Admin (Garrett Zatlin)
Sep 26, 202213 min
We already spoke about the women's results from the Cowboy Jamboree. As for today, we'll be chatting about the men, highlighting the top teams in this field and evaluating some of their performances.
There's no time to waste, let's dive in.
Is it just me or does it feel like the BYU men are getting absolutely no love for this win? Is that just a narrative that I've made up in my own head?
Whatever the case may be, the Cougars should be thrilled with this result. Yes, other powerhouse teams weren't without many of their top scorers, but I'm not sure I would have expected BYU to take home the win this past weekend.
Casey Clinger finishing in 7th place was fantastic, but largely unsurprising. It's a similar story for recent graduate transfer Christian Allen who was 11th overall. However, the main star of this BYU lineup was Joey Nokes, the 10k ace from this past spring who looks like he could be the next breakout name in this lineup.
A 10th place finish from Nokes is phenomenal as he potentially gives BYU yet another true low-stick to pair with Clinger, Allen and Garnica. If he continues to deliver on the All-American potential that he showed us this past weekend, then the idea of the Cougars winning a national title in November isn't unrealistic.
Of course, he wasn't the only name who stepped up. Davin Thompson, who showed signs of promise throughout last year, finished 20th overall, emerging as a phenomenal fourth scorer for BYU. Pairing his breakout race with Nokes' performance made it extremely challenging for Stanford, NAU and Oklahoma State to take down the Cougars.
And with brother Creed Thompson in 27th place, I can't get over how impressive the backend of this lineup was. Sure, we've always believed in BYU's depth, but we didn't know who those latter-half varsity contributors would be for the Cougars this fall.
But with the Thompson brothers each having breakout races and Nokes emerging as a possible low-stick, the complexion of this lineup has been altered dramatically (in a good way).
And the biggest catch? Brandon Garnica (TSR #38) didn't even run.
So before everyone says, "Stanford, Northern Arizona and Oklahoma State were missing some of their best guys!" just know that the Cougars were missing someone who we have ranked as a top-40 talent in the NCAA and they still won by 26 points.
If I'm a national title contender this fall, I may be a little on edge about some of the scoring that BYU has to offer.
The Stanford men should be really happy with how their race went on Saturday.
Unsurprisingly, Charles Hicks (2nd) and Cole Sprout (4th) were fantastic, but that was expected. Without Ky Robinson in this lineup, our attention turned to how the rest of this varsity group would close out the Cardinal's scoring.
And for the most part, they did very well!
Thomas Boyden turned out to be the massively valuable middle-lineup scorer who we thought he could be, earning a clutch 16th place finish, an extension of his great year on the track. That scoring stability was complemented by Robert DiDonato who stepped up in a massive way to place 21st overall.
One could argue that Boyden's and DiDonato's performances were the most important results that we saw on Saturday. We already knew how great Hicks and Sprout were and we also know that Robinson likely would have been a top-five finisher in this field if he had run.
But there were legitimate questions as to what this team's depth would look like in 2022 -- and when you consider that there was a fairly substantial drop-off to their fifth runner this past weekend, that seemed like a fair concern to have.
However, if you introduce Robinson to this lineup, then the Stanford men win with ease, potentially by over 20 points.
The Cardinal don't have much room for error, but if that entire top-five runs to their full potential, then we have to ask...is Stanford the best team in the country?
Alright, alright. Everyone calm down.
Yes, the Northern Arizona men settled for 3rd place.
Yes, they were missing a few key names.
And yes, they just flat-out didn't run their best.
But let's not act like they aren't still national title contenders or favorites. Nico Young (5th) and Drew Bosley (9th) were strong as always, but they likely needed to be a little bit higher to counter the scoring of Stanford.
Meanwhile, Ryan Raff had what may have been one of the best races of his career, securing a huge 19th place finish to stabilize the middle portion of this lineup.
However, with Nyoak and Prosser finishing 37th and 38th, respectively, the backend scoring of this team just wasn't enough to counter Stanford or BYU who were simply better in their final two scoring positions.
And while that is a slightly concerning result, let's acknowledge a few things.
