TSR Collaboration
Dec 19, 202311 min
Updated: Dec 21, 2023
Written by Maura Beattie & Garrett Zatlin, additional edits & commentary via Garrett Zatlin
Click here to see our Just Missed and Honorable Mention names.
Listed eligibility takes redshirts and Covid-related extensions into consideration.
TFRRS is used as a general, but not strict, guide when determining eligibility.
Everytime that we have doubted Chloe Scrimgeour over the last year, the redshirt sophomore has made us regret it.
Last spring, she qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships over 5000 meters, and then proceeded to run a massive PR (at the time) of 15:32 to finish 8th place for the final All-American spot.
Going into the fall months, we put Scrimgeour as our first "Just Missed" name in our preseason individual cross country rankings. Of course, she blew that expectation out of the water and was a clear top-10 name, nationally. I then predicted Scrimgeour to run a very generous 5k PR of 15:26 at Boston U. earlier this month...and then she ran 15:24.
At this point, we're done questioning whether or not this Hoya star is among the most competitive women in the country. She very clearly is and she's still improving, too! While her resume is a bit one-dimensional to the 5k, Scrimgeour's consistency and ongoing excellence in loaded fields made it too challenging to leave her out of our top-25.
There may not have been an individual more challenging to rank this season than Washington veteran, Carley Thomas. This long-time Husky talent has been a top name for years, but has had her fair share challenges, many of which she has made up with unexpectedly phenomenal performances.
In the winter of 2020, Thomas was viewed as a legitimate national title contender over 800 meters with Nia Akins. She was tactially sound and very consistent. But after the pandemic wiped out a chance at NCAA gold, Thomas was hit with another set back, breaking her femur later that summer.
Since then, Thomas has rallied back, only to return to an era where multiple women are running all-time great marks for 800 meters. She has proven to be extremely dangerous when she catches fire, but the national meet has yet to yield an All-American honor for Thomas over the half-mile distance.
If Thomas hadn't run jaw-dropping marks of 1:59.95 (800) and 2:37.42 (1k) this past summer, then a spot in our preseason rankings may have been a bit more challenging to justify. But when you pair her extensive experience with strong race IQ and elite times, there are way too many good things on her resume to leave her out of our top-25.
Klaudia Kazimierska is one of the best pure milers that the NCAA has. The Polish distance talent had a rocky start to her freshman indoor track season, but looked outstanding in latter-half of both last winter and spring, running times of 4:32 in the mile and later 4:08 for 1500 meters. She would also earn two All-American honors between those two events.
In terms of natural talent, Kazimierska is one of the best names in this section of our rankings. After all, this is someone who has actually run faster over 1500 meters back in Poland in September of 2020 (4:06). She also holds a 2:03 (800) mark and a 2:39 (1k) PR from that time period as well.
Knowing that this still-young distance ace is a two-time All-American, and has previously proven that she can run even faster, is super impressive. That upside is exciting to think about, especially as Kazimierska continues to grow more and more comfortable with racing at the NCAA level.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, a true freshman has cracked our rankings! Of course, if you're familiar with Sophia Gorriaran's resume, then this is hardly a surprise.
This Harvard rookie was an all-time star at the high school level. Gorriaran left the prep level with marks of 2:00.58 (800), 2:39 (1k), 4:20 (1500) and 4:37 (mile). That former mark eventually led the stil-young middle distance star to the Olympic Trials.
So far, Gorriaran has looked awesome. Her first race of the indoor track season led to her finishing 2nd place overall with a new 4:36 mile PR. And truthfully, she ran one of the smarter races of anyone in that field.
At TSR, we often exercise caution when ranking superstar freshmen. Yes, most of them turn out to be elite collegiate talents, but it's a never guarantee. Even so, everything on Gorriaran's resume suggests that she'll likely be ranked higher in our top-25 come February.
Back in 2022, Virginia Tech’s Lindsey Butler capped off a brilliant season when she won the 800 meter title at the NCAA Indoor Championships. However, last year, Butler was getting back into racing shape following a season-ending injury during the 2022 outdoor track season and didn't seem as ideally positioned to repeat as the 800-meter national champion.
So instead, the Hokie star chose to attack the mile.
Butler’s killer 800 meter speed suited her well for the mile as she dropped a 4:31 PR in the event last season. The Virginia Tech veteran took that time and qualified for the 2023 indoor national meet where she ultimately finished 10th. Butler wasn’t able to tap into her speed late into that race, but 2024 gives her a chance to redeem herself.
Right now, both the 800 meters and the mile are returning reigning indoor NCAA champions, but there’s always a chance that someone rains on those champion’s parades. And if there’s someone ready to do that it’s an experienced veteran like Lindsey Butler who has done it before.
In theory, a tactical mile race at the national meet may still be the better option for the Hokie ace as not many of her competitors will be able to match her 2:01 (800) speed. Of course, if Butler has returned to her 2022 form, then there's a good chance that we're severely underranking her right now.
