TSR Collaboration
Jan 8, 20219 min
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Written by Brett Haffner
Hailing from out east, Johns Hopkins was looking to be one of the most lethal teams in D3 last fall after their 5th place finish at 2019 NCAA Cross Country Championships...then a pandemic got in the way.
Even so, the Blue Jays have established themselves as an up-and-coming team that their foes will have to continue to deal with and this year’s recruiting class only helps them become even stronger.
Jonas Larson from Jesuit High School (Oregon) was an NXN qualifier with his high school team, placing 167th at the national meet. He also boasts impressive personal bests of 9:29 (two-mile) and 15:41 (5k), taking 19th in the OSAA 6A State Championship.
Gavin McElhennon (Gonzaga College High, D.C.), Matt Sandifer (Germantown Academy, Pennsylvania), and Valdis Slokenbergs (Geneva Community High, Illinois) have all established themselves as strong milers in high school, each running 4:23, 4:26 and 4:24, respectively.
Not only that, but McElhennon has also run 9:25 in the two-mile while Sandifer and Slokenbergs have run 9:36 and 9:45 in the 3200 meters, respectively.
Charles Teeter of Webster Groves High in Missouri is another quality recruit for Johns Hopkins, running 9:34 (3200) and 16:11 (5k XC), as is Sean Enright of Sherwood High in Maryland who has run 9:45 (3200) and 15:59 (5k XC).
This is a recruiting class that would be competitive with some of the better D2 recruiting classes in the NCAA. There's a good chance that multiple men from this freshmen group could have an impact on this team sooner rather than later. There doesn't appear to be a ton of "developmental" recruits or "projects" who will require the full length of their collegiate eligibility to be competitive. On paper, this class consists of recruits who can be realistic contributors in the next few years.
The Blue Jays were already looking to be a dark horse for a podium finish in the fall of 2020, but this recruiting class will only strengthen their chances at taking home a trophy in 2021 on the grass.
Written by Brett Haffner
Is it really a surprise that North Central landed on this list? I think not. With the reputation that the Cardinals have as a historic D3 powerhouse, they will naturally land a good deal of talented recruits. With a large roster capacity, North Central managed to land 22 freshmen this year.
TWENTY-TWO?!? That has to be one of the biggest recruiting classes in the nation, regardless of division. The Cardinals often do a great job of bringing in recruits with a large range of abilities to help continue their running careers at the collegiate level, especially from their home state in Illinois.
Instead of talking about all 22 rookies, we have opted to highlight only a handful of the guys who could be making an impact for North Central in the somewhat near future. One thing to note about most of these Illinois recruits is that they run three-miles (not 5k) in cross country, so we’ll be making use of their three-mile times.
We’ll start off with a few guys who made a major difference on their respective high school teams at the Illinois State Championships. Jacob Kluckhohn of Wheaton Warrenville South was a pivotal member of WWS’ state title (2018) as well as their runner-up performance (2019) at the IHSA 3A state meet where he has placed 14th (2018) and 28th (2019).
Kluckhohn also ran at the NXN Championships in 2018 and 2019, placing 123rd and 94th, respectively. With promising personal bests of 4:23 (1600), 9:34 (3200) and 14:43 (3mi XC), it's hard to view Kluckhohn as anything but the full package when it comes to his recruiting value.
Max Svienty, teammate of Josh Methner at John Hersey High School, is another solid contributor like Kluckhohn. He placed 20th at the 2018 IHSA 3A state meet in cross country and earned an impressive 26th place finish at NXR Midwest Championships to cap off his senior year. His personal bests are 4:28 (1600), 9:26 (3200), 14:46 (3mi XC) and 15:39 (5k XC).
Ryan Arnold (St. Charles North) and John Heneghan (Downers Grove South) are two more freshman Cardinals who ran in the 9:30’s (3200) in high school, with Arnold running 9:30 and Heneghan running 9:38. Their cross country times were also no slouch either, with Arnold running 15:02 and Heneghan 15:00 (again, for three miles).
