TSR Collaboration
Oct 25, 202210 min
Written by Kevin Fischer, Hannah Thorn & Brett Haffner
Additional edits and commentary by 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 at 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.
Lucy Groothuis finished 10th at the Augustana Interregional Invitational two weeks ago, once again working well alongside her teammates for what was a great day. Her 10th place finish had some room to be a little bit better, but it was still roughly in line with our expectations.
Individually, it certainly wasn’t a bad day for Groothuis, but in our eyes, she should be capable of just a little bit more.
She has faced a lot of tough competition this year and has come away with solid results every time she has toed the line. This Maroon distance standout will likely be better in the postseason and she has still all of the momentum in the world even after fading in a bit in this most recent rankings update.
Windsor Ardner not competed since our last rankings update.
Another week, another solid performance from Anna Kenig-Ziesler. She helped the Maroons secure a massive team victory with her 7th place finish against some of the biggest names in the country.
She has been a pleasant surprise all year long after coming into the season with no national meet experience and track times that were respectable, but not anywhere close to most of the other names on this list.
Even though we haven’t seen her in the biggest of moments yet, she has already given us reason to believe that she can be clutch when it matters. And while she does fall one spot in our rankings, that's more based on what others have done rather than what she has done.
Carolyn Shult has made her name as more of a miler in the past. And while she has had moments of being a great cross country runner, her best finish at the cross country national meet is 70th place.
However, her 6th place finish in a loaded Augustana field vaults her into our rankings and shows us that she is just as potent of a threat on the grass as she is on the track. She took down a handful of ranked names and some very strong support pieces.
At this point, Schult looks to be the favorite to take home the individual WIAC title. Doing so would greatly boost her resume going into the regional and national meets while also validating the promising result that she had the other weekend.
Meredith Bloss has not competed since our last rankings update.
Mary Kate McGranahan’s 16th place finish at the Connecticut College Invitational left us scratching our heads a little bit.
Up until two weeks ago, she had been undefeated this season, winning races by 33 seconds, 29 seconds and 25 seconds. Through those three efforts, she was making a case for being possibly the biggest breakout star in Division Three so far this fall.
While her recent top-20 finish in a national-caliber field is by no means bad, there's still some concern stemming from her tough day. But unless she replicates that results at NESCAC XC Championships, there is no need to hit the panic button.
We are still looking at one of the best distance talents in Division Three.
We have talked at length about how impressive U. of Chicago was as a team at the Augustana Interregional Invitational, and rightfully so.
In fact, it almost doesn’t feel right to highlight individuals on a day when the Maroons' overall pack was as cohesive and as strong as it was. However, if any singular individual should be highlighted, then it should be Frances Schaeffler.
This rising U. Chicago star was already on a roll coming into this meet, but a 5th place finish behind only our TSR #1, TSR #6, TSR #7 and TSR #12 ranked names on this list helps her stock rise even more.
And yes, we know that times aren’t a big deal in cross country, but a 39-second personal best over 6000 meters feels pretty significant, especially as we head into the postseason.
This is the best running that we’ve seen from Frances Schaeffler and it’s been cool to see her steadily progress over the years. She enters the postseason as one of the last women who we would want to toe the line against.
Probably the best true freshman in the country, Vivian Kane is in the middle of an impressive inaugural season which has made her one of the absolute best talents in the country.
We first noticed Kane at Paul Short where she finished 12th overall in the "Brown" race. She was the fifth-best D3 runner in that race, placing right behind distance standout Meredith Bloss from Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
Her time of 21:16 from Paul Short was also very fast for a true freshman.
But then Kane backed up that time even further up by running 21:18 at the Connecticut College Invitational. She broke away from the pack late in the race and went on to earn a major statement win, beating everyone in that field by 15 seconds.
And to be clear, these weren't slouches who Kane is racing against. She took down Genna Girard from Williams, Sophia Wolmer from Amherst and Einat Gavish from MIT (to name a few).