Yet another name who was incredibly tricky to rank, Ceili McCabe leaves us with more questions than we have answers to. When this West Virginia star is at her best, she's flirting with being a top-10 distance talent in the country. But after not seeing her race this past fall, it's hard to know what kind of fitness she is in.
On paper, McCabe was a nightmare to line up against last winter. The West Virginia star ran jaw-dropping times of 4:31 (mile) and 8:50 (3k), the latter taking down Olivia Markezich at the 2022 version of the Boston U. Season Opener. However, a 6th place finish at the indoor national meet in the 3k, while solid, left us wanting a little bit more.
McCabe is probably ranked too low in these rankings, especially when you look at how incredibly fast those personal bests are. And yet, the winter of 2024 will seemingly be the fastest that the women's 3k has ever been.
Pairing that with the fact that we haven't seen McCabe since last spring (where she focused on the steeplechase), as well as our uncertainty about whether or not she'll race this season, is why we have her listed at TSR #20.
Is this the right spot for Amy Bunnage? Honestly, I'm not too sure. Some people may want her ranked higher while others may want to be more cautious with her preseason spot. But based on her incredible resume from her prep days, this seems like a fair middle ground.
With incredible personal bests of 4:14 (1500), 8:51 (3k) and 15:21 (5k), Bunnage has enough natural talent to be a major player on the national collegiate landscape this winter. Of course, those marks were run on an outdoor track and as we saw this past fall, inexperience caught up to the Stanford Aussie at the NCAA XC Championships.
Even so, the track is where Bunnage has seemingly built her reputation. If she simply translates most, not necessarily all, of the success that she had prior to coming to the NCAA, then this preseason ranking will be more than justified.
Wilma Nielsen jumped onto the scene during the 2023 indoor track season when she ran 2:38.95 for 1000 meters. That performance put the former Bradley runner roughly two-tenths of a second behind 1000-meter collegiate record holder, Danae Rivers, on the all-time list. From there, things only got better for Nielsen who validated that 1k effort with a very strong 2:02 (800) PR to secure a berth to the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Racing against the best of the best, the rising junior proved that her breakout races were no fluke en route to finishing 7th and earning her first All-American honor over 800 meters. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see the Swedish talent grace the outdoor oval as she trained in her home country for much of the spring and all of the summer. Of course, when you realize that she went on to run 4:11 (1500), we can't be too upset about her decision.
Nielsen will be joining the Washington Huskies this indoor track season and is expected to continue raising her ceiling. She will have the opportunity to train alongside women in one of the nation’s premier middle distance programs and could continue to chip away at her PR, inching closer and closer to that 2:00 mark.
Sometimes, there's no need for any fancy analysis. Flomena Asekol is just flat-out great and looks as strong as she ever has been.
Traditionally a miler, this former Alabama runner thrived over the 1500 meter and the mile distances before coming to Florida, posting personal bests of 4:11 (1500) and 4:32 (mile). Not only that, but after a monster 6th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships this past fall, the Gator star ran an incredible time of 8:52 for 3000 meters at Boston University!
The only reason why Asekol is listed at TSR #17 and not higher is largely because we don't always know what we're going to get from her on the national stage (specifically on the track). She placed an outstanding 3rd place in the mile at last year's NCAA Indoor Championships, but she doesn't have another D1 All-American honor on the track outside of that.
Regardless, Asekol is seemingly in the best shape of her life right now and her recent performances have been phenomenal. If she's in a fast enough mile race, I'd be curious to see how close to 4:30 she could get.
The rise of Oregon sophomore Maddy Elmore has not gone unnoticed. Elmore was solid during her redshirt freshman indoor track season in 2023, concluding the winter months with a 4:35 mile PR. But by the time the standout Duck was let loose on the outdoor oval, Elmore truly broke out in a big way.
The now-former redshirt freshman headed to sunny California and turned some heads with a 4:13 (1500) performance. That, however, would only be the tip of the iceberg. Elmore continued to improve on the track before ultimately racing her way to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 1500 meters alongside teammates Izzy Thornton-Bott and Klaudia Kazimierska thanks to her incredible (and somewhat unexpected) 4:08 PR.
As a redshirt freshman, just qualifying for the outdoor national meet was commendable, but Elmore exceeded expectations by making the 1500 meter finals and earning a repectable 10th place finish.
As we enter the middle of the 2023-2024 academic year, the sophomore stud kept the momentum rolling in cross country and was just seconds away from the top-40 at the NCAA XC Championships despite being an All-American-caliber runner the entire season. Anyone who monitored her fall campaign knew that she had raised her fitness to a new level.
Luckily, the disappointment didn’t last long for Elmore as she headed to Boston University and not only knocked 21 seconds off her 3k PR en route to an 8:50 mark, but also broke the Oregon school record previously held by Olympian, Jessica Hull!
