TSR Collaboration
Jan 410 min
Updated: Jan 5
Written by Maura Beattie, Finn Birnie & Garrett Zatlin
D2 and D3 freshman class rankings are coming next week!
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Click here to see our "Just Missed" teams
Despite our research, it is possible that certain names have been erroneously omitted.
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It’s not too often that we list the Wake Forest women in our variety of distance rankings, but Coach Ashley Bastron is creating something special in Winston-Salem. Six freshmen have joined the Demon Deacons' roster this academic year and many have the potential to become front-runners and/or key scorers for a quietly-rising team that is looking to challenge their strong-as-ever ACC rivals.
And while other teams may have stronger rookies on paper, this freshman class was arguably more impactful for their current program than the other schools that were in consideration.
The top freshman for Wake Forest is the 2022 NXN XC Championship 2nd-place finisher, Brooke Wilson. Hailing from Colorado, Wilson had a stellar high school career, emerging as one of the flat-out best distance recruits of any American.
The newest Demon Deacon ran a solid 4:55 mile time, but really impressed the longer the races got. In the 3k, Wilson ran a PR of 9:36 and had an eyebrow-raising cross country 5k mark of 16:50.
With Wilson at the helm, Wake Forest is in good hands. She not only has the proven experience (and success) to compete for a top finish, but she could also lead her teammates back to the NCAA XC Championships.
And if you already look at what this squad accomplished this past fall, Wilson was fantastic. She placed 20th at Pre-Nationals, was 18th at the ACC XC Championships and placed 10th at the Southeast regional meet. Oh, and she went on to run 15:59 (5k) at the Boston U. Season Opener.
Wilson is already a star-caliber name and she's a major reason why we are so high on this group of Wake Forest freshmen. Of course, she's not the only one who was on our radar.
Traveling a long way from home to join the Demon Deacons is Swedish ace, Ida Knuttson. The current freshman has strong PRs of 4:29 (1500) and 9:37 (3k), the latter of which nearly matches Wilson!
With time like those, it’s hard to look past what Knuttson can do in the early stages of her Division One career. In theory, she has the raw talent to race alongside Wilson on the track and potentially drop her current 3k PR closer to the 9:10s range with some solid training
And maybe more importantly, Ida Knuttson likes gives Wake Forest an eventual scorer at the ACC level. Whether that be on the grass or the track is still unclear, but her 3k PR suggests that she'll be a key asset over the long term.
Joining Wilson and Knuttson is freshman standout, Alyssa Preisano, someone who has already made noticeable contributions to Wake Forest's cross country team.
The North Carolina native enters college with PRs on the track of 4:51 (mile) and 10:32 (3200). For someone who is "only" being mentioned as the third freshman of this class, Preisano has the potential to have a legitimate impact.
The Demon Deacon newcomer might not have the same national level experience as Wilson, but we’ve seen handfuls of women in the NCAA go from respectable prep athlete to rising stars come college. And while Preisano still has a long way to go to reach that point, seeing her consistently find a role in Wake Forest's cross country lineup this past fall was an encouraging early-career step in the right direction.
We then come to Grace Wassell who comes to Wake Forest via a high school career in New Jersey. She will most likely focus on the 1500/mile distances given her 800-meter PR of 2:15 (and her 1500-meter PR of 4:42).
Wassell’s best chance at collegiate success will likely come on the track. She'll need to further build her fitness and refine her talent, but she has a decent starting point to work with. And luckily for her, Wake Forest has had women excel in the middle distance events before.
The final two women to make note of for the Demon Deacons are Palmer Walstad and Albane Fery. These two freshmen give Wake Forest much needed depth around both the oval and on the grass.
For Walstad, the Georgia native arrived on the Wake Forest campus with performances of 4:55 (mile), 10:52 (3200) and 18:12 (three-miles XC). While her freshman campaign will most likely be a bit quieter compared to someone like Wilson, those are still encouraging times for someone who could initially provide valuable depth. And so far, she has had a few subtly respectable efforts.
And then we come to Fery, the English athlete who could round out to be a contributing member of Wake Forest's lineup on the grass.
The British newcomer has run everything from the 600 meters to the 5k on the track. However, it’s hard to determine where Fery will make a bigger impact right now as she has marks of 4:47 (1500), 10:20 (3k) and 18:52 (5K). Regardless, over the long-term, Wake Forest will benefit from what Fery has to offer over the course of her collegiate career.
