TSR's "If Everything Was Normal" D2 Top 25 XC Rankings: #25-21 (Men)

As mentioned in our rankings rubric article, we are aware that certain conferences and universities will not be competing this fall due to ongoing concerns surrounding COVID-19. However, for the sake of content, we have constructed these rankings as if a regular cross country season will happen.

Kemboi definitely deserves to be on this list after he started the 2019 cross country season on fire, securing a handful of top finishes against top-ranked competition.

The Alaska Anchorage front-runner would place 4th overall against top distance runners in the nation at the Capital Cross Challenge and later captured a pair of wins at both the Western Washington University Classic and the GNAC Championships.

However, the reason Kemboi is "only" ranked at TSR #25 is simply due to his performances at the West Regional Championships and the NCAA Championships. Both results were solid, but they left us wanting a little bit more. Kemboi would ultimately finish 8th in the West region and 37th at National Championships.

Even so, Kemboi has shown us on numerous occasions that he can take home top finishes, something that we didn't expect to change this fall had there been a season.

This dynamic duo may be next to each other in the rankings, but they are two very different runners in terms of their 2019 results. However, when you compare the weight of each of their performances from last fall, their resumes balance out to be roughly the same.

Berti was the better runner leading up to the National Championships, never finishing outside of the top three in any race and even securing a 3rd place finish at the competitive Lewis Crossover meet.

Baxter was never too far behind and often held his own, but he never beat Berti in any meet until Nationals. In Sacramento, Baxter threw down a monster 26th place finish while Berti settled for a respectable 46th place finish of his own.

Overall, both of these athletes are highly accomplished and we were happy to sneak them both into our rankings.

Zeru has quite the resume and was someone who doesn't get the proper recognition or praise in the overwhelmingly deep RMAC and South Central region over the past two years.

Zeru consistently had great outing throughout the entirety of last fall. He was 5th at the quietly competitive Trevecca Nazarene Showcase before going on to record excellent finishes of 4th at the RMAC Championships and 7th at the South Central Region Championships. Unfortunately, we had to drop Zeru to TSR #22 in our preseason rankings due to the fact that he finished a disappointing 49th place finish at the National Championships.

However, it should be noted that Zeru was battling an injury (achilles tendonitis) during the regional and national meets last year. When he's fully healthy, he could be a far greater threat than where we have him ranked.

Although he did not earn All-American status on the grass, there is still a lot of upside for Zeru given his personal best of 14:13 in the 5000 meters (converted) and personal best of 8:21 in the 3000 meters (converted).

With a plethora of experience in one of the toughest conferences and regions in the country, Zeru had a great opportunity to make some noise at the D2 level this fall had the NCAA Championships not been cancelled.

Kirui started off his 2019 cross country season with four straight top-three finishes at some of the more competitive meets around the country which includes the Capital Cross Challenge and the Western Washington University Classic. He capped off his great start was a 3rd place finish at the GNAC Championships.

After an outstanding regular season, Kirui started to slip a little bit. He finished 9th at the West regional meet and later settled for a 29th place at NCAA's. His result at the National Championships was still very strong, but some TSR contributors felt that his ceiling was higher and that he could have done more. After all, this is the same guy who finished 9th at the NCAA Championships in 2018.

The Alaska Anchorage veteran went on to have a nice indoor track season, but he never really came close to his 5000 meter PR of 14:18 from the winter of 2019. That indoor track season -- paired with a slightly underwhelming XC postseason (in comparison to the expectations that we had set for him) -- didn't exactly help his stock in our preseason rankings.

Regardless, Kirui still has plenty of talent and we have seen him thrown down a handful of top finishes over the past two years or so. Replicating his 2018 season is easier said than done, but he had the talent to do so if the 2020 season had gone on as planned.