TSR Collaboration
Jan 3, 202118 min
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Written by John Cusick
The Cougars enter our rankings for the first time in the brief history of our ranked recruiting classes, and they do so with arguably one of their best distance recruiting classes in recent memory. The turnaround started by Coach Poag in Lakewood seems to have taken another leap forward with this group of youngsters.
Leading the class is Alexander Vance who notched two top-15 finishes at the WIAA State Championships during his time in high school, earning a finish as high as 8th in 2018. During, his senior season, Vance broke through on the track as he finished 11th in the mile at the WIAA State Championships. He has run 4:21 over that distance and that came just a week prior to the state meet at his sectional qualifier.
However, where Vance really shines is in the two mile (and longer). At that same state meet, Vance dropped a personal best of 9:15 to finish 5th before heading into his senior cross country season where he ran 15:28 over 5000 meters when he won the Midwest Invitational.
Vance is not only an exceptional talent, but his recent progress is exciting. If he's able to carry that momentum into the NCAA, then he could be a scary-good scorer for the Cougars sooner rather than later.
Next up is Isaac Roberts who is part of the long list of Roberts' siblings who have dominated the 2A Colorado high school scene for the last decade. He is yet another runner who is looking to make an impact almost immediately.
Roberts never finished worse than 7th at the Colorado State Championships in cross country and finally finished on top during his senior campaign. He also finished 30th in the NXR Southwest regional in 2018, proving that he can race at the higher level as well. That is also where he ran 15:28, his personal best over 5k.
On the track, Roberts boasts personal bests of 1:59 (800), 4:26 (1600) and 9:48 (3200), although his cross country performances suggest that he could run faster. During his four years in high school, he accumulated six top-10 finishes, including four inside the top-three, while taking home his lone title in the 3200 meters during his senior year.
It's clear that Roberts has extensive championship experience and has had significant success when racing in big meets. That’s a big factor for a program like CCU as they will continue to battle top teams in the always-loaded RMAC.
Joining the likes of Vance and Roberts are Noah Phillips and Hudson Majeski. These two hold similar personal bests as both men have run 4:36 over the course of 1600 meters and are only separated by five seconds over 5000 meters on the grass.
Phillips hails from Washington, and he has most recently finished 6th in the 800 meters, 1600 meters and 3200 meters in 2019. As for Majeski, he comes from just up I-25 from Fort Collins and most recently finished 10th at the Colorado State Championships in cross country before taking home the Southwest regional title (for small schools) with a personal best of 15:47.
Neither Phillips nor Majeski have broken the 10:00 barrier for 3200 meters, but their 15:52 and 15:47 suggests they can run much faster than that, especially given that Phillips has already run 9:05 for 3k during the indoor season in Washington. Both could become extremely helpful for the Cougars in the near future and they could provide key depth that may eventually translate into scoring contributions in the future.
Nico Ramirez, Aiden Carter, Phillip Cleary and Wilson Eike are the last four recruits who could find themselves in a promising position just a few years down the line. They strike us as development pieces for the future as none of them have run faster than 10:12 for 3200 meters or 16:26 over the 5k distance during cross country (Eike is more of a middle distance runner).
Overall, this Colorado Christian group of rookies is stacked. They have a ton of depth, numerous Colorado natives with strong cross country accolades and plenty of championship experience.
The future is bright for the Cougars of Lakewood, Colorado.
Written by Nate Lopez
The annual national powerhouse finished runner-up at the 2019 D2 NCAA XC Championships and was certainly seeking to reclaim their crown in 2020, an ambition that was upended with COVID-19 interfering. However, the Grizzlies still brought in a quality batch of six freshmen this year who have already played key roles when it comes to bring scoring value to this team.
When talking about Adams State’s recruiting class for this year, one must start with James Dunne* who is an international recruit from Ireland.
*We are including Dunne in this recruiting class as he was born in 2001 and is considered a freshman on Adams State's roster. Other names who are listed as freshmen on Adams State's roster who we did not mention in this article did not graduate in 2020.
