TSR's 2023 D3 XC Top 20 Individual Rankings (Men): Update #4 (FINAL)

Written by Conor Daly, Kevin Fischer & Garrett Zatlin

Additional edits & commentary by Garrett Zatlin & Gavin Struve

NOTE: These rankings are based on how a team fared throughout the entirety of a season, not just how they ran at the NCAA XC Championships or at a singular meet. You will notice that these rankings may mirror the national meet results, but not precisely. That is intentional. These rankings are intended to be an aggregate. They are not recency lists.

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.

20. Enrique Salazar, Senior, Manchester (Unranked)
 Enrique Salazar went into this season having achieved some impressive feats on the oval, but carrying some struggles on the grass.

However, the Manchester veteran made great progress this fall and may have even changed his reputation as a track-first athlete in the process. The recent standout recorded some nice finishes like an 11th place result at the Augustana Interregional and a runner-up effort at the Great Lakes Regional XC Championships.

However, he then capped his season off as a top-half All-American by finishing a solid 19th place at the cross country national meet. It's one thing to experience the kind of success that you've never before had before, but it's another thing to consistently deliver on the fruits of your breakout season without a flaw.

19. Bradshaw Lathbury, Senior, Berry (Unranked)

At any point in the season, if you asked us who the top non-scoring individual would be at this year’s cross country national meet, a few names would have come to mind, but Bradshaw Lathbury would not have been one of them.

The Berry standout ran some nice races throughout the season, but still looked like more of a fringe All-American heading into the national meet. However, he blew those expectations out of the water with a highly impressive 16th place finish on the national stage for his first All-American honors after finishing 45th last year.

18. Ivan Appleton, Junior, Tufts (Unranked)

Ivan Appleton had one of the nation's biggest breakthroughs this season after finishing 141st at last year’s cross country national meet and not running any eye-popping times on the track.

In August, we could not have foreseen him finishing runner-up at the NESCAC XC Championships, let alone the 13th place finisher at the cross country national meet. But week after week, this Tufts distance star kept stringing together nice performances and ended up running his best race of the season when the lights were brightest.

We're eager to see how this newly-minted star progresses from here.

17. Isaac Wegner, Senior, UW-La Crosse (-7 / 10)

Isaac Wegner was really solid all season long and although his cross country national meet finish seemed a little underwhelming, it wasn't bad by any means.

With two kilometers to go, Wegner was right in the first chase pack in 5th place, but his race just unraveled a bit at the end as he landed in 18th place. Even so, we can look at the season that he had and say that it was a largely successful campaign. Placing 11th in the Paul Short "Gold" race makes it hard to move Wegner back much further than this.

Plus, let's not forget that he was a key part of UW-La Crosse's runner-up finish and dominance of rival UW-Whitewater this fall.

16. Braden Nicholson, Senior, North Central (Unranked)

After just missing out on a top-20 ranking in our last update, Braden Nicholson ran well at the Midwest Regional XC Championships where he finished 2nd behind only Christopher Collet. He later thrived at the national meet where he earned a 17th place finish that was roughly in line with our expectations.

We were expecting a top-half All-American performance from a man who appeared to be capturing the right form at the perfect time and he did not disappoint. Some of Nicholson's early-season races were better than others, but a conference title pairs well with his postseason streak of excellence.

15. Andrew Guimond, Senior, North Central (Unranked)

As great as Andrew Guimond had been this season, there were times where he was overshadowed a little bit by his excellent teammates.

For most of the fall months, we recognized that he was an All-American favorite, but saw him, perhaps a bit unfairly, as the fourth-most talented runner on North Central's roster.

Of course, with his national meet performance, he established himself as an even bigger star than we thought, finishing 15th in the country. He closed his season super strongly, and did enough throughout the fall (such as placing 13th at the Augustana Interregional Invite) to earn a ranking that matches his national meet finish.

14. Frank Csorba, Senior, Lynchburg (0 / 14)

Frank Csorba has been putting forth top marks on the track for several years now. Yet, he has not had quite the success on the grass… well, not until this year.

