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

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 women who just missed out on a Top 50 spot in our D1 Preseason Individual Rankings...

The former Iowa State runner transferred to Syracuse last summer and had an instant impact on the women from upstate New York. She finished a close 2nd to Abbey Wheeler at the Battle in Beantown before going on to place 37th overall at the Nuttycombe Invite.

After securing a very strong 9th place finish at the ACC Championships, Vestri's season would end early at the Northeast Regional Championships as she placed 13th overall. Unfortunately, that finish wasn't enough to vault Syracuse into national qualification or help Vestri individually qualify.

Overall, Vestri's ACC Championship performance was the highlight of her 2019 cross country season. However, her other results, while certainly respectable, weren't quite enough to bump her inside our Top 50.

Even so, Vestri is a superbly talented runner who could very easily find herself inside our XC Top 50 at one point or another (if the upcoming cross country season actually happens).

The Yale veteran wasn't part of a Power Five conference meet and didn't compete at the Nuttycombe Invitational. However, she did put together a handful of strong performances and showed that she could be competitive in a variety of different race scenarios.

After taking home the win at the Harvard vs Yale dual meet, DeLay would finish a respectable (but truthfully unexciting) 8th place at the Panorama Farms Invitational in Virginia. However, she rebounded at Pre-Nationals where she finished 13th overall, pulling ahead of underrated talents such as Anna Kostarellis, Anna Camp, Ashley Tutt, Emily Royston, Paige Hofstad and many more.

Things only got better for DeLay at the Ivy League Championships as she took home the conference title over a quietly deep field. However, a 19th place finish at the Northeast regional meet ended her season early as she was unable to qualify for the National Championships.

While it is definitely unfortunate that we won't see DeLay compete this fall (the Ivy League cancelled fall athletics for this year), that shouldn't take away from how talented she is.

A very underrated talent, the recent NAU Lumberjack (who transferred from Villanova) made waves with her new team last fall, specifically early-on in the season.

O'Neill began her 2019 season with a very strong and respectable 12th place result at the John McNichols Invitational. However, her breakout race wouldn't come until the Nuttycombe Invite where she dropped an outstanding 20th place finish.

After an uneventful 6th place finish at the BIG Sky Championships and a 24th place finish at the Mountain Regional Championships, O'Neill ended her season with an underwhelming 123rd place finish at the National Championships.

It's clear that O'Neill is a top talent who can be a legitimate contender depending on the race. However, her postseason wasn't great and it left us wanting more. Some people may put more stock into that Nuttycombe finish, but we just want to see a little more consistency from O'Neill before she gets the nod for a Top 50 spot.

The Washington women did not shy away from competing at large, nationally competitive meets last year and it shows on Schadler's resume.

The Washington veteran finished 18th at John McNichols, 28th at Joe Piane and 22nd at Pre-Nationals. None of those races were bad, they just weren't performances that said she'll be a Top 50 runner this year.

However, her 15th place finish at PAC-12's gave her 2019 season a small spark. A 14th place finish at the West Regional Championships wasn't bad either. Unfortunately, her season would end with a very tough performance at the National Championships where she finished 242nd overall.

Schadler usually wouldn't have made our "Just Missed" names with those results, but the fact that she also recorded a new personal best of 9:00 in the 3000 meters makes her an interesting name to consider.

This Washington Husky isn't a top-ranked name yet, but she could be if that fitness from the 2020 indoor track season translates over to this fall.

When we were doing our research for these preseason rankings, it became quite obvious that McCulloch was one of the more underrated names in the NCAA.

The Washington scorer had a quiet start to her 2019 cross country season, placing 48th at John McNichols and then 39th at Joe Piane. However, her real breakout race came at Pre-Nationals where she finished 12th overall. McCulloch would later replicate that finish at the PAC-12 Championships.

Following a great conference meet performance, it became clear that McCulloch was gaining a ton of momentum at the perfect time of the season. However, an 11th place finish at the West regional meet was followed an underwhelming 115th place finish at Nationals.

We know just how talented McCulloch is, but we need to see her replicate those performances that she had at Pre-Nationals and PAC-12's on more consistent basis. If she can, she'll be an easy selection for our XC Top 50 rankings.

Gallagher never had a bad race during the fall of 2019. In fact, I feel like you could make the argument that she deserves to be in our Preseason XC Top 50 this year.

At the start of the 2019 cross country season, Gallagher placed 6th at the Bill Dellinger Invitational before dropping a 29th place finish at the always-loaded Nuttycombe Invite. However, her 12th place finish at the Mountain West Championships and 29th place finish at the Mountain Regional Championships turned her red-hot cross country season lukewarm.

Gallagher would bounce back at the National Championships, placing 71st overall. It was still over 30 spots from an All-American finish, but it was a nice result that gave the Air Force women a boost in their team score.

It's hard to look at Gallagher's resume and find a weak spot. She was very consistent and gave her team a few nice performances. Even so, she never had a race where she really broke out or was the shining star. That's not necessarily a requirement for our rankings, but it does become a factor when trying to figure out the final few names.

Overall, Gallagher is a great distance running talent who could really thrive in 2020 if we have a cross country season.

A Top 50 candidate in the eyes of a few TSR writers, Bent just misses the cut for our preseason rankings. However, her resume is scattered with a couple hidden gems in terms of cross country performances.

