TSR Collaboration
Feb 2014 min
Written by Ian Dickenson & Gavin Struve
Additional edits & commentary by Garrett Zatlin & Gavin Struve
Click here to see our Just Missed and Honorable Mention names.
Listed eligibility takes redshirts and Covid-related extensions into consideration.
TFRRS is used as a general, but not strict, guide when determining eligibility.
Was not ranked in our last update.
First number indicates how much the individual has moved in our rankings.
The second number indicates where the individual was ranked in our last update.
25. Dayton Brown, Senior, Adams State (Unranked)
Dayton Brown sets the tone for this edition of our top-25 D2 rankings. The past two weeks since our last update have brought a sizable chunk of this season’s national qualifiers as well as multiple Division Two records. And within that madness, Brown emerged as a top long distance threat, setting himself firmly in position to advance to the indoor national meet in both the 3000 meters and the 5000 meters.
Brown is an especially difficult name to decide where to rank. We’re living in a time when running 13:50 for 5000 meters and posting a sub-eight conversion over 3000 meters, as he just did, does not make you a shoo-in for All-American status.
The Adams State man has earned those honors before, and he did take down Division Two heavy-hitter Matthew Storer with his recent 5k effort at Boston U. However, his inconsistent record at the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships is holding us back from ranking him much higher than an already respectable TSR #25 spot.
24. Maxime Touron, Sophomore, NW Missouri (0 / 24)
Since our last rankings update, Maxime Touron hasn’t done anything that we hadn’t yet seen from him this season. Although, that’s not to say that he didn’t impress.
The Northwestern Missouri ace notched his third win in a row with a victory over 800 meters at the Gorilla Classic. That's exactly the kind of competitive consistency and momentum that we love to see, especially from a runner looking to make his mark on the national stage for the first time.
It’s been a fantastic few weeks from the middle distance sophomore. Be that as it may, Touron will keep his spot from our last rankings update and remains an underclassman to keep an eye on moving forward.
23. Jagger Zlotoff, Rs. Soph, UC-Colorado Springs (0 / 23)
Has not competed since our last rankings update.
22. Ryan Hartman, Junior, Augustana (SD) (0 / 22)
This has been a relatively quiet indoor track season for Ryan Hartman, but his win at the mile distance last weekend -- which was his first race in 10 weeks -- was enough for him to solidify his spot in these rankings.
His time of 4:10 isn’t putting him in contention for a mile national qualifying spot to the indoor national meet, but that’s not of importance here. That effort isn't too far off of his 3:48 (1500) personal best and he won the race. With that in mind, there’s nothing to criticize from this performance considering that we will likely see Hartman race the 5k from here on.
With how stacked the 5k is, this Augustana (SD) junior will have to show more of the ability that he put on display with his early-season 13:54 mark. But for now, he’s in a good place at TSR #22.
21. Josh Pierantoni, Senior, Colorado Christian (0 / 21)
We have lauded Josh Pierantoni’s ability in the past, so we should disclose that his continued stint toward the backend of our rankings has some caveats.
He recently ran "only" 14:22 for 5000 meters at the Boston U. Valentine Invite which might seem like enough of a reason to drop him from these rankings upon seeing how many people he lost to there.
We have to remember, though, that Pierantoni has earned All-American honors a handful of times as a seasoned postseason performer. While there’s a chance that he might not be in that form now, we still see his recent performance as more of an "off" day than an indication of his true fitness.
With December conversions that sit somewhat comfortably under 8:00 (3k) and 14:00 (5k), Pierantoni is still one of the best true distance runners in Division Two.
20. George Couttie, Freshman, Charleston (WV) (0 / 20)
It’s easy to fall into the trap of assuming that everyone who runs at Boston U. will have the race of their life and run a huge new PR. But when it comes to this rookie from Charleston (WV), that wasn't quite the case. After turning heads with his 4:01 mile effort last month, George Couttie failed to replicate that kind of performance in his second time competing over that distance this season.
Running a 4:13 mile time could be concerning, but given that he ran a four-second personal best over 800 meters just a week prior, it’s clear that Couttie is in phenomenal shape. As a freshman coming from overseas, the fact that he has gone this long without a true "off" day is actually fairly impressive.
It might take some time for Couttie to establish the reliability that comes with gaining experience competing on the biggest stages, but he absolutely has the firepower to be one of the best middle distance runners in Division Two in the not-so-distant future.
19. Soheil Boufrizi, Junior, Wingate (0 / 19)
Ever since the 2023 cross country season, Soheil Boufrizi has consistently put forth strong performances, showing that he has taken a sizable jump in fitness and reliability this year.
The Wingate junior just ran a massive 4:02 mile PR two weekends ago which is also considerably better than his 1500-meter personal best of 3:54. For a guy whose talent lies more on the aerobic side, that recent effort could be an indication that he’s in shape to be dangerous at the 3k and the 5k distances.