Theo Quax, Colin Sahlman and Brodey Hasty didn't run. Would the results have been any different if they had run? Maybe, but Sahlman is potentially going to redshirt this fall, so his absence may be a moot point.
We also saw George Kusche have a tough outing, fading to 86th place despite being a cross country All-American last year. On paper, he can be so much better than that.
Northern Arizona will doubtably be better later in the season. When they have a full lineup and have everyone running at their best, they're still an insanely challenging team to defeat...but things are a lot more interesting now.
Both Stanford and BYU also have room to improve their point totals by a significant amount. If you're Northern Arizona, simply returning Quax and Hasty may not be enough to match (and then overtake) the return of Garnica and Robinson.
This team will generally need to be better in the future, although I certainly think they will be.
Honestly, not a bad race at all for the Oklahoma State men. Not having Shea Foster or Isai Rodriguez and still finishing eight points behind NAU and 17 points behind Stanford is a really encouraging development.
Alex Maier's individual win was so darn impressive. He's clearly an NCAA superstar and his phenomenal performances from the indoor and outdoor track seasons has seamlessly translated to the grass.
After a summer where Nur and Wildschutt both went pro, it feels like the individual national title was up for grabs. And frankly, most of the individual national title contenders were in this field. That's why we have to ask the question...could Maier really take home gold come November? I think I'm closer to saying "yes" to that question now than I was last week.
However, maybe the most impressive individual performance of anyone was Victor Shitsama placing 3rd! What an outstanding race for the reliable All-American who has suddenly gone from being a latter-half All-American to one of the most dangerous distance talents in the country...well, based on one race that is.
We knew Shitsama was valuable, but emerging as a possible top-10 runner in nation was certainly not the expectation that we had for him this fall. If he continues to race at that level, then we're looking at a scenario where the Cowboys (potentially) have three top-10 talents and a fourth All-American.
And if that happens, then...yeah, maybe Oklahoma State could win the national title.
But there has also been news that a unnamed varsity talent on the Cowboys' roster may not be racing this fall, meaning that the rest of this roster will need to step up.
Enter Rory Leonard.
Acting as the team's third scorer in 17th place was massively important for Oklahoma State. Leonard effectively gives the Cowboys a complete top-five, void of any scoring deficiencies, if/when a full lineup returns.
The final two Oklahoma State scorers on Saturday, Jonas Price (43rd) and Will Muirhead (55th), were solid in their own right. However, we were expecting more from Ryan Schoppe who faded to outside of the top-90. If he can translate his track success to the grass, then Oklahoma State is going to be a problem.
However, Schoppe doesn't necessarily have a great history of moving his track fitness to the grass. Even so, we expect that to change this fall.
Nice race for the Tulsa men!
We admittedly had some concerns for this team given their questionable depth and history of peaking in the postseason, but they rallied and took down some strong teams this past weekend.
Cormac Dalton (12th) and Michael Power (18th) performed roughly how we expected them to. However, it was their third scorer, Shay McEvoy, who did an outstanding job, earning a clutch 22nd place finish to give Tulsa a complete top-three.
And with Isaac Akers settling for a 32nd place finish, it looks like Golden Hurricanes were able to flex a lineup with solid scoring value and only one legitimate gap (their fifth runner in 60th place).
No, Tulsa isn't perfect, but if McEvoy is going to keep running that well throughout the rest of the season, then I see far more avenues for success than I do for disappointments. Not only that, but Akers has shown us that he can be better than 32nd place overall.
As long as their final scorer doesn't falter too far in these larger fields, then the Golden Hurricanes are going to be a challenging team to take down.
For the most part, I think Wake Forest should be fairly proud of this result. They were able to score 177 points despite their best runner faltering into their fourth scoring spot.
Aaron Las Heras (14th) wasn't super surprising, but seeing Thomas Vanoppen in 23rd place was huge! That's really nice value to have from a guy who is predominately a miler and more of a backend scorer from last fall. He is exactly what this team needed.
With Joaquin Martinez De Pinillos settling for a 34th place finish, things looked solid for the Wake Forest men. They weren't exactly blowing away their competition, but they appeared to be holding their own.
