TSR's 2022 D1 XC Top 25 Team Rankings (Women): Update #3

Written by Maura Beattie & Scotty Loughlin, additional contributions and edits and Garrett Zatlin

NOTE: These rankings are based on how a team fared throughout the entirety of a season, not just how they ran at the NCAA XC Championships or a singular meet.

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.

ANOTHER NOTE: I know that we already said this in the first note, but we are looking at every. single. meet. that a team has run this year and are using those results to create power rankings which are essentially an aggregate of a team's season.

In our eyes, that's the most fair ranking system.

Yes, there are instances where team A defeated team B at their conference meet, but team B is still ranked higher. That's likely because team B beat team A at a different meet that more closely resembles the national meet. It could also be because we are expecting a different scoring structure in the future.
 

That is not always the case, but it does happen in these rankings.

Some people will not be happy. We get that. Unfortunately, no matter how hard we try, we have to make hard decisions that will leave some people frustrated. As our readership grows, we just wanted to ensure that our audience has full transparency of our rankings approach.

Utah Valley slides down a couple spots after a strong, but largely expected, 2nd place finish at the WAC XC Championships.

Everlyn Kemboi utterly destroyed the rest of the field, taking the overall win by nearly 30 seconds. On more than one occasion, Kemboi has looked like a threat to finish in the top-10 at the NCAA XC Championships and this was certainly one of those occasions.

Behind Kemboi, we saw Hannah Branch and Madison Flippence who were able to pick up a pair of much-needed top-10 finishes. Since the Wolverines' breakout performance at the Cowboy Jamboree, the middle portion of this lineup hasn’t quite replicated that September-time scoring prowess, so it was extra encouraging to see those two women thrive as we enter the most important part of the season.

Next up for the Utah Valley women will be the uber-competitive Mountain Regional XC Championships where they finished 9th a year ago. The Wolverines will need the middle portion of their lineup to be at its absolute best if they wish to contend for a 6th place finish, or possibly a top-five finish, in the region.

But for now, there hasn’t been enough evidence to suggest that they're truly better than a handful of other teams in these rankings, so we’ll keep the Utah Valley women at TSR #25.

One could argue that the Michigan women just ran their best race of the season at the BIG 10 XC Championships. And yet, at the same time, we still don't think that they have run their best race yet.

Ericka VanderLende looks to have regained her form as she was able to secure a pivotal 3rd place finish to set the table for her fellow Wolverines. Teammate Samantha Tran was also able to place in the top-10 while and the remaining scorers finished 22-25-26 which was enough to hold off a competitive Wisconsin team and a top-heavy Ohio State lineup for a runner-up finish behind only Michigan State.

It’s encouraging to see Michigan climb back up the charts, but if they want to climb any higher, we’ll need to see a few athletes rebound.

Katelynne Hart (25th) and Kayla Windemuller (26th) didn't exactly run poorly, but based on their proven talent levels, Michigan will need them to unlock their full potential for any improvements in the team scoring.

In fact, if Windemuller had run up to her full potential that she has shown this season, then the Wolverines probably win gold!

If that can happen, and if VanderLende and Tran can continue running at the level that they showed this past weekend, then the Wolverines will have a shot at inching back closer to their original preseason ranking.

The Razorbacks performed in line with expectations at the SEC XC Championships, but move down one spot due to the performances of other teams.

Isabel Van Camp refuses to have a bad race this season, and her talent was on full display as she led Arkansas with her 4th place finish. Considering that this field featured two individual national title contenders, that result is about as good as it could get for Van Camp.

The duo of Sydney Thorvaldson (11th) and Mia Cochran (12th) was impressive yet again, giving the Razorbacks a valuable trio up front that could not be matched by any team other than Alabama.

The smaller SEC field also opened the door for a favorable result from Arkansas’ backend as Katie McCune and Gracie Hyde were able to finish in 21st and 26th, respectively, despite a time gap of 1:30 from Van Camp to Hyde.

As the Arkansas women shift gears to the South Central Regional XC Championships, they may have the luxury of resting one or more varsity runners given the weaker field that they’ll be taking on. That could lend itself to a “sharper” Razorback group at the NCAA XC Championships.

Wisconsin was a “soft favorite” to win the BIG 10 XC Championships, as the Badgers had performed better at their Nuttycombe Invitational than any other BIG 10 team.