The Ireland native heads to Alamosa with some major championship experience under his belt. He won the 2019 and 2020 All-Ireland U20 titles in the 800 meters which makes sense given that his personal best for the event is 1:52. That's a time that makes him a legitimate threat on the NCAA stage.
Dunne also won the 2019 All-Ireland U20 1500 meter title which can be paired with his personal best of 3:53. He has also run a 3k personal best of 8:41.
Now that he's at Adams State, Dunne's presence immediately makes this team better (on paper). He’ll likely be a top-seven scorer during cross country while leading the charge within the middle distance events for years to come. He gives an already-great team a massive spark in all three seasons of competition.
Dunne is clearly the standout of this class, but fellow recruit Elias Perez is a distance-running force who owns personal bests of 4:22 (1600), 9:22 (3200), 14:25 (3mi XC) and 15:03 (5k).
There’s not really much Perez can’t do. He seems to be more gifted in the longer distances, but his 1600 PR shows he’s also not lacking in leg speed. It’s safe to say Perez can jump to the 8k and fight for a scoring spot relatively early in his college career. In fact, he already finished 31st at the Maverick Invitational this past fall, one of the more competitive D2 cross country meets in the nation during the altered 2020 season.
Right behind Perez is Trevor Chapman, a guy who boasts marks of 4:21 (1600), 9:35 (3200), 15:11 (3mi XC) and 15:12 (5k XC). Much like Perez, Chapman has plenty of range. Of course, his bread and butter also seems to be the longer distances. He and Perez should form an intimidating duo in the years to come at Adams State, especially on the grass.
Of course, the rest of this Adams State recruiting class isn't to be looked down upon. The rest of these freshmen offer plenty of depth and cover most of the distance running spectrum.
Will Sacay has run times of 2:02 (800), 4:24 (1600), 9:36 (3200) and 15:53 (5k), showing off his undeniable potential in the long distance events. His 1600 meter PR tells us that he has some leg speed too, but it should be expected that the Grizzlies’ coaches will try to turn that leg speed into a lethal kick for the end of races that are 3000 meters or longer.
Cameron Hunter comes from Frisco, Texas with marks of 4:27 for 1600 meters, 9:33 for 3200 meters and 15:43 for 5k on the track (compared to his 16:09 mark while on the grass). And to boot, Hunter holds a personal best of 2:02 in the 800 meters.
Despite Hunter’s impressive marks on the oval, he never qualified for a Texas state meet on the track. In fact, he only ever participated in one state championship and that was during his senior year of cross country where he finished 64th at the UIL State Cross Country Championship.
Despite the lack of championship experience, Hunter should be able to make an impact on this Grizzlies team as his 3200 and 5k personal bests are nothing to scoff at.
Abdi Abade joins Adams State with modest personal bests, although his 800 PR of 1:57 is fairly strong, giving us the indication that he'll be used as more of a middle distance specialist. With so much depth in the longer distances, Abade will look to eventually develop and give the Grizzlies a strong half-mile option in the future, a luxury that Adams State hasn't always had.
Meanwhile, Nathaniel Williams has run 9:58 (3200) as well as 16:21 (3mi XC) and 16:18 (5k). Those are respectable marks, but it may take some time for Williams to further develop. He has a strong list of times in the distance events, so he may be someone who gets better the longer the race is, meaning that the 8k and 10k could be his best events in college.
Carlos Perez heads to Colorado from Brea, California. He comes in as more of a developmental piece for the Grizzlies. He holds personal bests of 2:07 for 800 meters, 4:40 for 1600 meters, 10:24 for 3200 meters and has run 17:21 for a 5k on grass (he has also run 16:13 for three miles). His ability to adjust to the altitude and handle the workload of training presented to him will be the biggest factors. If he can do that, then Perez could develop into a nice depth piece for the Grizzlies in the coming years.