Matt Shiminetto (Downers Grove North), Jonathan Olenek (St. Charles East), and Logan Tanttu (White Bear Lake, Minnesota) are three more guys who ran some solid times in high school and could be key names to watch out during their times with the Cardinals.
The great thing about North Central is that they are able to develop guys -- whose personal bests wouldn’t even be mentioned in these rankings -- into multiple time All-Americans (and even National Champions), citing the great work that goes on in Naperville, Illinois.
This class is not only deep, but they are super experienced and their top talents have very few weaknesses when it comes to their overall resumes. They could be quite dangerous over the next few years.
Written by Brett Haffner
Next up on our list are the perennial contenders from St. Louis. Year in and year out, Washington U. finds themselves challenging for a podium spot. With this year’s recruiting class, along with their already talented roster, good things appear to be in the works for the Bears.
The interesting thing about this class is their low time spread when looking at their 1600 and mile times between most of their recruits -- all of which are pretty speedy, as well.
The one exception to that low spread is Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff. Hailing from Princeton, New Jersey, he’s run some impressive times in his career, posting times of 1:57 (800), 4:01 (1500) and 9:06 (two-mile). He looks like someone who could step into the Bears’ starting lineup right away and be an instant contributor. Those are some top-tier times that should not be overlooked.
As for the other recruits, the Bears managed to score a whole slew of guys who have run between 4:24 to 4:32 in the 1600 or mile. Let's take a look at a list of those times and names...
4:24: Karsin Dass (Ann Arbor Huron, Michigan)
4:26: Cullen Capuano (Gonzaga College High, D.C.)
4:26: Rishi Sharma (The Hotchkiss School, New Jersey)
4:26: Will Houser (Glenbrook South, Illinois)
4:27: Kyle Puckett (St. John’s School, Texas)
4:32: Micah Benson (Lexington, Connecticut)
4:32: Jack Maranz (Westfield, New Jersey)
It also helps that four of these seven men have also broken 9:40 in the 3200 meters or two-mile. That list includes names such as Benson (9:27 two-mile), Capuano (9:30 two-mile), Maranz (9:36 3200) and Sharma (9:32 3200).
This contingent of rookies creates a very deep and very strong recruiting class for the Bears. In fact, they couldn't have joined this program at a better time. Washington U. will certainly welcome some of this younger firepower to their roster after losing top ace Nick Matteucci to graduation.
Written by Hannah Thorn
While 2020 may have stopped the Sagehens from defending their national title, the 2019 cross country champions did not let the loss of a season stop them from bringing in a strong recruiting class.
This freshman class is headlined by the 2019 Wisconsin DII state champion, Lucas Florsheim. The Shorewood native has personal bests of 4:33 for the mile, 9:41 for 3200 meters and 15:45 for 5000 meters. Florsheim made a big jump during his junior year after finishing 8th in DII at state cross country and then 5th in the two-mile later that spring. He was set to be the one of the fastest returners in that race before the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted spring sports.
Florsheim does have some championship experience as he raced NXR Heartland coming off his state meet performance. He finished a quietly impressive 25th place in that race with a PR of 15:45, missing national qualifying by less than 20 seconds. He will be a strong runner that the rest of this class can key off of in the future.
Pomona Pitzer is one of few schools in DIII that recruits international talents. A native of New Zealand, Colin Kirkpatrick is a unique case as he comes to Pomona Pitzer with some overseas experience as well as some California high school racing experience.
In March, Kirkpatrick raced at the New Zealand National Championships, advancing to the final in the 1500 meter during his gap year before entering the collegiate realm. That is some wildly valuable experience for a freshman to carry into a national championship caliber team.
Kirkpatrick holds personal bests of 1:57 (800), 4:01 (1500) and 8:49 (3k). While he seems to be better on the speed side of things, there is no doubt that he will fare well in cross country. He placed 12th in Division 5 at the 2017 California State XC Championships and ran a eye-catching time of 15:17 (5k) at the New Zealand National Championships last March.