But despite that, the Wisconsin women were unable to match the firepower of Michigan State and Michigan, eventually forced to settle for 3rd place.

Shea Ruhly led the team with a solid 8th place finish and was joined in the top-15 by Samantha Stieve (13th) and Lucinda Crouch (14th).

Given that the top Badger finished 8th compared to Michigan’s lead runner finishing 3rd and Michigan State’s finishing 2nd, Wisconsin really needed their backend to finish in the top-20. That, however, wasn’t quite the case as their remaining top-five runners scored 29 points and 30 points.

The DNA of this Badger lineup is that of a team that has a frontend that is respectable, but not rich with scoring potency. Because of those limitations, they will have to improve their backend if they wish to succeed at the Great Lakes Regional XC Championships and have a shot at getting back into our top-20.

The ACC XC Championships were a rough outing for the Orange women.

The expectation for this team entering their conference meet was a 4th place finish with a shot at potentially upsetting North Carolina if they were firing on all cylinders.

Instead, Syracuse fell to 6th place overall and were defeated handily by both Virginia and Florida State.

Savannah Roark didn’t have a poor day by any means, finishing 15th, but we expected a runner of her caliber to be a lock for the top-10 with a great shot at cracking the top-five if things went her way.

The rest of the lineup completed the scorecard with a point spread of 34-42-49-51 which nearly knocked the Orange down to 7th place as they edged Duke by only four points.

There is some minor cause for concern with the direction Syracuse has been heading in. Sure, Roark could have been a little bit better, but they desperately need far greater middle-lineup support from multiple runners.

In the shadows of the current ACC landscape, the Virginia women have been inching themselves closer and closer to the top-20 portion of our rankings. And after a 3rd place finish at their conference meet, they check in at TSR #20.

With NC State and Notre Dame owning the field up front, the Virginia women came out 11 points ahead of a Brynn Brown-less North Carolina team.

Margot Appleton, who has led the team this entire season, carried on that streak with her 9th place finish, 22 places higher than where she finished in 2021. Appleton’s consistency has paid off for not only her this fall, but her Cavalier teammates as well.

Since transferring from NYU to Virginia, sophomore Camryn Menninger has stepped up her game. She has fluctuated between being the second and third scorer for Virginia this fall. Her presence in the lineup, especially after her 12th place finish at the ACC XC Championships, has helped this team find their groove.

Mia Barnett, primarily a middle distance runner, has shown that her 1500 meter speed translates well to the cross country course. Barnett and Sophie Atkinson, both of whom are sophomores, finished within five seconds of each other in 17th place and 22nd place, respectively.

Virginia has their top-four locked-down, but need to get fifth runner, Esther Seeland, closer to her teammates. The D3 transfer from Messiah is an accomplished middle distance runner and has the talent to race alongside Barnett and Atkinson any day of the week as her previous races this fall would suggest.

The Southeast regional meet will put the Virginia women back up against ACC foes siuch as NC State and North Carolina, as well as Furman and Liberty. Even so, 3rd place isn’t out of the picture for the Cavaliers given their most recent results.

Heading into the BIG 10 XC Championships, the team battle was fairly wide open. In our eyes, no women’s team had solidified themselves as the clear-cut leader of the conference

So, who came out on top?

That’s right, the Michigan State women.

The Spartans took down a talented field thanks in part to a runner-up performance from Katie Osika. The Michigan State junior went from finishing 50th last year to 2nd this year, returning to her prior low-stick form and getting even better in 2022.

Osika has risen to top of the lineup for the Spartans and with her, she has brought teammates Makenna Veen and Kaitlyn Hynes along for the ride.

Veen, like Osika, made huge improvements to finish 9th over the weekend. The sophomore moved up 31 spots from her 2021 finish to help secure the victory for the team. She has tons of momentum right now and her consistency has been very underrated.

Hynes, who finished 15th at the BIG 10 XC Championships, has also been a consistent scorer for Michigan State this season. Meanwhile, underclassmen teammate Lauren Freeland and Emily Bardwell maintained top-30 finishes, giving the Spartan the most balanced lineup in the country.

Now, yes, a win in a historically tough conference is promising heading into the regional and national meets. However, this was easily their best race of the season. Ongoing consistency will be a big thing to watch from MSU in their next couple of races.

