2020 D1 Recruit Class Rankings: #7-6-5 (Men)

Click here to see our ranking criteria.

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

Did we miss someone? If so, send us an email at contact@thestridereport.com & let us know!

Written by Michael Weidenbruch

Recruiting is often boiled down to a balance between quality vs quantity.

But somehow, Texas A&M often accomplishes both.

Year after year, the Aggies have collected some of the nation's best recruiting classes in nearly every event. It's hard, after all, to ignore Texas A&M's top-tier facilities, their history of hosting multiple NCAA Indoor Championships and their tradition of excellence across all event groups.

Texas A&M’s 2020 recruiting class is headlined by one of the top recruits in the entire NCAA, but much of the country doesn’t even know his name. Allon Tatsunami Clay is a Japanese national champion and a high school national record holder in the 800 meters, holding a jaw-dropping personal best of 1:46.59. Clay has also run 3:44 for 1500 meters which is one of the better 1500 meter times of any recruit around the country.

Clay is one of the few recruits who can immediately continue the Texas A&M tradition of contending for a national title in the 800 meters as Devin Dixon and Donovan Brazier have done in recent years (as well as Jazmine Fray and Sammy Watson on the women’s side).

Not only is Clay incredibly fast, but he has experience winning championships in Japan which will surely have prepared him to compete over multiple rounds at the NCAA Championships.

It's fair to say that Clay is the top talent of this Texas A&M recruiting class, but he'll also be joining one of the top American recruits in the 800 meters: Brandon Miller.

The current Texas A&M freshman made waves in the US high school scene as early as his freshman year when he ran 1:49.87, a freshman class national record. He has since whittled down his personal best to 1:49.35, which will put him in a great position going into his rookie campaign at Texas A&M.

Brandon Miller also has great experience under his belt, having won races such as the Brooks PR Invitational and the AAU Junior Olympic National Championships. While Miller might not be as fast as Clay, the duo will be formidable at the SEC level. In fact, they have enough potential to eventually be the best 800 meter duo in the NCAA.

Next up on A&M’s slate of recruits is Victor Zuniga. Coming out of San Antonio, Texas with personal bests of 1:52 (800) and 4:10 (1600), Zuniga will be a great asset for the Aggies in the middle distances after losing sub-four minute miler Alex Riba a couple of years ago.

The versatility to run either the 800 or the 1500/mile at the collegiate level goes a long way, and Zuniga will be able to fit in wherever the Aggies need him most. In this case, that will likely be the mile distance considering how loaded Texas A&M already is in the 800 meters.

Moving down the list a bit further is Caden Norris. The Texan was purely an 800 meter runner in high school, achieving a personal best of 1:52. However, one could argue that Norris is a bit of a late bloomer. He finished his junior year as a 1:58 runner before really breaking out in a big way as a senior.

That, however, could actually be a great sign for the Aggies as Norris may continue to develop at a staggering rate over his time in the NCAA. Carrying that kind of momentum into the collegiate realm should be huge for himself and his new team.

As we continue through Texas A&M’s impressive list of recruits, we get to the longer distances. These athletes have proven themselves over 3200 meters (or two miles) and on the cross country course and will likely find themselves in key roles for the Aggies in their quest to move up the SEC cross country ranks.

Tim McElaney comes from an established distance program at Southlake Carrol High School, a program that qualified Nike Cross Nationals and is the alma mater of Oregon standout Reed Brown. McElaney should be no stranger to competing in a deeply competitive environment.

McElaney attained personal bests of 4:13 (1600) and 9:14 (3200) as a high schooler, as well as a 5k personal best of 15:21 during cross country. McElaney also placed 61st at NXN as a senior. These accolades will make McElaney a great candidate to move up to some longer distances as a collegiate athlete and be a key contributor in cross country. McElaney already got the opportunity to race this past fall, running 24:45 for 8000 meters and securing a few decent finishes in his rookie campaign.

We then come to Nicklaus Brawner. In high school, Brawner ran 4:16 (1600) and 9:13 (3200). During his senior outdoor track season (where he set those personal bests), Brawner never finished worse than 9th in any meet he ran in.