Boufrizi didn’t compete for two months before that latest result. And while that 4:02 mark doesn’t blow us away on its own, it’s a sign that this ranking might seem conservative in the weeks to come. Running a PR by that kind of margin after not racing for a bit is quite impressive. With that being said, we’ll wait to see more before moving him up our rankings.
18. Duncan Fuehne, Junior, Colorado Mines (Unranked)
Duncan Fuehne’s unconverted 8:22 (3k) effort at altitude near the end of January was impressive, but this recent 13:45 (5k) result carries even more heft. While he just missed a spot in our last rankings update, there’s no ignoring Fuehne now, especially with the outstanding track record that he holds.
The Colorado Mines star has finished as high as 3rd at the 2022 NCAA XC Championships, so we know that, in terms of raw fitness, he is right there among the best distance runners in Division Two.
The junior is difficult to place in his first TSR top-25 appearance this season, as he sits in a tier of his own as far as the 3k/5k guys go. He hasn’t run any new Division Two records or won a title, but only a few runners have a better postseason record than him. His new 5k PR puts him at NCAA #5 this winter, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see his experience help him outperform that position at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
17. Kevin McDermott, Junior, Western Washington (+8 / 25)
A week after entering our rankings, Kevin McDermott continues to rise and cement himself in our top-25. Last time, he entered our D2 distance list after posting PRs in the 5k and the mile. This time, it was because of the excellent turnover that he displayed en route to a 3k personal best of 7:59 at Boston U.
What impressed us most about that, though, is that he beat Tyler Nord (someone who we’ll see later on in these rankings) by a whole five seconds. He also beat a number of solid Division One runners from the likes of NAU, Washington and BYU. A performance like that, paired with what the month of January brought for him, means few men have the momentum (or frankly the range) that McDermott currently carries.
16. Dillan Haviland, Senior, Northwood (+1 / 17)
A 4:01 mile performance last weekend gives Dillan Haviland a one-spot boost in this week's rankings. Sure, a lot of people have run faster than that (whether raw or by conversion), but Haviland is still well within the top ranks of the mile. And frankly, he needs to be, given that he hasn't contested the half-mile (arguably his other best event) this season and isn't in position to qualify for the 3k or the 5k.
And yet, when you consider the experience and dynamism that he holds, Haviland is one of the last runners who you'd want to be lining up next to in March.
15. James Dunne, Junior, Adams State (+3 / 18)
James Dunne entered our rankings during our last top-25 update after a singular breakout performance -- a 3:56 altitude-converted mile. However, the Adams State talent just validated that effort in a major way with a 3:57 effort at sea level at Boston U.
What's more, Dunne anchored the Grizzlies' DMR team to a 10:02 mark at nearly 8000 feet above sea level one week later. And after accounting for the altitude, that’s the NCAA #1 time for the DMR this season.
Dunne may be overshadowed by teammates who hold more accolades and NCAA records, but he's the one with the fastest raw mile time in Division Two this winter.
14. Angel Luera, Senior, Dallas Baptist (0 / 14)
Angel Luera didn’t have his best weekend at the GVSU Big Meet on February 10th, running a 1:51 (800) mark for 8th place and competing on a largely uncompetitive DMR squad. Even so, he’s still one of only six D2 men to dip under the 1:50 mark in the half-mile this season.
The postseason peak that Luera enjoyed last outdoor track season, for which we have given him plaudits in the past, makes us bullish on what he'll achieve over the coming month. The Dallas Baptist veteran will have to turn his momentum back around, but that shouldn’t be too difficult considering the precedent that he set for himself in every recent competition before the past one.
13. Jan Lukas Becker, Senior, Mississippi College (0 / 13)
Another race brought another 13:54 (5k) effort for Jan Lukas Becker, but this time, it was for the win. We know that this Choctaw ace is capable of running as fast as 13:47 over 5000 meters, and he has dipped well under 29 minutes for 10,000 meters as well, so there’s no doubt that he’ll be able to run with the very best in Division Two come March.
It's true, nothing that he has done this year has truly excited us. But Becker always seems to round into top form later in the season, so we think his best is yet to come. As such, he deserves to maintain this placement a few spots outside of our top-10.
12. Harry Ross-Hughes, Sophomore, Lake Erie (+4 / 16)
We didn't gain a significant amount of insight about Harry Ross-Hughes over the past two weeks of competition. After all, he only raced once -- over the unconventional 600-meter distance -- producing a strong 1:16.85 mark.
Beyond heavy favorite Wes Ferguson, the 800 meters remains one of the more wide-open distance events at this level. And so far this winter, Ross-Hughes has positioned himself as well as anyone to earn a top finish behind Ferguson, assuming all goes as expected.
