TSR's 2021 D1 Winter XC Top 50 Individuals (Women): Update #3

Any athlete who competed (attached) during cross country at least once this year, regardless of whether or not they competed at the cross country national meet, was eligible to be listed in these rankings.

KEY NOTE: Theses rankings are based on how an athlete fared throughout the entirety of a season, not just how they ran at the NCAA XC Championships.

Was not ranked in our last update.

First number indicates how much the individual has moved in the rankings.

The second number indicates where they were ranked in our last update.

Since she didn’t race at the NCAA Championships, Gregory understandably drops in our rankings. The Razorback senior held her own during the abbreviated fall cross country season, always placing amongst the top-four in every race she toed the line for. The 2020-2021 academic year has been fruitful thus far for Gregory after she has dealt with injuries during previous seasons.

Gregory didn’t compete at the cross country national meet due to focusing on indoor track. However, if Gregory had raced in Oklahoma, then there was certainly potential for the Razorback ace to land her first cross country All-American honors as well as a potential team podium finish.

McCabe made a really big jump in her sophomore season which ended just short of an All-American finish. The Mountaineer was 42nd at the NCAA Championships on Monday, finishing only two seconds outside of the top-40. Although that sounds agonizing, her progress this season should outweigh that near miss.

In her first race of the fall, McCabe finished 4th at the BIG 12 XC Championships. It was a solid result, but it was hard to figure out just how good she was and just how good the rest of her competition was. Of course, the sophomore quickly proved her talent otherwise at the FSU Winter XC Classic where she finished 8th in a much deeper field, validating her earlier performances and proving to be a true low-stick who can thrive regardless of the race she is in.

When you consider that McCabe was only 25th at the 2019 Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships, her 42nd place finish at the national meet this season was a huge leap forward and it makes her someone to watch in the future.

Florida State’s Skyring didn’t have a stellar fall cross country season, only finishing 35th at the Blazer Classic and 29th at the ACC XC Championships. Then, everything suddenly changed. Flash forward a few months, and the Seminole runner was tearing up the indoor track, running top personal bests of 4:34 (mile) and 9:04 (3k0.

The Florida State women were fortunate to pick up a qualifying spot for the NCAA Championships which gave Skyring the chance to showcase her revamp and refreshed talent. With a ton of momentum from the indoor oval, Skyring completely flipped the switch and earned her first All-American honor in cross country, finishing 23rd overall.

The Seminole veteran was obviously incredible at the NCAA XC Championships, but her prior results from the fall had to be taken into consideration for this ranking. That's why we opted to list her at TSR #48.

The road to this point was a bit rocky, but Hofstad eventually ran the race that we knew she was capable of running. The 48th place finisher from2019 NCAA XC Championships, Hofstad entered the fall season among those with All-American potential. She was still posting some very solid and respectable results, but the UNC fifth-year finished in relatively quiet 11th place at the ACC Championships.

However, things seemed to fall into place as Hofstad had the race of her life in Stillwater, placing 28th overall and earning top All-American honors. That was an improvement of 20 places from her last national meet and it validated the talent that she had shown us throughout the years. Her potential has been sky-high, but now we actually have results to point to rather than speculation.

Joining the rankings for the first time this season is Michigan State’s Lynsie Gram. The Spartan flew under the radar this winter between cross country and indoor track. In her first race of the season, Gram earned a very respectable 11th place finish at the BIG 10 XC Championships, beating some notable names. Her performance helped lead Michigan State to a conference title.

Gram geared up for the cross country national meet by competing in two 5k races on the track, one at the BIG 10 Indoor Invitational and the other at the BIG 10 Indoor Championships. She earned two 3rd place finishes and picked up a stellar 15:56 personal best.

At the cross country national meet, Gram carried what was clearly newfound momentum and earned her first All-American honor after placing 34th amongst the nation’s best. Gram’s points were key in helping the Spartans earn a clutch podium finish.

It was hard to gauge just how good Gram was coming into this national meet. Her 11th place finish at her conference meet on the grass was solid, but it did not at all indicate that she was going to be an All-American. However, the redshirt senior clearly began to build confidence on the indoor oval and that was evident based on Monday's result.

As was the case with many of the BYU women, 2021 was a big step forward for Musselman. Coming into this season, Musselman had run at three NCAA XC Championships, never finishing higher than 160th. Although she did finish 22nd at the 2019 Mountain Regional Championships, there wasn’t a lot of evidence suggesting that she was going to have a breakout year.

Of course, things changed in the fall when she placed 9th at the Oklahoma State Invitational. While the field wasn't as deep as the men's race, it was still a subtle sign that Musselman was trending upward.

Fast forward to the winter and in her only race before the NCAA Championships resulted in a 5th place finish at the WCC XC Championships, not far behind her teammates Anna Camp-Bennett and Aubrey Frentheway.

Whether it was the senior season or the team title on the line, Musselman put together a huge performance on Monday, finishing 33rd overall and boosting BYU to the team title. It was maybe a little unexpected, her performance was a quintessential example of the strides we have seen from the BYU women in 2021.

She slowly got better in her limited opportunities and never really gave us a reason to doubt her. We just hadn't seen this kind of spark before.