On the cross country course, Brawner ran 15:10 for 5000 meters and never finished worse than 16th. He also locked down an impressive 6th place finish at the NXR South Championships. Brawner is no stranger to high-level competition and that experience should leave him well prepared to face the collegiate scene.

Jonathan Chung comes onto the Texas A&M squad as a more modest recruit on paper, but he has the potential to be a key contributor to this team. His personal bests of 4:22 (1600) and 9:28 (3200) are nothing to scoff at, but they don't look quite as good as the personal bests of his peers. However, where Chung really shines is on the cross country course.

As a senior in high school, Chung ran 15:15 for 5000 meters and finished in the top-10 of nearly every race he ran in. During his senior year, Chung finished 21st at the NXR South Championships and 42nd at the Foot Locker South Regional. While neither of these finishes qualified him for their respective national meets, they at least showed that Chung could develop into a respectable and consistent scorer for the Aggies one day.

Cooper Cawthra joins the Aggie ranks as another distance standout. In high school, Cawthra ran 4:16 (1600), giving Texas A&M yet another sub-4:20 miler and some respectable depth. He made his collegiate debut on the cross country course this past fall, running 24:57 for 8000 meters.

Cawthra will also be joined by David Serrato, a 4:19 miler who debuted for the Aggies this past fall, running 25:57 for 8k in his only race.

The extensive range of these recruits covers all distances from the 800 meters all the way up to the 5k in cross country (and now the 8k for those who have debuted). With superstars headlining the middle distances, it's hard to see this group as anything other than a top-10 recruiting class.

This young core will likely produce multiple national title contenders in coming years, as well as respectable cross country scorers who could keep things competitive at the conference level.

Across the country, some teams bring in one or two superstar recruits while other teams bring in a slew of good-but-not-great athletes who they can eventually develop.

Both strategies can lead to success, but Texas A&M has struck an incredible balance of quality and quantity this year, giving them bountiful options when it comes to all different events.
 

Don't sleep on the men from College Station in the coming years...

Written by Ben Weisel

After a disappointing cross country season in 2019, Washington continues to build a strong future with their 2020 recruiting class. While a lot of talent has gone out the door in the past few years, the Huskies have since been bolstered by their second consecutive top-10 recruiting class.

While this is admittedly not a huge class, it does have the two best milers from the Class of 2020 in Leo Daschbach and Cruz Culpepper. With the success that Andy Powell has had with middle distance talent, the city of Seattle should be the perfect place for these two up-and-coming stars.

With the exception of Nico Young, you could argue that Daschbach was the best distance recruit in the country out of the Class of 2020. The Arizona native has run 1:49 in the 800 meters, 3:59 in the mile and 8:51 for 3200 meters. He was also the 11th high schooler to break the elusive four minute mile barrier.

Coach Powell has turned many top runners into sub-four milers throughout his coaching career and he now has the opportunity to position Daschbach as a national contender during his freshman year -- just like we saw last year with Sam Tanner.

However, the more interesting aspect of Daschbach’s recruitment that we need to consider is what he could do for this team on the grass. Remember, this is a guy who ran 14:14 for 5000 meters during cross country.

Going into the postseason in the fall of 2019, the Arizona native was seen by some as the top challenger to Nico Young for the NXN title. Daschbach had only lost once during the regular season, but he ultimately suffered an injury before he could qualify for NXN.

With Washington looking to rebound on the cross country course and eventually fight for a podium spot in the near future, Daschbach will give his new team immediate depth, a potential scoring option and maybe even a true front-runner in a lineup that has more questions than answers right now.

We then come to Cruz Culpepper who will likely help this Washington team in many of the same ways that Daschbach will.

The Colorado native has secured outstanding personal bests of 1:48 for 800 meters and 4:00 in the mile. While he might not have the same immediate impact as Daschbach in cross country, he will be another top talent in the middle distances and a key contributor in future relays such as the DMR -- an event that the Huskies have heavily pursued over the past few years.

