Admin (Garrett Zatlin)
Mar 8, 20219 min
Updated: Mar 9, 2021
The below rankings take performances from this past fall into consideration, but they do not aim to penalize teams that did not compete last fall. The same can be said for teams that ran last fall, but are not racing in cross country this winter (until the NCAA Championships).
Was not ranked in our last update.
First number indicates how much the team has moved in the rankings.
The second number indicates where the team was ranked in our last update.
Seeing the Portland men falter to 3rd at the WCC Championships was truthfully a bit of a surprise, especially since they lost to Gonzaga by 11 points. Evert Silva had a nice race, finishing 6th overall, but he was the only front-runner that the Pilots had at their conference meet. They had plenty of depth, but so did Gonzaga, so firepower ultimately became the main differentiator.
Is Portland still one of the better teams in the country? Yes, we think so. However, it is hard to give them a ranking better than this based on their most recent result. We haven't exactly seen a whole lot from them this season, but just like usual, we're sure that Portland will surprise all of us at the NCAA XC Championships.
Gosh, what an unfortunate end to the season for the Michigan men. The Wolverines couldn't run at the BIG 10 XC Championships due to heightened COVID-19 protocols by their athletic department. However, they were able to compete at the FSU Winter XC Last Chance meet where they toed the line against Syracuse and Florida State.
Although they beat the Seminoles, the Michigan men ended up faltering to a Syracuse team that had been struggling coming into that race. With no other significant data points on their seasonal resume, Michigan was ultimately left out of the NCAA XC Championships.
Is Michigan a Top 25 team? Yes. They have too much talent and too much depth not to be considered one of the better teams in the nation, even if they did lose to Syracuse. Still, it's hard to blame the selection committee for making a difficult decision based solely on the results in front of them.
Have not competed on the grass since our last update.
Truthfully, Southern Utah was in trouble after the FSU Winter XC Classic. They had finished 9th in that race, falling behind a struggling Syracuse team and a struggling Florida State team. They later went to the Battle Born XC Challenge where they earned an unexciting 4th place result.
On paper, this team wasn't bad, but their national qualifying hopes were in jeopardy...until the BIG Sky XC Championships.
The Lumberjacks opted not to run three of their top four runners at their conference meet and the Thunderbirds took full advantage of that decision. When the dust settled, Southern Utah had pulled off the three-point upset over the powerhouse from Flagstaff, giving them the BIG Sky title over a team that is still in the national title conversation.
Yes, NAU may have been without a handful of their top runners at that meet, but it's not like they fielded a bunch of scrubs. Those were talented individuals who were simply out-raced by a strong Southern Utah team that had better firepower and that quickly closed-out their top-five scoring.
While they may have struggled at certain points this season, Southern Utah came up clutch when it mattered the most, and in our rankings, we view that very highly.
Have not competed on the grass since our last update.
Have not competed on the grass since our last update.
Have not competed on the grass since our last update.
I think I'm supposed to remain impartial in these rankings, but truthfully, I am happy to see the Gonzaga men go to the national meet. A super tricky Kolas scenario kept them out of the national meet in 2019, but after a runner-up finish at the WCC Championships where they beat Portland by 11 points, the Bulldogs will finally be going to the NCAA XC Championships.
James Mwaura continues to be a true stud after finishing 2nd at his conference meet while Yacine Guermali had a massive breakout race, finishing 4th overall and emerging as the second low-stick that the 'Zags needed to be amongst the top teams in the nation.
Gonzaga didn't have anyone else finish in the top-10 of their latest race, but they did have all five of their scorers finish in the top-20 and that was enough to hold off a Portland team that was unable to match the low-stick scoring potency that we saw out of Mwaura and Guermali.
Wow! What a race between these two teams at the Mountain West Championships. On paper, both of these squads were relatively similar in terms of their overall talent. Sure enough, we got a close matchup which resulted in only a four-point victory for Air Force.
Truthfully, it's tough to really pull any insights from this race. These two teams took 10 of the first 11 spots at the Mountain West Championships, something that obviously wont happen at the national meet.
Utah State had the better firepower, taking three of the top four spots, but Air Force had the better depth, putting seven runners across the line before the Aggies even had their fifth.
Which of these lineup structures will thrive at the national meet? An Air Force team which has a low-stick in Sam Gilman and some solid depth? Or a Utah State team that does have gaps, but better firepower through their first three runners?
It's tough to say, but don't be surprised if one of (or both of) these teams take down some top-ranked programs on March 15th.
What a race for the Butler men! We thought that their race at the BIG East XC Championships was going to be a close one between them, Georgetown and Villanova, but the Bulldogs pulled away from their competition with relative ease.
Barry Keane and Simon Bedard are the true low-sticks that we knew they could be after seeing their performances at the Sound Running Track Meet back in December. They finished 2nd and 3rd overall in Friday's race while Eastern Kentucky graduate transfer Remi Schyns had one of the better races of his career, finishing 5th overall. Meanwhile, Simon Fraser transfer Pierre-Louis Detourbe finished 9th.
Their fifth runner was a bit further back in 16th place, but that top four was wicked strong and their scoring potency was enough to give the Bulldogs a comfortable win.
We knew that Butler was good, but we're now beginning to realize just how good they are.
Have not competed on the grass since our last update.
A clean sweep of their conference meet was far from surprising. However, the Gaels were without Ed Goddard and Johnjack Millar in that race. While we still believe that the Iona men can be a top program, not having Goddard and Millar is a bit concerning and it makes us wonder what this lineup will look like at the NCAA XC Championships.