11. Simon Kelati, Junior, Western Colorado (0 / 11)
It's looking more and more like Simon Kelati will race just one event at the upcoming NCAA Indoor Championships. At the moment, his altitude-converted 8:05 (3k) mark, while solid, currently sits outside of the national qualifying picture.
No matter. The cross country national meet runner-up just ran a 13:58 (5k) mark at the UW Husky Classic two weekends ago, complementing an altitude-converted 13:39 (5k) mark from a home win earlier this season.
No, Kelati didn't run a PR and his positioning didn't change in this update of our top-25 individual rankings. Still, he bolstered his status as an All-American favorite in a loaded event.
10. Tyler Nord, Sophomore, Western Colorado (-3 / 7)
Tyler Nord was probably hoping for a bit more than an 8:04 (3k) mark at the UW Husky Classic a week and a half ago. Unlike his above-listed teammate competing at the same meet, Nord raced against a fellow Division Two star (Kevin McDermott) and lost convincingly.
We're not moving off of any of our Nord stock, but we figured that he'd be among the men running all-time 3k marks at the D2 level this winter, particularly after he dropped a fantastic altitude-converted time of 7:54 in December. He also recently competed for Western Colorado's DMR team which currently sits right above the cut-line for advancing to the indoor national meet.
At any rate, we're moving towards the portion of the season in which Nord has historically enjoyed the most success, as can be attested to by a 3k bronze medal at last year's indoor national meet and a 15th-place finish at the 2023 NCAA XC Championships.
9. Caleb Futter, Junior, Grand Valley State (+1 / 10)
The past two weeks saw Caleb Futter continue to diversify his seasonal portfolio.
The Grand Valley State veteran earned his first 3k victory of the season in his second time racing the distance this winter, nearly running a PR with a mark of 8:02 on his home track. Then, he contested his fifth different event (including relays) this season in helping GVSU to an a fantastic 9:41 mark for the DMR.
We expect he'll return to the mile next, the distance over which he holds a celestial 3:58 mark and may very well have the best chance at success in the postseason.
8. Matthew Storer, Rs. Sophomore, Colorado Christian (-2 / 6)
We'll admit, this slight demotion in our top-25 rankings feels a bit unfair for someone who just ran a 13:53 (5k) PR. And while he hasn't given us any reason for concern or criticism, Matthew Storer has raced just twice this season and now sits among a surprisingly crowded (and elite) group of distance stars.
The air is thinner up here, as is the margin for error, and the Mile High City resident is likely acclimated to that reality.
Don't get us wrong, Storer belongs here after finishing 3rd at the 2023 cross country national meet and backing up that performance on the track earlier this winter. But Storer's limited racing schedule implies that he clearly isn't focused on regular season success so much as what comes after.
7. William Amponsah, Junior, West Texas A&M (+2 / 9)
As William Amponsah's indoor track season progresses, it's looking eerily similar to what we just witnessed from this NCAA newcomer over the fall months when he snagged a national title in convincing fashion.
Does that mean that he's going to replicate that feat on the indoor oval? No, not necessarily.
Even so, we appreciate that Amponsah has willingly thrown himself headfirst into action this winter. He has raced over three different distances, at both altitude and sea level and in fields large in small in terms of competition. Most recently, he procured a 13:40 (5k) PR, breaking the Ghanaian record in the process.
Amponsah won't enter next month as the 5k national title favorite, and the success of his first NCAA track season shouldn't be measured entirely by how it ends, but we can't count out someone who looks more and more like an era-defining talent.
6. David Cardenas, Senior, Adams State (+2 / 8)
What does the next month hold for David Cardenas?
We might even be less interested in how the indoor national meet ends for this Adams State veteran than how it starts. Which is to say, we're intrigued to see which event(s) he chooses to end his season in. Cardenas has run the second-fastest 800-meter mark this season -- a commendable 1:48 conversion -- behind Wes Ferguson. But he also recently dropped a 4:01 (mile) PR which gives him some optionality.
Might he opt to finish what will likely be his final NCAA indoor track campaign in a race that is expected to be loaded with his teammates? Or will he stick with a distance half as long in which he has experienced more success, but doesn't have significantly better title odds in as long as Ferguson exists? We're assuming he won't try the daunting 800 meters/mile double.
The fact that Cardenas even has that decision to make speaks to the level of high-level dynamism that earns him this lofty perch.
5. Hamza Chahid, Sophomore, Wingate (0 / 5)
The "zero" next to Hamza Chahid's name and team above this blurb implies that he, and our continued understanding of him, has been static since our last rankings update.
That, however, is a misleading number. All Chahid has done this month is run 7:47 (3k) for the NCAA D2 #3 all-time mark. He finished a few seconds behind the new D2 record holder, Miguel Coca, but hung with an elite field and beat a slew of Division One talents.
