TSR Collaboration
Aug 2, 20225 min
Written by Grace McLaughlin and Garrett Zatlin
We'll admit, this ranking may be a little aggressive. After all, this is someone who only placed 9th at GNAC XC Championships and 22nd at the West Regional XC Championships last fall.
However, Annika Esvelt made an incredibly strong argument to be this high up in our rankings after her impressive performances on the indoor and outdoor track. And if her youth-driven upside meshes with her recent momentum, then this Seattle Pacific star is going to be a major problem for her opponents in October and November.
During the winter months, Esvelt placed 8th in the 5k at the indoor national meet, earning the first All-American honor of her career. She would later venture to the outdoor national meet where she would earn a fantastic 4th place All-American finish in the 10k and a solid 10th place finish in the 5k off the double.
While a young runner eligibility-wise, Esvelt has proven to be one of the best in Division Two due to her well-executed race tactics and outstanding endurance-based talent. Her PRs of 16:14 (5k) and 33:51 (10k) are amongst the strongest in NCAA when evaluating returners.
In fact, if you look at the women's D2 national leaderboard from this past spring, there isn't anyone ranked behind Esvelt in our D2 XC Top 25 list who was a better combined 10k/5k runner than her (based on leaderboard rank).
Yes, there are questions about how her track success will translate to the grass, but it's hard to argue against her potential after the winter and spring seasons that she had.
Few women at the Division Two level hold the raw talent that Florance Uwajeneza does. The seasoned veteran has consistently been one of the better distance runners in the country and has shown the potential of being an outside title contender.
But in 2022, can Uwajeneza deliver on that gold medal potential?
Last year, the West Texas A&M star won most of her regular season races before placing 15th in the Louisville XC Classic "Gold" race. Despite not earning the win, securing a top-20 finish in a loaded field featuring top D1 runners was highly impressive.
After winning the Lone Star XC Championships, Uwajeneza placed 3rd at the South Central Regional XC Championships and later threw down an outstanding 9th place finish NCAA XC Championships.
And when you reflect on her season as a whole, this West Texas A&M ace proved to be consistent and capable of holding off a few of the top talents in the nation.
On paper, there were no flaws.
Despite Uwajeneza's top-10 national meet finish, we haven’t seen her racce since then, leaving us to wonder what her fitness is like right now and how she will rebound heading into the fall of 2022.
For perspective on her track accolades, at 2021 NCAA Outdoor Championships, Uwajeneza placed 10th in the 10,000 meters. And before that, at the 2021 NCAA Indoor Championships, she was the runner-up in the 5000 meters, the 4th place finisher in the 3000 meters and the 9th place finisher in the DMR.
Uwajeneza's resume suggests that she will be a top-five name this season. However, we have simply not seen her run since last fall. As a result, we're going to be a little cautious and place her at TSR #9...for now.
Zoe Baker may be one of the most underrated distance runners in Division Two -- and that's saying a lot considering how talented she has proven to be.
The Colorado Mines veteran is reliable, consistent and experienced. Her endurance-based talent allows her to thrive on the grass and she is set up to have a very exciting final cross country season for the Orediggers.
Baker had a very solid season last fall. She was the top D2 runner at the Wyoming Invite (18th) and the top attached runner at the Road Runners Invitational. Seeing her place 4th at the RMAC XC Championships was very encouraging and her 9th place finish at the South Central Regional XC Championships was solid as well.
Baker would go on to place a solid 25th place at the NCAA XC Championships last fall, but that result is only a piece of why this Colorado Mines veteran is in our top-10.
Not only did she place 25th at the 2021 cross country national meet, but she also placed 19th at the 2019 NCAA XC Championships. She later won the pandemic-altered 2020 RMAC XC Championships the following year.
And if you look at her most recent performances on the oval, it seems that her potential has yet to be fully reached (and that's a good thing).
At the 2022 indoor national meet, Baker placed 6th in the 5000 meters and 10th in the 3000 meters. At the outdoor national meet, she placed 9th in the 10,000 meters and 16th in the 5000 meters. Those were decent finishes, but one could argue that Baker was capable of even more.
After all, the Oredigger star recently posted new personal bests of 9:33 (3k), 16:16 (5k) and 33:52 (10k). And prior to the 2021-22 academic calendar, Baker already had three All-American honors on the track, finishing as high as 3rd place at one point.
Given Baker’s lengthy resume, extensive experience, proven star power and her current momentum, we have every reason to believe that she will have a stellar cross country season over the next few months.
Megan Means is a tough name to rank. There is no question that she can be one of the most dominant distance runners in Division Two, but her consistency has occasionally left us wondering what her next result will be.
The Augustana star had an amazing day at the NCAA XC Championships last fall with her 8th place finish. When you pair that incredible result with her top-three conference and regional meet finishes, it was hard to dislike the season that Means had put together.
However, the Viking veteran then failed to qualify for the indoor national meet and her 20th place finish at the outdoor national meet in the 10,000 meters left room for improvement.
But these are cross country rankings and for the most part, Means was outstanding on the grass. She still showed flashes of promise on the track with a 34:55 (10k) personal best and she undeniably peaked for the postseason better than almost any other Division Two cross country runner.
Sure, we would definitely like to see more consistency as she adds experience to her resume. But still, Means has proven on more than one occasion that she can be a superstar and we can't argue with that right now.
We'll admit, Lara Orrock was a tough name to rank.
On one hand, she placed 5th at last year’s NCAA XC Championships, a result that blew us out of the water and forced us to reshape how we view the upper-end of our Division Two hierarchy.
However, on the other hand, she has only competed once since then, running the 5000 meters in a respectable time of 17:21.
Prior to last year's cross country national meet, the Wingate superstar secured top finishes during the regular season, even placing 3rd at the always-competitive Royals XC Challenge. The only D2 talent she lost to, at the time, was Malone's Mackenna Curtis-Collins who is now a top runner for Wake Forest.
Then, in the postseason, Orrock was victorious at the SAC XC Championships and the Southeast Regional XC Championships, showcasing her consistency and firepower on high-pressure stages.
Orrock's 2021 cross country season was good enough for us to keep her in our top-10. She didn't truly have any poor races and she appeared to be fairly reliable.
Still, we are eager to see where her fitness is at after remaining out of competition for an extensive period of time.