TSR Collaboration
Jun 19, 20206 min
By John Cusick and Garrett Zatlin
We are slowly inching closer to a cross country season which still feels like it's light years away. Even so, there is plenty of potential action and speculation to discuss -- even if it's just a small glimpse for now.
So with that, we'll be diving into the men's portion of Division Two today, analyzing the balance of power and the top returners for the upcoming fall months. Let's get started...
I feel like we have to start off by talking about Colorado Mines, a team that returns six of their top seven runners from last fall. Are they the favorites to repeat as champions once again?
To be blunt, yes.
The Orediggers lose only Ben Schneiderman from last fall and are bringing back arguably two top-10 runners in Dylan Ko and Kyle Moran.
After those two star low-sticks, Mines' boasts top scorers such as Luc Hagen and Jake Mitchem. Hagen has been very consistent on the big stage while Mitchem was going to be a top contender for the steeplechase national title this year if we had a spring season.
Together, those four men all placed inside the top 20 at the National Championships last year. If you take out Scheneiderman from last year's lineup and put Derek Steele in his place (38th place and good for 30 team points), the Orediggers still would have won gold by more than 50 points.
It seems fair to say that this team is starting their own dynasty within the realm of D2, but there are certainly other teams looking to fend them off.
Adams State brings back five of their top seven back from 2019, including standout Carson Bix who will likely take over the lead role for the Grizzlies in 2020. Add in Salvador Capetillo (who redshirted last season) and you’re looking at another duo of runners who can vie for top-10 finishes in 2020.
Now, admittedly, they’ll need their supporting cast to offer greater consistency and improved performances. Isaiah Rodarte is an underrated name who began to show a lot of promise during last year's conference and regional meets. He was unable to finish as an All-American, but he'll be a key component in the Grizzlies returning to the podium if he can have his best day at NCAA's.
Miguel Villar, Justin Andrade and Paddy Robb are all key returners as well. Villar was 64th at NCAA's last fall while the latter two were just inside the top 150 spots.
David Cardenas is another interesting name for the Grizzlies. The Grand Junction native was seen as one of the top snags for Adams State last year. If he can play an important role in their top seven this fall, we could very well see another strong showing from the Colorado-based D2 powerhouse.
Let's move on and talk about yet another powerhouse program. Grand Valley State is a team that truthfully underperformed at the national meet last year. Although, in fairness to them, finishing 4th at the National Championships and calling it an underperformance says a ton about the history of excellence behind this team.
That, however, is beside the point.
This year's group is young and they are going to be good...very good. Last year's team consisted of five underclassmen, all of whom happened to be the top five scorers at the national meet for the Lakers last fall. An extra year of training and additional experience should help them later come November, but that's not the only reason why they'll be so competitive.
Enael Woldemichael is back after an extended hiatus and might immediately return to the superstar role that we saw from him two years ago. The 6th place finisher from the 2018 national meet gives GVSU a superstar low-stick who can contend for a top finish -- something that Lakers didn't have at the national meet last fall.
And then there is Colin DeYoung, the 2018 NAIA cross country national champion who transferred into the program from Cornerstone. He'll give the Lakers yet another talented option in their arsenal they call a roster. It's unclear exactly where he fits into this top seven, but it seems safe to say that he's an All-American talent.
Tanner Chada should be ready to reach elite all-star status in the fall of 2020. He's better than his 24th place finish from NCAA's last year indicates. He's a top-10 talent on his best day, but needs to actually show that at the national meet.
After Chada, the return of men like Noah Steffen, Ben Zaremba, Andrew Hylen, Jesse Becker and Dennis Mbuta gives Grand Valley State a ton of depth to support their lethal firepower. Don't forget, Steffen and Zaremba were All-Americans last fall.
Colorado Mines may be the heavy favorites for the national title, but if there is a team capable of pulling off the upset for NCAA gold later this year, it could be the men from Allendale, Michigan.
This would be the point in the article that we talk about Chico State. We would talk about how they finished 3rd at the national meet last year, return their top seven and have displayed some of the best team-running in the NCAA for years now.
That analysis, however, may not be relevant right now. After California State University (CSU) announced that all 23 of it's campuses will conduct classes online this fall, the CCAA -- which is heavily made up of CSU schools -- announced that they were suspending fall sports. That means Chico State (and other top distance programs) will likely not be able to compete this fall.
Maybe there is a distant reality where that decision gets reversed or Chico State is still able to compete this fall, even if that means not racing at their conference meet. That, however, seems highly unlikely, especially with classes being held online.
There is still so much uncertainty surrounding this situation and we may be missing a caveat where the Wildcats are somehow still able to compete in some capacity. But until we find that caveat, the outlook for Chico State (and other CCAA teams) isn't great right now.
We could talk about the entire NCAA at this rate, but let's go through a quick rapid-fire of sorts and highlight a few other key teams to watch this year.
The Lee Flames from Tennessee deserve a mention. This team has been on the right trajectory for the last few years and will only get better in 2020. Star low-stick Christian Noble didn’t run last year, but was arguably the top distance runner in the country this past winter.
He'll return and team up with Middle Tennessee State transfer Titus Lagat, giving Coach Morgan's squad a wicked 1-2 punch. With a plethora of scorers from last year's team coming back in 2020, the Flames could have one of the most well-rounded and complete lineups in the NCAA this year.
Then we come to the always talented Western Colorado men. With Taylor Stack and Charlie Sweeney both returning, it’s hard to count out the Mountaineers. The scoring potency of those two should label this team as a national threat. Still, this group will need to see some improvements from the backend of their lineup this year. Ross Husch was a top five runner who no longer has cross country eligibility, leaving behind a notable gap in Western's varsity seven.
That said, the Mountaineers are a historical powerhouse and will likely find a way to develop the current guys on their roster to field yet another competitive lineup.
Moving on, how about the men from Augusta? They were a pleasant surprise at the national meet last year, finishing 9th overall after a quiet regular season. The Jaguars return six of their top seven from last year's national meet, leaving them as a key team to watch moving forward.
Admittedly, they don't have the same low-stick firepower that many of these powerhouse teams do, but their depth is respectable and guys like Jacob Poston can eventually reach that low-stick status come October and November.
Let's wrap up our team discussion by talking about Queens (NC) and NW Missouri. Both teams return six of their top seven from last fall, but they each lose key low-sticks in Karim Achengli (NW Missouri) and Anthony Raftis (Queens) according to TFRRS.
NW Missouri was a top team last year because of their overwhelming firepower. That will still be the case in 2020, but they may need to rely on their depth a bit more than usual this season if they want to replicate their incredible 5th place finish from the 2020 national meet.
As for Queens, they rallied in the postseason, peaking at the perfect time and placing 8th at the national meet. They had only one All-American, but a very respectable spread among their top five with four runners finishing inside the top 81 places.
We'll stop here for the time being, but be on the look out for more content coming your way in the coming weeks. We only mentioned a handful of teams today, but there are plenty of other talented squads waiting for their moments to shine...