Have not competed on the grass since our last update.
The PAC-12 Championships was the only race that the Washington men have toed the line for since our last update and although the final results didn't spurn much surprise, there were still a few interesting developments.
We finally got to see the collegiate debut of Leo Daschbach as he finished 12th overall at the PAC-12 XC Championships this past Friday. That's an encouraging performance for the rookie who will be able to create even more stability inside the Huskies' varsity lineup.
Washington also has to be encouraged by Isaac Green's 7th place finish at the conference meet, giving us reason to believe that he could be a true low-stick for this team at the national meet.
However, not seeing Talon Hull at the PAC-12 Championships is a bit concerning. He was considered to be in the All-American conversation this year and was the clear front-runner for this Washington team. It's only one meet, but he also missed the NCAA XC Championships back in 2019, so we're staying hopeful that he'll race in Stillwater.
Have not competed on the grass since our last update.
Have not competed on the grass since our last update.
We've seen Colorado race twice since our last update, but we didn't really learn anything new about them. Eduardo Herrera and Alec Hornecker continue to be outstanding low-sticks, but the ongoing absences from Kashon Harrison and Stephen Jones leaves the Buffaloes without some scoring potency that we thought they would have at the beginning of the year.
Guys like Austin Vancil, Hunter Appleton, Jace Aschbrenner, Paxton Smith and Ethan Powell have been better supporting scorers than we thought they would, but they still haven't offered the necessary scoring potency that will put Colorado in the podium conversation.
Not much to talk about here. The Cyclones haven't raced as a team since the last time we updated our rankings, but we did see Thomas Pollard, Mitchell Day, Milo Greder and Chad Johnson toe the line at the OSU Winter Open (which was essentially a dual meet between Tulsa and Oklahoma State).
No one from that four-person Iowa State contingent ran that well, but that may have been a simple effort for the Cyclones to gain more experience on the national meet course before next Monday's race.
A one-point loss to Oklahoma State may not seem that bad, but it did highlight a major vulnerability in Tulsa's lineup.
We've been saying this since 2019, but the Golden Hurricanes don't have a ton of depth after their top-five. If someone in that top-five had a bad day, then Tulsa was going to be vulnerable to excessive point scoring at the backend of their lineup.
Sure enough, that was what we saw in a dual meet at Oklahoma State. Cameron Field had a very rare "off" day for Tulsa and he faltered in the results. In a small two-team field that was loaded with unattached runners and non-scoring individuals, his drop in the results may not seem like it had a massive impact. However, in a meet like the NCAA XC Championships, that's a weak point which could put the Tulsa men out of the podium conversation.
To be clear, this scenario could happen to anyone in Tulsa's top-five, not just Field. Regardless, the Golden Hurricanes still have a podium-contending group if everyone has their best race at the national meet.
Despite racing twice since our last update, we don't really have much to talk about when it comes to the Stanford men. They settled for 2nd place behind Northern Arizona at the Battle Born XC Challenge and later won the PAC-12 title (as expected) over Colorado and Washington.
Youngsters like Charles Hicks and Cole Sprout have proven to be true low-sticks despite their youth, DJ Principe is putting together the best overall cross country season of his career and Alek Parsons looks like he is peaking at the perfect time, just like he does every year.
With an extensive amount of depth and a complete lineup structure, Stanford looks like they could be true podium contenders despite their youth and inexperience.
A win over the Tulsa men in a dual meet was huge for Oklahoma State. They took down a podium contender by a single point in a two-team field despite Ryan Smeeton faltering in the results. Isai Rodriguez was great, but the scoring support from Victor Shitsama, Alex Maier and Kevin Mulcaire was essentially what gave the Cowboys the overall win.
Seeing Mulcaire run as well as he did was incredibly encouraging for the Pokes. Much like the Tulsa men, we felt like Oklahoma State was a team that had five true scorers with a drop-off when it came to their sixth and seventh runners. That was evident at the BIG 12 XC Championships in the fall.
However, seeing Mulcaire emerge as a scorer despite Smeeton having an "off" day is exactly the kind of development that we needed to see from Oklahoma State in order for them to be considered a podium contender. They have the firepower, supporting pieces and now the necessary depth to be one of the four best teams at the NCAA XC Championships.
Have not competed on the grass since our last update.
There's not much to say here. BYU took care of business with relative ease at the WCC Championships with Mantz, Clinger, Garnica, Armstrong, Troutner and Cannon all finishing in the top-10 of the meet. Clayson Shumway had a bit of an "off" day, falling to 15th overall.
Either way, this was about the level of dominance that we expected to see from the Cougars at their conference meet. Having Armstrong run as well as he did was wildly encouraging, especially with the BYU men aiming to figure out who will be filling in the fifth spot of their lineup.
A convincing win at the Battle Born XC Challenge over Stanford was great, but we had questions about the Lumberjacks' depth even though they didn't field a full lineup in that race.
A few weeks later, NAU held out Nico Young, Blaise Ferro and Luis Grijalva at the BIG Sky XC Championships, believing that their depth was likely strong enough to take home the conference title. Unfortunately for them, it was not. Instead, they were stunned by a Southern Utah team that hadn't done much prior to that race.
Is Northern Arizona still the favorite for the national title? Yes, but we don't feel quite as strong about that as we did a few weeks ago. With a full lineup, this team just has too much firepower and depth not be considered the favorites, but there have been some inconsistencies from a few runners on their backend, so we'll be interested to see how that plays out at the NCAA XC Championships.
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