2021 D2 Outdoor Top 25 Rankings (Men): Update #4

TSR Collaboration
Jun 4, 2021
13 min read

KEY

(Unranked):

Was not ranked in our last update.

(#/#):

First number indicates how much the individual has moved in the rankings.

The second number indicates where they were ranked in our last update.

25. Reece Smith, Sophomore, NW Missouri (-1 / 24)

Reece Smith put a bow on his first outdoor season for NW Missouri in just about the best way possible. Smith secured the MIAA title in both the 5k and 3k steeple before handling business at the Big Dance. Smith just narrowly missed coming out on top of the chase pack behind Western Colorado’s Taylor Stack in the steeplechase, finishing 5th overall and quietly validating his talent as a top name in the NCAA.

While this wasn’t exactly Smith’s first season of competing for NW Missouri, it was his first for the Bearcats on the outdoor oval, making him one-for-one on All-American finishes in that arena.

24. Mason Strader, Sophomore, Pittsburg State (Unranked)

Mason Strader’s performance at Nationals admittedly didn’t give the same amount of excitement as his indoor national meet run, but it was still nothing to scoff at. Strader has been plenty busy since our last update.

Heading into the National Championships, the Pittsburg State runner secured an MIAA crown in the 800 meters and respectably fell short to NW Missouri’s Ryan Riddle in the 1500 meters. Then, he hit his stride, notching a 3:43 at a last chance meet before improving upon his indoor finish at Outdoor Nationals.

Strader took 5th place in the nail-biting 1500 meter final where the top-seven athletes all finished within a second of each other. There was still plenty of excitement, just not all of it was generated by Strader alone.

23. Kyle Moran, Rs. Junior, Colorado Mines (0 / 23)

The seasoned distance runner for Colorado Mines added yet another All-American nod to his resume. Moran took 6th in the 10k final at Nationals, maintaining striking distance of the leaders the whole time. He just couldn’t quite make up the ground which is justifiable considering how quickly the pace changed over the last 800 meters.

Ezra Mutai closed in 2:01, and Moran himself closed in 2:06. While it may not have been quite what was expected out of him, Moran fought to the wire for every place and his efforts paid off.

22. Luke Stuckey, Sophomore, Nebraska-Kearney (Unranked)

Closing strong seemed to be the motto for Luke Stuckey over the last few weeks. The Nebraska-Kearney product hit an auto-qualifier mark of 3:44 in the 1500 meters on the last weekend of the qualifying window. Stuckey followed that up on the national stage with a 4th place in the 1500 meter final. He went from 11th place to 4th over the last 400 meters of that race. How’s that for a strong close?

21. Ben Nagel, Junior, U-Indy (Unranked)

Indianapolis’ Ben Nagel wrapped up this outdoor season in strong fashion.

Since our last update, Nagel has raced at two meets. The first meet was the GLVC Championships where he secured the 800 meter crown. The second meet was Nationals where Nagel stepped up to the plate, going under 1:50 again in the 800 meter final to take 4th place overall.

After a comfortable first 400 meters, Nagel stuck around for the kick with a hard negative split, proving that he can throw his hat in the ring.

20. Titus Lagat, Sophomore, Lee (Tenn.) (Unranked)

Titus Lagat made the leap from "up-and-comer" to "legitimate threat" on the big stage.

The Lee (Tenn.) sophomore was already one of the top qualifiers, being one of only four to hit the 1:49 mark before the national meet. Lagat lived up to the billing, not being too eager when the 800 meter final went out more relaxed, and hung with the top of the field for the final sprint.

Lagat walked away with a podium finish in 3rd place and an All-American accolade to add to his resume. That accolades seems perfectly appropriate given what he's accomplished all season long.

19. Dillon Powell, Freshman, Colorado Mines (+2 / 21)

Powell is just a freshman in terms of competition, but after watching him run the 5k, we would be hard pressed to say he looked like one. Powell led the race up until 800 meters to go. While that’s usually not the best idea when trying to win a race, Powell made sure he was in in the thick of it. When the final lap came, he found himself in 5th place and that didn’t change by the time he got back around to the finish.