Zach Facioni was the 44th place finish, but that was very clearly an "off" day for him. If he's the top-10 talent that we thought he could have been in this field, then you're looking at the Demon Deacons (likely) getting the edge on Tulsa.
Luke Tewalt (68th) and Ben Mitchell (71st) weren't necessarily bad, but one of those men will likely need to be better in the future if this team is going to have any shot at making the podium.
On paper, this team has a lot of opportunity to improve. But even without those improvements, the Demon Deacons still finished 6th behind five top-six teams. There's a reason why so many elite recruits are signing with the Winston-Salem-based program.
I was ready to be somewhat critical of the Colorado men after seeing that they placed 7th overall on Saturday despite, supposedly, having the best depth in this field. However, the closer you look at the results, the more positives there are.
Andrew Kent (8th) was the star low-stick that we knew someone on this team had the potential to be. After a breakout year on the track, he gives the Buffaloes a true star at the front of this lineup and a legitimate scoring edge that matches at least some of the firepower from other powerhouse programs.
With Charlie Sweeney, James Overberg and Brendan Fraser going 37-40-42, respectively, the middle portion of this lineup, while not necessarily amazing, offered reliable scoring. Overberg was excellent and we still think Sweeney and Fraser could have been at least 10 spots better.
The final Colorado scorer, Lukas Haug, actually ran fairly well in 57th place, but the overall scoring of this lineup was just not as potent after Kent as it was for other teams.
The good news is that Colorado was without Austin Vancil (TSR #44). If he runs and emerges as a top-20 or top-25 talent, then we're looking at the Buffaloes taking down Wake Forest and getting very close to Tulsa.
We still need to see a lot more improvement from Colorado, they were far from perfect on Saturday, but this is a team that historically peaks when it matters the most. We're not concerned about them in the slightest.
Much like the Syracuse women, we had our concerns about the men from upstate New York coming into this season. They lost a handful of key names from last year's team, they've been fairly inconsistent over the last few seasons and their postseason performances haven't been great.
But there was simply no way we could ignore the Orange after this weekend. An 8th place finish over numerous highly-ranked teams is highly impressive stuff.
One could argue that no team in this field ran as a cohesive pack better than the Syracuse men. Paul O'Donnell, Assaf Harai, Nathan Lawler and Nathan Henderson, a group that went 31-34-35-41, were separated by just six seconds!
Noah Carey was the team's final scorer in 62nd place, a respectable result that matched the fifth scoring spot of numerous other teams in this field.
Syracuse as a whole simply needs greater firepower. Having no one in the top-30 is far from ideal, but if they're going to run next to each other for the rest of the season, then at least we know that their floor is high.
Pack running often reduces scoring gaps and limits vulnerabilities. While Syracuse's ceiling will be limited by how much firepower they do (or don't) flex this season, simply replicating that lineup structure from Saturday could allow them to get past a few teams whose low-sticks falter.
I...think this seemed about right?
I like Air Force. I really think they're going to be a problem for their competitors this season. Seeing them place 9th overall and lose to seven teams that are ranked in our top-10 makes this result seem fairly reasonable.
But I also think that this team could have been noticeably better.
Sam Gilman finished 28th, but he could have been closer to top-20. This team was also without Nick Scheller, last year's top scorer at Nuttycombe. And although Bryce Lentz is an 8:39 steeplechaser, he was 70th overall and was "only" his team's seventh runner.
When you pair all of that untapped potential with a highly-compact varsity group of Ethan Marshall (45th), Ryan Johnson (48th), Scott Maison (49th), Sean Maison (56th) and Eli Bennett (58th), you theoretically get a really effective lineup with almost zero scoring flaws.
Firepower was a clear lineup aspect that held this team back on Saturday, but they still rallied and met expectations despite that. And with greater firepower likely returning to this lineup later in the season, I can't help but feel like the Air Force men were one of the bigger winners from Saturday's race.
Nice run for the Gonzaga men who were without Evan Bates and low-stick James Mwaura.
Yacine Guermali (15th) emerged as a legitimate low-stick, a big development for when Mwaura returns to this lineup. That kind of scoring potency will be extremely important to have, especially since there was a fairly large gap after him.
