John Cusick
Jan 23, 20238 min
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Written by John Cusick, additional edits and commentary by Garrett Zatlin
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 guide when determining eligibility.
Was not ranked in our last update.
First number indicates how much the athlete has moved in the rankings.
The second number indicates where the athlete was ranked in our last update.
Dayton Brown hasn’t raced since our last update. However, since then, we have learned that Brown has actually transferred from Saginaw Valley State to Adams State.
Josh Pierantoni has not raced since our last update.
Evan Graff is the first name to come into our rankings who we didn’t previously list. However, in our first update since the preseason, Graff has clearly shown us that he deserves to be inside our top-25.
Graff ran a 4:11 mile time on his home track in Colorado Springs en route to a massive 13-second victory over the runner-up finisher. It’s worth noting that Graff’s current personal best for the mile is just 4:07 which came back in February of last year.
Of course, after conversion, we now see Graff’s time move to NCAA #2 at 4:00.22.
Graff has been part of national meets before, but he hasn’t had the greatest success once he's there. But with an early-season mark as impressive as this, we could see Graff break out this winter for the Mountain Lions. That aforementioned experience on the national stage could prove to be wildly valuable over the next two months of competition.
Tony Torres has not raced since our last update.
Cole Nash has not raced since our last update.
Loic Scomparin has not raced since our last update.
Tanner Maier is the first athlete to fall a few spots in our rankings. That, however, is a product of some other athletes running well early-on in the season. Although, at the same time, Maier did underwhelm a touch in his first action since the holiday break (which is not to be confused with running poorly).
Maier toed the line at the Larry Wieczorek Invitational for the 800 meters and posted a mark of 1:52.36. That mark was good enough to dip under the provisional mark for Division Two, but it's also a far cry from what Maier is truly capable of.
We can assume that this was a rust-buster of sorts for Maier who is coming off of the best cross country campaign of his career. With a few more races under his belt, we should expect Maier to be a force among 800 meter specialists come March. For the most part, he's too experienced and too proven to not be a major factor two months from now.
Miguel Coca has not raced since our last update.
David Cardenas has not raced since our last update.
Duncan Fuehne has not raced since our last update.
Clement Duigou has not raced since our last update.
Mason Strader has not raced since our last update.
Jan Lukas Becker posted a 5000 meter time of 14:00.24 over the weekend at the Samford January Open. And while that time is solid, it’s not necessarily up to the standard of what Becker has shown us that he’s capable of.
The weekend before that 5k effort, we saw Becker record a DNF at the UAB Vulcan Invitational in the 3k. That could have been due to pacing efforts, although that's only speculation.
Becker's time of 14:00 is currently sitting at NCAA #9, but he will likely need to run a smidge faster than that if last year’s qualifying marks are any indication of what it will take to get to Virginia Beach come March.
Regardless, we think that Becker is just getting back to a routine and we should see him lay down some higher-end qualifying times in multiple events in the near future.
Zach Kreft will be a problem for his opponents when March rolls around.
We saw how good he was on the grass at the NCAA XC Championships this past fall and he later followed up that performance with a blistering 5k time of 13:51 a week after. Since then, we’ve seen the Notre Dame-turned-Walsh superstar run a mile at the SPIRE Midwest Open and he did not disappoint.
Kreft walked away with a new personal best of 4:03.07 this past weekend, a time that is good enough for an NCAA #5 ranking on the D2 national leaderboard. That is also the fastest raw time of anyone in the country (among Division Two) as the four times faster than him are all altitude-based conversions.
Kreft is displaying elite range during his short time at Walsh, but he’s already run faster for the mile and 5000 meters than he ever did at Notre Dame. We’re anticipating him running a 3k next and if any of his two performances from this indoor track season are benchmarks, then we should also see an elite time from him in that distance.
In short, Kreft is quickly moving up our rankings and should be considered as a legitimate threat in any distance that he chooses when March rolls around. He is quietly dynamic and has clearly has a scary combination of turnover and endurance which should theoretically allow him to thrive in almost any race scenario.
Oh, and a few men in Division Two have greater momentum than he does.
Ryan Riddle gets the biggest boost in this week's update since we put out our preseason rankings. His seven-spot improvement can be traced back to his recent 3000 meter performance of 7:55.82 which currently sits at NCAA #1 early in this season.
Before this past weekend, Riddle’s best performance at that distance was 7:58 from this same weekend last year. And now, he's ahead of where he was last season when he switched to the longer distances. That leads us to believe that Riddle will take another step forward in his fitness which, in theory, could lead to him running under four minutes in the mile this winter.
And if he does do that, then things could get dicey for his competition.
