John Cusick
Sep 24, 20203 min
If you haven’t guessed it by now, the team from Grand Rapids, Michigan is taking home our TSR #1 spot in our preseason rankings.
The Lakers were expected to return five of their runners from last year’s 2nd place lineup. The two veterans who aren't returning are Allie Ludge and Jessica Gockley -- two women who finished inside the top-20 at the national meet last fall.
Normally, we would be nervous about such substantial losses, especially when two of them were are the first and third scorers from the national meet. However, the Lakers aren't short on reinforcements and promising youngsters.
Returning this season will be Hanna Groeber (TSR #4) who is beginning her graduate program. Not far behind her is the dynamic sophomore duo of Klaudia O’Malley (TSR #14) and Natalie Graber (TSR #17) while Olivia Brian is back for her junior season. Finally, we have long-time veteran Madison Goen (TSR #23) set to return for her final season of eligibility.
When you begin to look at all of those returners, analyze what they did last year and think about their unique upside, it's hard not to view this group as national title favorites, even if they did lose two experienced veterans.
Let's start with Madison Goen, someone who is ranked highly in our individual rankings despite finishing in 74th place at last year's national meet. Admittedly, that result is a bit misleading given that she placed 24th at the 2018 national meet and was a huge reason why the Lakers took home the team title that year.
Prior to last year's national meet, Goen finished no worse than 9th in any meet she toed the line for. She was 7th at Lewis Crossover, 4th at the GLIAC Championships and 9th at the Midwest Regional Championships. Her showing at last year's NCAA Championships was more of an anomaly rather than something we should expect from her going forward. She's a talented ace with a ton of experience and could have easily outperformed her ranking in a regular season.
We then come to Hanna Groeber, one of the highest-ranked individuals in the nation. Her 14th place finish at the 2019 NCAA Championships was super impressive, but one could argue that she was actually better than that. Prior to the national meet, she placed 3rd at the Lewis Crossover meet and then 2nd GLIAC Championships. Her veteran leadership was a big reason why we expected this team to thrive in 2020.
The sophomore duo of O’Malley and Graber were both All-Americans in their first-ever NCAA Championship race last year and while nothing is ever guaranteed, we don't see why these two women won't continue to progress whenever they return to competition.
If O'Malley was able to place 24th at the national meet in only her third collegiate race ever and Graber was able to place 32nd after not finishing inside the top 10 of any race all throughout last season, then just imagine what this team will be able to accomplish when they have more experience.
Let's talk about the fifth piece of this team, Olivia Brian. She placed 45th at the NCAA XC Championships last fall as just a sophomore, but was only the team's sixth runner that day. She wasn't exactly incredible during the regular season, but she consistently got better over time and began to find her peak in the postseason, placing 12th at the GLIAC Championships.
If Brian can carry that momentum from last fall into the next national meet (whenever that may be), then we don't see why she can't be an All-American and solidify the Lakers' place at the top of the podium.
This year's Grand Valley State team has a complete top five that is mixed with veteran experience and exciting potential. Of course, the most important factor is that all of these women are highly accomplished which is what ultimately makes this team our TSR #1 ranked program.
Truthfully, we're a little unsure what the rest of this lineup will look like. We're not saying that GVSU don't have depth (because they most likely do), we just aren't entirely sure who will fill the sixth and seventh spots on this team. If we had to guess, one of those spots would likely go to Lynsey Amthor who ran 17:11 for 5000 meters on the track this past winter as a freshman.
Overall, GVSU has all of the necessary skills and talent to be the top-ranked team in the nation. They check off all of the boxes and although they lose a few key pieces from last year, they have enough depth to get them over any hurdles that stand ahead of them.
In our eyes, this is the team to beat heading into the new season (whenever that may be).