Csorba was really strong every time out this fall with three wins to his name this season. His victory at the SUNY Geneseo Mike Woods Invitational was most impressive as he beat out some top names from Carnegie Mellon and Johns Hopkins.

Most importantly, he finally bettered his placement at a cross country national meet after the past two years brought a 99th place finish and a DNF result. But this time around, he finished 14th amongst the nation's best which perfectly matched our assessment of this Lynchburg star from our last rankings update.

13. Derek Fearon, Junior, Pomona-Pitzer (Unranked)

Derek Fearon rounded into form perfectly this fall, improving every time out. His ongoing development was one of the main reasons why Pomona-Pitzer was able to outperform expectations by so much at the national meet that they took home the team title.

In his first two races, Fearon, for all his talent, looked to be fighting to be the Sagehens' fifth scorer. He simply wasn't living up to the high billing that he'd built for himself with past success. But then something changed for the 24th place finisher at last year’s NCAA XC Championships as he inched towards teammate Lucas Florsheim in a couple of races.

And despite early-season skepticism, Fearon ultimately left us no doubt that he’s the real deal with a 10th place run at the 2023 cross country national meet.

12. Lucas Florsheim, Junior, Pomona-Pitzer (Unranked)

Despite the relative lack of attention that we've given him, Lucas Florsheim had an awesome season. Of course, first go on the national meet course wasn’t exactly pretty, as he finished 23rd at D3 Pre-Nationals. We figured that his performance was a bit of an "off" day, but we just couldn’t justify keeping him high in our rankings.

Florsheim then went on to win his conference and finish runner-up at his regional meet behind only James Settles. And yet, we couldn’t give him too much credit for these runs since the names he beat didn’t particularly “wow” us.

By the time Florsheim got a chance at the grueling Pennsylvania course the second time around, he looked more than ready, capping off his season by finishing 9th in the nation.

Just like his team, in hindsight, we can see signs that Florsheim was ready to rip.

13. Gunner Schlender, Junior, UW-Whitewater (-2 / 11)

Gunner Schlender kept us guessing this fall. He left us a bit skeptical when we looked at some of his performances, but he always recovered and came up big when it mattered most.

At the Blugold Invitational, Schlender finished behind Will Kelly and Mohammed Bati, who are very good runners in their own right, but competitors who we expected Schlender to beat, nonetheless. Fast forward to two weeks later at the Augustana Interregional Invitational and Schlender was on a mission, taking down six names who were in our top-20 individual rankings at the time.

Schlender entered a bit of a trough again on the conference and regional stages which left us a bit concerned for him and his team. But that drop in performance didn’t last long. The 9th place finisher at the North Regional XC Championships turned into the 11th place finisher at the cross country national meet, a very strong outing for the junior.

Ultimately, his regular season ups and downs lead us to drop him a few places in our rankings relative to his national meet performance. That, however, also has to do with how a few other men performed relative to their ranking in our last update.

Watch out for this long distance specialist on the oval as he looks to add to his five All-American honors.

10. Vince Simonetti, Junior, RPI (Unranked)

This long distance specialist continued his success from the outdoor oval on the grass this fall.

Vince Simonetti’s 9th place finish at D3 Pre-Nationals was really good, but his 3rd place finish at the Mideast Regional XC Championships was arguably better. He seemed to be peaking at just the right time.

And sure enough, that was exactly the case.

Even so, it was hard to see what was coming for the Engineer ace. Thanks to the race of his life, the RPI junior was the best second scorer at the cross country national meet, coming across the line in 8th place. As such, he gave RPI an elite front tandem that almost singlehandedly lifted them to a 7th place team finish.

9. Christopher Collet, Senior, Wartburg (-1 / 8)

This year’s 12th place finisher at the cross country national meet finds himself higher than a TSR #12 ranking. That’s because Christopher Collet offered consistently great scoring value and didn't have as much fluctuation in his results this fall.

After winning his home opener, Collet traveled to the Augustana Interregional Invite where he performed on the lower side of expectations, coming across the line in 8th place. That wasn't a poor result by any means, but we thought that he could have been a little sharper.

