TSR Collaboration
Jan 7, 202311 min
Written by Maura Beattie, Scotty Loughlin & Garrett Zatlin
D2 and D3 freshman class rankings are coming next week!
Click here to see our ranking criteria.
Click here to see our "Just Missed" teams
Despite our research, it is possible that certain names have been erroneously omitted.
Did we miss someone? If so, send us an email at contact@thestridereport.com & let us know!
My goodness, the Toledo women have an incredibly deep freshmen class.
And honestly, that's not something that we thought we would say about this team a year ago.
Coach Andrea Grove-McDonough recruited the absolute heck out of the 2022 graduating class and that, in turn, lands the Toledo Rockets at TSR #7 in our freshmen class rankings. The 10 women who were brought into Toledo, Ohio offer unreal depth which, over the long term, could bolster the already-promising momentum of this program.
Let’s start getting to know the newest contributors to the Rockets' lineup.
Marina Gross, who hails from Manitoba in Canada, is a multiple-time provincial champion on both the cross country course and the track. Aside from her 2:14 (800) and 4:30 (1500) personal bests, the freshman talent has also dabbled in the 3000 meters. Gross recorded a 9:36 mark back in December of 2021.
The dynamic talent that Gross brings to this team could offer key event diversity for the Rockets given their current endurance-centric identity. However, Gross' 3k mark suggests that she'll focus on that event when she reaches the indoor oval this winter.
We then come to New York native Ella Kurto who has highly valuable experience when it comes racing on the national stage.
When she was a high school sophomore, the newest Toledo Rocket placed 14th at the NXN Championships, earning All-American honors in the process. That result effectively made Kurto one of the more established long distance talents on the east coast.
With a 4:32 (1500) PR to her name, Kurto has the potential to drop that time down with a new training program. But despite holding strong marks in the 800 meters and 1500 meters, it's more likely that this New York transplant will find the most success on the grass and in the longer distances.
After all, she is a 9:34 (3k) and 17:58 (5k XC) runner. And those aren't times to be taken lightly.
Gross and Kurto are two very similar runners. They give Toledo opportunities to score in multiple disciplines, but also lean towards the long distance identity that Coach Andrea Grove-McDonough has established over the last couple of years.
And speaking of an athlete with range, Lianna Surtz of Illinois has also joined the Rocket's budding roster this year.
Surtz can not only run 2:16 for 800 meters and 4:54 for 1600 meters, but she has also posted a mark 10:40 for 3200 meters. She is a multi-time IHSA All-State athlete and she even finished 24th at the 2018 NXN Championships!
With experience racing against the top women in the nation, and underrated mile speed to pair with her cross country success, Surtz is bringing some incredible value to the Mid-American Conference.
Just through three rookies, it's clear that Toledo has made major progress in their recent recruiting efforts. But we have only just begun our analysis. It's the rest of this freshman class that makes the Rockets so darn impressive.
McKinley Fielding made an immediate impact this past fall for the Rockets. She raced with the top dogs week after week and even made the team's NCAA XC Championship lineup.
But rather than just focusing on her freshman cross country season, we need to see what she is bringing to the NCAA from her prep career.
As a high schooler in New York, Fielding impressed on both the grass and the oval. She has run a personal best of 4:35 in the 1500 meters and has also run 17:14 (5k) in cross country and 17:26 (5k) on the track. Those latter two times suggest that she could crack the 17:00 barrier as soon as this year!
Arriving in Ohio by way of Canada is Cadence Christie. With sub-60 second 400 meter speed and an 18:30 (5k) mark, Christie’s got some nice versatility in her racing toolbox. She'll need to improve upon her 2:19 (800) and 4:44 (1500) times, but the range that she brings to the table is nice to have.
Then we have a trio of rookie Rockets, all hailing from Indiana, in Bailey Ranta, Karina James and Jaydon Cirincione -- and all three women are sneaky-good.
Ranta held her own among some talented prep athletes in the Hoosier state. Her 4:54 (1600), 10:43 (3200) and 17:56 (5k XC) marks are all very solid. And much like we mentioned with a few others, Ranta brings underrated mile prowess to a team that can still utilize her talent on the grass.
Fellow freshman Karina James has run 4:52 for 1600 meters and 10:38 for 3200 meters. James has numerous honors to her name and, like Ranta, can be a legitimate three-season threat. The 23rd place finisher at the 2021 Eastbay XC National Championships was one of the first women to commit to Toledo, sparking an avalanche of commits soon after her.
In fact, one could argue that she may be among the top-three rookies in this class.
And then there is Jaydon Cirincione who has dipped under the five-minute barrier in the 1600 meters with her 4:55 PR and has also dropped a time of 10:47 for 3200 meters. The talented freshman also finished among the top-10 at the IHSAA State Track & Field Championships.
We haven’t gotten to see Cirincione race in uniform yet for the Rockets, but she has some underrated experience. And, just like a handful of her teammates, subtly great range.