Back in the rankings this week is Allie Schadler. The Husky senior had a fairly unexciting winter season on the grass, finishing an underwhelming 18th place at the Battle Born XC Challenge and then not even competing at the PAC-12 XC Championships to focus on the indoor national meet.

At the NCAA Indoor Championships, Schalder got caught up in a fall in the 3000 meters, but still got up and finished in 15th place. However, she didn’t let this affect her race on Monday in Oklahoma as she earned her first cross country All-American honor, placing 26th overall. This was a huge improvement from her 2019 NCAA showing. Schadler positioned herself amongst the top-30 from the beginning and never fell out.

With another opportunity to compete next year and the chance to focus solely on cross country in the fall, a higher finish could be in the cards for Schadler. She has the potential to be an upper-echelon talent based on her indoor track times, but her consistency wasn't always there.

Although Gear is only ranked at TSR #43, if you consider the entirety of her year as a whole, what she has done is really incredible. However, when you consider that these rankings only focus on cross country, Gear falls a bit further back than her national meet finish.
 

The Arkansas junior only competed twice during the dual cross country seasons, racing the SEC XC Championships and later the NCAA Championships. Gear was fantastic at the national meet, finishing 21st overall only two days after indoor national meet ended.

However, what hinders her ranking just a bit was her 11th place run at the SEC Championships and the lack of overall cross country racing. That’s not a knock on her talent as she is clearly one of the best in the NCAA. However, we're just trying to balance the weight of those two performances.

Either way, Gear has shown us that she truly has some of the best range in the nation. She is super consistent and when she gets in a groove of racing, the Arkansas standout can be a very dangerous threat, especially with momentum on her side.

This UNC freshman was fantastic in the fall, closing her debut season with a 6th place finish at the top-heavy ACC Championships. However, she saw a significant gap in racing following that meet. The ACC’ Championships took place on October 30th and Neglia did not race again until an indoor 3000 meter race on February 25th.

Monday was her only cross country race in 2021, but it actually went relatively well when you consider the chaos that took place in Stillwater. Neglia finished 46th overall, just missing All-American honors. On paper, that roughly matches initial expectations and validates her ability to run any kind of field, large or small.

For her first year in the NCAA, the freshman had a great season and could see a big jump in her sophomore season if the schedule returns to something more “normal”.

Two victories highlighted Stallworth’s regular season, one from the Newberry College Invitational in October and the other from the Southern Conference XC Championships. It was certainly possible that the redshirt junior would earn a top finish at the national meet, but it was difficult to gauge exactly where she was belonged in the NCAA's hierarchy of teams when you consider the limited competition that she faced going into Monday.

Stallworth ultimately ended up earning a clutch 38th place finish on Monday and left Oklahoma with an All-American honor. She began the race in 186th place after the first 1000 meters, but passed runner after runner on her way to the top-40.

From 5k to 6k, the Buccaneer passed a remarkable 34 women. Despite never being at the national meet before, Stallworth showed patience and an understanding of the field that many top-tier talents failed to do. The ETSU took a very smart approach to the race and it paid off in troves.

Koskei had an extremely condensed season and saw a significant drop in our rankings this week due to a large difference in her recent performances.

In her first couple of races, Koskei took home a pair of wins against relatively weak fields. With limited competition, it was a bit challenging to gauge where the Wichita State runner was at. However, when you consider that she had finished 35th place and 45th place at the two previous national meets, there was good reason to think a similar showing was coming this year.

Unfortunately, Koskei was one of the many casualties to the brutal course on Monday, fading back to 125th place over the 6000 meter race. When looking at the season as a whole, and in particular the general chaos that took place on Monday, there’s reason to think that Koskei is significantly better than what her race on Monday showed.

With this season not counting towards eligibility, there’s a chance that Koskei will be looking for redemption in the fall.

At her second cross country national meet, sophomore Gracelyn Larkin improved from 122nd place to 25th place. The New Mexico Lobo had a strong winter cross country season, finishing 10th at the Battle Born XC Challenge and 6th at the Mountain West XC Championships.

Those were solid results and we thought that Larkin had an outside chance of All-American finish, but it was hard to point to a ton of top names that she had beaten coming into the national meet. Larkin had obviously improved her overall talent, but we weren't sure where that put her on the national stage.

Well, at it turns out, Larkin's experience from 2019 helped her out big time last Monday as she finished 25th overall, only three places behind teammate Adva Cohen. The young Lobo did a great job of moving up from the 3k to the finish, passing a total of 25 competitors. She ran with incredible poise and patience for someone so young and we're eager to see her ongoing progression over the next few years.

Gearing didn’t get the opportunity to compete at the NCAA Xc Championships, but her abbreviated fall 2020 cross country season still stands out amongst the field. Finishing 2nd at the SEC XC Championships was the highlight of the season for the recent transfer from Clemson. If Gearing continues on with her breakout season next fall, an All-American honor will be a strong possibility for the Wildcat who was clearly good enough to be on this fall.

Donahue was another runner who saw a big jump in her second year of competition. After finishing only 33rd at the 2019 BIG East Championships, the sophomore finished runner-up this year. That race was an extremely tight finish between Donahue and her teammate Sami Corman, finishing only a second apart.

The young Hoya came into the NCAA Championships ranked at TSR #41, a somewhat tentative measure considering that she had seen much of the same competition in her only two races.