The rising junior had an up-and-down cross country season in 2019. She did not race well at Pre-Nationals (finishing 51st overall), but bounced-back in an encouraging way to finish 14th at PAC-12's. After an unexciting 21st place finish at the Mountain Regional Championships, Bent nearly struck gold by finishing 43rd at NCAA's, just three spots out from All-American status.

Bent wasn't the most consistent runner and although her PAC-12 performance was good, it was really her performance at the National Championships that helps her stand out.

It was a tough decision, but Bent is someone who could have been in our Preseason XC Top 50 if a couple votes went differently.

McArthur was one of the toughest names to rank and gauge during the 2019 cross country season. She only had one true off-day, but never really had a huge breakout race either.

The Colorado Buffalo (who transferred from Villanova last summer) started her season at Joe Piane last year and secured a very strong 21st place finish against an absurdly deep field. It wasn't an Earth-shattering performance, but it placed McArthur ahead of some talented women.

However, her race at Pre-Nationals was truthfully not a good one. She placed 38th overall in a field where she could have been top 20. Of course, just like everyone else in these rankings, everyone is allowed to have an off-day.

McArthur rebounded by quietly finishing 18th at PAC-12's, 20th at the Mountain Regional Championships and then 85th at the NCAA Championships.

I don't know if McArthur would be considered as one of the first names to miss a spot in our XC Top 50 rankings, but she certainly deserves to be in our "Just Missed" category. She's a consistent performer who usually holds her own, but just needs a little bit of a boost in fitness to make it into our XC Top 50.

This was a close decision, but as we were considering some of the other women we already had in our rankings, we felt that Dudek was more in the "Just Missed" category. However, she could have very easily found a spot in our XC Top 50 rankings later this year (if we have a season).

For those who are unfamiliar with Dudek, let's get you up to speed. She was the 2019 Foot Locker national champion who also ran personal bests of 4:41 (1600), 9:56 (3200) and 16:45 (5k XC) during her time in high school. She also won the 2019 NXN Midwest regional title last fall, but opted to focus on Foot Locker instead of attending the NXN Championships.

Incoming freshmen are always difficult to gauge and it's impossible to know which ones will immediately thrive on the collegiate stage and which ones will require more time. For the most part, we opted to hold Dudek out of our rankings because of how new she was to the elite high school cross country level.

She had never qualified for a cross country national meet prior to 2019 and although she had some great finishes at national meets on the track, none were as impressive as her Foot Locker national title (with the possible exception of her Brooks PR victory).

When looking at the big picture, some of the freshmen that we opted to rank simply had better accolades or more experience/success in championship races. Still, we'll admit that it feels a little odd to place a recent national champion outside of our preseason rankings...

Admittedly, Magness' 2019 cross country season started out very slowly. She was 12th at the Panorama Farms Invitational and then 53rd at Nuttycombe. On paper, those were not performances worthy of a Top 50 spot.

Even so, Magness was able to rally in the postseason, placing 16th at the ultra-deep BIG 10 Championships and then 7th in the similarly-loaded Great Lakes region. She finished her season by placing 46th at the National Championships, just six spots out from All-American honors.

After dropping a personal best of 16:08 in the 5000 meters this past indoor track season, one thing is clear: Magness has gained a ton of momentum and has an incredibly high ceiling for the 2020 cross country season (if there is one).

Her regular season performances ultimately hold her back from a preseason ranking this year, but she may have some of the best potential in the NCAA this year.

Stanford had a great women's team last year. Not just because of their elite group of scorers at the front of their lineup, but because they had reliable athletes capable of securing the latter-half of their top five.

That was the case for Jordan Oakes who proved to be a strong scoring option for Stanford last fall. She placed 21st at John McNichols during the 2019 cross country season and followed that up with a respectable 30th place finish at Nuttycombe.

However, the real breakout performance for Oakes wouldn't come until PAC-12's where she finished 8th overall, establishing herself as a legitimate All-American candidate. However, she was unable to carry that momentum into the national meet as she ended her season in Terre Haute, Indiana with a 90th place finish.

Obviously, an 8th place result at a meet like the PAC-12 Championships deserves some attention and it definitely puts Oakes in the Top 50 conversation. However, the rest of her performances lacked a spark and she wasn't particularly amazing at the National Championships.

Even so, this past indoor track season validated the idea that Oakes was reaching a new tier of fitness. Her recent 4:37 mile PR shows that she can continue to be a key contributor to the Stanford Cardinal throughout this (still uncertain) fall semester.

This was an extremely difficult name to leave out of our rankings. Hays had a super underrated cross country season last fall and really didn't falter in any of her races. She was a consistent contender who always produced whenever the gun went off.

After finishing runner-up at both the Paddy Doyle Meet of Champions and Roy Griak Invitational, Hays truly kicked-off her 2019 season by going to Nuttycombe where she secured a solid 29th place finish.

Despite the strong result at Nuttycombe, Hays dropped to 8th place at the Ivy League Championships in what some may consider to be a quietly deep field. It wasn't a bad performance, but it certainly wasn't her best race of the season, either.

After finishing 9th at the Northeast Regional Championships, Hays toed the line for a muddy and rainy national meet where she settled for a respectable finish of 84th place overall.

It's clear that the Columbia ace is one of the better names in the Ivy League and (if the Ivy League hadn't cancelled fall athletics this year) certainly could have been an All-American contender in November.