They weren’t able to give the New Mexico Lobos a run for their money at the Mountain West XC Championships, but given the way the Colorado State women are running, the rest of our top-20 needs to watch out.

The Rams rallied behind a 21 second top-five time-spread to finish runner-up behind a very good New Mexico team. Colorado State saw all five scorers finish within 10 places of one another to give themselves another stellar team performance.

Colorado State veteran Lily Tomasula-Martin led the way for her team with an 8th place finish and crossing the line right behind her was sophomore Annabel Stafford in 9th. For those two women, Tomasula-Martin matched her 2021 conference meet performance and Stafford made huge leaps from finishing 41st finish from last fall.

Sara Carter, who has been one of the key front-runners for the Rams this season, dropped back to the third scoring position and recorded a still-strong 11th place finish, just three seconds shy of cracking the top-10.

The final two scorers for Colorado State were Ashlyn Hillyard and Emily Chadron who finished 16th and 18th, respectively, and were separated by a mere two seconds. Hillyard and Chadron have been key for the Rams this fall, bringing up the backend to limit any scoring drop-offs. Both women have been very underrated.

Colorado State came into the Mountain West XC Championships knowing that they didn’t have the same firepower that New Mexico does. However, they ran within themselves and have been rewarded with a slight bump in our rankings.

This team will likely have to rely on Kolas points in order to get them into the national meet. And if they find themselves toeing the line in Stillwater, Oklahoma, then the Rams have the potential to shatter expectations.

In a hard-fought battle for 3rd place against Oregon and Stanford at the PAC-12 XC Championships, the Huskies found themselves on the wrong side, narrowly missing bronze by a mere eight points and instead dropping to 5th place overall.

Andrea Markezich (8th) and Sophie O'Sullivan (13th) performed exceptionally in comparison to expectations, giving the Washington women a surge of scoring potency up front.

The narrative for this team all season has been, what happens when Haley Herberg rejoins the Husky lineup and doubles down on Markezich and O’Sullivan’s efforts? In this case, a 21st place performance was solid, but not indicative of Herberg’s full capabilities.

Herberg, the PAC-12 champion during the 2021 winter cross country season, has the talent to be an All-American on both the grass and the track. If she’s able to lead Washington’s lineup while Markezich and O’Sullivan continue to provide a scoring boost behind her, then the Huskies have a real shot at cracking our top-15.

That, of course, all depends on if they’ve saved their best running for November.

Behind the individual victory of Jane Buckley, the Friars scored 40 points to take runner-up honors behind BIG EAST champions, Georgetown.

Providence is a fairly young team, with six underclassmen among their top-seven. That lack of experience has limited the upside of this season throughout the 2022 cross country season, but their most recent showing was a clear step up.

Buckley defeated some top individuals, winning the crown by two seconds over Georgetown’s Maggie Donahue. The freshman talent didn’t let the pressure get to her at the BIG East XC Championships, giving us the inclination that she could be on the bubble of an All-American honor come the national meet.

Shannon Flockhart and Lily Tuck gave the Friars two more women in the top-10, finishing 4th and 6th, respectively. Both women were nowhere near the top-10 last year, but with their newfound momentum, they change the dynamic of this team substantially.

The back-half of Providence's lineup saw finishes of 13th, 16th, 17th and 18th. Niamh O’Mahony, a freshman, and Laura Mooney, a sophomore, gave the Friars their final scoring runners, but Kimberley May and Orla O’Connor were not far behind.

We should note that Mooney was a standout talent on the track this past spring. We're still waiting for a greater breakout season from her.

Providence will have their work cut out for them at the Northeast regional meet in two weeks when they have to face the likes of Harvard and Syracuse, two teams that have firepower upfront and some respectable depth.

The pack running that the Friars employed at their conference meet will need to be showcased yet again to keep them moving on to the national meet.

The Toledo Rockets won their second consecutive Mid-American XC Championship title this past weekend after placing all five of their scorers in the top-10. A total of 60 seconds separated their top-five, but that’s no point of concern when you consider that they beat runner-up Ohio University by 54 points.

Low-stick Joy Chirchir wasn’t able to repeat as the conference champion, finishing six seconds behind winner Carmen Riano of Miami (OH), but 2nd place is still a solid showing. Chirchir refocused well after a somewhat "off" performance at Nuttycombe two weeks prior.