Of course, Monday proved that Donahue’s recent jump this season was legit. In her first experience on the national stage, Donahue captured 32nd place and her first All-American honors.

Unlike some women, Donahue chose to only focus on cross country this winter rather than trying to balance indoor track simultaneously. That decision paid dividends and made Donahue an All-American favorite heading into the fall. She never faltered or had a bad race and and simply delivered good results regardless of the field that she was in.

The Alabama women were fantastic this cross country season and concluded their year with an 8th place team finish. Distance standout Esther Gitahi was competing at her first cross country national meet on Monday and earned All-American honors with a 36th place finish, a performance slightly off from our original projections, but not dramatically so.

We had expected Gitahi to make some noise after her 5th place showing at the SEC Championships in October and a recent 6th place showing at the FSU Winter XC Classic. In retrospect, those results weren't quite as strong as maybe we thought they were, but let's not discredit the scoring potency that we saw out this Alabama junior this year.

In her first NCAA XC Championship, Chapman concluded her 2020-2021 cross country season with a 47th place finish in Oklahoma. Chapman entered the last kilometer in 63rd place, but moved up 16 places to finish 47th by the end. The Tiger senior was only four seconds away from an All-American honor, but this was still a respectable showing after a strong fall season.

Her abbreviated fall cross country season was commendable as Chapman never failed to finish outside of the top-three in any race she toed the line for. A 3rd place finish at the SEC XC Championships saw the Tiger ace take down a slew of Arkansas Razorbacks and other notable names in the NCAA, including certain women who would go on top be top finishers at the national meet.

Chapman competed during the indoor track season, but didn’t see the same kind of success that she did on the grass. Even though she was only 10th in the 3k at the SEC Indoor Championships, coming back and finishing in the top-50 has to give Chapman some confidence heading into next fall. She's plenty talented and when an indoor track season doesn't break up her momentum, Chapman is likely an All-American talent.

Kaley Richards earned her first TSR ranking at the last moment thanks to a great performance on Monday. The results for the senior from UMass Lowell were a long time in the making, three years to be exact. Richards had not raced cross country since 2018, with her last result being a 31st place finish at the Northeast Region XC Championships.

But in 2021, she looked like a completely different runner.

Richards was a star in multiple disciplines this winter season, also cracking our TSR rankings on the track track. After waltzing through a dual meet to open up her cross country season, Richards finished runner-up in a nail-biter at the America East XC Championships.

At the time, it was hard to understand the weight of that race. Richards was beaten by Emily Mackay of Binghamton, another woman who would eventually burst onto the scene in Stillwater. Looking back, that results makes Richards’ 30th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships seem like less of a surprise.

While this season produced a good number of breakout stars, Richards is amongst the best in that group. She proved to be a dynamic talent and was able to consistently remain competitive with some of the top women in the country.

McArthur started the season in a big way by leading Colorado to an upset over Stanford at the FSU Winter XC Classic, finishing 5th in the individual race. Her performance was reminiscent of her sophomore season when she turned heads by winning the Mid-Atlantic regional title. Of course, even with a strong start, there was still some lingering skepticism. McArthur had run well before, but also had a pattern of not-so-great performances in the postseason. The year she won the Mid-Atlantic title, she also finished 119th at the NCAA Championships.

In 2021, it was a similar story.

In Colorado’s next meet, McArthur sat out due to a nagging injury. However, the junior rebounded with an exciting 5th place finish at the PAC-12 XC Championships. It seemed like this was the year where she would convert her talent to an All-American finish.

Unfortunately, Monday did not go as planned.

McArthur faded to 166th place, well off expectations. Considering the general calamity that went down for plenty of top runners, it’s misguided to attempt and reason why McArthur had an "off" day. Although the result certainly was not what she may have hoped for, she was able to put together two solid races in her first season with Colorado and is has clearly emerged as a true low-stick star, not just a solid supporting scorer.

Vestri was projected to finish amongst the top-15 at the NCAA XC Championships, but things didn’t play out that way.

The senior was coming off of a runner-up result from the ACC XC Championships in October and had raced a few times during indoors and at the FSU Winter XC Classic. Vestri had recorded a new 16:09 (5k) personal best and won the ACC Indoor Championships in said event. At FSU, the Orange ace placed 7th in a deep field and proved she was capable of racing amongst the best.

On paper, Vestri has everything you could want in a top All-American contender. She was consistent, successful in a variety of races, was taking down top names and just seemed to have a clear level of progression that we hadn't seen beforehand.

On Monday, Vestri was holding her own through the first-half of the race, but then started to fade on a tough course. From the 3k to the 4k, the senior dropped 40 places to 71st place and roughly stayed around that place until the finish.

This was Vestri’s third attempt at the NCAA XC Championships and it was her highest finish, so it's important to keep that in mind. However, she now has the experience and prior results to be someone who could be in the top-40, without question, in the fall.

Beling was a runner who consistently finished near the front of competitive races, emerging as a crucial low-stick for a Boise State that ended up being better than expected because of her.

In her first season with Boise State, Beling notched three top-five finishes, including an impressive 3rd place run at the Mountain West XC Championships. She was a consistent number one runner for the Broncos at each of their four races and never gave us a reason to question her overall talent.

