transfer from Karatina University has been a stud for Campbell this fall, finishing 19th at NCAA's in his first season of Division One competition. Kioko really broke onto the scene when he took down a loaded field at the Louisville Classic. He raised some questions on how legitimate he was after struggling a bit at Pre-Nationals, finishing only 22nd. However, Kioko quickly bounced back to dominate the BIG South Championships over teammate Amon Kemboi and then finishing runner-up in the Southeast region. With one year of eligibility remaining, Kioko and Kemboi could be a real 1-2 threat next season.
Dever was somewhat of a wildcard heading into NCAA's. He finished 35th at Nuttycombe, but that result didn't really give us much insight into what we should expect from him at the national meet. After finishing 3rd at the Midwest Regional Championships, it seemed like the Tulsa junior offered plenty potential heading into Saturday.
And gosh, was that the understatement of the year.
Dever threw down an absolutely incredible 11th place finish, finishing two spots ahead of teammate Peter Lynch. It seems like the harder the race, the more Dever thrives (i.e. NCAA's and World XC Championships).
Despite finishing 50th at NCAA's in 2018, Heslington stayed somewhat under the radar this fall while Conner Mantz led BYU. Heslington played a huge role in the Cougars winning the national title after putting together an excellent season where he never finished lower than 8th heading into NCAA's.
Running as BYU’s #2 scorer for much of the year, Heslington stepped up huge in Terre Haute by getting into the lead pack from the gun and never looking back. He finished 21st overall to prove that his 4th place finish at Pre-Nats wasn't a fluke.
What a season for the Tulsa junior. Coming into the fall, Lynch had only run at one NCAA meet where he finished 114th. This year, in his first race against real competition, Lynch finished 14th at Nuttycombe, 57 places higher than a year prior. And if you thought that was a fluke, Lynch would later come back to the national meet where he secured an outstanding 13th place finish...one spot better than Nuttycombe in a more competitive field.
Ratcliffe is now 0-2 at NCAA XC meets. In 2018, he dropped out of the meet and after coming into 2019 as a favorite to finish in the top 10, he fell all the way back to 183rd.
The Stanford redshirt junior was in the race for about 5000 meters on Saturday, coming through the halfway mark in 40th position. However, between 5k and 8k, Ratcliffe dropped 115 spots and only continued to fall over the last two kilometers. While it certainly wasn’t the outcome many expected, there were plenty of positives to take away from the season as well.
Ratcliffe never finished lower than 8th in any given race and had a great day at John McNichols to finish runner-up behind NCAA champion Edwin Kurgat. With one season of eligibility remaining, Ratcliffe will look to bounce back in 2020 and show that he can close out a season the way he starts one.
Watching Grijalva finish only 52nd on Saturday was easily one of the biggest surprises this fall. Northern Arizona is historically consistent and Girjalva had been one of the best runners all fall. He had finished 5th at Nuttycombe and was coming off of a runner-up finish at the Mountain Regional Champioinships. His race at NCAA's certainly was not indicative of his abilities, but he will have another season for redemption.
Overall, Grijalva looked substantially stronger this season than he did in 2018 and likely would have been a top 15 guy on most days.
Gone are the demons of Nationals past. Carpenter and Purdue redeemed themselves from their tough performance last year. After another successful regular season, we were all watching intently as the Boilermakers took to the line to see if they could continue their impressive year.
They did, and in large part because of Carpenter’s spectacular race. The senior finished 10th at NCAA's after finishing 5th in both his conference and regional meets. Carpenter, much like teammate Curt Eckstein, peaked at the right moment this season and was rewarded for his regular season consistency.
Ostberg was projected to finish higher at NCAA's than he did, but he still left Terre Haute with an All-American finish after placing 25th. The Cardinal athlete had consistently placed in the top seven this fall and was primed for a stellar finish, but the conditions may have affected his end outcome. Ostberg was the 3rd place finisher at Nuttycombe and was 4th at PAC-12's. These were great results for Ostberg’s final cross country season in the NCAA.
What a year it’s been for the redshirt junior from Michigan State. Coming into this fall, with his best finish at NCAA's being 91st from 2018, Beadlescomb earned two individual wins en route to a 23rd place finish at NCAA's to earn his first All-American honors.
His lowest place at any regular season meet was a 7th place result from Nuttycombe, which was still 33 places higher than his finish at the same meet a year ago. He was also 3rd at the BIG 10 Championships.
Beadlescomb will be a big name to watch this indoor season after having a major breakthrough in the fall.
Outside of NCAA's, Hoare had a very solid senior season. He finished in the top five at every meet this season, earning a win at BIG 10's and a runner-up finish to eventual NCAA champion Edwin Kurgat at Nuttycombe.
Despite only finishing 18th at Nationals, Hoare has made a case for possibly being the best all-around distance runner in the NCAA right now. He looked like a top five cross country guy for much of the season and has won a national title in the 1500 meters on the track.
Despite the success that he had this fall, there’s no reason to think Hoare will step up much in distance once he gets back on the track. Look for him to focus on the mile with some occasional 3Ks mixed in after having such success at 8K this fall.
Five years ago, Colorado appeared to be loading up on talent when they signed both Joe Klecker and John Dressel. Four seasons of cross country later, Dressel has racked up four All-American awards and capped off his final year with a 7th place finish - his highest ever at NCAA's.
