TSR Collaboration
Oct 9, 20239 min
Written by Marissa Kuik & Grace McLaughlin
Additional commentary and edits by Gavin Struve & Garrett Zatlin
Do you have an interest in writing for The Stride Report? We are looking for knowledgable high school coverage writers, D2 coverage writers and D3 coverage writers who can help us with our rankings and previews! Want to know more? Read this and send us an email at contact@thestridereport.com to let us know!
NOTE: These rankings are based on how a team fared throughout the entirety of a season, not just how they ran at a singular meet or (eventually) at the 2023 NCAA XC Championships. Click here to learn more about our ranking criteria.
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.
After coming away with a huge win at the Griak Invitational, the Augustana women find themselves back where they belong: in the top-10 portion of our rankings. With the loss of multiple foundational stars in Nicolette Schmidt, PJ English and Megan Means, it seemed like the Vikings were in for a rebuilding year.
However, with Aubrey Surage emerging as a low-stick for this team, Augustana might still find themselves as one of the better D2 programs in the country.
After a few rust-busters, the Vikings traveled to Minneapolis and took home the team win in the “Maroon” race at the Griak Invitational. Surage finished 6th to further establish herself as a true ace while the rest of the scoring five stayed close together, separated by only a 28-second spread.
Surage’s rise as a true low-stick and the addition of some stellar freshmen talent in siblings Ashley and Amanda Overgaauw has set this team up to quickly reload rather than rebuild. Ella Bakken and Ana McCabe were also quietly excellent in Minnesota with highly impactful top-20 finishes of their own.
9. UC-Colorado Springs Mountain Lions (-5 / 4)
We entered this fall with high expectations for the Mountain Lions after they earned their first national meet podium finish in 2022. However, after two performances that seemed below their capabilities, UCCS has taken a tumble in our rankings.
The squad started their season at their long-standing home meet where they came away with a narrow win over CSU-Pueblo thanks to low-sticks Anna Fauske and Kate Hedlund. Though the Thunderwolves are a strong team, seeing UCCS just squeak by after dominating their home meet last year seemed a little odd.
Nonetheless, expectations were still high for this program entering the Louisville Classic. But surprisingly, UCCS fell back to 7th place overall and behind the Lee (Tenn.) women.
Hedlund and Fauske again thrived as the two lead scorers for the team, finishing right next to each other in 13th and 14th place, respectively. Their next two runners came through with decent enough top-90 finishes, but the limitations at their fifth scoring spot made it hard for UC-Colorado Springs to stand out in this field.
The Mountain Lions have considerable upfront firepower and great experience, but are held back by a lack of thorough scoring value throughout the entire lineup. That, however, doesn’t mean that there’s no possibility of someone stepping up and closing the gap as a fifth scorer. Don’t be surprised if the Mountain Lions make the tweaks that they need to going into championship season -- they are too talented to not be a top-10 team this fall.
8. Chico State Wildcats (+1 / 9)
The Wildcats’ season has been fairly promising so far as the Chico State women have won all three of the meets that they have contested. This team has proven that they are the group to beat in the West region, but the true test for this CCAA powerhouse will be how they take on the rest of Division Two.
Of the three wins for Chico State, the San Francisco State Invitational was definitely their most impressive. There, the Wildcats took down the likes of CU-Irvine, Stanislaus State, Simon Fraser and Alaska Fairbanks, all teams that they will face at the West Regional XC Championships.
This win was not only a likely confidence boost for this young squad, but also a testament to their depth, featuring an interchangeable top-seven led by sophomore twins Della and Iresh Molina as well as the promising emergence of Jaclyn Denham and a respectable backend.
The Wildcats have yet to face any truly top-tier Division Two teams, and more proven firepower would help. It also wasn't amazing that this west coast power barely sneaked by the CUI women. Even so, Chico State’s dominance in their region should translate well to the postseason and set up improvements upon last year’s 12th place result at the national meet.
7. Winona State Warriors (+1 / 8)
The women of Winona State move up a single position in our top-10 after two very encouraging, but unsurprising, efforts in the midwest.
At both the Greeno/Dirksen Invite and the Lewis XC Crossover, the Warriors were led by the lethal 1-2 punch of Lindsay Cunningham and Kaylee Beyer. Depth is a concern, but Beyer’s emergence as a star and Sophie Taarud's subtle improvements has allowed this team to stay nationally competitive despite McKenna Taylor not racing at top form.