Coming from South Africa, Beling finished as an All-American in her first NCAA Championship race, placing 39th. Coming off a strong regular season, the Boise State junior may have been hoping for more, but given the unpredictability of Monday’s race, an All-American result matches our expectations and it validates the idea that she is one of the more consistent runners in the NCAA, at least for this year.

Moving up one spot following the NCAA Championships is Portland’s Pataki. The junior was an individual qualifier for the 2019 cross country national meet and gained valuable experience when she finished 57th in a deep field in Terre Haute.

This winter cross country season started out even better for Pataki as she began with a solid 4th place finish at the Oregon XC Open prior to winning the WCC XC Championships over a strong contingent of BYU competitors who in retrospect, ended up being far more talented than we realized.

In Stillwater, Pataki was joined by her teammates and had some extra motivation to compete well for the Pilots. The junior ace continuously moved up through the field over the course of the first 5k. She got as high as 19th place before dropping 12 places before the finish, ultimately finishing 31st overall.

This was her first All-American honor and a good indicator that Pataki is capable of finishing with the best. Her consistency and progress from last year suggest that Pataki is absolutely the real deal and that her ongoing consistency should carry her into next fall.

After transferring from Ohio State to Colorado at the beginning of the 2020-2021 academic year for graduate school, Nichols was expected to contribute key points for the Buffaloes. The redshirt senior had a respectable start to her winter season, finishing 24th at the FSU Winter XC Classic and 8th at the Battle Born Collegiate Challenge, but those results weren't entirely indicative of the talent that we had seen from her in year's past.

However, when the postseason came around, Nichols began to peak right on time, specifically at the PAC-12 XC Championships, finishing 8th in a super competitive field.

Two weeks later, the newest Colorado Buffalo raced herself to a monumental 18th place finish at the NCAA Championships, redeeming herself from the 2019 national meet where she finished 41st. This 23-spot improvement shows how well Nichols has acclimated to the Boulder altitude.

Nichols wasn't great to start the winter season and a few of her results, including one at the Oklahoma State Invitational in the fall, fell a bit flat. However, she progressively got better as the season went on, going from an honorable mention, to a just missed name to now our TSR #29 runner.

Johnson is a strong contender for having the biggest improvement between this year's national meet and last year's national meet. In 2019, she finished 239th at the NCAA XC Championships. In 2021, she finished 35th and earned All-American honors.

Michigan State has a track record of consistent development in their women’s program and Johnson was a great example. In her three BIG 10 Championships, Johnson finished 29th, 14th and 4th. Her recent 4th place run this winter put high expectations on the national meet, with the Spartans leaning on Johnson and Jenna Magness to get them on the podium.

Johnson likely would have been closer to her prior ranking had she been closer to Magness on Monday, but her race was still a massive performance versus 2019. Her career-long consistency suggested that she was trending in an All-American direction and sure enough she emerged as a true low-stick this year who quietly put herself in an impactful tier of scorers.

Utah’s Poppy Tank jumps up three spots in our rankings this week after finishing 27th at the national meet. The redshirt senior was competing in her third cross country national meet and used her extensive experience to aid in her first All-American honor. She went from 110th (2016) to 74th (2019) and continued to improve last week.

The Ute veteran was just flat-out great this year. Tank got better as the season went on and never faltered in her four races this season. She shook off the rust at the Silver State XC Challenge to place 8th, improved upon that mark at the Battle Born XC Challenge to place 5th in a top-heavy field and essentially emulated that result with a 6th place finish at the PAC-12 Championships.

Overall, the redshirt senior could do no wrong. She was consistently competitive against top-tier competition and never faltered. She may be dropping in our rankings, but that's not because of anything she has done.

The PAC-12 XC champion went out hard at the cross country national meet, leading the field through a little over 2k. However, her race plan started to backfire from there as she dropped back all the way to 55th by the end of the race

Herberg did improve by 61 places from her 2019 NCAA finish and finished only two places behind teammate Naomi Smith, but if she had paced herself from the beginning, Herberg could’ve left Oklahoma with an All-American honor.

Overall, we love how gutsy and aggressive Herberg has been with some of her racing. It paid off for her at the PAC-12 XC Championships which resulted in a win over Ella Donaghu. However, an unexciting 20th place finish at the Battle Born XC Challenge and a non-All-American performance at the national meet, we can only put so much weight on Herberg's title victory.

We had originally ranked Katelyn Tuohy in our preseason rankings. However, when she didn’t compete during the abbreviated fall cross country season, we had no choice but to take Tuohy out. The freshman phenom was a stud during her prep career in New York, winning three NXN Championships and recording eye-popping times.

After an extended absence, Tuohy finally raced for the Wolfpack during the indoor season, recording two finishes in both the 3k and DMR. Her 9:14 flat-track converted 3k at Camel City was respectable, but well off her PR. She earned All-American honors the Friday before the cross country national meet in the DMR and continued on with that momentum in Oklahoma Monday.

The young NC State runner recorded her first cross country All-American honor when she finished 24th overall on Monday. Tuohy positioned herself alongside some of the nation’s best throughout the course of the race, but started to drop in the last half. However, she still hanged on to help her Wolfpack teammates place 2nd as a team.

If Tuohy was able to finish 24th overall in a year where she didn't seem to be 100%, then it's fair to suggest that she could be a huge problem for future competitors. Her ceiling is unmatched and a consistent block of training and racing could do wonders for her in the future.