Elmore is going to be a major threat in either the mile or the 3k this indoor track season given her incredible well-rounded skillset. She has strength, speed and the Shalane Flanagan effect. This still-rising Duck is no longer flying under the radar. Instead, she's one of the more dynamic and consistently great distance runners who has yet to find her ceiling.
If she keeps going up on this ascent, then the top-10 could feature her in the near future.
When Mia Barnett left Virginia for UCLA, the Cavaliers turned to their other young distance talent, Margot Appleton, to step up as the team's new focal star. And sure enough, she delivered star-caliber performances throughout 2023.
Appleton was very clearly learning and growing during the 2023 indoor track season. However, she began to catch fire at the end of the winter months, earning All-American honors in the mile with a 4th place finish!
From there, Appleton entered the upper-echelon of distance stars and didn't look back. The UVA runner ran 4:08.96 for 1500 meters to win the Raleigh Relays and later run under the 4:10 barrier two more times that season (both at the national meet). She even recorded a fantastic 15:36 (5k) PR as well! Appleton would later earn bronze over 1500 meters at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
By comparison, Appleton's cross country season was good, but not necessarily amazing. The same can be said about her recent 9:08 (3k) effort at Boston U. That recent string of results is largely why she sits at TSR #15.
Even so, Appleton has the potential to be even more dangerous than she was last year. She has great range and has proven that she can run super fast times on a consistent basis. And if this Massachusettes native was that good with such little national meet experience, then how good could she be with previous championship exposure now on her resume?
Taylor Roe has been here before. In fact, she’s won an NCAA Indoor Championship title before. But does this long-time Stillwater veteran have what it takes to repeat as the 3k national champion two years later?
Back in 2022, Taylor Roe of Oklahoma State threw in a massive move with 800 meters to go at the indoor national meet nand was able to hold off Katelyn Tuohy's kick en route to her 3k national title. The Cowgirl wasn’t expected to win gold, but she proved all doubters wrong.
Fastforward one year and Roe had a target on her back. Even though she was able to record a new 3k PR of 8:56, she was facing lofty competition with Tuohy and Notre Dame’s Olivia Markezich. The same 800-meter tactical move wasn’t going to help the rising senior as she was facing women with faster personal bests.
But even though Roe wasn’t able to win another title, her 3rd place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships is wildly impressive. It further showcased and validated her ability to handle most race scenarios.
Since then, it’s been a bit of a rocky road for the Cowgirl veteran as she failed to qualify for the outdoor national meet last spring and had an "off" day at the most recent cross country national meet. But don’t start counting Roe out. When she's at her best, she is a nightmare to race against and someone who can put in a surge that catches you off guard when you least expect it.
You won't find too many people outside of Stillwater, Oklahoma who are bigger fans of Billah Jepkirui than The Stride Report. Even as a freshman, this Cowgirl ace showcased tremendous potential and tons of raw talent. And so far during her sophomore campaign, she has been everything that we could have asked for and more.
Jepkirui holds very quick middle distance marks of 2:04 (800), 4:10 (1500) and 4:35 (mile) from last year. Those times alone already give her a good argument to be ranked in the early portion of our top-25. But what I loved seeing from Jepkirui last year was a clear understanding of her own strengths and weaknesses. I loved many of the moves that she made in big-time races, something that most rookies and overseas athletes who are unfamiliar with the NCAA can struggle with.
But after a huge cross country season where she finished 7th at the NCAA XC Championships, Jepkirui impressed us even further with an absurdly fast 8:49 (3k) PR at Boston University earlier this month.
As she continues to grow more experienced and more comfortable with her competition, expect Jepkirui to continue taking advantage of her sky-high ceiling.
Kimberely May (Providence)
Shannon Flockhart (Providence)
Sydney Thorvaldsen (Arkansas)
Meghan Hunter (BYU)
Aubrey Frentheway (BYU)
Kelsey Chmiel (NC State)
Elise Stearns (Northern Arizona)
Annika Reiss (Northern Arizona)
Gracelyn Larkin (Northern Arizona)
Gladys Chepnegetich (Clemson)
Silan Ayyildiz (Oregon)
Kaylee Mitchell (Oregon State)
Grace Fetherstonhaugh (Oregon State)
Kenzie Doyle (UMass Lowell)
Rylee Penn (Louisville)
Melissa Riggins (Georgetown)
Rosina Machu (Gonzaga)
Alexandra Carlson (Rutgers)
Kayla Bell (Murray State)
Amaris Tyynismaa (NC State)
Sam Bush (NC State)
Angelina Napoleon (NC State)
Molly Born (Oklahoma State)
Teagan Schein-Becker (Rider)
Laura Pellicoro (Portland)
Riley Chamberlain (BYU)
Jenna Hutchins (BYU)
Sadie Sargent (BYU)
Ella Baran (Colorado)
Allison Johnson (Penn State)
Rose Pittman (UCLA)
Ella Nelson (Oregon)
Alyson Churchill (Florida State)
Phoebe Anderson (Columbia)
Lauren Freeland (Michigan State)
Sivan Auerbach (Oklahoma State)