Finally, we have DeShawn Goodwin, a 15:50 (5k) runner who has also run times of 4:40 (1600) and 10:10 (3200). It seems as though Goodwin is slightly lacking in leg speed / turnover when comparing his other marks. Similar to Williams, Goodwin should seek to become a cross country scorer with the Grizzlies down the road. That, of course, won't be easy as Goodwin is one of four Adams State recruits to have a 5k PR under 16 minutes.
Even the "developmental" guys of this recruiting class look promising. The firepower that these freshmen showed in high school was exceptionally strong and it seems that most of these men appear to fit the traditional long-distance mold of Adams State's roster.
Written by Nate Lopez, additional contributions from John Cusick
The Colorado Mines men were the 2019 D2 NCAA cross country champions, but they aren't settling for just that. The Orediggers have their mind set on establishing a dynasty and the evidence is plain to see with their 2020 recruiting class. The Mines coaches brought in a whole new distance running platoon that’s 11-men strong.
Yes, 11 new freshmen.
All of whom have run under 16:30 for 5k.
We’ll start with Matthew Mettler who joins the Colorado Mines men with impressive range, running times of 1:58 (800), 4:22 (1600), 9:55 (3200) and 15:09 (5k).
Mettler seems to be the cream of this crop when it comes to the 5000 meters and will aim to translate his success to the 8k for Colorado Mines men as he should easily handle the jump in distance.
When you consider his versatility in the middle distances, Mettler looks like he could be the next Luke Julian of this roster. It's rare to have that kind of three-season threat, but that's likely why Mettler was also being recruited by top D1 programs like Portland and Colorado State. After all, this is a guy who finished 14th at the 2019 NXR Southwest regional meet.
Another top talent in this batch of freshmen is Joseph Pearlman who comes aboard with personal best of 9:28 (3200) and 15:47 (5k). Pearlman’s value is more openly aligned with the longer distances. His 9:28 PR is in the upper-echelon when it comes to D2 recruits and it shows that he has great potential in an event like the 3k.
We then have Kale Cassidy who is bringing marks of 8:51 (3k) and 15:57 (5k) to Golden, Colorado. Cassidy should be interesting to watch develop over these next four years as his resume mimics the same value that we see in Pearlman's resume.
What’s really intriguing is Cassidy's 3k mark of 8:51 which converts to a 3200 time of 9:30, a significantly faster mark than his listed personal best of 10:04. His 15:57 (5k) personal best is strong, but his 3k PR is the real indicator of his true fitness, leading us to believe that he has a great chance to eventually become a regular scorer for Colorado Mines down the road.
Let's chat about Andrew Gebhart who has competed in 12 Idaho State Championships where he has never finished worse than 7th. In fact, that 7th place result happened during his senior season of cross country and before that his worst finish was a 4th place result.
Gebhart's lone title came in 2018 on the grass when he ran 15:54 (5k), his personal best to date. He’s also laid down marks of 1:58 (800), 4:28 (1600) and 9:52 (3200) on the track. While he may not be at the same level that Mettler is, it feels like we could pick a discipline for Gebhart and he'll likely excel at it. With extensive experience at the Idaho State Championships, it's hard not to like what he brings to the table for the Orediggers.
Jack Lawson has marks of 4:21 for 1600 meters and 9:39 for 3200 meters. He had just run that 3200 time before his outdoor season was cut short and he was likely headed for a faster mark in the 1600 as well. The Mission Viejo native will need to take a year to acclimate to the altitude and if he does, then he could be vital piece who allows his momentum to carry him to new heights in the NCAA.
Caleb Coatney looks to be peaking at the right time after running lifetime bests during the 2020 indoor season. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see what he was capable of on the outdoor circuit. However, his mark of 4:37 was 11 seconds better than any race during outdoors. His 9:58 3200 is 51 seconds better than any outdoor race.