Her teammate, Faith Linga, improved upon her 5th place finish from the 2021 season to earn the bronze medal at the MAC XC Championships. Her improved consistency this season has made her more of a true low-stick than she was last year, just one reason why this Toledo team has thrived in 2022.

Lou Trois, as well as sisters Emily and Madeline Vining, give Coach Andrea Grove-McDonough’s team a strong backend scoring group. At their conference meet, Trois, Emily Vining and Madeline Vining picked up finishes of 6th, 8th, and 10th respectively. What makes this more astounding is that those three women were separated by only five seconds.

Admittedly, the MAC XC Championships aren’t as deep as the NCAA’s Power Five conferences. But with a handful of teams moving backwards in our rankings, and Toledo not doing anything to suggest that their Nuttycombe result was a fluke, they now slot in at TSR #15 in our rankings.

The rest of the field at the WAC XC Championships was no match for a California Baptist team that put on an absolute masterclass performance by winning the conference title by accruing only 24 points total.

Per usual, the Lancers were led by Yasna Petrova who secured silver and continued to flex her prowess as a potential All-American. Greta Karinauskaite took bronze behind Petrova while the remaining Lancers all finished within the top-eight.

The CBU women are one of the more intriguing teams entering the final stretch of the season. Their depth lends themselves safety from excessive scoring, but their ceiling isn’t fully known since they have not competed at a national-caliber meet like the Cowboy Jamboree, Joe Piane or Nuttycombe.

CBU has still been one of the most consistent squads across the entire NCAA, but due to the performances of a other schools that took on better competition, the California Baptist women drop just one spot.

The Oregon women have continued to show surprisingly quick development under the lead of their new coach, Shalane Flanagan.

In a season where it was perhaps expected for the Ducks to take a slight step back at the PAC-12 XC Championships without the scoring services of Alessia Zarbo and Aneta Konieczek -- the former of which is injured and the latter of whom is out of eligibility -- the Oregon women have instead shown improved depth and better-than-expected firepower.

Izzy Thornton-Bott followed up her impressive performance at Nuttycombe with a huge 4th place effort on Friday, validating herself as a legitimate low-stick and a potential All-American. Harper McClain, meanwhile, improved nine spots compared to her finish a year ago, finishing 11th and providing a valuable subtraction in points that was vital to Oregon’s 3rd place finish over Stanford and Washington by seven and eight points, respectively.

In a similar fashion, Emilie Girard placed 14th, which was eight spots higher than her conference met performance in 2021, making it three Ducks who captured top-15 results.

Oregon’s depth was also on full display as one of their athletes expected to make an impact
  -- Maddy Elmore, who finished in the top-60 at Nuttycombe -- had an “off” day and finished outside the Ducks’ scoring five. However, her teammates were able to cover the scoring gaps and still close up shop without any excessive scoring.

On a perfect day where the trio of Thornton-Bott, McClain and Girard are clicking, and Maddy Elmore is at her best, the Oregon Ducks could legitimately contend for a top-10 place at the NCAA XC Championships.

The Cardinal fall out of the top-10 after finishing 4th at the PAC-12 XC Championships.

Zofia Dudek has had the most consistent campaign of her cross country career (so far) and was able to add to her already-strong resume with a 6th place finish. Dudek has been every bit of the low-stick who this lineup needs for scoring potency, and she seems to be well on her way to picking up All-American honors soon.

However, the rest of Stanford’s young scoring contingent just wasn't as potent. The next four Cardinal scorers were separated by a 21-second time-spread which was key in holding off the Washington Huskies by one point. Audrey Dadamio had one of the better races of her career, placing 15th, while Lucy Jenks was also able to secure a top-20 finish.

With a decent, but limited group of backend scorers, the Stanford women just didn't have the necessary front-half scoring to contend with the top teams in this field.

The next step for this Cardinal team will be finding additional firepower up front. They’ve earned this ranking largely because of the impressive backend strength that they've shown this season, but if they wish to reenter our top-10, then Zofia Dudek will need more support from another low-stick.

Utah has been locked into some air-tight duels with Colorado in a couple of national-caliber meets this season.