When Cohen came to New Mexico from Iowa Central, expectations were sky high. The powerhouse Lobos were gaining an eventual world qualifier in the steeplechase and had the potential for five All-Americans in cross country. However, things didn't pan out and Cohen narrowly missed out on those honors two years in a row. She was always a strong runner, but couldn’t quite put it all together on the national stage, at least for cross country.

That, however, changed in 2021 as Cohen finished 22nd on Monday and earned those honors in her senior season. The New Mexico star led a young team to a 6th place team finish and looked like the runner some expected when she transferred.

As the saying goes, “Better late than never.”

Mitchell’s opening race of the season flew under-the-radar, but that may have been a good indication of where she was headed. The redshirt sophomore from Oregon State finished runner-up at the Oregon XC Open, losing only to an unattached talent in Carmela Cardama Baez.

As a quick refresher, Cardama Baez was the NCAA runner-up for 10,000 meters at the 2019 NCAA Outdoor Championships, so Mitchell’s performance was certainly impressive.

Even looking at that result, it may have been hard to guess that she would finish 7th in a loaded PAC-12 field. That race was her true “breakout” in the NCAA. Mitchell was able to carry that momentum into the NCAA Championships, finishing her season with a 20th place run.

When you consider that she is only a sophomore, that performance will put her into the top-10 conversation over the next couple of years. She was a stud talent at the D2 level during her time with Seattle Pacific and has been super consistent. Mitchell is a reliable talent and she's one of the few women who you could almost always guarantee will have a good race.

Fegans came into the fall season with high expectations after showing strong potential during her 2020 indoor season. Those results did translate rather well to the grass, but not to the level that this current rank suggests. She finished 6th at the Blazer Classic and 9th at the ACC Championships. Those were solid results and it was clear that Fegans was a top low-stick talent, but she was the top-tier superstar that her recent performance indicates.

By virtue of a top-heavy ACC meet, Fegans qualified for her first NCAA Championship since 2018. In that race, Fegans finished 151st and was likely in the “happy to be there” camp. The 2021 meet, however, felt more like a redemption race.

Fegans appeared to have forgotten the fall ever happened and blazed her way to a massive 12th place finish which was easily her best result since entering the NCAA. That race earned her All-American honors and set her up nicely for the outdoor season.

We knew that Fegans was a talented distance runner. She was consistently getting better the older she got and was brimming with potential. It just took a few months until after the ACC Championships to see the Georgia Tech veteran eventually reach that ultra-high ceiling.

Chmiel rises in our rankings after a big finish in Stillwater. The NC State sophomore admittedly struggled during the fall season, finishing 16th place at the ACC Championships, only six places higher than her 2019 finish in a field that truthfully wasn't as a deep compared the year prior.

Whether it was the COVID-shortened season of just a sophomore slump, Chmiel looked off and the potential absence of her top-tier scoring potency was slightly concerning.

After a couple of indoor track races, where we saw her run a personal best in the 5k and qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships, Chmiel returned to the cross country course looking like a completely new runner.

Her performance on Monday was arguably an even bigger jump than some may have expected after 2019, with the NC State star placing 9th overall. That was a huge performance which validated suspicions back in 2019 that Chmiel would eventually be in the elite tier of distance talents when it came to the NCAA.

So why only TSR #21? Well, if we're being fair about looking at season's as a whole, we have to take into consideration that Chmiel simply struggled in the fall. Most of her races were super underwhelming and she didn't have any performance, aside from her indoor track times, which suggested that she was going to be an All-American.

It's a tricky game to play when doing these rankings, but we think this is a pretty fair spot.

Mom strength is a real thing and Weber State’s Summer Allen put that on full display during the winter cross country season. The redshirt senior has been in the NCAA since 2013, but between serving a mission for her church, being sidelined by injuries and giving birth to a baby boy, she finally put together her best season during a weird year.

Allen competed at the cross country national meet in 2013 and finished 154th as a true freshman. Seven and a half years later, Allen was back at the NCAA Championships and this time finished a wildly stellar 7th place in a deep field. The Wildcat was on the move the entire race, consistently passing competitors on her way to the finish.

Her regular season was indicative of a strong performance, but 7th overall far exceeded our race projections. We thought she was a fringe contender and we thought her consistency was a little undervalued, but earning a 7th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships was not at all what we expected to see out of Allen.

It’s hard to drop Clairmonte after her remarkable abbreviated fall cross country season, highlighted by a dominating win at the ACC XC Championships which contributed to multiple wins over teammate Hannah Steelman and conference rival Sasha Neglia.

That said, Clairmonte wasn’t upfront like we expected her to be during Monday's race. The Wolfpack senior was projected to contend for her first top-15 finish at the cross country national meet, but her firepower just wasn’t there.

Clairmonte still played a role in NC State earning a runner-up finish with her 63rd place showing. She was running well through the 4k before slipping back over the last third of the race.

The senior ace has consistently been right around the places 54 to 63 in her three appearances at NCAA’s. This consistency needs to be applauded, but her inability to convert her top-tier talent to a high All-American finish has left us a bit stumped. An ACC title leads us to believe that she is capable of so much more.