It’s the first time Powell has seen the podium as he came up just short during the indoor season. It seems that he has gone back and looked at what needed to be done and corrected any errors he made. We’ve got a feeling we will be talking about him and his teammates (see below) quite a bit more in the coming years,

18. Jake Mitchem, Rs. Senior, Colorado Mines (Unranked)

Mitchem played the slow game as for the second time in as many races as he let Taylor Stack set the pace early. Mitchem rolled with the field and ended up in 3rd place after a sprint finish with Caleb Futter and Noah Schaub. We weren’t sure how well Mitchem would react to the field as he was the only one who hadn’t actually been under the 9:00 barrier for steeple thanks to conversions.

Doubts around that conversion, however, were laid to rest as he ran 8:55 and closed in 65 seconds to edge Schaub at the line. It’s a grand exit for the Oredigger athlete as he leaves with his first ever All-American track honors.

17. Loic Scomparin, Rs. Freshman, Colorado Mines (Unranked)

Scomparin continues to impress us. After leaving the indoor national meet with two 3rd place finishes, Scomparin nearly produced another one in the 5000 meters on Saturday. In his lone race of the weekend, he found himself in the mix of things and he capitalized on the somewhat slow race.

He was barely edged out by Blake Jones for the 3rd place spot and settled for 4th place. However, to be frank, we were not sure about Scomparin when he entered the NCAA Indoor Championships and he surprised us there.

This, however, doesn’t come as a surprise, but it now feels more like where Scomparin should be at all times. Given that he is still relatively young in terms of competition, he might have some of the best racing instincts that we have seen from an athlete who still has so much youth.

16. Blake Jones, Sophomore, Illinois-Springfield (+3 / 19)

The small bump for Jones comes after an impressive rebound effort in the 5k after running the 10k a couple days prior. For Jones, the 10k was a race to forget as he finished 13th. That seemingly signaled how his next race was going to go, but in fact, it went the exact opposite way.

Jones grinded his way to a 3rd place finish in the 5k, going head-to-head with Isaac Harding and Carson Bix before running out of gas. It says a lot about Jones’ fitness that he blew up on Thursday to turn around and run extremely well just 48 hours later. It’s also Jones’ first All-American honor of his career in what looks to be a bright future on the track.

15. Nadir Yusuf, Rs. Senior, MSU-Moorhead (Unranked)

Gutsy racing is becoming a thing of the past as more and more athletes begin to chase faster and faster times. That’s not the case for Yusuf here. The senior ultimately decided that if he wanted a shot at an NCAA title, he would have to cover any and all moves....and that’s exactly what he did.

After moving with Mutai and Harding for 23 laps, Dylan Ko sent a surge through the group as they finished a penultimate lap in 62 seconds and that was the end of an NCAA title pursuit for Yusuf.

He ended in 5th place for his first All-American honor on the track and his second honor overall. It’s a great end to Yusuf’s career and it showed us that he can run with anyone in the country on the D2 side.

14. Tony Torres, Junior, Colorado Mesa (-6 / 8)

The race for Torres came down to a split second decision that ultimately was the difference between finishing 1st instead of 3rd. As Benjamin Allen and James Young moved to the outside with 200 to go, Torres was caught on the inside and reacted just a hair too late.

The difference in the race? Young ran 3:52.94, Allen ran 3:52.95 and Torres was 3rd in 3:53.25. This was ultimately an 800 meter race for everyone involved, and if you weren’t ready for it, you were going to be left in the dust. Torres has proved that his indoor runner-up finish was not a fluke and with a couple seasons to go, he’s primed to be the favorite for his first NCAA title in the coming year.

13. Caleb Futter, Freshman, Grand Valley State (Unranked)

Futter had the best two races of his life and they both came at the best possible time. He ran 8:44 at the Lee University Last Chance meet to set a personal best and make the NCAA meet. He followed that with a 2nd place finish at the NCAA Championships to earn his first individual All-American honors, going from 7th to 2nd with a strong final lap. He edged out Jake Mitchem and Noah Schaub with that final surge and it paid off in the end.

This ends a strong freshman year for Futter who looks to be next in line of the very good Laker athletes. Opting for the steeplechase proved to be the right choice for Futter because had he needed to double back for the 1500 the next day, there’s no telling how he would have done. With both Taylor Stack and Christian Noble now gone from the D2 ranks, we may be looking at the next-best steeplechaser in the country.