At Nuttycombe, despite scoring piling up at their fifth lineup spot, the Utes were able to hold off the Buffaloes by three points. But then Colorado got revenge via a tie-breaker at the PAC-12 XC Championships with both teams posting scores of 66 points.

As expected, Emily Venters performed exceptionally well on Friday, finishing 2nd behind only Colorado’s Bailey Hertenstein. This season has been proof that when Venters is healthy, she is a consistent low-stick no matter who else is in the field against her.

Simone Plourde has extended her own breakout season as she finished in 5th place overall, defeating the likes of Zofia Dudek, Kaylee Mitchell and Haley Herberg among other PAC-12 rivals. Her rise from support scorer to true low-stick has dramatically changed this team for the better.

The closer Plourde gets to Venters, the more likely Utah will be to get revenge against Colorado and upset some of the top teams who they’ll face at the Mountain Regional XC Championships.

However, the biggest point of optimism for the Utes exiting their conference meet was the depth that they exhibited as their remaining varsity runners filled the scorecard with a point spread of 17-19-23.

Utah's fifth runner was an obvious issue at Nuttycombe, but cleaning that spot up could be a massive development for this team. They very well could make a bid for a three to four spot improvement in our rankings if this team runs to their full potential at the national meet.

This was a really nice rebound performance for Colorado.

While the Lady Buffaloes haven't been running poorly this season, they have certainly left us wanting more. Their 9th place finish at Nuttycombe was admittedly a surprise, especially since we viewed Colorado as a potential podium team when they were at their best.

And yet, despite all of that, the Buffaloes were able to come through in a major way at the PAC-12 XC Championships, winning the conference title after defeating Utah on the tie-breaker.

Bailey Hertenstein's individual title came over Utah star Emily Venters which ultimately decided the team title. Emily Covert (3rd) also looked the best that she had all season long. And with Ella Baran (7th) continuing to offer outstanding middle-lineup value, the Buffaloes looked overwhelmingly strong.

Kaitlyn Barthell was Colorado's fourth scorer in 16th place, offering highly important lineup stability. But with the team's fifth scorer fading to 42nd place overall, the Utah women were almost able to capitalize on that vulnerability.

But in the end, Colorado took home the victory on the tie-breaker and they did so without Hannah Miniutti, a sophomore who has admittedly struggled this season. If she's truly out for the season, then that fourth to fifth scoring lineup gap could be a major issue at a meet like the NCAA XC Championships.

However, if Miniutti does return, then this Colorado team looks far more complete and far scarier than just our TSR #10 team in the country.

North Carolina drops one spot after placing 4th at the ACC XC Championships. Missing from the action was their top talent, Brynn Brown, and had she raced, the Tar Heels would have most assuredly taken 3rd place.

In Brown’s absence, Kelsey Harrington led the charge with a very solid 11th place finish. Harrington has been having a breakout season and continues to show that her level of talent is right up with Brown’s, slowly becoming a low-stick more than a middle-lineup contributor.

Behind Harrington, an incredible 11-second time-spread separated UNC’s remaining scorers who were all able to finish between 20th and 30th place. Their level of pack running came through in a major way for the Tar Heels to salvage a commendable result without Brown being available.

This team doesn’t have very many weaknesses. It really feels like they have seven women who can all realistically emerge as a scorer for this team. Their only limitation appears to be firepower, as another athlete will have to emerge alongside Brown and Harrington if North Carolina wishes to make a bid for the top-five.

No surprises here as the Georgetown women took home the BIG East title with ease this past weekend.

Maggie Donahue (2nd) was great as expected, but seeing Grace Jensen (3rd) and Katy-Ann McDonald (5th) have their best races of the season was super encouraging. Jensen has been slowly rising on our radar while McDonald just made a huge jump in terms of her perceived fitness.

We'll admit, seeing Chloe Scrimgeour falter to 14th place wasn't ideal, especially after she was absent at Nuttycombe. However, the fact that she's even racing in the postseason is probably more of a good thing than not.

We'll hopefully get a better idea of where's she at once she reaches the Mid-Atlantic Regional XC Championships.

Another year, another WCC cross country title for Coach Diljeet Taylor and the BYU women. While the Cougars certainly took care of business, they move down a spot due to another team’s breakout performance.