We should also note that Culpepper placed 20th at the 2019 NXN Championships and has the potential to develop into a true scorer on the grass for the Huskies over the next few years. Between himself and Daschbach, Washington may have secured the two most well-rounded high school distance recruits in the nation.

It was truthfully hard to rank Washington any higher because they put all of their eggs into two baskets and do not have much wiggle room if these two do not pan out as expected or battle injuries throughout their careers. However, few investments have a higher chance of paying off than Daschbach and Culpepper.

Washington is in a good position for cross country with last year’s recruiting class primed for big performances. However, as the Huskies prepare to eventually lose top upperclassmen like Talon Hull and Tibebu Proctor (depending on what they do with their additional eligibility), this year’s class will be responsible for filling those future lineup gaps.

Simply put, even with just two recruits, Washington now has a pair of star talents who fit this roster structure extraordinarily well and strike a great balance between the short-term and long-term goals of this program.

Written by Maura Beattie

Although the Stanford Cardinal didn’t sign a large men’s recruiting class for the 2020-2021 school year, the three men that they did bring in are stellar distance talents who will offer plenty of firepower. All three of these recruits have experience on the national stage and own personal bests across various distances that showcase their strength and versatility.

Colorado's Cole Sprout has been a popular name over the last few years amongst the high school scene, not only in his home state, but across the nation. Sprout has run a remarkable personal best of 4:02 for the mile, as well as 8:46 for two miles. A highly sought after recruit, Sprout has the potential to compete alongside the NCAA’s best almost immediately upon his arrival on campus.

On the cross country course, Sprout has recorded a blazing fast personal best of 14:16 for 5000 meters. His success on the grass has resulted in a 3rd place finish and 7th place finish at NXN in 2018 and 2019, respectively. Depending on who you ask, he is arguably the second or third best distance recruit from the Class of 2020.

Sprout is understandably the headline star when it comes to this recruiting class. However, Utah prep standout Thomas Boyden ran the fastest 1600 meter time on Utah soil in March prior to COVID-19 shutting down the high school track season.

Boyden's times of 4:05 (1600) and 4:04 (mile) set him up nicely to become one of the better milers on the Cardinal roster almost immediately. For perspective, no returning Stanford runner ran faster than 4:06 in the mile last winter.

Boyden has also recorded times of 8:25 (3k) and 8:50 (3200), as well as 14:39 (5k XC). Given his unique balance of endurance-based strength and mile-centric speed, Boyden looks like a true three-season threat in many of the same ways that Sprout is.

We also can't ignore all of the experience that Boyden has gained on the national stage when he placed 12th at the 2019 Foot Locker Championships. He has been at the top of prep running ranks since his junior year and could fill in any gaps on this Stanford roster given the recent departures.

Our final recruit that we need to mention, who hails from Brisbane, Australia, is Ky Robinson. Looking at his personal bests and accolades, Robinson can seemingly do it all. He could add key scoring value in the middle distance events, the steeplechase, the longer distances and on the cross country course.

Robinson owns a 1500 meter PR of 3:52 and a 3000 meter PR of 8:19. If you throw some barriers onto the track for the 3k steeplechase, Robinson has run a personal best of 9:04. On the track, he’s gone 14:32 for 5000 meters. Set up a race on the cross country course and he can run to a strong finish as seen by his pair of top-four finishes at the Australia U18 XC Championships.

With steeplechase national champion Steven Fahy now graduated, Robinson has the potential to be his eventual replacement and emerge as an equally strong distance talent in a few years time.

With so many notable names graduating or transferring out of the Stanford program, it will be Sprout, Boyden and Robinson who bring a different kind of spark to the men of Palo Alto. They will, however, have to battle a very deep roster which is equally as hungry to show off their fitness after sitting behind top talents like Grant Fisher, Thomas Ratcliffe, Alex Ostberg and Steven Fahy for the past few years.

Even with a relatively new coaching staff now leading the Cardinal, this group of Stanford rookies could still make some serious noise and join the other youngsters on this roster in an attempt to build a new identity for the men of Palo Alto.