TSR's "If Everything Was Normal" D1 Top 50 XC Rankings: Just Missed & Honorable Mentions (Men)

As we mentioned in our rankings rubric article, we're creating these rankings as if everything was normal and that every athlete was competing. So without further ado, here are the men who just missed out on a Top 50 spot in our D1 Preseason Individual Rankings...

This one hurts. I really fought for a way to fit Ado into our Top 50 rankings, but his lack of postseason results made it difficult to give him the edge over a few other names.

Last fall, Ado finished a respectable 12th place at the Bill Dellinger Invite which had a handful of talented names at the top of the results. It was a good performance, but nothing that said he would be a Top 50 talent.

He would, however, go on to have a breakout race at the Nuttycombe Invitational where he placed 20th overall. Ado finished ahead of eventual All-Americans such as Drew Bosley, Jaret Carpenter, Curt Eckstein, Caleb Webb, Patrick Dever and a handful of other talented names.

That one result was hard to ignore, but Ado's absence from the PAC-12 Championships followed by a 24th place finish at the West Regional Championships wasn't exactly encouraging. That was biggest reason why he missed our XC Top 50.

Even so, Ado is a talented name who can beat some of the best runners in the country when he's at his best.

Portland has a handful of star low-sticks each and every year, but somehow always produces top-tier teams and All-American finishers. If he gets to race this year, Silva could replicate that same success.

Nuttycombe was Silva's first race of the 2019 cross country season. He finished a very respectable 30th place overall which seemingly placed him in the "he could be an All-American if everything goes right" category.

After an uneventful 13th place finish at WCC's and a respectable 12th place result at the West Regional Championships, Silva would go on to the national stage where he finished 98th overall. It was far from a bad performance, but it wasn't exactly a great one either.

However, this past indoor track season was where Silva truly shined. He dropped a strong personal best of 13:47 for 5000 meters along with new PRs in the mile and 3000 meters as well. Silva was only a few spots out from qualifying for the Indoor National Championships and established himself as a true national contender in the longer distances with his new 5k personal best.

Silva is boarderline Top 50 talent, but just needs to have his best performances on a more consistent basis. That's easier said than done, but he has plenty of momentum heading into this upcoming cross country season...if a season actually happens.

Truthfully, Hacker had a "just ok" 2019 cross country season. His best performance was a 7th place finish at the BIG 10 Championships, but his other races didn't exactly scream Top 50 potential. He was 30th at Joe Piane, 48th at Nuttycombe and 93rd at Nationals.

Those races aren't bad by any means, and you actually have to appreciate his consistency. Even so, Hacker was unable to replicate the success that he had during his 2018 season where he finished 19th at Nuttycombe and 56th at Nationals.

Still, Hacker would go on to drop an outstanding personal best of 7:52 for 3000 meters this past indoor season -- a time that left him just two spots out from qualifying for the Indoor National Championships.

An outstanding 3k PR and a very solid BIG 10 performance were the highlights of Hacker's 2019-20 academic calendar. If we can see those caliber performances on a more consistent basis, he will absolutely be a Top 50 name in our eyes.

Ricketts feels like a combination of Olin Hacker and Amir Ado when it comes to his overall resume. His 2018 cross country season was arguably better than his 2019 season, but he still had a handful of strong marks last fall...they just all came in the first half of the season.

Ricketts has finished 21st (2018) and 27th at Nuttycombe (2019) over the past two cross country season. He was also the runner-up finisher at Roy Griak this past fall. His performances during the regular season have been strong, but he has also struggled a bit in the postseason.

He was 16th at the BIG Sky Championships last fall and then 30th at the Mountain Regional Championships (which did not qualify him for Nationals). When the Southern Utah men qualified for NCAA's as a team in 2018, he finished 165th at the national meet.

Ricketts has shown that he can hold his own in nationally competitive fields and he's done just that on more than just one occasion. However, the second-half of his cross country seasons need to improve. Being able to thrive on a championship stage could vault Ricketts well into our XC Top 50 (if there is a cross country season).