Admittedly, we're always hesitant to bet so heavily on a true freshman. Kane might eventually have a bad race or she could fold under pressure that comes with racing on the regional or national stages. That naturally happens from time to time with talented youngsters.
But all that is to say that we think Kane has the talent to not only be an All-American, but also compete for a top-10 finish in her season finale.
Emily Konkus has been the leader for this Washington U. team throughout the 2022 cross country season. She’s been their top scorer all season long and the Augustana Interregional Invitational was no different.
Before we dive in, we want to say this race was stacked. This field featured our TSR #1, TSR #6, TSR #7, TSR #14, TSR #17, TSR #18 and TSR #20 runners, making Augustana arguably the most competitive D3-centric field of the 2022 regular season.
For Konkus to finish 4th that field is a result that she should be majorly proud of.
Her time of 21:11 was also very strong, but the main story is not in the time that she ran.
During the race, Konkus was kind of in "no man's land" where she couldn’t stick to the duo of Aubrie Fisher and Ana Tucker, but she was too quick for Frances Schaeffler’s group. And yet, this Washington U. ace maintained her poise and was still able to deliver.
In our eyes, that kind of composure could translate beautifully to the national stage.
Last year, Konkus finished 41st at the national meet, the first runner not to earn an All-American honor. She looks to be coming for revenge this year. Her All-American fitness is clearly there and hopefully, we will finally be able to see her grab that top-40 spot, or higher, come November.
Natalie Bitetti has not competed since our last rankings update.
Kathleen McCarey was on a roll this season, but seems to have hit a little bump.
Coming into the Rowan Interregional Border Battle, she was undefeated against D3 competition. That streak, however, ended at Rowan as she finished 3rd overall in a time of 21:26. That’s still a pretty good run, but she did get blown out of the water by Clara Mayfield.
That is not a knock on McCarey as the result more so proves just how good Mayfield is. During the race, McCarey worked with Morgan Lee from RPI to navigate the course, but Lee was able to pull away in the end to finish 2nd overall.
We think it was good for McCarey to gain more experience racing against this level of competition. This ranking is just a slight correction as we may have been slightly too generous after the cross country season's first month of competition.
McCarey has the SUNYAC XC Championships next where she should be the favorite to win. That should be a good confidence booster for her as she moves to the regional meet and, more importantly, the national meet.
The breakout season continues for Morgan Lee.
At Rowan, she worked with Kathleen McCarey and then out-kicked her to finish 2nd. That finishing strength, along with the ability to simply outlast McCarey, is very impressive.
Unfortunately for Lee, distance superstar Clara Mayfield was too far out in front to catch. Regardless, this RPI sophomore should be very happy with her finish here. She is building consistency against highly competitive fields and is seemingly getting better as we enter the postseason.
Lee hopes to continue her upwards trajectory at the Liberty League XC Championship. Last year she was 3rd, but this year, she should win convincingly as she is clearly head and shoulders above her competition.
When you don’t race against D3 runners, it’s hard to rank you against D3 runners.
For that reason, there is not much to say about Sara Stephenson. Instead of going to Augustana, Connecticut College, Rowan or any of the other D3 meets, Johns Hopkins went to Panorama Farms in Virginia.
Stephenson finished 97th in that field with a time of 18:33 which was not her best day. She was the third Johns Hopkins runner to cross the line when she is normally their second scorer. It was tempting to drop her a little lower than TSR #8, but she has the necessary talent and experience to compete (and thrive) on national-caliber stages.
We won't look too heavily into her most recent result.
Ana Tucker has been having a great season so far and she continues to trend in a positive direction, most recently placing 3rd at the Augustana Interregional behind Kassie Parker and Aubrie Fisher.
As someone who is always on our radar for being a solid performer, Tucker is certainly looking poised to improve on her best finish at the cross country national meet after taking 11th last year.
History says that Tucker will be at her best in the postseason. And if history stays true going into these upcoming championship races, then a TSR #7 ranking may actually be too low for this Hope College standout.