12. Dylan Ko, Sophomore, Colorado Mines (-6 / 6)

Ko’s move in the 10,000 with two laps to go was probably the gutsiest move of the weekend of all the men’s races. He dropped a 60-second quarter in an effort to break Ezra Mutai and Isaac Harding, and it nearly worked. Ko ultimately faded and finished 3rd, but still closed in a respectable 63 seconds to hold off Tanner Chada and Nadir Yusuf.

Ko doubled back in the 5k, finishing 9th and just missing that final All-American spot. The person that beat him out was his teammate Luke Julian, so while it may be bittersweet, at least Ko knows that someone on his side snuck in ahead of him.

That being said, Ko has proven once again that he belongs amongst some of D2’s best runners. He only falls six spots in our final because others had stronger individual performances in a single race, bu there’s no doubt that Ko will be in the top-tier conversation of our rankings going forward.

11. Enael Woldemichael, Junior, Grand Valley State (+1 / 12)

Woldemichael had the "worst" weekend of the trio of Lakers who were entered in both the 10k and the 5k. However, "worst" is a relative term here as Woldemichael walked away with two more All-American honors after finishing 7th and 6th place in the 10k and 5k, respectively.

Woldemichael has always been race savvy and he’s shown that on all three stages throughout his career. He showcased that again this weekend as he found himself in the mix for the title race on the last lap of the 5000 where he closed in 58 to secure that aforementioned 6th place finish.

The only knock you could possibly present would be his tactics in the 10k where he didn’t go with Harding to chase down Mutai, but I’m not sure you can solely blame him for that.

10. Benjamin Allen, Rs. Senior, Concordia-St. Paul (Unranked)

It’s safe to say that Allen might have been the biggest surprise of the weekend. The 21st ranked athlete on the TFRRS list somehow snuck into the meet after declarations were made, and he single handedly made an argument for why the fields should stay at 18 or more athletes.

The men's 1500 meters culminated with a closing 800 meter split of 1:52, and the fastest last lap amongst the field. Allen walked away with a 2nd place finish by only 0.01 and shocked the field as well. The only reason why we didn’t walk away with a victory is because he left himself just a bit too much to try and make up with 200 meters to go.

Closing in 1:52 is special, and it makes us wonder what Allen could run in an 800 straight up with competition around him. Our guess is we’d be looking at yet another impressive middle distance athlete.

9. Dennis Mbuta, Senior, Grand Valley State (-4 / 5)

Mbuta didn’t have the storybook ending that he likely would have preferred on his home track, but he did just about everything he could have to make it happen. After winning the indoor title, he was the clear 800 meter favorite heading into this season and even the final. We knew that a very strong performance from someone else was going to be needed and that’s exactly what happened.

Mbuta bided his time and weaved his way through the field with 100 meters to go and was just barely beaten at the line by Butare Rugenerwa. There’s some questioning of the race strategy in hindsight, but it’s exactly what you would want to do if you were the reigning champ. Everyone was coming for him, and he nearly held them off.

8. Carson Bix, Senior, Adams State (Unranked)

I guess this is why you only declare for one race. This is also how you put to rest a narrative of underperforming. After running in the 13:40s in early December, we thought we were going to see an extremely dominant Carson Bix this year. That, however, wasn’t the case during indoors and while his outdoor season was better, we still hadn’t seen much.

Then Bix ran 13:44 two weekends before the NCAA Championships. Then, at Nationals, he ran one of the smartest races of the weekend and he was nearly rewarded for it, coming away with a 2nd place finish behind Isaac Harding in the 5000 meters. In the last mile, Bix moved from 7th place to 2nd place and even closed in 56 seconds! He did everything he was supposed to do and it resulted in the best finish of his career and at the perfect time.

7. Tanner Chada, Junior, Grand Valley State (0 / 7)

Outside of his own teammates' two valiant efforts, Tanner Chada likely had the best double of the weekend. He finished 4th in the 10,000 meters before coming back on day three to finish 7th in the 5000 meters. He was one of three athletes to finish as a double All-American on the weekend. The other two? His own teammates (Isaac Harding, Enael Woldemichael). We talked about how Chada’s experience would likely benefit him and it seems to have paid dividends this weekend.