Rounding out this freshman class for Toledo are homegrown talents, Michaela McGill and Aubrey Duhaime. Both of these women could help the Rockets out in the long distance races, although they will likely act as key developmental pieces over the first couple of seasons.
McGill has run 10:44 for 3200 meters and 18:32 for 5000 meters on the grass. On the prep scene, McGill finished well amongst Ohio’s best at her state championships.
As for Duhaime, her personal bests on the track are modest, but her 17:59 (5k) mark from the fall of 2021 suggests that she's due for far greater performances at the collegiate level.
The Toledo women have been a team on the rise for the last few seasons, recently experiencing a breakout cross country campaign this past fall. And during that time, Coach Andrea Grove-McDonough has been relentless in her pursuit of top distance talents.
And if she continues to recruit at this level year-in and year-out, then Toledo is going to be a consistent problem for the absolute best teams in the NCAA.
The Alabama Crimson Tide have amassed elite firepower at the top of their cross country lineup over the last few seasons, and their true potential was on full display at the 2022 NCAA XC Championships where their entire top-four finished in the top-16 of the meet.
But with Mercy Chelangat now out of eligibility, the Alabama women will look to the future as they begin to integrate their latest freshman recruiting class. With this group, they'll hope to find enough scoring support to capitalize on the low-stick prowess of Hilda Olemomoi, Amaris Tyynismaa and Flomena Asekol.
The headliner of this current rookie class was Sam McDonnell who ventured to Tuscaloosa with a star-studded resume. She previously competed for one of the top high school distance programs in the country, Newbury Park.
During her time as a prep runner, McDonnell was a legitimate dual threat between the middle and long distances.
From a long distance perspective, McDonnell shined during her senior cross country season. She took down Natalie Cook at the Woodbridge XC Classic with a monster three-mile time of 15:54, finishing runner-up only to Dalia Frias. She later secured silver at the 2021 CIF State XC Championships and ended her breakout season with a 6th place finish at the 2021 RunningLane XC Championships with a 5k personal best of 16:43.
McDonnell’s hot streak didn’t stop on the grass. She was also able to tear up the track with personal bests of 2:08 (800), 4:38 (mile) and 10:12 (3200).
During the 2022 collegiate cross country season, McDonnell contributed to the Crimson Tide's varsity lineup as their sixth runner at Joe Piane (66th place), as well as their seventh runner at both the South Regional XC Championships and the national meet.
Given all of her accolades, there was plenty of promise for McDonnell and her future at Alabama...until recently she announced that she was transferring to UCLA. The mid-year move will allow her to reunite with her former high school coach, Sean Brosnan.
We decided to factor McDonnell into these rankings because, even though she is now transferring out of the program, she was still a part of this rookie group. If she hadn't raced for the Alabama women this past fall, then this would be a different story. But at the very least, she did contribute.
With her departure in mind, we’ll now shift to the remaining members of this rookie class who are still part of the Crimson Tide’s roster.
Crawford West is an Alabama native who is expected to be a massive spark on the grass over the coming years. During her senior year of high school cross country, West won four out of her five races, including the Alabama 7A State XC Championships where she posted a 5k personal best of 17:06.
But on the track, she was arguably just as good.
West was a state champion in both the 1600 meters and the 3200 meters, events where she holds personal bests of 4:53 and 10:18, respectively, as well as a commendable 2:12 (800) mark. Of course, the race that truly gave West some legitimate star power was when she ran a huge postseason mile time of 4:46 at the Music City Track Carnival during her junior year.
With McDonnell now gone, no one else in Alabama’s freshman class can match the full bag of tricks that West brings to the table. She brings a level of legitimate star power and three-season versatility that isn't always prevalent for certain powerhouse programs.
That value can't be emphasized enough.
Another athlete who offers a similar boost to Alabama's roster is Lily Henne, a highly accomplished miler who holds a personal best of 4:53.
Henne has also shown promise in the 3200 meters as well with a PR of 10:35. That kind of result suggests that she may potentially find her sweet spot in either the mile or the 3000 meters at the NCAA level during the winter months.
Not only that, but Henne also seems to fit into the mile-cross country dual identity that Alabama has seemingly established with Flomena Asekol and Amaris Tyynismaa.
On the other end of the spectrum, fellow freshman Lilly Walters was nearly on par with Crawford West’s long distance marks at the high school level. In fact, she has already begun to show flashes of brilliance in an Alabama singlet!
So far, Walters has produced some encouraging results during her short time in Tuscaloosa. She was the Crimson Tide’s seventh runner at Joe Piane (73rd place) and their sixth runner at the SEC XC Championships (36th place), showing that she’s preparing for a future scoring role.
The North Carolina native also has personal bests of 2:15 in the 800 meters and 4:57 in the 1600 meters, leading us to believe she could find success as a middle distance runner if she continues to respond to collegiate training.
Rounding out the Crimson Tide’s freshman class are Cami Crouch and Leah Kleekamp who bring different skill sets to the table. Crouch is a strong miler, as evidenced by her victory in the HS Elite Developmental heat of the HOKA Festival of Miles. In that race, she broke the five-minute barrier with a strong 4:57 mark.