Aubrey Frentheway took the overall win and is looking every bit the part of being the Cougars' low-stick star that Whittni Orton and Courtney Wayment have been in the past. Not only that, the scoring sparks provided by Lexy Halladay-Lowry and McKenna Lee, who finished 4th and 5th, respectively, give this lineup an elite trio that few teams can match.

Admittedly, the gap between Halladay-Lowry and Lee of 16 seconds would be punished in a larger or more competitive field. Even so, the Cougars did enough as a collective unit to win gold and no one should be surprised about that.

TSR #7 feels right for BYU at this point of the season. They have one of the top runners in the nation in Frentheway, two more All-American candidates and a solid backend group that is serviceable, but perhaps not potent enough for a spot on the podium at the NCAA XC Championships.

The Fighting Irish put up one heck of a fight at the ACC XC Championships and came out just four points shy of taking down top ranked NC State.

Four women hailing from South Bend, Indiana placed themselves in the top-eight and were biting their nails waiting for their fifth scorer to cross the line.

All-American talent Olivia Markezich continued her low-stick ways and earned herself a massive 3rd place finish. The Notre Dame veteran has been solid all season long, finishing in the top-20 week of national-caliber fields week after week.

Markezich obviously ran well, but what really brought the Fighting Irish home was the performance set by the second, third and forth scorers in this lineup.

Tennessee graduate transfer, Katie Thronson, had her best race of her season and brought along two teammates with her. Thronson recorded a 6th place finish and is clearing delivering on the potential that she flexed on the track earlier this year.

Right behind Thronson was Siona Chisholm who improved upon her Joe Piane and Nuttycombe performances in a major way. The first-year NCAA runner found herself crossing the finish line in 7th place on Friday, a huge breakout performance.

That 7th place result is super impressive, especially for someone who is so young. But Chisholm will need to repeat this kind of showing throughout the rest of the postseason to prove to the rest of the NCAA that Friday's performance wasn’t a one-time ordeal.

Mandy Denner, a top All-American on the grass in 2021, hasn’t exactly been stellar this fall. The experienced Notre Dame ace began her fall season with a modest 35th place finish at Joe Piane and then fell to 101st at Nuttycombe.

However, she showed why she shouldn’t be counted out at the ACC XC Championships. Denner rode the shoulders of her teammates and placed 8th, her best performance of the season and a result that continues to leave us scratching our heads, wondering what we should expect from next.

Senior Annasophia Keller rounded out the scoring for the Fighting Irish in 14th place. Keller was only seven seconds out of the top-10 and if she had made up that ground over the course of the 6k race, then Notre Dame could have maybe defeated the Wolfpack.

These Fighting Irish women are the real deal right now and they clearly have the depth to contend for a podium finish if they compete like they did this past weekend. That, however, is not at all a guarantee.

Much of Notre Dame's success this fall will rely on two things: Denner showing up and the rest of these women running near their peaks on the same day.

As expected, the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks were able to dominate their competition at the BIG Sky XC Championships with an otherworldly team score of only 22 points.

Elise Stearns is looking more and more like a potential top-10 All-American as she was able to take home the individual title. Stearns was followed closely behind by fellow breakout star, Annika Reiss, in 2nd place while program veteran Taryn O'Neill finished 4th overall.

What’s even more impressive is the fact that if you were to remove those three women from the results and then counted the scores of NAU’s 4-5-6-7-8 runners, the Lumberjacks still would have won the conference title.

NAU stays at TSR #5 this time around as this result was on par for our expectations.

But make no mistake, few teams in the NCAA can match the combined depth and firepower that the Lumberjacks have exhibited. They’ve shown it at the Cowboy Jamboree, they’ve shown it at Nuttycombe and soon, NAU will show it at the NCAA XC Championships.

Following many years of Arkansas dominance in the SEC, the Alabama Crimson Tide were the ones who won the conference title. And, they did so in stellar fashion.

Front-runner Mercy Chelangat, who has won the last two SEC titles, wasn’t able to hang with Florida’s Parker Valby and had to settle for runner-up honors. Joining Chelangat in the top-10 were Hilda Olemomoi in 3rd, Amaris Tyynismaa in 5th and Flomena Asekol in 7th.

Alabama has established their top-four, but they continue to rely on fifth runner, Elka Machan, to close out the scoring.