Like we said earlier, the Demon Deacons don't necessarily have a freshman class that is quite as loaded as a few other teams in our rankings. Even so, the Wake Forest women clearly showed massive signs of improvement this past fall. And with further development, they should get even better.
With Wilson looking like a true low-stick ace for the next few years, this could ultimately be the class that sends Wake Forest on an upwards trajectory for years to come.
We are all familiar with the success of Northern Arizona’s men's distance program. Six cross country national titles in eight years is no small feat. However, in recent years, the Lady Lumberjacks have also established themselves as a highly formidable distance program, evolving into a powerhouse in their own right.
After a breakout fall campaign in 2022, the NAU women entered the 2023 cross country season as national title contenders. And although they didn't win gold, they still delivered on our lofty preseason expectations for them, finishing runner-up to NC State by a single point.
To ensure that they stay in the national title conversation for years to come, Coach Mike Smith and his staff have brought in a handful of top youngsters to complement their ever-talented upperclassmen, many of which were added via the transfer portal.
And that brings us to our first name...
After spending a semester at Colorado, true freshman Karrie Baloga will see out the remainder of her collegiate career in Flagstaff, Arizona. She has four full years of eligibility between indoor and outdoor track as well as three years of eligibility on the grass.
And yes, while she did initially attend Colorado for that first semester, she is still a true rookie in her first year of collegiate competition from the Class of 2023. We felt like that was more than enough for her to be listed in these rankings.
The former high school superstar initially joined Colorado with personal bests of 4:37 (mile), 9:20 (3k), 10:27 (steeple), 10:07 (two miles) and 16:49 (5k XC). The New York native also won the 2022 Champs Sports XC National Championships and earned an outstanding 13th place finish at the 2023 U20 World XC Championships.
In terms of talent, Baloga is up there with the very best. In fact, in her short time on the NCAA circuit, Baloga has already proven that she is an aerobic powerhouse, offering highly valuable upfront scoring potency.
In her first-ever season for the Boulder-based cross country team, Baloga excelled, establishing herself as one of the Buffaloes' primary scorers. This past fall, she placed 21st at the Virginia Invite, 39th at the Nuttycombe Invite, 8th at the PAC-12 XC Championships and just recently, 82nd at the NCAA XC Championships.
That kind of scoring potency from a true freshman is truly elite and something that the Lumberjacks are going to benefit from greatly over the next few years as they hope to capture their first NCAA cross country title.
Baloga’s experience and aerobic capabilities make her a perfect fit for the long distance ethos that the ladies from Flagstaff, Arizona have established.
Another prep star who boasts some fantastic aerobic potential is Colorado native, Emma Stutzman. The Pomona High School standout has established herself as one of the nation's top recruits -- and that should come as no surprise once you take a look at her superb resume.
The 2022 Gatorade Colorado Girls Track & Field Player of the Year dropped phenomenal times of 4:39 (1600), 9:17 (3k) and 9:52 (3200) during her prep days. Stutzman's mark of 4:39 ranked her at US #3 nationally amongst high schoolers and it came on the second day of the Colorado 5A Track & Field State Championships! There, she claimed both the 1600-meter and the 3200-meter state titles.
Of course, Stutzman’s talents don’t end there. She also has quite the pedigree on the grass.
A 16:44 (5k XC) PR is no small feat, especially when you consider that she ran that time at over 5000 feet of elevation. And if that wasn’t impressive enough, the Pomona ace’s time at the 2022 Liberty Bell XC Invitational has only ever been bettered by Arkansas' All-American standout, Sydney Thorvaldson.
But wait, there’s more!
The Lumberjack true freshman also garnered a fantastic 17th place finish at the hotly-contested 2022 NXN Championships. And truthfully, we felt like she probably had greater room to improve in that area.
Stutzman offers the perfect blend of speed and strength, something which is going to be extremely valuable at a distance-centric program like NAU. Her raw fitness in long distance is among the best in the nation, so it would be no surprise to see her instantly impact the scoring lineup when she is given the opportunity to toe the line.
Plus, being a Colorado native, she's already familiar with altitude, so her transition to Flagstaff, Arizona, could be seamless.