Forbes ended her season ranked where she finished on Monday. Splitting her time between the indoor oval and outdoor golf courses, Forbes only raced once during the fall cross country season prior to the national meet. Her win at the Conference USA XC Championships was all she needed to qualify for the Big Dance in March.

Despite only placing 87th in 2019 as a freshman, Forbes earned a higher initial ranking this winter as she had shown tremendous progress on the indoor oval. Her freshman campaign was cut short, but it was clear she had a ton of talent and that cross country would look similar.

As it turns out, that was a good prediction, because the Rice runner would improve to 19th place at the NCAA XC Championships last week. We knew that she had this kind of talent, but her racing opportunities prior to this winter had been limited. Now, with another year of competition under her belt, we have far more certainty as to what she can bring to the table.

When you consider that she doubled back from the 5k at the NCAA Indoor Championships, there should be ample room for growth when Forbes has a whole season to focus on one sport.

Ignoring the fact that she raced only twice, Hertenstein’s 2021 cross country season was almost a “copy & paste” of her 2019 season. Both years she finished as the runner-up at the BIG 10 XC Championships. In 2019, she was 31st at the cross country national meet while this year she was 28th.

Hertenstein ultimately dropped in our final rankings as it feels like she should have been higher at the national meet. She was only two seconds behind Bethany Hasz at the conference meet, but finished well behind her on Monday.

Had the Indiana junior finished marginally closer to Hasz, say five to ten places back, she may have retained her higher ranking to end the season. Either way, she is still a truly reliable low-stick who brings a ton of firepower and scoring potency to a team that has leaned on her for a few years now.

Be it cross country or indoor track, Magness raced sparingly in 2021, but executed every time that she toed the line. She finished 3rd at the BIG 10 XC Championships in her only race prior to NCAA’s and bettered her previous best finish by 13 places.

Bridging her cross country races with indoor track competition, Magness set personal bests in the 3k and 5k, earned her first BIG 10 title and first All-American honors on the track. Considering those results, Monday’s result came with little surprise.

Magness completed her season with a 16th place finish at the NCAA Championships, bettering her 2019 result finish by 30 places. At the beginning of the year, the question was whether Magness would crack the top 40.

Now, the question for next fall is, just how high can she rise?

Maybe it was the team title on the line. Maybe it’s the brilliance of Diljeet Taylor. Maybe BYU has magical water. Whatever the reason (it’s probably the water), Frentheway had a brilliant race on Monday and stepped up when the Cougar’s top star (Orton) began to falter from the lead.

With Orton coming off an injury and fading in the final kilometers, Frentheway was able to put together the best race of her career and finish in 15th place, coming in just behind teammate Anna Camp-Bennett. That was an improvement of 135 places from the only other NCAA meet Frentheway had run prior.

Frentheway had been solid all year long. She was posting respectable times, multiple top finishes and was someone who we saw as a fringe All-American contender. However, this was easily the best result of her career and we didn't see any performance from her this year which suggested that she was going to run this well.

It seems fair to assume that no one, maybe not even Mackay, saw this coming. How unpredictable was her 14th place finish at the NCAA Championships on Monday?

Well, her 2019 season ended with a 90th place finish in the Northeast region, her best result at the time. During the 2020 indoor season, Mackay set a personal best of 10:00 for 3000 meters. And on Monday? She finished two spots ahead of Whittni Orton, a BYU runner who has run 8:49 for 3000 meters.

To be fair, these seem like niche statistics, but the reality is that nothing that Mackay had done prior to 2021 pointed to her making the national meet, let alone finishing 15th overall. And when you look at what she did in 2021, it’s hard to say that you saw it coming then.

She won her first race of the winter season (which was a small local meet) and then went on to win the America East Xc Championships, edging out Kaley Richards. At the time, it wasn’t apparent that either woman would be as good as they wound up being.

Each week during this winter cross country season, Heymach moved up in our rankings. The entered the NCAA Championships after recording a huge 4th place finish at the PAC-12 XC Championships, her highest career finish.

The Stanford veteran had been posting strong results throughout the season, slowly emerging as a potential All-American contender. However, that conference performance was wildly exciting. It was suggested that her recent trend of improved results was legitimate and it also gave us reason to believe that Heymach was peaking at the right time.

That PAC-12 performance set Heymach up for a big finish in Oklahoma and she delivered with a 13th place showing. The Cardinal senior began the race in 87th but didn’t let that get her down. She was always passing competitors and ultimately reached the top-20 by the 4k. Heymach’s 13th place finish not only earned her All-American honors, but it also helped Stanford land a 3rd place podium finish.

BYU’s Whittni Orton was in the conversation to win the individual NCAA title coming into this year, but after being sidelined with a foot injury for a majority of the winter cross country season, we didn’t get to see Orton compete until she was in Oklahoma.

Based on her resume and 7th place finish from the 2019 cross country national meet, we knew Orton was talented and could put together a solid performance. However, her extended absence left us questioning just how high she was going to finish.

After leading the field through the 3k to 5k checkpoints, we were convinced that Orton could hold on for the win. However, the hilly course and faster turnover from the other women around her was too much to handle.

The BYU veteran ended up dropping to 17th place overall, a result that is truthfully very impressive when you consider that she hadn't raced since mid-October and only a month to get herself back into top form.