After toppling Iowa State and Nebraska at the first meet, the Lewis XC Crossover did highlight some holes in the Warriors’ lineup. The back-half of their lineup did not perform as well, leading to Winona State finishing 4th overall behind Colorado Mines, Grand Valley State (who did not race all of their top runners) and Lewis.
Even so, the unexpected leap and accompanying scoring value that Beyer has brought makes us bullish about their long-term potential this season. This ranking — a small bump after largely-expected team finishes — underscores that notion.
6. Lewis Flyers (Unranked)
New to our rankings, the Lewis women proved themselves worthy of reevaluation after defeating an incredibly talented Winona State team at their home meet. Not only is Lewis capable of qualifying for the cross country national meet again, but this time around, they might even be able to snag a top-10 finish.
While the Flyers truly broke out at the past weekend’s Lewis XC Crossover, they had shown promise earlier on. They took 3rd place at the National Catholic Invitational hosted by Notre Dame with a 34-second scoring spread. But to be honest, that result didn’t necessarily scream “top-10 team in Division Two.” What made us reassess Lewis’ potential was their performance in the familiar confines of Romeoville, Illinois.
There, the Flyers beat not only Winona State, but also Colorado Christian, a pair of TSR preseason top-10 teams. The lineup looked very similar in terms of the spread from the Catholic Invitational, but the emergence of a potential low-stick in Hannah Smrcka raised this team’s ceiling.
If Smrcka can turn into a true high-end lead scorer for the Flyers, then this performance at the Lewis Crossover is no fluke. We believe Lewis is a legitimate threat and could make some noise come the cross country national meet.
5. Lee (Tenn.) Flames (Unranked)
The Lee Flames enter our rankings after several solid performances that proved that they are not just a top-10 team, but potentially at top-five squad in Division Two.
The Flames opened their season with a 2nd place finish at the Tennessee XC Invite where they showed a seemingly complete scoring lineup as Aria Hawkins, McKenna Cavanaugh, Lily Hare, Ashlyn Iliff and Katie Krueger went 11-13-15-21-22, respectively. It was a very solid effort, but not one that gave us deep insight into the potential of this team.
Lee then faced more competition at their next race, the Southern Showcase, and placed 9th in a field of solid Division One programs, this time with Hawkins and Hare leading the way. But while their first two races were decent and gave us insight on the impact their new additions would have, the Flames’ performance at the Louisville XC Classic is what propelled them to the middle portion of our top-10 rankings.
The Flames took down a top-heavy UCCS team and placed 6th in a very competitive field. Hawkins emerged as the lead scorer for her team with an excellent 19th place finish. We also saw Iliff (54th) and Kellerman (57th) showcase improvement while Cavanaugh (74th), Danielle Horter (85th) and Krueger (105th) rounded out their scorers -- and Cavanaugh could have been even better!
While we were impressed and surprised that the Flames beat the Mountain Lions, we think that they could be even better moving forward as their scoring structure gives them a solid baseline with plenty of upside and somewhat limited downside.
4. Western Colorado Mountaineers (+1 / 5)
The women of Western Colorado move up one spot in our rankings after cruising through their home opener and later producing a bronze-medal performance at the Chile Pepper XC Festival.
The Mountaineers predictably dominated the Mountaineer Invite as low-stick Allison Beasley won the individual title and Peyton Weiss (3rd), Gretchen Slattum (5th), Emma Kjellsen (6th) and Lauren Wilson (7th) all finished in the top-10 as well. Against admittedly limited competition, WCU’s lineup proved to be more complete than we thought and indicated that we may have underrated them in the preseason.
That rust-buster result was solid, but it was the Mountaineers’ 3rd place finish at the Chile Pepper XC Festival that moves them to TSR #4. There, this RMAC program flexed both firepower and depth with Beasley placing 8th and Leah Taylor posting an excellent 14th place finish. Behind those two, we saw Wilson, Slattum and Jayda Nix close out the scoring with each of them in the top-40 while Weiss was 41st.
The Mountaineers have a young lineup, but can still rely on Beasley’s and Taylor’s firepower. The backend of the lineup has exceeded our expectations so far and carries exciting momentum moving forward.
3. Colorado Mines Orediggers (0 / 3)
The Orediggers remain at TSR #3 after their first couple of races.
