2022 D2 Indoor Top 25 Rankings (Women): Preseason (Part One)

eric.baranoski
Dec 18, 2021
10 min read

Updated: Jan 10, 2022

Additional contributions by Sam Ivanecky and John Cusick

Click here to see our Just Missed and Honorable Mention names.

Listed eligibility takes redshirts and Covid-related extensions into consideration.

TFRRS is used as a general guide when determining eligibility.

25. Fatima Alanis, Sophomore, Queens (NC)

Fatima Alanis is one who has to be on your radar if she hasn't been already.

For those that didn’t know, she is a part of the Queens triathlon team and is a very talented runner. That's why it should come as no surprise when I say that she became an All-American in the 10k last spring and in cross country this past fall.

However, what I’m leaving out is how high she finished. Alanis placed 3rd in both races.

With personal bests of 16:20 (5k) and 34:10 (10k) it’s clear that this Queens stars relishes in the longer distances which would go hand-in-hand with her racing well over a 6k during the cross country season.

That said, Alanis didn’t compete during the indoor season, so we don’t have much to compare to. That being said, if she runs 16:20 on the indoor oval, there’s no telling how far Alanis can rise.

Many people will often overlook her due to the conference or region that she is in or that she doesn’t go to a powerhouse like Adams State or Grand Valley State, but she’s the real deal and Queens is still a highly accomplished program.

Can she be our dark horse pick if she just earned bronze at the cross country national meet? We'll let you decide that.

24. Franziska Althaus, Sophomore, Adams State

Althaus is a name who should look familiar as she is a transfer from fellow D2 school Wingate. To spark your memory, she finished 6th place in both the 5k and 10k at the NCAA Outdoor Championships last spring.

Despite a change of scenery, the thin air in Alamosa hasn’t slowed her down at all.

In fact, she’s only gotten better.

As the solid #2 runner all season long, the Adams State sophomore set a new 6k personal best while helping the Grizzlies sweep the RMAC Championships, South Central Region Championships and the National Championship team titles.

Not only that, but with a recent 3k effort in Gunnison under her legs, where she ran a 9:39 converted time, Althaus is starting her indoor season off with a bang.

Being someone is super distance oriented, it's fair to suggest that she will likely run a 5k in the future. Will we see her possibly doubling in the 5k and 3k at the indoor national meet? For us at The Stride Report, we'll be excited to see what she can do in a race like the mile this winter.

23. Toni Moore, Senior, Lee (Tenn.)

For a while, we only heard Celine Ritter’s name attached to the Flames' successes, especially after she won her first national title in the 3000 meters indoors last winter. However, I’m here to tell you that Toni Moore is a name to keep in the back of your mind.

You see, Toni Moore has been right there from the start, just always in Ritter’s shadow as she has more times than not has been Lee’s second-best runner to Ritter’s star-caliber resume. However, after a breakout 2021 year where she qualified for all three NCAA Championships (indoor, outdoor, cross country) and earned her first All-American honor this past fall, we'd say that Moore has more than developed a name for herself.

With an early 5k already in the books and a time way faster than anything she had run indoors previously (16:57), the season is already starting to shape up as one to remember for the Lee senior.

22. Haleigh Reindl, Senior, Minnesota Duluth

Reindl has a wealth of experience as a senior leader for the Bulldogs, having qualified for four NCAA Championships across her career. Most recently, she established herself as a true 800 meter specialist by finally running under the 2:10 barrier.

In that race, Reindl ran an official time of 2:08, securing a personal best in the process. This was a great end to her 2021 year where she has emerged as a two-time All-American in the 800 meters.

What can we expect from Reindl this season? One thing for certain is that the 800 meters at the Northern Sun Indoor Championships is going to be one to watch as Reindl will face off against another highly-ranked middle distance talent who has a similar 2:08 PR (but we'll get to her later).

21. Alexa Leppelmeier, Senior, Walsh

If you talk about a runner who has a lot of strength, Leppelmeier will likely be one of the first names to come up. She most recently moved to the steeplechase this past outdoor season and that has benefited her in every possible way.

