2022 D2 Outdoor Top 25 Rankings (Men): Update #2

Additional commentary by Garrett Zatlin

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

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

TFRRS is used as a general guide when determining eligibility.

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. Caleb Futter, Sophomore, Grand Valley State (-14 / 11)

The only steeplechaser who has run faster than Futter in the steeplechase this spring who is not ranked in these Top 25 edition is Augustana's Ryan Hartman. That, however, is simply because Futter is the top non-Christian Noble returner from last year's outdoor national meet in the steeplechase.

Futter can also offer plenty of value in other events such as the 1500 meters and generally speaking, he's more experienced than Hartman and he's fairly consistent.

You could make a lot of arguments for different men at this point, especially since Futter could have certainly been better over the last two weeks, but for now, we like him at this TSR #25 spot.

24. Nathan Hood, Senior, CSU-Pueblo (Unranked)

Few men in the D2 national 800 meter field are more experienced that Hood. This CSU-Pueblo veteran thrived at Bryan Clay last week, running an excellent mark of 1:48 and validating a string of recent results which indicated that he was on his way to a new PR.

But a 1:48 mark? Well, that's certainly a major jump in the right direction.

23. James Dunne, Sophomore, Adams State (Unranked)

22. Miguel Coca, Junior, Adams State (-6 / 16)

We're putting these two men together because, on paper, they have essentially been the same runner. Coca has run an altitude converted 1500 meter time of 3:41 (NCAA #4) and 13:59 for 5000 meters (NCAA #14). Dunne, meanwhile, has run an altitude converted 1500 meter time of 3:42 (NCAA #7) and 13:55 for 5000 meters (NCAA #9).

The dynamic nature of these two men, plus their history of success in a variety of distance events, makes them hard not to rank. They each have notable experience and have made promising improvements as of late. Their versatility and national-level competitiveness in multiple distance events is very impressive and frankly, the fact that they go to Adams State does help their stock quite a bit.

Yes, Coca does fall in our rankings, but that's not necessarily his fault or because of anything that he has done. The rest of the NCAA has caught up to the top of the leaderboard, making it more challenging to put certain names ahead of others.

However, in terms of value, both are tremendous options to have.

21. McCauley Franks, Senior, Western Washington (+3 / 24)

Much like Dunne and Coca, we like the versatility of Franks quite a bit. This guy just ran 3:42 for 1500 meters to match the firepower of his 4:02 mile PR from this past winter. Not only that, but Franks has gone from being a guy who ran run 1:50 for 800 meters and, more recently, 8:52 for the steeplechase.

Franks is an all-around stud who offers tons of value in pretty much any event he toes the line for. His tactics are excellent, his speed is exceptional and his steeple prowess shows us that he may have some unrealized potential in the longer distances.

What is there not to like about Franks?

20. Jan Lukas Becker, Rs. Junior, Queens (NC) (-3 / 17)

Becker has not finished a race since he ran the 10,000 meters at the Raleigh Relays in late March. He was a DNF at the Flames Invitational, but it’s hard to move him further down than this after that outstanding 10k performance.

He’s still got one of the fastest times in the country and as long as he is healthy, we should expect him to be in the "contender" category when the postseason rolls around.

19. Mason Strader, Rs. Sophomore, Pittsburg State (-7 / 12)

Strader has not raced since mid-March when we saw him run converted marks of 3:42 (1500) and 1:50 (800. Both marks are still currently top-18 times in Division Two, but it was a bit odd to not see him race this weekend in what felt like a major opportunity for him.

We’ll keep our eyes out, but right now Strader moves down our rankings.

18. Reece Smith, Sophomore, NW Missouri (Unranked)

Smith jumped onto the national scene in 2021 when he finished 5th in the steeplechase at the outdoor national meet and that looked to be something that he could build on heading into the fall.

After skipping the cross country season and an admittedly lackluster indoor season, we weren’t sure if we’d see him back at the same level that we saw last year.

Oh, how quickly things can change in the world of running.

After a slow start to the season, Smith walked away with two new personal bests from the Mt. SAC Relays. Smith shattered his personal best in the steeplechase, dropping nine seconds off of his personal best, running a phenomenal time of 8:39.09.

That was good enough for 3rd place in the collegiate section and an all-around extremely impressive performance. His second personal best was in the 5k when he ran 14:12.94.

Smith has impressed us in a major way that we weren't expecting and has now become the third athlete in Division Two to run under the 8:40 barrier this season.

There's legitimate reason to believe that he can finish higher than 5th at the outdoor national meet in 2022, especially if he can replicate this performance and, more importantly, build off of it.