Rounding out this class are Abi Bass and Ava Mitchell. This freshmen duo have very similar resumes and are going to be key in adding additional depth to the Lumberjack roster, something which is going to be vital with the departures of some key upperclassmen.
Texas native, Bass, has already captured UIL 4A state titles on both the grass and the track. Meanwhile, Mitchell has been "First-team All-State" on four separate occasions.
When it comes to times, it's hard to separate the pair. Bass has a 10:43 (3200) mark and a 17:35 (5k XC) PR to her name. As for Mitchell, she has recorded marks of 10:32 (3200) and 17:17 (5k XC). Those are very solid times, although it feels like their ceilings are higher than what their resumes would suggest.
However, for as good as this duo is, it's likely that we won't see them in action for a little while as they acclimate to a new environment. They'll need further development in order to be eventual varsity contributors on the grass.
While this rookie class may be small, this fresh-faced quartet offers immense firepower, some underrated versatility and skillsets that seem to match the identity of NAU’s distance program.
With each of these women now under the watchful eyes of Coach Mike Smith, we feel like their development can only flourish. And with a group as talented as this, Coach Smith and his staff may have all of the pieces that they need in hopes of capturing their first-ever women's cross country national team title.
It almost feels weird, doesn't it? Ranking the BYU women this far back in our freshman class rankings? That, of course, is probably because they have headlined our top-10 lists for the last few years, never falling outside of our top-six in these rankings since 2020.
Of course, just because the Cougars' most recent group of rookies are "only" listed at TSR #8 doesn't mean that they aren't incredibly talented.
It feels wrong to begin this discussion with anyone else but Grace Hutchison. The California native was one of the more prized distance recruits from the Class of 2023. And when you look at the resume that she put together as a prep talent, you can see why she is such an ideal fit for the Cougars.
Hutchison's 4:46 (mile) PR certainly catches your eye, especially when paired with her a respectable 2:12 (800) personal best. But you could argue that this current BYU freshman is at her best in the longer distances.
Her 5k PR on the grass sits at "only" 17:17, but this is someone who was runner-up at the 2022 California State XC Championships before placing 29th at the NXN Championships! And with a 10:17 (3200) personal best, you can see why Hutchison's skillset favors BYU's aerobic-centric reputation.
And yet, she can still be an effective miler! That's nice value to have for a BYU program that has very recently entered the much more competitive BIG 12 conference.
We then come to Vanessa Alder, the younger sister of BYU's 2023 breakout cross country talent, Carmen Alder. In my personal opinion, I could see Vanessa Alder being one of the more underrated pick-ups of anyone in these freshman class rankings.
With a 4:53 mile PR, the younger Alder sister has already shown signs of being a standout name. Her 10:35 (3200) personal best isn't too shabby, either. However, the underrated aspect of her resume is her championship experience.
Between the Pennsylvania state meets, the Penn Relays, Nike Indoor Nationals, the South American Athletics U18 Championships, Adidas Track Nationals, etc., Alder should theoretically be prepared for whatever is thrown her way at the NCAA level.
But those are the longer distance talents. What about the 800 meters? After all, BYU has been able to produce a handful of underrated (and sometimes underappreciated) middle distance athletes over the last few years.
Enter Elyse Jessen and Kylie Olsen.
The former has run 2:08 for 800 meters and the latter has run 2:09 for 800 meters. That is awesome half-mile scoring potency to have (assuming they continue to improve, especially since the Cougars now have two chances of finding a home-run hitter over 800 meters, not just one.
Coach Diljeet Taylor will soon be losing 800-meter national qualifier, Meghan Hunter, to expired eligibility. That's why it's so critical to have Jessen and Olsen get acclimated to the NCAA this year before they get the nod to be more critical contributors to this team in the middle distances come 2025 and beyond.
And with Alder and Hutchison offering high-end talent in the longer distances, the balance between events and racing distances seems to be ideal right now if you're BYU.
Other names to keep in mind are McCall Dame, Raygan Peterson and Alona Haymore. The former two names have run 4:54 (1600) and 4:56 (1600), respectively, while the latter has run 2:14 (800). For women who may be considered as more developmental runners (although not as much for Dame), that is fantastic depth to have.
In fact, those may be some of the best "developmental" names of any freshman class in these rankings! Simply put, Coach Diljeet Taylor was able to add quality throughout this entire freshman group.