Joining Florsheim and Kirkpatrick are a number of other strong runners. Ian Horsburgh from Massachusetts, Derek Fearon from Colorado and Bennett Booth-Genth from Pennsylvania are just a few of the 10+ recruits that Coach Jordan Carpenter, 2019 DIII National Coach of the Year, brought in.
Those freshmen have run times under 4:30 for 1600 meters and/or have other great times in events like the 3000 meters or two-mile. In fact, Horsburgh has run 8:43 (3k) and 9:27 (two-mile) while Booth-Genth owns one of the fastest 800 meter times among all D3 recruits with a personal best of 1:54.
On a team that is loaded with long-distance talent, Booth-Genth will give Pomona Pitzer some key scoring diversity in the middle distances.
The Sagehens are building a team that is likely aiming to be at the top of the podium year after year. Their national title from 2019 was huge from a recruiting perspective and so far, it has yielded multiple individuals who can offer scoring value in all three seasons right away.
Written by Kevin Fischer
Williams were arguably the favorite to win the national cross country title in the fall of 2019, but ended up finishing 3rd in muddy conditions in Louisville. Other than Aidan Ryan, the team’s core was filled with seniors and it looked as though that was their last shot at glory for a while before going into a (minor) rebuild of sorts.
However, the Ephs’ 2020 recruiting class will give this team a chance to reload instead of rebuild. The talent they brought in this fall was unmatched by any other DIII program in the nation.
We’ll start with Luke Tichi. The Durango HS (Colorado) standout ran a cross country 5k personal best of 15:22 and performed incredibly well at the championship level, finishing 4th at the Colorado 4A meet before placing 40th at the NXR Southwest Championships. On the track he has displayed great range with notable times of 1:58 (800) and 4:21 (1600).
John Lucey from Newburyport ran a personal best of 15:51 on the grass, but his 16:18 on the absolutely brutal Gardner Golf Course, where he finished 2nd at the Massachusetts Division 2 State Championships, was probably a more impressive performance. He also came within nine spots of a trip to San Diego with his 19th place finish at the Foot Locker Northeast Championship. He owns track times of 4:32 (mile) and 9:34 (two-mile).
Pat Theveny ran a cross country personal best of 15:36 (5k) and recorded a 40th place finish at the Pennsylvania 3A State Championships. He has also run times of 4:28 (1600), 8:53 (3000) and 9:30 (two-mile) on the track.
Christopher Ratcliffe, the younger brother of D1 distance star Thomas Ratcliffe, comes to Williamstown after spending a postgraduate year at Andover Phillips Academy during the 2019-20 academic year. He brings with him personal bests of 15:38 (5k XC), 4:07 (1500), 4:27 (mile) and 9:33 (two-mile). If the success of his brother is any indication for how Christopher will fare at the collegiate level, then Williams may have landed an absolute steal.
Nathaniel Lentz had his outbreak season during the 2020 indoor campaign where he ran his most impressive time of 9:34 for 3200 meters at the New York State Championships. That's a very strong time for most D3 recruits, but Lentz ran that time on an indoor oval, making his performance arguably more impressive.
Jinwoo Kang of Phillips-Exter (NH) only has a listed 5k best of 17:12, but it should be noted that NEPSTA athletes often do not have many cross country results posted online. His foot-speed, however, is without question. He has run 1:56 over 800 meters, a time that makes him one of the faster middle distance runners among this year's group of D3 freshmen.
Jacob Lehman-Duke, who boasts personal bests of 4:27 (1600), 9:28 (3200) and 15:43 (5k XC) will also be a big factor for Williams in the years to come. He does not shy away from the big meets as his best cross country performance came at the 2019 California's D5 State Championships where he finished 2nd overall.
The loss of key veterans will be tough to overcome, but this recruiting class will allow the Ephs to stay in the upper-echelon of the best D3 programs in the NCAA for the next few years.