Leppelmeier has been one of the underrated runners in Division 2 for a while now, and that’s after she finished 5th place in the steeple at the outdoor national meet this past spring.

That fitness clearly stuck with her into the fall months. She finally won the Great Midwest Conference Championships -- something that had eluded her for the past four years -- and she finished runner-up in a loaded field at the Midwest Regional Championships before taking home her first cross country All-American honor with a 13th place finish at the national meet.

A grand finish to her cross country career to say the least.

Not to mention her start to the indoor track couldn't have gone better as she soloed a 16:48 for 5000 meters -- the fastest she’s ever run a 5k on the track. Barring any setbacks during the training over the break, Leppelmeier will continue to put her name in the conversation on the national stage, not just in the 5k, but in the 3k as well where she owns a personal best of 9:32.

20. Elysia Burgos, Junior, Southwest Baptist

Burgos has a history of proving people wrong. Last indoor season, she decided to only focus on running the DMR. That decision left us wondering if she made the right call by sacrificing her individual glory to pursue team accolades.

The end result? Southwest Baptist's DMR placed 3rd overall at the national meet with Burgos running a huge anchor leg to claim a spot on the podium.

Fast forward to the spring and this is where she really blossomed as an individual. She set new personal bests in the 800 meters (2:08) and the 1500 meters (4:20) all while sweeping the titles at the GLVC Championship in those exact events. Burgos even placed 6th in the 1500 meters at NCAA Outdoor Championships.

To be honest, after looking at her outdoor performances, we were expecting a big cross country season from the Bearcat veteran. However, she didn’t quite deliver as we had hoped. Even so, she is out to prove herself again, so don’t be surprised when Burgos’ stock continues to rise after the holidays are over.

19. Layla Almasri, Senior, UC-Colorado Springs

Hope you didn’t blink, because Layla Almasri is now an All-American. A 12th place finish at the National Championship this past fall is exactly what this UCCS veteran needed. This is a major breakthrough for the senior as she had been previously struggled to nail down an All-American honor in her previous attempts.

Almasri has seemingly found the right formula for success as she has been on fire since the beginning of cross country. Just looking at her meets during the championship portion of cross country, she placed runner-up at the RMA Championships, runner-up at the South Central Regional Championships and of course, 12th place at the national meet.

Will she keep the ball rolling and be able to best her 9th place finish in the mile from last year's indoor national meet? We think she can, especially if this UC-Colorado Springs star can transition her cross country success to the indoor oval where she has displayed plenty of versatility, regular season consistency, strong marks and the ability to double.

18. Natalia Novak, Senior, Academy of Art

Novak has been a steady presence in the Academy of Art lineup ever since transferring from Cal Baptist after the 2019 outdoor season. With two-straight trips to the NCAA Championships (one during outdoors, one during XC) and coming back to San Francisco with All-American status both times, something has clearly started to click.

Let’s start with her finally finding her footing during this past cross country season.

With personal bests of 2:09 and 4:18 for the 800 meters and 1500 meters, respectively, she is clearly a middle distance stud. However, as the championship season progressed this past fall, Novak rose to the occasion each and every time. She was the PacWest cross country champion, placed 3rd at the West Regional Championships and was 31st at the national meet, besting her 6k time week after week.

With Novak clearly developing into a stronger, more well-balanced runner, could she turn into a more complete miler? One who has the endurance to stick with the pack and the foot speed to out-kick everyone in the final straight? She might already be there, but only time will tell.

17. Chrissani May, Junior, Lincoln (MO)

The names Chrissani May and Kelly-Ann Beckford are synonymous with Lincoln (MO). Usually, when you see one, you see the other one not too far behind. However, we're here to break the so-called “tie” and declare May as the one to look out for.

Look, when it comes down to it, May performs better in crunch time than Beckford. Looking strictly at 800 meter times, May has run 2:06 to Beckford's 2:09 mark. Next, looking at performances at the National Championships, May has finished better both times. At the 2021 NCAA Indoor Championships, she placed 5th while Beckford placed 8th. At the 2021 NCAA Outdoor Championships, she placed 3rd while Beckford placed 12th.