17. Butare Rugenerwa, Rs. Junior, West Texas A&M (Unranked)

This looks like the Rugenerwa that we saw last year at the outdoor national meet when he was winning his first NCAA title. Things had been a bit quiet-ish for the West Texas A&M athlete over the last few months, but certain aspects of his racing are slowly working themselves out.

We’ve now seen him race three times individually this spring and we can safely say that he’s back in the fold for the 800 meter national title.

At the Jo Meaker Classic, he ran 1:48.09 for a new personal best while leaving the field behind him. That mark was run at 3534 feet of elevation and actually converts down into the 1:47 territory, placing him at NCAA #2 on the D2 national leaderboard this season.

In any other year, we would be talking about Rugenerwa as the title favorite while everyone else tries to figure out how to beat him.

That, however, is not the case in 2022. However, that said being said, there is an argument that Rugenerwa might be the biggest threat to Reece Sharman-Newell this spring. In fact, he may even have a slight advantage given last year’s success and overall experience.

The biggest question for Rugenerwa is whether or not he can keep pace with that CSU-Pueblo star while also battling Wes Ferguson for two full laps.

16. Afewerki Zeru, Junior, UC-Colorado Springs (+6 / 22)

The last three times that Zeru has toed the line for a race, he’s walked away with a personal best. That includes his 3k at the indoor national meet in March, his most recent 90-second (!) personal best in the 10k (from an original time that he admittedly ran at altitude) and now a four-second personal best in the 5k.

Zeru has shown massive improvement on all fronts this year and we all knew that he gets better as the distance gets longer. He showed us that at Stanford, running 28:56, and now he’s run 13:44 to enter the same territory as most of his top-tier D2 opponents.

In a kicker’s race, it’s still hard to choose Zeru as the outright winner, but we have now seen him run well in two races that were much faster than anything he’s been in before.

His stock has dramatically improved over the last two months and it’s hard not to mention his name when talking about the 10k. As long as he can mix it up and stick to his game plan, becoming an All-American in both longer distance races is not out of the question.

15. Charlie Dannatt, Freshman, Simon Fraser (-5 / 10)

Dannatt had an interesting couple of weeks as he didn’t contest anything that we expected him to be competitive in at the NCAA Championships.

In fact, he only ran two 800s and although he walked away with a personal best from the Beach Invitational (1:50.50), it’s a little bit surprising that he didn’t jump into a 1500 meter race as well.

He’s run 3:39 last summer and his teammate, Aaron Ahl, just ran 3:39 at Bryan Clay, so there’s no reason to believe that Dannat is not in a somewhat similar kind of shape. At the very least, 3:42 shape.

That, of course, is just speculation.

Running 1:50 for 800 meters is a very nice effort, but it won’t be good enough for the outdoor national meet, and the fact that Dannatt opted for just event over the last two weekends has us wondering if there is more to this than just adding some speed to his training.

14. Tanner Maier, Rs. Sophomore, Minnesota State (+4 / 18)

Maier is part of the newly-minted group of 1:48 runners who left California this past weekend. That fact, once again, improves his stock as we’re now halfway through the outdoor season.

Some of us saw this breakthrough race coming for Maier after he ran 1:49 in his first race on the outdoor oval this season. He raced at the Minnesota State Open where he ran the 1500 and 4x400 in an effort to work on that speed/endurance combination.

One week later, it appears that his training approach is working. Maier ran 1:48.35 this past week to finish 11th overall at the Bryan Clay Invitational. Most of the athletes in this event were overshadowed by the results of the winners, but that might be exactly what Maier wants.

This Minnesota State ace has quietly improved in each of his first two years and holds a 3rd place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships to his name. This race could do wonders for his confidence and it might propel him over the top when it comes time for the postseason.

13. Titus Winders, Rs. Sophomore, Southern Indiana (-8 / 5)

There is usually only one bad thing that happens when you have a breakout race on the biggest stage of your career. I am, of course, talking about the expectations that have been placed on Winders since his dual-title effort back in May.

We previously talked about his recent 5000 meter mark being slightly underwhelming a couple of weeks ago...but it’s almost like we’ve forgotten that Winders’ best event is the 10k.

Well, we finally got to see him in a 10k this past weekend for the first time since that legendary indoor run and it certainly was a success for the Screamin’ Eagle athlete.

He ran 29:21.46 and took off 30 seconds from his previous personal best which was run nearly a year ago at this time. Truthfully, his time doesn’t indicate that he will compete for the title in this event and that is a bit head-scratching, but it’s hard to argue against that big of a personal best.

Winders is going to need to improve his fitness a bit this spring if he wants to be a title contender in both the 5000 and 10,000 this upcoming May.