Coming from the east coast, Alex Shaw brings with him strong marks that fits the mold of recent Colorado Mines runners. He ran 4:27 for 1600 meters and that was during indoors. He also ran 9:43 for 3200 meters as well as 16:27 over 5k during the fall. He’s another project that we can check back in with after his freshman year as he adjusts to the altitude and training.
Jeremiah Vaille and Max Bonenberger were teammates at Summit High School and will continue to be teammates at Colorado Mines. And as it may be, they fall into the same boat when you look at their marks on paper.
Both of these recruits have sub-par marks at 1600 meters and 3200 meters, but both have broken 16:00 on a cross country course. They ran those times at the Colorado 4A Region 1 meet while leading Summit to the Colorado State Championships where they both finished inside the top-16. You are probably looking at two ideal 5k and 10k runners given their clear athletic favoritism towards the longer distances.
Now it's time to talk about Nick Engleman who has run 4:28 (1600), 9:51 (3200) and 15:44 (5k). Engleman adds to the depth the Colorado Mines men, not just in cross country, but also on the track. Like many of these recruits, he still needs additional time to develop, but Engleman seems to be a competent three-season runner.
Ben Longaker looks to be the only recruit immediately headed to the middle distance side of things as he ran 1:59 for 800 meters. His 4:45 over 1600 meters and 10:54 for 3200 meters doesn’t scream "long distance athlete". That said, he has run 16:03 (5k), so we won’t rule out his cross country potential until we actually see what he toes the line for.
It would come as no surprise if we didn’t see any of these athletes race for Mines until the fall of 2021. This roster is already so deep that it may take a while for these proven and talented high schoolers to have any impact.
However, whenever they do toe the line with Orediggers singlets, they’ll have a chance to be a problem. If you thought the recent success from Colorado Mines was just a flash in the pan, then this recruiting class may force you to think otherwise.
Written by John Cusick
With Charlie Sweeney and Taylor Stack on the backend of their college careers, Western Colorado needed to bring in one of the best recruiting classes in 2020 to help shore up their future. Sure enough, they did just that.
After unexpectedly finishing 3rd at the 2018 NCAA Championships, we looked at the Mountaineers and were concerned about where their depth was after Sweeney, Stack and recent breakout performer Evan Sutherland. However, after evaluating their current freshman class for this season, it’s safe to say that the Mountaineers will continue competing at a high level for the foreseeable future.
The first recruit for Western Colorado is Montana Montgomery who never finished worse than 4th in a Nevada state meet and was 3rd in the "medium schools" division at the 2018 Nike Southwest regional meet. Montgomery also ran the rare triple at the 2019 Nevada Track and Field State Championships where he finished 3rd in the 800 meters and was runner-up in both the 1600 meters and 3200 meters.
The Mountaineer rookie holds personal bests of 1:57 (800), 4:28 (1600) and 9:35 (3200). At the aforementioned Nike Southwest regional meet, he covered that course in 15:58 (5k), just sneaking under the 16:00 barrier. He comes to Western Colorado with talent that, if tapped correctly, could lead to yet another low-stick runner leading the charge for a team that is looking to get back on top of the D2 world.
The next two men who will likely impact the track team more than the cross country team are Antonio Marquez, who has run 1:58 for 800 meters, and fellow recruit Daniel Carr, who has also run 1:59 for 800 meters. Western Colorado has history of developing competitive half-milers and they now have two encouraging young prospects who could make similar improvements and bring some scoring diversity to a long-distance oriented team.
As we work our way down the list of Western recruits, we find ourselves evaluating Aidan Scott, Brady Laboret, Jackson Long and Matthew Storer who are all headed to Gunnison, Colorado with 3200 meter marks under the 10:00 barrier.
Scott makes his way from Castle Rock to Gunnison after appearing in three total state meets (two in cross country, one on the track). He finished 16th in 5A over 3200 meters (2019) and had there been a 2020 season, we may have seen him in both the 1600 meters and 3200 meters for a last impression.
During time in high school, he 4:32 for 1600 meters, 9:42 for 3200 meters and traversed the Nike Southwest regional course in a promising time of 15:49. He’ll be a strong fit within this program in just a few years time.
