Marissa Kuik
Sep 6, 20236 min
Written by Marissa Kuik, additional commentary & edits by Gavin Struve & Garrett Zatlin
NOTE: Earlier this summer, The Stride Report reached out to nearly every team that was considered for a possible ranking this summer. While we did receive numerous responses and great clarity, we did not get a 100% response rate. On rare occasions, we are referencing TFFRS in order to talk about returners and athletes who are out of eligibility.
Coming off of a very strong 2022 season, the Mississippi College men have several avenues toward further improvement in 2023. They will remain as a formidable opponent in the ever-improving Gulf South Conference.
Even so, this is not a team without losses as the Choctaws are projected to have a significant hole in the middle of their lineup. If a few underclassmen can step up, then the chances of an even better fall campaign in 2023 should be plenty high for Mississippi College. They do, after all, have an elite low-stick and a still-solid supporting cast.
But much of their success, and this top-10 ranking, is contingent upon who can fill those middle spots and how effectively they do so.
Last fall, the Choctaws opened up their season on their home course at a meet aptly named "The Opener." They came away with an easy team win and a near-perfect team score of 17 points. They were even able to do so without their top runner, Jan Lukas Becker.
Next, Mississippi College advanced to a much more competitive meet, the North Alabama Showcase, where they finished 8th overall. Losing to Division One programs held no shame, although falling to their rival, Lee (Tenn.), likely wasn't an ideal result.
Hunter Kurz led the way with a very solid 9th place finish and was followed by Gabe Poulin in 19th place. Through two runners, the firepower on this team was fairly solid, although they struggled at the backend of their lineup as Christian Balcer finished 84th, Brock Kelly settled for 96th and Cole Benoit placed 108th.
Although the back-half of their top-five needed to improve, there was still some upside with this group considering that Becker had not yet raced.
Mississippi College then decided to take on an even larger field at the Chili Pepper XC Festival, where they placed 6th overall, although their lineup structure was distinctly different.
This time, the Choctaws were led by Becker’s 8th place finish. The team looked much better than they had at the North Alabama Showcase with a solid spread for their second through fifth runners. Those latter four scorers featured Kurz (28th), Kelly (38t)h, Poulin (46th) and Benoit (76th).
For a team that had massive backend gaps in their lineup at the meet prior, it was an encouraging step in the right direction, although greater improvements needed to be made.
The Choctaws continued to gain momentum from there, going up against another partial Division One field at the UAB Blazer Classic. There, Gabe Poulin emerged as a surprise winner, two-tenths of a second ahead of Becker. With Kurz placing 3rd, Balcer finishing 7th and Kelly taking 12th, the Choctaws won the meet over the Memphis Tigers.
Sure, it wasn't a field as competitive as what they saw earlier in the year, but things were beginning to click at the right time for this squad.
Entering the championship season, the Choctaws’ top-five lineup structure looked to be taking shape with Becker leading, Kurz and Poulin offering quietly great scoring and many different options offering depth, including Kelly, Benoit and Balcer.
At both the GSC XC Championships and the South Regional XC Championships, Mississippi College placed runner-up behind Lee (Tenn.). Becker won both races and the rest of the squad kept a consistently tight spread. Poulin and Kurz pulled 5th and 6th place finishes, respectively, at their conference meet and came in at 6th and 11th place for their regional meet.
The rest of the team's top-five was not too far behind, giving the Choctaws an encouraging core of men to work with as they ventured to Seattle. From the beginning of the season to its finale, this squad had developed incredibly well.
At the cross country national meet, Mississippi College placed 12th, buoyed by Becker’s impressive 8th place finish. The rest of the top-five finished further back, coming in 77th (Kurz), 92nd (Poulin), 102nd (Balcer) and 140th (Methvin).
The gap behind Becker wasn't totally ideal, but it also wasn’t entirely unexpected. In fact, having four men finish in the top-102 of the results showed just how strong this team's scoring cohesion had become.
The Choctaws flashed good enough depth to finish in the top-half of the field for a result that mostly aligned with expectations and proved a solid capper to a strong season.
Entering the 2023 season, the biggest challenge for Mississippi College will be replacing the now-graduate scorers of Gabe Poulin and Hunter Kurz. Those two men proved to be wildly valuable last fall as they were consistently the second and third scoring options in this lineup.
And without them, we can understand any hesitancy about placing them at TSR #9 in our preseason team rankings. After all, lineup gaps were (initially) an issue for this squa at the beginning of their 2022 fall campaign.
Luckily, Jan Lukas Becker will still be the team’s superstar ace. His return provides a low-stick scoring constant for a squad that clearly became so much better after he joined. Plus, after snagging a national title in the 10k at the outdoor national meet, he looks better than ever.
Of course, cross country is so much more than a team’s low-stick. And even if Becker does improve on the grass, then any gains he makes won't significantly alter the team score.
One reassuring development for the Choctaws is the return of Cole Benoit. Admittedly, he did not compete at the regional or national stages last fall for Mississippi College. He was also absent for much of the outdoor track season.
However, Benoit had a very strong indoor track season. During the winter months, he ran PRs of 4:07 (mile) and 7:59 (3k), flashing immense potential to be a legitimate low-stick this fall -- and we think that can happen.
Benoit is still unproven in some ways and can’t make up for the loss of two high-performing scorers on his own. But he does have the looks of a solid complementary scorer, and perhaps a lead scorer if everything aligns.
Still, in order for this team to improve, we will likely need to see further progress in both the consistency and ability from Brock Kelly and Christina Balcer as well.
Balcer ran some major PRs during the track seasons, showing potential to help fill the hole from Kurz’s and Poulin’s departures. On the indoor oval, he ran times of 4:06 (mile) and 14:23 (5k). During the outdoor track season, he ran 9:12 in the steeplechase.
Though his lack of consistent racing during the spring months is a little concerning, Balcer still made a clear jump in his fitness early in 2023, demonstrating the potential to fill a top-three spot. Yes, he'll need to continue to grow, but placing 102nd on the national stage as a sophomore deserves respect.
As for Kelly, he also had a solid indoor track season, running times of 4:11 (mile) and 8:14 (3k). His PRs of 3:51 (1500) and 14:49 (5k) may not jump off the page, but they do show improvement. Kelly could be just what the Choctaws need to ensure some stability in that second-half of their top-five.
Oh, and don't forget, this guy was 38th at the Chile Pepper XC Festival last fall! He'll need to consistently replicate that result this fall, but he could be a legitimate high-impact scorer for this team in the coming months.
The final piece to the puzzle for Mississippi College is their final scorer. And while we don't know entirely who will fill that role, this program does have options.
The Choctaws have a few backend contributors back from 2022 set to return, including Braedon Methvin, Adam Gomez and Preston Speed. Methvin has the most experience of the group, placing 140th on the national stage last fall, so he may be the most likely to step up. Gomez also competed at the national meet in 2022.
With Becker yet again spearheading this team, the Choctaws’ success in 2023 won’t hinge on their firepower, but rather if they can make modest improvements across the rest of the scoring lineup.
If a few guys emerge as strong complementary and middle-lineup scorers, then Mississippi College will undoubtedly validate themselves as a top-10 team. Losing Kurz and Poulin isn't great, and the depth on this team is a bit limited, but all of the scoring returners showed significant potential in 2022.
Of course, with the times that these men ran earlier this year, and the baseline success that they displayed last fall, an improvement for the Choctaws seems imminent.