Being a 4:01 miler gives him a leg up on some of the other distance athletes he faces when racing the 3k/5k. He’s increasing his strength in a concentrated effort to hang on long enough to use that leg speed in a championship race setting.
Only time will tell if Riddle will be a title threat in March, but if he continues to race like this throughout the season, we will be talking about Riddle being one of the scarier athletes in the field.
Luke Julian has not raced since our last update.
Caleb Futter has not raced since our last update.
Charlie Dannatt has not raced since our last update.
Reece Sharman-Newell moves up one spot in our latest rankings update after his strong performance at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Collegiate Invitational in New Mexico this past weekend.
Known as a true 800 meter specialist, Sharman-Newell is making it clear that he wants to be the strongest athlete in the half-mile field at this year's national meet.
This past weekend, he moved up to the mile, running a new personal best of 4:12.76 for a runner-up finish. After altitude conversion, the time converts to 4:07.26 and is good enough for an NCAA #7 spot on the national leaderboard this season.
While we don’t anticipate Sharman-Newell competing in this event individually, we could see him as part of CSU-Pueblo’s distance medley relay team. And if you recall, when Thomas Staines was part of this program, he moved up to the mile for the anchor leg which ultimately gave the Thunderwolves a national title.
The same thing could be in the cards for Sharman-Newell this winter.
With that said, it’s nice to see Sharman-Newell improving in the longer events. He showcased his aerobic ability on the grass in the fall and is directly translating that into fast times early in this season.
Butare Rugenerwa has not raced since our last update.
Afewerki Zeru raced at the Houston Half Marathon the other weekend, but recorded a DNF result after pulling out just after 10k with an injury. Zeru went through 10k in 29:04, so there is no question about his fitness level, although the status of his current health is a bit unclear.
If Zeru is fully healthy this winter, then he’ll be one of the best athletes in the country. That, however, will depend on his timeline back towards racing.
Awet Beraki also raced at the Houston Half Marathon two weekends ago. His day went more according to plan as he ran to a USA Olympic Trials qualifying mark for the marathon distance.
Beraki ran a time of 62:37 and finished in 13th place overall. Since Adams State failed to qualify for the NCAA XC Championships, Beraki has laid down times of 13:39 (5k), 7:56 (3k via altitude conversion) and 62:37 (half marathon).
We knew that this Grizzly superstar was one of the best athletes in Division Two, but he has only solidified that (and then some) in his three appearances this winter. He moves up two spots in these rankings, but he’s slowly continuing to rise as the biggest challenger to Dillon Powell and Tanner Chada in the longer distance events.
Wes Ferguson has raced three times since the holiday break concluded and everything that we have seen so far from him is very encouraging.
Two weekends ago, we saw Ferguson double up in the 800 and the mile. He dipped under the 1:50 barrier for the first time this season and ran the mile in a time of 4:13. Both are highly respectable marks for someone of his caliber.
Then this past weekend, Ferguson took on the mile with fresh legs and ran 4:06, bettering his personal best by a second. And much like the aforementioned Sharman-Newell, it’s encouraging to see Ferguson continue to work on and improve things that could be considered a “weakness” for an 800 meter runner.
Although honestly, there aren't many "weaknesses" on his resume.
And to keep the comparisons in line, Ferguson could be tasked with running the anchor leg of Nebraska-Kearney’s DMR team in March. The Lopers are expected to have a very good relay and he could be the key to unlocking their full potential.
Tanner Chada has not raced since our last update.
Dillon Powell has not raced since our last update.
Evan Graff (UC-Colorado Springs)
Simon Kelati (Western Colorado)
Dillon Haviland (Northwood)
Hunter Kurz (Mississippi College)
Matthew Storer (Colorado Christian)
Hudson Majeski (Colorado Christian)
Ryan Hartman (Augustana)
Andrew Amor (New Mexico Highlands)
Chris Cathcart (Colorado Mines)
Gidieon Kimutai (Missouri Southern)
Dylan Burrows (Oklahoma Christian)
Cameron Allan (Adams State)
Joao Pereira (Charleston (WV))
Titus Lagat (Lee (Tenn.))
Simon Kelati (Western Colorado)
Joshua Chepkesir (UNC Pembroke)
Noah Fisher (Findlay)
JP Rutledge (Missouri Southern)
Isaac Prather (Concord)
Harry Lourdadour (West Texas A&M)
Paul Knight (Colorado Mines)
Scott Nutter (Wingate)
Cas Kopmels (Wingate)
Hunter Hutton (Western Oregon)
Cole Benoit (Mississippi College)
Will Stone (Lee (Tenn.))
Scott Ardnt (Simon Fraser)