As the defending champion over the 3000-meter distance and a recent top-five cross country All-American, we can hardly rule out Chahid as a title contender even after finishing a few spots back from the new title favorite in that event. Let's not forget, either, that this is someone who has run as fast as 13:33 over 5000 meters.
4. Loïc Scomparin, Junior, Colorado Mines (-1 / 3)
Loïc Scomparin was in that same 3k race in which Hamza Chahid ran the NCAA #3 all-time D2 mark and where Coca set the record. The Oredigger star surged to a time of 7:46 for the NCAA #2 all-time D2 3k mark, beating Chahid by over a second and a half.
So why is he dropping here? Well, when you already occupy a spot in the top-five of our rankings, there's little room for upwards mobility -- and we obviously had to make room for Coca. With a 3:57 (altitude-converted) mile, a 13:29 (5k) effort and now an all-time 3k mark, we have precious few reservations about Scomparin's range or ability to meet the moment.
He is, after all, the only D2 man with top-five marks in three different distance events this season.
3. Romain Legendre, Junior, Adams State (-1 / 2)
Has not competed since our last rankings update.
2. Miguel Coca, Senior, Adams State (+2 / 4)
It required a gargantuan effort to surpass his teammate, Romain Legendre, and Loic Scomparin in our rankings, but Miguel Coca delivered just that.
The Adams State star blazed his way to a 7:44.90 (3k) D2 record earlier this month, just two weeks after running the NCAA #1 time (this season) for the mile in what was his first collegiate race in eight months.
Coca has his share of challengers as he guns for double gold after nearly pulling that off at last year's NCAA Indoor Championships (1st in the mile, 2nd over 3k), but we'd be remiss if we didn't stop for a moment to appreciate one of the best two-race D2 stretches in recent memory.
1. Wes Ferguson, Rs. Senior, Nebraska-Kearney (0 / 1)
For as great as Coca and others in this range of our rankings have been in recent weeks, we didn't feel the need to move Wes Ferguson down from our TSR #1 spot. Keep in mind, while we'd be foolish to call anybody a "lock", Ferguson is far and away the biggest title favorite in any D2 men's distance event (800 meters and up) this winter.
He only raced in the DMR in recent weeks, helping the Lopers to the NCAA #12 time which may get them to the indoor national meet if another team doesn't run faster later this weekend. Either way, he's by far the fastest over the half-mile distance this season and is trending towards his fourth national title in that event.
Duncan Fuehne (Colorado Mines)
Dayton Brown (Adams State)
KICKED OFF
Tanner Chada (Grand Valley State)
Awet Beraki (Adams State)
JUST MISSED (in no particular order)
Tanner Chada (Grand Valley State)
Awet Beraki (Adams State)
Paul Knight (Colorado Mines)
Ryan Karker (Roberts Wesleyan)
Enrico Oddone (West Texas A&M)
Ethan Lang (Fort Hays State)
Alberto Campa (Colorado Mines)
Braxton Bruer (MSU-Moorhead)
Josphat Meli (Harding)
Yonas Haile (Adams State)
Mason Strader (Pittsburg State)
Dominic Suliman (Saginaw Valley)
Sam Wilhelm (Alabama-Huntsville)
Scott Spaanstra (Grand Valley State)
Zach Van Brocklin (Nebraska-Kearney)
Cody Fountain (TAMU-Kingsville)
HONORABLE MENTIONS (in no particular order)
Jacob Hatcher (Lee (Tenn.))
Koby Fraaza (Grand Valley State)
Noah Fisher (Findlay)
Harry Louradour (West Texas A&M)
Ricardo Barbosa (Wingate)
Trent Cochran (Colorado Christian)
Titouan Le Grix (Wingate)
Hudson Majeski (Colorado Christian)
Prince Mcabelo (West Texas A&M)
Matisse Virey (CSU-Pueblo)
Talel Khalfi (Tiffin)
Cole Nash (Alaska Anchorage)
Louis Moreau (West Texas A&M)
Trever Medina (Fort Hays State)
Nik Shilling (Davenport)
Jonathan Volpe (Southern Connecticut St.)
Dawson Gunn (Colorado Mines)
Cas Kopmels (Wingate)
Daniel Appleford (Colorado Mines)
Ramen Felumlee (Cedarville)
Cortland Ross (Illinois-Springfield)
Titus Lagat (Lee (Tenn.))
Cole Benoit (Mississippi College)
Aziz Mohamed (West Texas A&M)
Nate Mueller (NW Missouri)
Warren Thiel (Charleston (WV))
Daylen Madison (Ashland)
Brock Drengenberg (Colorado Mines)
John O'Malley (Colorado Mines)
Notes
- N/A