Dressel was incredibly consistent this fall, finishing between 5th and 10th at every meet, including a pair of 8th place finishes at PAC-12's and Pre-Nationals. The Colorado redshirt senior easily had his best race of the season on Saturday, beating a handful of runners who had bested him earlier in the year.
I am continually impressed with Mau who once again proved that he is one of the most well-rounded distance runners in the country. His talent in the 1500/mile distances is well-known, but he has also been a consistent performer on the grass. He was 49th at NCAA's last year and came into this season picking up right where he left off. He was 4th at Joe Piane, 10th at Nuttycombe, and 12th at NCAA's (which is a resume that most 3:57 milers cannot boast).
Kemboi was remarkably consistent between 2018 and 2019. During both seasons, he never finished outside the top 10 and he was only one place back at NCAA's when comparing his past two seasons, finishing 7th last fall and 8th on Saturday.
The Campbell junior had a very strong 2019 with a notable runner-up finish to Conner Mantz at Pre-Nationals. Kemboi never looked quite like a title contender during the season, but he showed the strength of a top 10 runner and his finish on Saturday felt right in line with expectations (despite what our predictions may have suggested).
Like his teammate Vincent Kiprop, Gilbert Kigen has been a force for Alabama over the past two seasons. The redshirt senior ended his NCAA cross country career on Saturday with a 9th place finish, his second result in the top 10.
It speaks volumes about Kigen’s talent to point out that this run was actually his lowest placing of any meet he’s run in his two years at Alabama (in cross country). After a strong outdoor season in 2019, Kigen should be a major contender in the 5k during indoors.
This was the season of Cooper Teare. Everything that we wanted to see out of this Oregon ace we finally got. The Duck junior has always been supremely talented, but he had never completed a full cross country season that lined up with his potential.
This year, he completely rewrote his cross country legacy as he was 12th at Nuttycombe, 2nd at PAC-12's, and finally 6th at Nationals. With one more year of eligibility, he will be one of the favorites to take home the title next year.
Kiprop’s season looked almost identical to that from 2018. This fall, he ran a total of only four meets, winning Joe Piane and SEC's. He was “runner-up” in the South region where he and teammate Gilbert Kigen ran away with the race. Kiprop’s 5th place finish on Saturday was an improvement of two places from 2018 and ends an incredible successful two year cross country career with Alabama. During that time, Kiprop competed in 10 races for the Crimson Tide and never finished worse than 7th (NCAA's in 2018).
A 19th place finish at Pre-Nationals had some of us scratching our heads wondering what had happened to Seufer, but when you look at the rest of his results, it's hard not to think that something happened or that he fell back in that race.
Seufer won ACC's and the Southeast region in dominating fashion. At NCAA's, he was the one up front pushing the pace which put him great position to earn a 4th place finish.
What impressed me the most was his ability to hang with the front pack once they caught him. We so often see front-runners fall back as soon as they are caught, but Seufer hung tough and delivered a spectacular performance.
Mantz entered Saturday as one of the dark horse picks to upset Kurgat for the win and the BYU redshirt junior put up a great fight. While he ultimately finished 3rd, Mantz’s stellar performance helped lead BYU to the team title in an upset over NAU.
Throughout the season, Mantz earned four individual wins, highlighted by his 1st place finish at Pre-Nationals. His gutsy and fearless racing strategy made the BYU runner one of the most exciting athletes to watch this season and leaves him as the likely favorite heading into 2020.
Klecker finished runner-up to Kurgat on Saturday and has now notched three top three finishes at an NCAA Championship in the past calendar year. Although there were times during the year where he looked a bit off (Pre-Nationals), Klecker showed up when things mattered most and looks to be a favorite when he steps onto the track this winter.
This was probably the easiest of all the rankings. Kurgat was our preseason #1 pick and he never relinquished that title. NCAA's was the coronation of the best runner in the country as he completed his undefeated season in dominant style
Patrick Dever (Tulsa)
Christian Allen (Weber State)
Euan Makepeace (Butler)
Devin Meyrer (Michigan)
Daniel Carney (BYU)
Sam Worley (Texas)
Kieran Tuntivate (Harvard)
Miler Haller (Boise State)
Caleb Webb (Portland)
Alex Masai (Hofstra)
Aaron Bienenfeld (Senior)
Eduardo Herrera (Colorado)
James West (Oregon)
Brody Smith (Purdue)
Colin Burke (UCLA)
Garrett Reynolds (UCLA)
Isai Rodriguez (Oklahoma State)
Theo Quax (Northern Arizona)
Alek Parsons (Stanford)
Steven Fahy (Stanford)
Justin Domangue (UT-Arlington)
Brandon Garnica (BYU)
Jack Aho (Michigan)
Alec Hornecker (Colorado)
Aaron Bienenfeld (Senior)
Eduardo Herrera (Colorado)
Brody Smith (Purdue)
Colin Burke (UCLA)
Garrett Reynolds (UCLA)
Isai Rodriguez (Oklahoma State)
Theo Quax (Northern Arizona)
Luke Beattie (Utah State)
Fitsum Seyoum (Virginia Tech)
James West (Oregon)
Farah Abdulkarim (Ole Miss)
Chad Johnson (Iowa State)
Isaac Harding (Michigan)
Matt Owens (BYU)
Colin Baker (Harvard)
Mitchell Day (Iowa State)
Daniel Bernal (Furman)
Alex Masai (Hofstra)
Nadeel Wildschutt (Coastal Carolina)
Luke Beattie (Utah State)
- 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.