Kleekamp, on the other hand, thrived on the grass. She peaked in the final race of her high school career to earn PR by 36 seconds and finish runner-up at the Missouri Class 5 State XC Championships.
Looking at this Alabama class holistically, what may be the most exciting factor is the diversity of skill sets that this coaching staff has attracted. A seamless blend of talented middle distance runners alongside cross country specialists perfectly complement a bona fide star in Crawford West and an already-proven contributor in Lilly Walters.
There may not be an instant All-American talent like Hilda Olemomoi in this crop of rookies, but there doesn't necessarily need to be. And after a few years of development, one or more athletes from this group may pop off in a major way.
It absolutely pains us to rank these Arkansas freshmen at "only" TSR #5.
Frankly, you could make an argument for them to be listed at TSR #2.
But even if you don't agree with this ranking, it's important to note that there is a significant gap in firepower between the bottom-five programs on this list and the top-five programs.
And in our eyes, the Razorbacks are the first team in this "elite" tier.
Let's start with the clear-cut star of this rookie group: Mia Cochran.
The Pennsylvania native was truly among the best high school distance runners in the nation last year. And yes, while we do throw around the word "elite" probably more often than we should, we would still argue that "elite" is not an exaggerated description of Cochran's high school resume.
The current Razorback rookie has flexed incredible range, running times of 2:09 (800), 4:20 (1500), 4:39 (mile), 9:41 (3k), 10:04 (two mile) and 17:11 (5k). In other words, Cochran is one of the best three-season threats that any collegiate program could have landed this year.
But what truly separates Cochran from the other freshmen around the country is the impact that she has had on her team just this past fall. The 4:39 miler stepped up in distance and became Arkansas' second scorer throughout numerous points of the 2022 cross country season. Cochran even placed 12th at the SEC XC Championships and 64th at the NCAA XC Championships!
That is a super impressive string of results for someone who is a true rookie. And if that wasn't enough, she also ran a personal best of 16:12 for 5000 meters at Boston University back in December!
Cochran is almost definitely going to be a multi-time All-American by the time her collegiate eligibility expires. However, the real question is, just how high does her potential go?
We then come to Ainsley Erzen, a middle distance specialist who brings some highly valuable speed to a group that is clearly trying to bolster their longer distances.
Erzen's 2:06 personal best for 800 meters made her one of the absolute best half-milers in the country last year. The Iowa native was the 2021 Nike Outdoor National Championship title winner in the 800 meters which is where she ran her personal best.
The multi-time state champion has dominated the state of Iowa for the last few years. And with Shafiqua Maloney now out of the NCAA, the Arkansas women will likely look to Erzen to (eventually) replace some of the firepower that their former 800 meter superstar took with her.
Cochran and Erzen bring incredible firepower to both ends of the distance running spectrum for Arkansas. However, it's the rest of this freshman class, specifically the next three women, who truly help this group stand out.
The combination of Mary Ellen Eudaly, Anastacia Gonzales and Mackenzie Rogers should make Arkansas' conference rivals start sweating. That's because Eudaly (2:09) and Gonzales (2:08) have both run under 2:10 for 800 meters while all three women hold 1600 meter personal bests under 4:50.
If Eudaly (4:44), Gonzales (4:47) and Rogers (4:48) are only the third, fourth and fifth women who were talking about in this freshman class with those times, then it's fair to suggest that we might be under ranking these Arkansas rookies.
But their resumes don't just end in the middle distances!
Eudaly has run 10:17 for 3200 meters and 16:55 for 5000 meters on the grass. Gonzales has run 10:24 for 3200 meters and 17:32 for 5000 meters on the grass. Rogers has run 10:17 for 3200 meters and 18:08 for 5000 meters on the grass.
Sure, this trio of recruits are super fast and proven talents, but that's not why they're viewed so highly. It's because their versatility allows them to be competitive in the middle distances while maintaining great value on the grass.
And if you look at Arkansas' history, most of their success can be attributed to how effectively certain women race between the grass and the oval. That's why Eudaly, Gonzales and Rogers are such perfect fits for the women in Fayetteville.
It feels absurd to think that Brooklyn Biancamano (who has run 4:54 for 1600 meters) and Kaylie Cox (who has run 17:35 for 5000 meters) are at the tail-end of this article. On a handful of top-20 freshman classes, these women would be viewed as the main stars of their freshman groups!
But as Arkansas continues to rebuild from their mass number of departures, and their lineup continues to experiment with certain varsity combinations, both Biancamano and Cox could end up contributing earlier than some people may expect.
From top to bottom, this class is everything that the Razorbacks needed. It has tons of raw firepower, a true superstar, exceptional versatility and skillsets that seem to match the ethos of Arkansas' distance program.
And as I conclude our analysis, I'm forced to ask myself, did we rob the Arkansas women of a few spots in our rankings? We certainly might have...