Cullen McEarchen (46th), Wil Smith (50th), Kyle Radosevich (65th) and Bryce Cerkowniak (70th) closed out the scoring with respectable finishes, but there were a couple guys who could have been better.
Smith is a ranked name who could have finished higher, Mwaura and Bates will certainly improve the overall scoring of this team in a major way when they return and there's still potential for freshman superstar Michael Maiorano to eventually join this lineup.
So if I'm Gonzaga, I'm feeling good about this result. They beat a handful of really solid teams with a varsity group that very clearly has the room to make substantial improvements over the next few months.
For the most part, there was more to like for the Princeton men than dislike during Saturday's race.
I really loved seeing Anthony Monte place 24th overall. That's a boarderline low-stick result that this depth-laden team really needed in order to give themselves a scoring edge. And with Connor Nisbet in 33rd place, the Tigers looked like they had a lot of scoring promise.
The rest of their lineup was fairly spread out with Josh Zelek (52nd), Jarrett Kirk (67th) and Matthew Farrell (82nd) closing out the scoring.
Overall, I don't really know what to say about this team. Their upfront scoring was better than I thought it would be, but I also thought there was room for the Tigers to be better at the backend of their lineup.
But at the end of the day, I think we're still trying to learn more about this Princeton team in general. They're a super young group that may still be working to find its identity. Camren Fischer didn't even race and we also saw numerous men from this squad record DNF results.
So for them to finish 11th this past weekend has to be encouraging.
Not the best day ever for the Texas men. Haftu Knight (24th) and Rodger Rivera (30th) were the front-runners that we knew they could be for this team, but the rest of this lineup faltered a good bit.
The Longhorns didn't have anyone else in the top-65. And while rookie Emmanuel Sgouros (66th) held his own, seeing the final two Texas scorers go 83rd and 92nd wasn't ideal. It should be noted that Carrozza and Braddock didn't run, so there is likely room for greater scoring on this Texas roster.
The only question is...how much more scoring will we actually see? In theory, it could be more than we realize if Carrozza steps into that third scoring role and effectively cuts off 30ish points from Texas' team score.
In that scenario, they're likely beating Princeton.
As far as lineup structures are concerned, the Harvard men were probably the most predictable team from Saturday's race. They had a phenomenal scoring duo, but their lack of depth was a challenge.
Acer Iverson (6th) continues to grow into the superstar that we know he can be while Graham Blanks (13th) looks like the All-American that he was last year.
Harvard easily has one of the best scoring duos in the country. However, with their final three scorers going 64-117-144 in the overall results, there's just not enough support at the backend of this lineup to fully capitalize on the low-stick value that Iverson and Blanks bring to the table.
That said, Harvard still took down a handful of respectable teams and David Melville finishing 64th overall was encouraging to see. This team has a lot of adjustments to make, but the Crimson do have a promising core.
Oof. Saturday was not a great day for the Washington men. The Huskies faded to 14th place overall with a lineup that was almost fully stacked.
Luke Houser (26th) was the lone bright spot for this team, but no one else had a good day. With no other UW runner finishing inside the top-80, and the team's final scorer settling for 124th overall, we may have to chalk up this performance as just a flat-out bad day and move on.
We should note that Brian Fay did not race on Saturday. If he had, then we're likely talking about the Huskies nearly matching Harvard...although not even that would have been a guarantee.
This team is way too talented for us to think that this is what they're actually capable of. It's also the month of September, so overreacting to this result would be ill-advised.
Still, this was not the way any team should want to start their season.
I don't necessarily think that the Ole Miss men ran poorly. Sure, Cole Bullock (74th) could have been so much better, but the Rebels still had four men finish in the top-103 spots.
There is an obvious lack of upfront scoring on this team and it feels like a lot of track guys are being called upon to be scorers for this team. Luckily, the eventual introduction of Ben Savino and Nick Moulai to this 2022 lineup should improve the scoring support of this team.
Was this a great race for Ole Miss? No, most certainly not, but I think that they can at least be a little bit better in future races.