Chada had the third-fastest closing lap in the 10k which took him from 6th place to 4th place. Meanwhile, in the 5k, he closed in sub-60 which kept him in 7th place to give him his second All-American honor of the weekend.

6. Christian Noble, Senior, Lee (Tenn.) (-5 / 1)

Noble only slid down in our rankings because of his two DNFs from the NCAA weekend. In the steeple, Noble appeared to injure himself after getting over the barrier. He came back the next day and started the 5k, but pulled out halfway through.

It seems that Noble is healthy and that there were some larger goals at hand than just winning an NCAA title this spring. I’d go out on a limb and say the second DNF was more of a precautionary move to later try and snag a US Trials qualifying time in the steeple.

Regardless, this was not the exit anyone expected from Noble and it certainly has to leave a bittersweet taste in his mouth.

5. Butare Rugenerwa, Junior, West Texas A&M (+6 / 11)

We talked about there being one man who could beat Dennis Mbuta over two laps on a track and that one man was Butare Rugenerwa. And guess what? He pulled off the upset. On the home track of the GVSU men, Rugenerewa stalked Mbuta step for step. Ben Nagel made his way to the front and Mbuta followed suit with Rugenerwa right on his heels.

The newfound strength that Rugenerwa showed during the outdoor circuit was the biggest reason why he was able to hold off the field and get the win. In yet another close race on the weekend, just 0.01 was the difference for the Buffalo athlete to get his chest across the line in 1st place, running 1:49.46 to Mbuta's 1:49.47.

Rugenerwa redeemed a 3rd place finish from the indoor season with the best race of his life and it was enough to bring home the crown as well.

4. Taylor Stack, Junior, Western Colorado (+6 / 10)

In the last two steeple races for Stack, the RMAC final and the NCAA final, he’s won by a combined 23 seconds. He walked away with a 14-second win at Nationals and while Christian Noble was a DNF, it should be known that there was a six second gap before Noble wound up injured. We’ll never know if a competitive race was going to come of it, but with the way Stack looked, someone beating him was going to be extremely hard.

Stack doubled back in the 5k and finished 11th, but the clear understanding is that Stack was the best steeplechaser in the country this season and he now has the hardware to back it up.

3. Ezra Mutai, Sophomore, American International (Unranked)

Mutai jumps all the way to third for these final rankings for two reasons. 1. Mutai had not looked great prior to the NE-10 Championships, but then ran 28:44 all by himself. 2. He just won the 10k in thrilling fashion and while it was the narrowest of victories, he’s the main reason why the field fell apart like it did.

His constant inconsistency played a pivotal role in this year's national meet 10k as Mutai would surge and then stop. Eventually, it came down to three men and Mutai covered every single move thrown his way. Even a 60-second lap with 800 meters to go.

Mutai reminded us that he’s an elite runner and has the racing skillset to go with it. If only we had seen him in the 5k, we’d be talking about a second showdown with Isaac Harding and how fun would that have been?

2. James Young, Rs. Senior, Academy of Art (0 / 2)

Young continued his impressive string of races as he came out on top yet again this last weekend. In an odd 1500 scenario, the men only needed to race one time to claim a victor as there were no prelims. With a near wire-to-wire win for the Academy of Art athlete, he also closed the second-half of his race in 1:53.

That 1:53 speed was just enough for him to hold off the hard-charging Benjamin Allen, and a fall across the line was the result of it. When the scoreboard flashed the winner, it was Young by 0.01, running 3:52.95 to Allen’s 3:52.96. It’s the second title in 2021, and gives him the middle distance double crown that not very many have completed before him.

1. Isaac Harding, Senior, Grand Valley State (+2 / 3)

It all finally worked out for Harding, even if it didn’t look that way at the beginning. To cap off his senior season, Harding battled with Ezra Mutai for nearly 20 laps before being edged out by one one-hundredth of a second. It stung even more as it was this third 2nd place finish in as many national meet races for the GVSU athlete.

Harding came back on day three and was able to hold off a strong bid from Carson Bix. Harding pulled away with 50 meters to go and won his first national title by half a second. In an effort of exceptional racing and determination, Harding slid his way to being the best athlete in the field and was the best athlete on the men’s side all weekend.