Not only that, but we have to think back to the Oklahoma State Invitational. In that race, she took home the win, beating women like Rachel McArthur, Taylor Roe, Alison Pray and all of her BYU teammates. In retrospect, that was quite the top-heavy field that beat (convincingly) and that performance needs to be factored into our rankings.

How often do you see a 2:03 800 meter runner finish 11th at the cross country national meet? Well, it’s not too often, but BYU’s Camp-Bennett did just that.

The senior led her Cougar teammates to a dominating team win. Camp-Bennett started out conservative on Monday in 48th place after the first kilometer, but then she was on the move. By halfway, she found herself amongst the top-20. She passed four more runners in the last kilometer using her middle distance speed to earn her first cross country All-American honor.

Camp-Bennett’s 11th place finish was a 49 place improvement from her 2019 NCAA showing. This success wasn’t exactly surprising based on Camp-Bennett’s 8:52 (3k) PR in mid-February. She built upon the momentum of that performance and ideally translated that result to the national stage.

Joining the rankings and immediately cracking our top-10 is NCAA bronze medalist Tyynismaa. The sophomore had completed the abbreviated fall cross country season with a 26th place finish at the SEC XC Championships, but once mid-January rolled around, Tyynismaa was a completely new runner.

The sophomore was on top of the world during the indoor track season and massive personal bests of 4:33 (mile) and 9:03 (3k). Tyynismaa immediately joined the conversation for a top-five finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships, but instead, the Crimson Tide chose to focus on the DMR and cross country.

In Oklahoma, the rising Crimson Tide runner positioned herself in the top-10 right from the gun. Tyynismaa moved into 2nd place between the 1k and 2k and stayed there until dropping to 3rd place over the last kilometer.

We were unsure of how to gauge Tyynismaa’s track success coming into this race. There was no doubt that she was a new runner who was going through a massive breakout year, but finishing 3rd at the NCAA XC Championships was unprecedented. Heck, she was barely even a scorer for her team at her conference meet! That's why Tyynismaa has been such an exciting runner to watch this year.

Everybody has a bad day now and then. Unfortunately for Logue, her bad day happened to be on Monday. The Iowa State senior fell apart hard in Stillwater, fading back to 126th place. The race was an untimely hiccup in what looked like an almost perfect season.

During the abbreviated fall competition, Logue went three for three, winning the Bob Timmons Classic, Cowboy Jamboree and the BIG 12 XC Championships. She raced once during the winter season, finishing runner-up to (at the time) TSR #1 Ella Donaghu. At that point, Logue was running incredibly well and even won the Big 12 5k on the indoor track.

So, sure, the season didn’t end the way she planned, but Logue still put together a great season. Had her bad race been on another course or under different conditions, it might be reasonable to drop her more. But when you considering the number of women who significantly underperformed, Logue was far from the exception.

Making a big jump into the top-10 this week is Northern Arizona's Taryn O’Neill. The junior had the best cross country season of her career thus far, one that was highlighted by statement wins at the Silver State XC Challenge and at the BIG Sky XC Championships, as well as a 3rd place finish at the Battle Born XC Challenge.

At the cross country national meet, O’Neill immediately found herself in the top-10 at the 1k mark and fluctuated between 3rd and 11th before ultimately finishing 6th. This was a 117 place improvement from the 2019 national meet for the Lumberjack.

O'Neill was clearly a key talent during the 2019 season and was making key improvements. However, she ultimately faltered in the postseason despite some of the promising performances that we saw from her that year.

The good news is that O'Neill replicated that same regular season success and maintained as she was going into the postseason. Her experience likely contributed to her top finish as well as her willingness to go to the front of any race that she was in.

Dudek blew away expectations in her freshman season. We thought she would be good, even an All-American perhaps, but the results she put up in her first three races were beyond that.

In her first collegiate race, Dudek finished 3rd in a deep field at the FSU Winter XC Classic, coming in only seconds behind the race winner, Ella Donaghu. That trend carried through the season as Dudek finished second fiddle to her teammate again at the Battle Born XC Challenge and later finished 3rd at the PAC-12 XC Championships.

On almost any other day, Dudek may have been a top-10 runner in the NCAA. However, the combination of a long season, a challenging course and a potential injury (?) ultimately led to Dudek falling back to 156th on Monday. It is unclear if her injury occurred during the race or was pre-existing, but Dudek was on crutches after the race.

It was an unfortunate end to an otherwise incredible season. Still, there is so much to look forward to for the young Cardinal star.

Minnesota’s Bethany Hasz put together her best year as a Golden Gopher in the early parts of 2021. The redshirt senior decided to focus on cross country and indoor track this winter and in the end, she walked away with two top-eight finishes at two national meets in a matter of four days.

To begin her busy weekend, Hasz came from behind with a big kick and placed 2nd in the 5k at the indoor national meet. This performance didn’t seem to tire out the BIG 10 XC champion as she finished 8th in a loaded field at the cross country national meet.

In Oklahoma, the Golden Gopher never left the top-22, always matching the moves made by the pack. After redshirting the 2019 cross country season, Hasz finally got the cross country All-American honor we knew she was capable of.

She seemed so much sharper this year and was clearly making better tactical decisions regardless of the season that she was competing in. Hasz knew when to surge, when to kick or where she should position herself in almost any race. At this point, her racing IQ is easily some of the best in the country.