Regardless of May's resume comparison to Beckford, the fact of the matter is that this Lincoln (MO) star has done enough to be amongst the best in the nation. She's run top times on multiple occasions and clearly knows how to peak in the postseason. Not every middle distance standout in the NCAA can boast those accolades.

16. Nicolette Schmidt, Junior, Augustana (SD)

After finishing 6th place in the mile during last year's indoor national meet, Schmidt moved up to the 5000 meters during the outdoor season and it appears that she has continued thrive in the longer distances during cross country, setting her up perfectly for the coming indoor season.

Schmidt has run the longer distances like the 3k in the past, so this isn’t new territory for her, it's just that she has run the mile more times than she has the 3k or 5k.

The Augustana star had her best cross country season ever this past fall and it ended with a 20th place finish and her first All-American finish on the grass. Not to mention, by being the second runner for the Vikings, she helped her team secure a 3rd place team finish.

However, that wasn’t her only success story this cross country season as she broke 21 minutes for the 6000 meters and had two top-five finishes at the Northern Sun Championships and Central Region Championships.

With this level of aerobic development it would seem as though the longer distance events would be in her future this winter. After all, she did run 16:30 for the 5000 meters last spring, so that should prove that she has a lot of potential with distances over a mile.

And if she chooses to stick with the mile? Well, she will have a lot of strength from cross country to propel her to fast times, giving her a tactical advantage regardless of the race scenario. Her 4:51 personal best is impressive, but there's a chance that she'll run under 4:50 this winter.

15. Brianna Robles, Sophomore, Adams State

Brianna Robles has continued the legacy of Adams State churning out strong distance runners after leading the Grizzlies during her latest cross country campaign. In fact, the Adams State women won their second consecutive national title as a team, and Robles was a big reason why.

Since coming off of her first All-American honor in the 10,000 meters at the 2021 NCAA Outdoor Championships, the Grizzly sophomore has been nearly unstoppable. In cross country, she went unbeaten all year aside from a 21st place finish in the Paul Short Gold race against Division 1 competition as well as the NCAA XC Championships where she finished 6th.

Based on these elevated performances, it's clear that Robles has taken the next step. The question becomes: Can she contend with the likes of Hannah Becker, Celine Ritter and company in the 3000 meters or 5000 meters come March?

After running a heavily converted 3k time of 9:28 at Western Colorado last week, it seems like Robles certainly has the ability to contend with those stars. However, we'll also be interested to see she pursues the mile and develops some speed to pair with her endurance.

14. Jennifer Comastri, Senior, Southern Indiana

Comastri’s 2021 hasn’t ended quite like many imagined it would have.

After winning the NCAA Midwest Regional Championships, Comastri ultimately had to drop out during the national meet. She quickly turned back to the track, opening her season with a quick mark 16:44 for 5000 meters at the GVSU Holiday Open.

It might be easy to turn a cheek after a DNF, but one result rarely gives much insight into a runner when it comes to this sport. Instead, let’s focus on the track.

Opening your season with a 16:44 mark, which is 17 seconds off of her indoor best, still leaves a lot of reason for optimism when talking about Comastri. It’s the second-fastest season opening 5k of her career behind only her 16:31 from 2020. Comparatively, her first 5k in 2021 was only 16:59, a season where she would go on to finish 4th at the NCAA Indoor Championships.

So is there any reason for concern after that DNF result at the national meet?

No, probably not.

Looking ahead to this season, Comastri figures to be all-in on the 5k. When given the opportunity, she often moves up in distance (i.e. the 5k and 10k during outdoors), so there is only one real option during the indoor season.

The positive here is that when it comes to lifetime personal bests, she has the second-best mark in all of D2. Only Celine Ritter has run faster than Comastri’s mark of 16:15 which gives the Southern Indiana star a decent chance to better her finish from 2021.

Despite the slower start, the expectation is that Comastri will be a real factor when talking about who comes away with the 5k title.