At the CU Time Trial, Colorado Mines gave us an early glimpse of their depth with Clare Peters, Holly Moser, Grace Strongman, Jenna Ramsey-Rutledge and Molly Maksin all placing in the top-10. Meanwhile, the emergence of Alexis Herr and the continued improvement of Margaux Basart, who both placed in the top-15, were positive developments for Colorado Mines heading into their next competition.
The Lewis XC Crossover is one of the biggest D2 meets of the regular season and the Orediggers absolutely obliterated their competition in Illinois, scoring just 49 points.
GVSU did not field a full lineup racing, but the Orediggers’ triumph over the Lakers was fantastic, nonetheless. They had an impressively tight pack of Moser (7th), Peters (8th), Basart (10th), Ramsey-Rutledge (11th) and Strongman (12th). Outside of the scoring group, Herr (19th) and recent transfer Riley McGrath (26th) were also solid and highlighted Mines’ balance of talent and depth.
This team has been phenomenal thus far, but we still don’t think we’ve seen them firing on all cylinders yet. McGrath has the potential to be a lead scorer and Maksin can be way better as well. With the amount of sheer talent and aerobic depth on the Orediggers’ roster, a TSR #3 ranking almost doesn’t feel adequate enough.
2. Adams State Grizzlies (-1 / 1)
It’s hard to recall the last time that the Grizzlies were not our top-ranked Division Two team, and it certainly did not seem like it would occur this season...but here we are.
The invincible team that we surely thought was unbeatable this fall just lost to another D2 program (Grand Valley State) in a major race. While superstar ace Stephanie Cotter did not race in their most recent contest, the Grizzlies still would have lost even if she had won, individually.
This result was admittedly a bit shocking, although it may tell us more about our TSR #1 team than Adams State.
At the Louisville XC Classic, Brianna Robles (7th) was unsurprisingly great. Behind her, a pack of women featuring Vienna Lahner, Morgan Hykes, Ava O'Connor, Emily Schoellkopf and Fiona Hawkins went 18-22-23-25-26, respectively, in the overall results. That was a stable scoring group, but the Grizzlies simply couldn't match the Lakers' firepower.
To be clear, Adams State still ran quite well and we’re not taking them out of contention for the best team in the country just yet. Even so, that Louisville race was a clear indication that this group will need to level up over the coming weeks.
1. Grand Valley State Lakers (+1 / 2)
The Lakers rightfully take over the top spot in our rankings after several impressive races and a dominant victory that made it impossible not to put them at TSR #1. Grand Valley State started their season off with a runner-up finish at the Auto-Owners Spartan Invitational behind a talented Michigan State team that hosted the meet.
And then they ventured to Kentucky.
To put it simply, the Lakers put on a show at the Louisville XC Classic. GVSU scored 58 points and beat their biggest rival by a substantial amount. And just as they had been in East Lansing, the lineup of Natalie Graber (2nd), Lauren Kiley (5th), Ana Tucker (9th), Klaudia O’Malley (15th), Taryn Chapko (27th), Abby VanderKooi (32nd) and Allie Arnsman (33rd) was nearly perfect -- and they should only get better from here.
The addition of Tucker has proven to be as impactful than we thought it would be (maybe even more so) and Kiley has emerged as a singular star. O’Malley is someone who held that status last year and who traditionally improves throughout the season. And that’s just us talking about the front-end of this lineup.
After excelling in Louisville, Grand Valley State also went to the Lewis XC Crossover with a modified and limited lineup. They still managed to place 2nd in a stacked field without most of their top runners. We knew that the Lakers had front-runners, talent, strength in numbers and momentum to be an elite outfit, but they might be even better than we initially realized after their statement win over Adams State.
Augustana (SD) Vikings
Lewis Flyers
Lee (Tenn.) Flames
West Texas A&M Buffaloes
Colorado Christian Cougars
Cedarville Yellow Jackets
Cedarville Yellow Jackets
Colorado Christian Cougars
CSU-Pueblo ThunderWolves
Wayne State (MI) Warriors
West Texas A&M Buffaloes
Alaska Fairbanks Nanooks
Biola Eagles
Charleston (WV) Golden Eagles
Dallas Baptist Patriots
Minnesota State Mavericks
Pittsburg State Gorillas
Tampa Spartans
Western Washington Vikings
CU-Irvine Golden Eagles
- N/A