The leader of the Wolfpack on Monday, Steelman earned her second cross country All-American honor with an incredible 5th place finish. The senior was amongst the leaders the entire race and benefited from having teammate Kelsey Chmiel close behind.

Steelman was entering the NCAA Championships after placing 8th at the indoor national meet in the 5000 meters four days earlier. Tired legs seemed not to affect the distance ace as she has completed doubles before on short turnarounds. Her finishing time was only three seconds shy of 3rd place.

Transferring from Wofford to NC State was a good move for Steelman this year as she saw immediate success during the fall and winter. The Wolfpack runner was a true low-stick on one of the nation’s best teams, never finishing out of the top-five in any race she toed the line for. She is easily one of the most reliable distance runners in the country and you saw that throughout the entirety of this year.

Norris had herself a weekend. Only three days removed from a 4th place finish in the 5k at the NCAA Indoor Championships, Norris matched that finish in a much bigger field, improving 35 spots from 2019.

The Air Force junior may have come into the weekend with a slight chip on her shoulder. Her cross country season started with a win at the Silver State XC Challenge, but it looked less impressive on paper due to Air Force being placed into a slower field of teams. Her next race, however, resulted in a statement win at the Mountain West Championships where she gapped the field by five seconds over the last kilometer.

Her finish at the NCAA Championships was a massive difference from 2019 when she squeaked into the All-American bubble by only two places. Norris will head into this fall as one of the new favorites to win the national title and could add to her hardware collection during the outdoor season this spring. She is building upon the momentum that she gained in 2019 and is quickly becoming an elite distance talent.

Donaghu was one of the few women in the top rankings to finish lower than in 2019. After starting the season as the TSR #1 ranked runner, the Stanford senior quickly validated that ranking with wins at the FSU Winter XC Classic and the Battle Born XC Challenge.

However, things began to take a bit of a turn at the PAC-12 Championships, where Donaghu was upset by Washington’s Haley Herberg, finishing runner-up instead.

For much of Monday’s race, Donaghu was right in the mix. The announcers noted how Donaghu preferred to be the “hunter” in most of her races and she appeared in prime position to live up to that reputation as the race unfolded.

However, the difficult course eventually took its toll and Donaghu faded to 10th place, two places lower than her finish in 2019.

Despite the ending, it's important to realize just how good Donahue was this season. She took home monumental wins at the FSU Winter XC Classic and Battle Born XC Challenge. Donaghu often faced elite-level competition and even when she didn't win, she still up top results. For that reason, we kept her listed at TSR #3.

It’s hard to not like Roe after the fall and winter cross country seasons. Her breakout season caught our attention right away when she recorded three 2nd place finishes in the fall, one of which came against Whittni Orton and another which came against Cailie Logue at the BIG 12 XC Championships.

Roe came into the cross country national meet with a lot of confidence. The sophomore didn’t need experience on the national stage to contend for the win and it likely helped that she was on her home course.

She started out in the middle of the pack and worked her way to the front by the 3k. From there, she remained right alongside the leaders, pushing the pace. Roe’s 2nd place finish was only five seconds behind eventual winner Mercy Chelangat.

The Oklahoma State star impressed us this fall with her consistency and strong finishes against the nation’s best. Did she lose to a handful of top stars this year? Yes, but she easily showed the most consistency and matched our expectations better than most of those women like Orton, Donaghu and Logue did.

The only women to beat Chelangat in a cross country race this year was teammate Jami Reed and Missouri's Sarah Chapman. That race was the first competition of the fall season, taking place all the way back on September 19th.

Since then, Chelangat has been on a tear. She won the Florida State Invitational and followed that up with a victory at the SEC Championships. Her conference win was notable because she took down a particularly strong field that was very top-heavy.On Monday, the Alabama junior capped off her winning season by taking top honors on the biggest stage.

It’s safe to say that her win was unexpected. Until 2021, Chelangat had never run at an NCAA Championship. A woman who had never made it past the regional stage, in a relatively weak region no less, was now winning a national title.

When you win three of four races and one is your first national title, there’s little argument to why you shouldn’t be ranked at the top.

Amaris Tyynismaa (Alabama)

Emily Mackay (Binghamton)

Nicole Fegans (Georgia Tech)

Katelyn Tuohy (NC State)

Abby Nichols (Colorado)

Kaley Richards (UMass Lowell)

Gracelyn Larkin (New Mexico)

Lindsey Stallworth (East Tennessee State)

Krissy Gear (Arkansas)

Allie Schadler (Washington)

Sara Musselman (BYU)

Lynsie Gram (Michigan State)

Paige Hofstad (North Carolina)

Maudie Skyring (Florida State)

Erika Freyhof (Nebraska)

Allie Guagenti (Ohio State)

Sydney Seymour (Tennessee)

Camila Noe (Montana State)

Gabby Hentemann (Oklahoma State)

Michaela Reinhart (Duke)

Alison Pray (Southern Utah)

Lydia Olivere (Villanova)

Sami Corman (Georgetown)

Lotte Black (Rhode Island)

Addison Coggins (Florida State)

Jessica Lawson (Stanford)

Molly Born (Oklahoma State)

Ericka VanderLende (Michigan)

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