Sure enough, Collet went on to take a pair of wins at the American Rivers Conference and Midwest Regional XC Championships. The latter was probably his most impressive outing of the season, taking down some high-caliber individuals from North Central.

Collet’s regular season results enhance his resume quite a bit. Not only did he have three pretty big wins to his name, but he also beat the 3rd place and 7th place finishers from the national meet three times three times throughout the regular season, not to mention taking down numerous other All-Americans.

And when you look at the men listed directly behind him in these rankings, their lead up to the national meet wasn't as good as his.

8. Simon Heys, Senior, Wilmington (OH) (-5 / 3)

Simon Heys is one of the best runners in Division Three. It’s too bad he had an "off" day at the 2023 cross country national meet because his resume suggests that he’s way better than the 33rd place finish that he produced.

Heys looked to be in top form heading into the NCAA XC Championships, defeating eventual 19th place finisher Enrique Salazar by 10 seconds at the Great Lakes Regional XC Championships.

Even earlier in the season, Heys had a resume-defining win at D3 Pre-Nationals over the eventual 5th and 6th finishers at the national meet. If you take his time from that run (which was on the same course), he finishes 20th.

Either way, we expect this proven star to bounce back at his next opportunity.

7. Caleb Silver, Senior, Central College (+12 / 19)

It was a very unique up and down season for Caleb Silver. None of his results were bad, but some were better than others. And when you consider that he seemed to thrive on the biggest and best stages of Division Three, that's certainly not a bad thing.

The Central College veteran was 58th at the Griak Invitational (Maroon race) earlier this fall and also settled for a 14th place effort at the Dan Huston Invite. However, Silver then threw down a monster win at the Connecticut College Invite, stunning the country at a major D3-centric invitational.

After a unsurprising 3rd place finish at the American Rivers Conference XC Championships, Silver cruised through the Midwest regional meet with a 12th place finish. But that result seemed to be a conservative effort for Silver given that he just posted a jaw-dropping 7th place at the NCAA XC Championships.

Silver wasn't perfect this season, but on the biggest stages, he was wildly clutch. Yes, Christopher Collet may have gotten the better of Silver at the ARC XC Championships, but a win at a major invitational and a 10th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships is why he ends his fall campaign with a top-10 ranking at TSR #7.

6. John Lucey, Junior, Williams (-2 / 4)

From start to finish, John Lucey was flat-out dominant this fall, emerging as an upper-tier name in each meet that he toed the line for. Three early-season victories were encouraging, but his runner-up effort at Pre-Nationals was massive, showing the country that he had truly take a leap in his fitness.

With a NESCAC title, Lucey ventured to the national meet where he finished 6th place overall. For the most part, that effort was on par with our expectations for this Williams star. A bronze medal was probably his ceiling, but the more important development is that he could contend for NCAA gold in the fall of 2024.

5. Cory Kennedy, Junior, RPI (0 / 5)

There's truthfully not much to talk about when it comes to Cory Kennedy. We felt like we perfectly evaluated this RPI distance talent throughout the season. A streak of numerous wins against relatively light competition was contrasted with a huge 3rd place effort at D3 Pre-Nationals as well as a recent 5th place performance at the national meet.

Kennedy is as solid and as reliable as they come. He has clearly matured as a racer given his consistency and his unwavering ability to thrive in a variety of different fields. If you needed guaranteed low-stick scoring, Kennedy was one of the very best this fall.

4. James Settles, Senior, Colorado College (+2 / 6)

Coming into this season, we were plenty familiar with James Settles and his resume. He was a talent runner and he had the potential to crack our rankings. But what we didn't expect was for this Colorado College star to look borderline unstoppable this fall.

After a negligible rust-buster and a few easy early-season wins, Settles showed the country that he was the real deal with a huge runner-up effort at the Augustana Interregional Invite. That result would validate the wins that Settles later earned at the conference and regional stages.

Of course, that Augustana performance was only one race at a larger-scale meet. And that's why Settles' performance last weekend, a 4th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships, was so brilliant.