The rising sophomore from UTEP is one of the most difficult names to figure out when it comes to our preseason rankings. He won the Joe Piane Gold race, but the competition was truthfully nothing special.

However, his 13th place finish at Pre-Nationals validated his talent level as he finished ahead of a handful of strong names such as Peter Seufer, Brandon Garnica, Kasey Knevelbaard, Eduardo Herrera, Daniel Carney and many others.

After finishing 3rd at his conference meet to the MTSU duo, he went on to the Mountain Regional Championships and finished 19th overall. While not exactly a great finish, it was still enough to qualify him as an individual for the National Championships. Unfortunately, he would struggle a bit on the big stage, placing 153rd overall.

In the grand scheme of things, Cheruiyot's resume is highlighted by a very strong finish at Pre-Nationals and an individual qualification to Nationals. That said, his results lack a bit of a spark and he didn't always capitalize on the moments in front of him.

Still, a small amount of improvement could be the difference between him being a "Just Missed" name and a Top 50 talent.

This one feels wrong. Everyone in the ACC knows just how talented Facioni is. He's a (flat-track converted) sub-four miler, a 7:55 3k runner and a 13:48 5k runner. He also finished 4th at the 2019 ACC XC Championships last fall.

So, what's not to like?

Overall, Facioni's 2019 cross country season wasn't anything super exciting. He underwhelmed a bit at Nuttycombe by placing 67th overall before rebounding at ACC's and dropping an incredible 4th place finish.

However, a 14th place finish at the Southeast Regional Championships wasn't enough to get Facioni to the 2019 National Championships. Oddly enough, Facioni placed 2nd at the ACC Championships in 2018 and also placed 14th at the 2018 Southeast Regional Championships, leaving him out of the national meet when he was only a freshman.

When it comes to ACC competition and conference championships, Facioni is the best of the best (and he has shown it on the grass and the track). However, the ACC Championships are really the only highlight of his collegiate XC career so far.

Facioni is arguably the most talented name who is not listed in our XC Top 50. Once he gets to the national meet and/or becomes a more consistent competitor during the regular season (whenever that may be), he'll likely find a spot in our XC Top 50.

It feels appropriate to put these two men together when talking about their place amongst the NCAA's best. The highlight on both of their resumes is the fact that they fared well at the National Championships last fall. Johnson barely missed being an All-American (finishing 43rd) while Day wasn't far off either (placing 51st).

However, both of their regular seasons, while certainly not bad, didn't do a whole lot to say that they should be Top 50 talents this year. Johnson was 8th at the BIG 12 Championships while Day was 11th. Johnson was 95th at Nuttycombe while Day was 42nd. Johnson was 19th at the John McNichols Invite while Day was 15th.

In the grand scheme of things, Johnson and Day had a handful of respectable finishes throughout the 2019 cross country season. However, their resumes are heavily influenced by great races at the National Championships.

If they can put together a more complete regular season (should one actually happen), then they will likely find a spot in our XC Top 50.

If our rankings went 51 names deep, Ahmed Muhumed would be our 51st ranked name.

After earning a respectable 10th place finish at the Bill Dellinger Invite, Muhumed began to capture some attention from running enthusiasts after securing a very strong 23rd place finish at the Nuttycombe Invitational and finishing ahead of numerous future All-Americans.

An 8th place result at the Mountain West Championships was good, but in a year where the field was truthfully not top-heavy, it wasn't a performance that offered much excitement.

Muhumed would wrap up his 2019 season with a 17th place finish at the West Regional Championships and then a respectable 65th place finish at the National Championships.

The Boise State senior never really had a bad race, consistently producing respectable finishes throughout the season and even making an appearance in our Preseason XC Top 50 rankings at one point.