As expected, Aubrie Fisher has continued to establish her role as the elite low-stick who Wartburg needs to potentially win the national title as a team.
Her runner-up performance at the Augustana Interregional Invitational was good evidence of that, finishing only behind Kassie Parker and giving her team the necessary low-stick scorer who they can rely on.
Coming off of a 6th place finish at last year’s cross country national meet, how much more can Fisher improve coming this year’s national meet?
If she continues to run the way that she has been, it would be no surprise to see her finish inside the top-five at the national meet in just a few weeks time.
Competing against mainly Division One competition over the last few meets, Alex Ross has been throwing down some impressive marks which might be slightly overlooked in the Division Three scene.
She most recently placed 20th at the Panorama Farms XC Invitational, running 17:18 for 5000 meters and finishing behind a slew of solid Division One names.
Admittedly, since she hasn’t raced against many other women from Division Three this season, it’s a little difficult to measure where Ross stands in these rankings.
However, I think placing her here at TSR #5 errs on the side of caution, as we very well know from last year's exploits that she’s one of the top competitors in Division Three.
It’ll be exciting to see Ross throw down against strictly Division Three competitors over the remaining weeks of the season to truly see where she stacks up on the Division Three totem pole.
Annika Urban has not lost a cross country race this fall.
She’s been one of the more up-and-coming names in Division Three this fall with some statement wins coming from the Paul Short “Brown" race and recently at the UAB Blazer Classic, taking down some distance talents from Division One and Division Two schools.
Urban may not get stellar competition at her conference and regional meets, but her recent results makes this Emory star a dangerous name come the postseason: How will she fare running against the best women in Division Three?
I’d like to think she hasn’t scratched her ceiling yet. And if that's true, then being faced with elite D3 competition could bring out the best of Urban’s abilities come the national meet in November.
Since losing to Fiona Smith in her first race of the season, Clara Mayfield has been on an absolute tear, winning her next three meets: the St. Olaf Invite, the Blugold Invitational and most recently, the Rowan Interregional Border Battle.
Mayfield obliterated her competition at Rowan, defeating top-ranked names like Morgan Lee and Kathleen McCarey by over 40 seconds, continuing her reign as a top contender in Division Three this year.
As the postseason comes around, we’re going to see some terrific battles between her and Fiona Smith. With the way that Mayfield has been running this year, and given the momentum that she has established, these matchups are going to probably be closer than what they may have been in the past.
Fiona Smith came away with a huge win at the Tori Neubauer Invitational, winning over Maddie Hannan of UW-La Crosse by over a minute, continuing to demonstrate her ability to run blazing-fast times in completely solo efforts.
If there’s anyone capable of giving Kassie Parker a run for her money this fall, then it will likely be Fiona Smith who has clearly upped her fitness this season.
Even with a loss to Parker at the D3 National Preview a few weeks ago, Smith's efforts this season have proven that there’s nobody better suited to take down Parker than her...although trying to take down the Loras veteran does look like an impossible task right now.
After some statement wins over the past few meets, most notably the D3 National Preview and the Augustana Interregional Invite, it seems safe to say that Kassie Parker is in a world of her own when it comes to Division Three cross country.
Even with some notable challengers like Fiona Smith and Clara Mayfield running very well this year, it’s become very apparent that Parker is one level above the rest.
With how she’s been running all season, it would be a big shock to see Parker lose against any woman in Division Three this postseason.
Vivian Kane (NYU)
Carolyn Shult (UW-Eau Claire)
Shaelyn Hostager (Wartburg)
Lexi Brown (Wartburg)
Lexi Brown (Wartburg)
Lindsary Ott (Washington U.)
Ellie Meyer (Wartburg)
Genna Girard (Williams)
Hannah Preisser (Carleton)
Shaelyn Hostager (Wartburg)
Sophia Wolmer (Amherst)
Jillian Richardson (Bates)
Einat Gavish (MIT)
Jenna Allman (Calvin)