3. Max Svienty, Senior, North Central (+4 / 7)

The biggest knock on Max Svienty coming into this season was that the North Central veteran had struggled with consistency, specifically in a few postseason appearances. And while there was no denying his exceptional talent, we wanted to remain cautious when listing him in our initial rankings.

But in the fall of 2023, Svienty had never been more reliable.

A 28th place finish at the Spartan Invitational was a great start to his season, but a 6th place finish in the "Gold" section at the Louisville XC Classic was firepower that, frankly, we didn't totally realize he held.

When you tack on a 4th place finish at the Augustana Interregional Invite, Svienty's bronze medal performance at the NCAA XC Championships shouldn't be too surprising. This Cardinal ace may have had the hardest schedule of anyone this season, but he showed up every. single. time. The reason why he ends up at TSR #7 in our rankings isn't necessarily because of last weekend's performance, but rather, how incredible he was on multiple major stages throughout this fall.

2. Christian Patzka, Junior, UW-Whitewater (-1 / 1)

1. Ethan Gregg, Senior, UW-La Crosse (+1 / 2)

There's no need to make this piece of analysis any more complicated than it needs to be.

This fall, it was clear that both Ethan Gregg and Christian Patzka were the top-two men in the country for Division Three. Patzka got the better of Gregg at the WIAC XC Championships. He also beat Gregg at the North Regional XC Championships, although some people may put varied emphasis on that meet.

But at the end of day, Gregg was still very much in contention to win the individual national title -- and he did. The UW-La Crosse star took home gold last weekend while Patzka settled for runner-up. And when you pair that finish with a 3rd place effort at Paul Short, it would feel a bit silly to not give the nod to Gregg.

Vince Simonetti (RPI)

Lucas Florsheim (Pomona-Pitzer)

Derek Fearon (Pomona-Pitzer)

Andrew Guimond (North Central)

Braden Nicholson (North Central)

Ivan Appleton (Tufts)

Bradshaw Lathbury (Berry)

Enrique Salazar (Manchester)

KICKED OFF

Mohammed Bati (Augsburg)

Jack Begley (U. of Chicago)

Will Kelly (St. Olaf)

Spencer Moon (Simpson (IA))

Connor Riss (North Central)

Nick Andrews (SUNY Geneseo)

Nikhil DeNatale (Williams)

Lowell Hensgen (MIT)

JUST MISSED (in no particular order)

Nikhil DeNatale (Williams)

Lowell Hensgen (MIT)

Sam Acquaviva (MIT)

Emmanuel Leblond (Johns Hopkins)

Will Kelly (St. Olaf)

Peter Weiss (George Fox)

Nathan Tassey (Roger Williams)

Noah Jorgenson (Central College)

Cameron Hatler (Pomona-Pitzer)

Dylan May (Southern Virginia)

HONORABLE MENTIONS (in no particular order)

Jack Begley (U. of Chicago)

Ned Farrington (Bates)

Charles Namiot (Williams)

Jacob Green (Wartburg)

Chasen Hunt (Lynchburg)

Matthew Coyle (Carnegie Mellon)

Nicholas Lyndaker (St. Lawrence)

Colin Kirkpatrick (Pomona-Pitzer)

Cullen Capuano (Washington U.)

Vedang Lad (MIT)

Jeff Joseph (Mount Union)

Mohammed Bati (Augsburg)

Matthew Porter (Carnegie Mellon)

Miles Takiguchi (Vassar)

Grant Matthai (UW-La Crosse)

Spencer Moon (Simpson (IA))

Connor Riss (North Central)

Lars Dewall (St. Scholastica)

Peter LaRochelle (Haverford)

Calvin Boone (St. Scholastica)

Ryan Champa (John Carroll)

Mason Shea (UW-Eau Claire)

Eric Jackson (UC-Santa Cruz)

Sam Llaneza (Lynchburg)

Brooks Peters (Bowdoin)

Ryan Tobin (NYU)

Ryan Stracke (Pacific Lutheran)

Colin McLaughlin (Carnegie Mellon)

Sam Schmitz (Wartburg)

Notes

- N/A