Of course, we said the same thing leading up the indoor national meet and we all know what happened there. We’d like to see him run a bit faster, but if he can replicate the kind of racing at the outdoor national meet, then the only thing that matters is that he gets a time fast enough to put him on the national stage.

12. Clement Duigou, Junior, Adams State (Unranked)

Duigou has seemingly jumped onto the scene out of nowhere. Outside of his 8:02 mark for 3000 meters at Boston University and his 5th place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships, there hadn't been a ton on his resume that truly stood out.

That narrative, however, has changed quite dramatically over the last few weeks and for good reason.

The French native opened his weekend at Mt. SAC with a blistering 8:36 mark in the steeplechase which was good enough for 3rd place in the "Elite" section. He outlasted everyone who was in a collegiate uniform and was just a couple of seconds behind Evan Jager.

This, however, shouldn’t come as much of a surprise for someone who won the University’s National Title while competing in France.

What does come as a shock is that Duigou’s previous best was 8:52 which was all the way back from 2017. That’s a massive improvement which aligns with his recent upwards trajectory.

Of course, that wasn’t all that the Grizzly ace did this past weekend, either. After running that 8:36 mark, he doubled back in the 5000 meters and ran 13:53 which is currently sitting at NCAA #6 on the D2 national leaderboard.

Duigou has become an instant threat to win the steeple national title and has an outside chance of being an All-American in the 5000 meters based on what we’ve seen this outdoor season.

11. Jake Mitchem, Rs. Senior, Colorado Mines (-2 / 9)

It’s tough to see Mitchem move two spots back after this excellent performance in the 5000 at the Mt. SAC Relays, but it’s really not his fault.

He no longer has the top steeplechase time, but that’s likely not on his mind at the moment. In the "Elite" section of the 5000 meters, Mitchem ran 13:48.05 where he finished in 7th place. That time isn't quite as special considering he ran 13:40 during the indoor season, but it does tell us that he’s still someone to watch out for in both of his events.

Mitchem has proven he can race with the best of them in the steeplechase and his quick improvement in the event builds more confidence in that belief. Mitchem is virtually locked into both of his events at the NCAA Championships and has more than just an outside chance at winning one event.

10. Austin Miller, Rs. Senior, Augustana (SD) (+13 / 23)

You could make an argument that Miller had the best weekend of anybody in California in Division Two. There was some concern in the fact that we hadn’t seen him up until last weekend, but based on these three races this outdoor season, things are coming along just fine for the Augustana athlete.

Miller first contested an 800 meter race at the Minnesota State Open where he ran 1:49.26, at the time that was a persona best, and it gave him the win by more than three seconds.

Then, this past weekend, at the Bryan Clay Invitational, we really saw him break out in a huge way. His first race was a 1500 meter battle where he clocked an outstanding time of 3:40.59 and take home the victory in his section while outlasting some D2 athletes in the process.

That mark time slides him inside the top-10 all-time for Division Two and instantly puts Miller in contention for a national title come May. However, what may be even more impressive is that he came back the next day and ran 1:48.61 for yet another personal best!

The amount of progression that has been shown by Miller over the course of two weekends is nothing short of astonishing. The combination of speed and strength has seemed to jump up a level and that will place him right next to the likes of anyone else lining up for the postseason finals in May.

9. Tanner Chada, Rs. Junior, Grand Valley State (+6 / 15)

Last time around, talked about waiting for a breakout race from Chada when it came to the outdoor track.

Well, if 31 seconds worth of improvement in the 10k wasn’t enough, then how about Chada promptly knocking eight more seconds off of his personal best in the 5000 meters?

The Grand Valley State junior ran 13:37.81 at the Bryan Clay Invitational this past weekend and finished 7th in his heat, just a few seconds behind his teammate Isaac Harding. That mark now sits at NCAA #9 all-time in D2 and slides him just in front of former GVSU athlete Zach Panning.

He also came back on the second day and ran 3:48 for 1500 meters, another personal best making him three-for-three so far this outdoor season.

So far, Chada is checking off each item on the list when it comes to showing us that he’s a true contender. He is continuing to run well, he's running faster and is showing up when necessary.

All three of those things are going to be beneficial when he toes the line in May. The only question is how much of a contender can Chada be in both of his events?

8. Awet Beraki, Sophomore, Adams State (Unranked)

It’s been just over a month since the last time we saw Beraki on the track and it was well worth the wait.

At the Mt. SAC Relays, Beraki finished 4th in the "Elite" section and was only behind the likes of TSR #12 Dylan Jacobs and TSR #13 Amon Kemboi, both of the D1 level.

We’d say that’s some pretty good company to be in.

Beraki's performance was also the NCAA #6 all-time 10k mark in Division Two history and it’s the fastest time in 16 years.