Even so, Muhumed still needs to emerge as a true low-stick and All-American. He also needs to have a Nuttycombe-type performance on more than one occasion. Still, this is a guy who could have easily been in our preseason rankings this year if one person had voted differently.

It's important not to overlook this Arkansas veteran. Despite the crazy offseason where numerous top-talents made their way into the Razorback roster, Young still has plenty of upside that he can offer to this team.

Admittedly, his cross country season was relatively quiet. He placed 30th at Pre-Nationals, but put together a nice race at SEC's where he finished 7th. After placing 3rd at the South Central Regional Championships, he went on to the national meet where she struggled a bit, finishing 147th overall.

However, the 2020 indoor track season treated Young incredibly well. He dropped a strong personal best of 13:49 for 5000 meters as well as a 3k PR of 8:03.

This Razorback runner still has a ton of potential and could translate his success on the track to the grass. Admittedly, his overall cross country resume needs to improve, but he caught our eye this past winter and was able to crack the "Just Missed" tier of our rankings.

The 2019 cross country season was a roller coaster ride for the Syracuse men and you can see the correlation in Dragon's results. He placed 4th overall against a respectable field at the Battle in Beantown before going to Nuttycombe where he struggled quite a bit, placing 189th overall.

However, the ACC Championships were different. He earned a 10th place finish and helped the Orange secure the conference title over Notre Dame. Unfortunately, after placing 6th at the Northeast regional meet, Dragon dropped all the way to 213th at the National Championships.

Dragon was far more consistent during the 2018 cross country season, but you can see that he's beginning to develop into a legitimate low-stick for his team. Obviously, his ability to perform on large national stages is ultimately what is holding him back from earning a Preseason XC Top 50 spot.

Still, it's important to remember that this is a guy who put together new personal bests of 8:00 (3k) and 13:59 (5k) this past winter. Dragon is clearly becoming one of the better distance runners in the NCAA, he just needs to show it when it matters the most.

I tried hard to argue that Reed deserved a spot in our rankings. His 2018 cross country performances were excellent and although he wasn't an All-American, he still posted results throughout the regular season that made him a clear Top 50 talent.

However, the past year has not been kind to Reed. He was absent from the 2019 cross country with a rumored (but unconfirmed) injury and never eclipsed 15:30 for 5000 meters in the two indoor races that he had this past winter.

Admittedly, those are details that are hard to overlook when talking about who we think the 50 best distance runners in the NCAA for the 2020 cross country season are going to be.

Still, with a 29:13 10k PR and a string of promising results, Reed is someone who can absolutely be a top distance talent in the NCAA once again after he relocates his fitness from over a year ago.

It's extremely rare that an 8:27 steeplechaser -- who won the steeple at the 2019 Payton Jordan Invitational -- couldn't even find a spot inside our XC Top 50 rankings. But that's just how the cookie crumbles sometimes.

Smeeton competed at the World Championships last summer, forcing him to delay his NCAA cross country debut until the BIG 12 Championships were he placed 3rd overall behind Edwin Kurgat and teammate Isai Rodriguez. That was a solid performance, but his season ended quickly after finishing 15th at the Midwest Regional Championships.

With Oklahoma State unable to qualify as a team, Smeeton's 2019 cross country season was finished after only two races.

If we're looking at this from a less objective point of view, Smeeton just had an off-day at the Midwest Regional Championships and probably would have fared well at the National Championships. Even so, there aren't a whole lot of exciting cross country performances on his resume that can be used in support of giving him a ranking.

With the World Championships no longer a worry for the 2020 cross country season, Smeeton will likely be able to put together a string of results that establishes him as a Top 50 runner.

However, until we see that, he'll remain as a "Just Missed" name.

Despite being a cross country All-American last fall, we have opted to omit Sam Worley from our rankings. After fracturing his tibia in the latter portion of the 2020 indoor track season, we are unsure what condition his overall health and fitness is in.

99 out of 100 times, he would be ranked inside our XC Top 50.