As for Laboret, he lines up as an almost identical recruit to that of Scott as he has run 4:31 for 1600 meters and 9:39 for 3200 meters. His experience of championship racing mostly comes from state meets in cross country as he finished 17th at the 2018 UIL State Cross Country Championships and later ran 15:31 at the 2019 UIL Region 2 XC Championships a year later.
Long is another Texas recruit who comes in with similar personal bests as Scott and Laboret. He’s covered 1600 meters in 4:30 and 3200 meters in 9:33, making him the fastest time-wise of the four recruits that we mentioned above.
Long has most recently won the 2019 TAPPS State Championship and that was on the heels of two runner-up finishes in the 1600 and 3200 during the 2019 track circuit. In fact, Long has never finished worse than 5th in any state meet dating back to his first appearance in 2017. Not only is he consistent, but he knows how to perform in championship fields.
As for Storer, he doesn’t hold the same level of personal bests as the aforementioned three, but he does hold the crown at the 5k discipline. Despite only running 4:38 for 1600 meters and 9:59 for 3200 meters, Storer has run an eye-catching 15:11 over 5000 meters. That's best 5k time of any Western recruit in this class.
It’s clear that Storer can run faster on the track if he’s able to run 15:11 on the grass, and it’s a bet that the Mountaineers are surely banking on. Don't be surprised if Storer finds himself a varsity role in Western Colorado's top seven as soon as next fall. He already finished 18th (running unattached) at the Maverick Invitational this past fall.
The final recruits for Western this year include John Houdeshell, Patrick Jirele, Deagan Fahrney, Frank Decew, Joel Carlson and Ben Salinas. They are all grouped together here because they haven’t broken the 10:00 mark for 3200 meters. That, however, does not mean they won’t be valuable recruits.
Houdeshell and Fahrney have both broken 16:00 over 5k on the grass which tells us they should be able to run faster than their personal bests of 10:10 and 10:48, respectively, for 3200 meters. Houdeshell has run 4:31 for 1600 meters, but Fahrney should be able to run faster than his 4:53 indicates.
The other names who we mentioned are truthfully more on the developmental side and are mainly long-term pieces as far as depth is concerned (at least for now). At the very least, they give Western Colorado plenty of options for the future.
This was an important recruiting class for the Mountaineers given the mass number of graduations that they should be expecting in the near future. With some immediate impact from these recruits, we could see Western battling for a podium as soon as next year.
Written by John Cusick
In just about every sport, depth reigns supreme. That’s no different when it comes to cross country and Grand Valley State has made sure to continue to improve their depth with an outrageous 18 (!!!) distance recruits heading into the 2020 season.
The first six athletes who we are going to talk about will likely make their impact known within the middle distance world as they have all run under 2:00 for 800 meters. In fact, three of them have run 1:55 already.
Scott Spaanstra, Aidan Kraus and Patrick Lyell have run 1:55 with Spaanstra having the most range of the three. He’s run 4:24 for 1600 meters, 9:38 for 3200 meters and 15:36 (5k) on the grass. The Michigan native can probably pick any discipline he wants and be successful at it which is always a good problem to have if you're the Lakers.
Spaanstra doesn’t have a ton of championship experience, but he did win the MITS Indoor State Championships in the 800 meters where he ran his personal best. He has seemingly taken a leap from his junior to senior seasons and there’s no telling how good he might become under the tutelage of Coach Baltes.
Kraus doesn’t have the same range as Spaanstra as he has run 4:32 for 1600 meters and 16:12 (5k XC). He doesn’t have a 3200 meter time, but there’s no reason to believe that he couldn’t run under the 9:50 barrier. Kraus will likely be part of a middle distance group that has continued to be a problem at the national level in D2.