In her past three meets, Machan has recorded respectable results, including her most recent 19th place finish at the SEC XC Championships. And even though a top-20 finish in one of the toughest conferences is still commendable, Machan was still 64 seconds behind Flomena.

That gap could make Alabama somewhat vulnerable in a larger field like the national meet.

As expected, the Cowgirls easily won the BIG 12 XC Championships this past weekend, scoring a mere 22 points to trounce runner-up West Virginia’s score of 49 points.

The usual women were upfront for Oklahoma State and they flexed on the field.

Taylor Roe earned runner-up honors, missing out on her first BIG 12 cross country title by two seconds. However, if history repeats itself for Roe, then the last time she finished 2nd at her conference meet, she went on to finish runner-up at the national meet.

Just throwing that out there...

Behind Roe came Billah Jepkirui, the freshman talent who has rounded into shape at the right time. Jepkirui, after coming off of her win at the Weis-Crockett Invite, was only six seconds behind Roe, a much closer margin than what was seen at the Cowboy Jamboree earlier this season.

And then there was another star for the Cowgirls in 4th place, Natalie Cook. Many thought she would’ve been vying for the title against Roe and champion Ceili McCabe of West Virginia, but Cook was a little further back than anticipated. But even so, that is no point of concern.

Veteran Gabby Hentemann picked up a 5th place finish. Her name may occasionally get skimmed over because of the firepower in this lineup, but Hentemann’s role on this team will be very important as we approach the final two meets of the season.

Stephanie Moss and Gabija Galvydyte crossed the line in 8th and 9th, respectively. Both of these women are strong middle distance runners, but showed that they have endurance hiding under their speed.

The Cowgirls should easily win the Midwest regional meet before getting to return home to Stillwater while trying to defend their home turf.

At the Mountain West XC Championships, the New Mexico Lobos won their 15th straight conference title.

Yes. 15. Straight. Titles.

Talk about utter dominance.

The Lady Lobos secured the victory thanks to five women crossing the line amongst the top-10. Amelia Mazza-Downie, who was the 2021 conference champion, once again took the crown, winning by two seconds. Teammates Emma Heckel and Gracelyn Larkin ran themselves to 3rd and 4th place, respectively.

These three women have been solid all season long for New Mexico and continue to make cases for themselves as All-American talents.

Elise Thorner and Abbe Goldstein rounded out the scoring for the Lobos in 6th and 10th, respectively. Thorner’s performance was expected, but as for Goldstein, it was good to see her back up in the top-10 of these results, even if it was only against conference foes.

Goldstein has been the backbone of the New Mexico roster in prior races, typically crossing as the team’s sixth or seventh runner. She was also a key scorer for this team last fall.

The Lobos also held out Samree Dishon this week, but her presence wasn’t exactly needed. Even without Dishon, we saw the typical pack-running, top-five scoring that the Lobos used to win their conference title with ease.

New Mexico has the potential to dethrone NC State in the coming weeks if things continue the way they are going.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that the Wolfpack hold down the top spot this week. NC State won the ACC XC Championships, but they had to fend off a strong Notre Dame team, defeating them by only four points.

This is the second time this season that the Wolfpack relied on their backend runners to get them to the top of the results. Katelyn Tuohy and Kelsey Chmiel have been taking care of business upfront after yet another 1-2 finish. Samantha Bush is also proving to be another top-tier scorer for NC State as she gave her team a huge top-five finish.

But, then we saw some vulnerability in NC State's lineup.

Sydney Seymour, who had been a consistent third or fourth runner for this team in 2022, faded to be the team’s seventh spot by crossing the line in 29th place.

So, who picked up the scoring?

Redshirt freshman Brooke Rauber had her best race of the season, finishing 10th overall. Teammate Gionna Quarzo was only seven seconds back in 16th place to close out the scoring. Those two women were instrumental in keeping the Wolfpack ahead of the Fighting Irish.

NC State, for the second race in a row, held out top-five runner Marlee Starliper, which is slightly concerning. If Starliper had raced and finished up with Bush, then the scoring would’ve played out very differently.

Even so, the Wolfpack women still got the job done and continue their undefeated season for yet another week.

However, NC State has proven that they aren't totally invincible. If someone can get them on an "off" day, we could very easily see an upset.

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