Lyell is the last of the 1:55 half-milers for GVSU and that’s most likely where he will be for the next four years. Lyell hasn’t raced anything else outside of a 5k for cross country (16:18 for what it’s worth) and his personal best of 1:55 came from his junior season when he placed 3rd at the OHSAA State Track and Field Championships.
Ty Puskar, Talon Knauf and Ethan Pyeatt are the other three athletes who have run under 2:00 and they also look to be athletes headed to the middle distance discipline. Puskar has run 1:57, Knauf has run 1:58 and Pyeatt has run 1:59. Their 1600/mile times are respectable, but not anything that really matches their impressive half-mile accolades.
Now that we’ve tackled the middle distance group, let’s take a look at the rest of the 12 recruits for the Lakers.
Jared Neff, Keagan Stuckey and Jack Duininck have all run 2:00 for 800 meters, but have also shown some promise in the longer distances and we expect them to find their way into those events at the NCAA level.
Neff has run 4:27 for 1600 meters and 9:44 for 3200 meters. His 5k on a cross country course comes in at 15:54. Meanwhile, Stuckey has run 4:41 over 1600 meters, but has run 15:56 over 5k during cross country. Duininck has covered three miles in a cross country race in 15:56.
These three come in with similar capabilities and should improve in similar fashion, giving the GVSU team lots of depth to work with in the near future.
Brenden Faulkner and Hunter Ashlock both come into the program with marks of 2:01 for a half mile while Faulkner’s only other mark is 17:06 (5k). Given the lack of marks for other races, these two look to be joining the likes of the middle distance group that continues to get better as each season passes.
Jason Millis posted personal bests during the 2020 indoor season in both the 1600 (4:21) and the 3200 (9:38). That came on the heels of his best cross country season where he finished 12th at the MHSAA State Championships. That was an improvement of 140 places in one year. That's a strong finish and we shouldn't underestimate Millis if his improvement could be brought with him into the NCAA.
Elias Bergman heads to Grand Rapids from Illinois and brings valuable experience to the program. He competed all four years at the IHSA Cross Country State Championship. In his first state meet appearance, he finished 2nd in both the prelims and the finals where he ran his personal best of 4:21 for 1600 meters. Bergman has also run 9:56 for 3200 meters and despite a personal best of 16:19 in the 5k on grass, he covered three miles in a comparatively faster time of 15:02.
Daniel Lambert has similar marks to that of Bergman and Millis and his story is kind of the same. In his junior campaign, he ran 4:24 to qualify for his first OHSAA State Track and Field Championship where he finished 9th. That same season, he ran 9:54 for 3200 meters.
Lambert finished 12th at the OHSAA Ohio State Cross Country Championship and was thought to be a top-10 contender the following year before he missed the entire 2019 season. It’s a shame the 2020 season was stripped as Lambert was improving his stock at a healthy rate.
Caleb Swart, after never breaking 10:00 in the 3200 meters during the outdoor circuit, Swart ran 9:32 in his first 3200 race of the 2020 indoor season. The week prior to that, he shaved nine seconds off of his 1600 meter best when he ran 4:25. Swart has raw potential that Grand Valley is known for tapping into and there’s no telling the strides that he could make. Few recruits have more momentum than him.
Justin Hill was six places behind Millis at the MHSAA State Championships finishing 18th. It was also the fastest cross country race of his life after running 15:56. He also ran 9:34 for 3200 meters and 4:26 for 1600 meters and looks to be a strong case for a 3k stud while being a true 5k threat. He never ran at a state track meet, but was a four-time state qualifier in cross country.
Sean McCauley comes from Pine Creek, Colorado but decided to venture to Michigan to join the Lakers. He has run 15:54 for a 5k on the grass which is as nice as his 3k mark of 9:02.
Colten Cripe is the last recruit for Grand Valley State who we need to mention. He comes in with a 1600 meter time of 4:27 and has covered a 5k course in 16:03.
This group of athletes is extremely talented and they have joined a program where their development is going to be the biggest factor. In just a couple of years, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a good chunk of these names leading the Lakers to national titles.