Beraki has jumped near the top of our rankings because he’s currently 10-seconds faster than anyone else in the country so far this season. We also think he might be better at the 10k than he was at the 5k. We saw him run 13:36 during indoors and that clearly translated into a race that is double the distance.

This Adams State star finished 8th in the 5000 meters at the indoor national meet and he’s got a very real chance of finishing higher than that in both longer distance races come May.

We’re not sure when we will see another race from Beraki, but it’s likely going to be a 5k and it’s also likely to be fast.

7. Wes Ferguson, Sophomore, Nebraska-Kearney (0 / 7)

Ferguson may have had the most uneventful two weeks of everyone in our Top 25.

And we don’t think that is necessarily a bad thing.

After his impressive 1:47 mark on that first weekend of April, we’ve seen Ferguson compete in two events: the 400 meters and the 1500 meters. It was the first time he had ever run either of those events in his young career. His 400 meter mark of 48.42 speaks for itself, especially when you consider that he's primarily an 800 meter runner.

His time of 4:03 in the 1500 also speaks for itself – just not in the same way as his 400 PR.

With all that information, one thing is clear: Ferguson is working on both components of his primary event, speed and strength. He followed the same regimen during the indoor season when we saw him run 4:07 in the mile and there hasn’t been a reason to believe that he’s in worse shape now than he was five weeks ago.

6. Dillon Powell, Sophomore, Colorado Mines (-4 / 2)

Powell moves down a couple of spots this time around in large part to other very good performances. But he also didn’t make the trip out to California this past week and instead opted for the CU Invitational the week prior.

Powell still had a very nice race at the CU Invitational, but the solo effort of 14:22 wasn’t enough to make any waves in our rankings. That converts down to 13:57 and currently sits at NCAA #11 on the national leaderboard.

Not much has changed in terms of Powell and his ability to contend. That’ll likely stay that way until we see otherwise.

5. Aaron Ahl, Rs. Senior, Simon Fraser (+1 / 6)

Ahl continues to trend upwards as we’ve got ourselves fully underway during this outdoor season. After some really nice performances at the Stanford Invitational, the Simon Fraser athlete had another nice weekend in California.

He lowered his 1500 meter collegiate best another three seconds as he ran 3:39.97 to run away with his heat at the Bryan Clay Invitational, although his PR sits at 3:38 from last summer. Even so, that 3:39 mark was good enough for the NCAA #7 all-time mark in D2, but he’ll have to settle for second spot on the D2 national leaderboard behind Noble.

In the following days, Ahl and the Simon Fraser team headed to the Beach Invitational where he ran a very solid mark of 1:51.87.

There has been a clear effort to improve Ahl's foot speed given that he’s run four 800s already this season -- and it’s clearly working. Each time he steps on the track, we are more and more inclined to say that him missing the NCAA mile final was a fluke more than a sticking point.

If Ahl does indeed toe the line for the final, he’s a legitimate threat to win that title...depending on who else toes the line.

4. Callum Elson, Junior*, American International (0 / 4)

Elson was another athlete who stayed home, or at least close to home, this past weekend. Elson had never run a 1500 meter race in his short collegiate running career, but he certainly didn’t disappoint when he stepped on the track at UConn.

En route to the victory, Elson ran 3:43.55 and that’s a very nice run for someone who had never run in the said event prior. It’s also good to see him run a new personal best in the 800 meters as he ran 1:50.39. That tells us that he’s getting faster with each block of training.

This AIC star is only going to get better as he gets more familiar with the event and with a 1500 meter national qualifying spot more than likely secured, we should expect to see Elson run another event to explore his range. After moving up to the 3000 meters during indoors, it wouldn’t come as surprise to see him run a 5000 meter race in the near future.

There is no movement for Elson because of some incredible performances, but make no mistake, he’ll be a tough out come May. His ability to race at a high level continues to show and that should translate to the postseason when the races get more tactical.

3. Reece Sharman-Newell, Freshman, CSU-Pueblo (+5 / 8)

There have been a lot of electrifying moments in Division Two in this recent era of distance running and most of them have come in the last five years it seems. However, nothing might be more electrifying than what we saw Sharman-Newell do in Azusa this past weekend.

There aren’t a whole lot of words for us to say about Sharman-Newell, but after running 1:47 in Pueblo (which converted to 1:46), he already was in the mix for an NCAA title.

But after this weekend, he’s now the favorite.

At Bryan Clay, Sharman-Newell ran a jaw-dropping mark of 1:45.56 and finished behind CSU-Pueblo alumni Thomas Staines. With that performance, the current Thunderwolf passed the latter man on the all-time list.

Sharman-Newell now has the second-fastest all-time mark in D2 history and it’s only mid-April!

The only box that hasn’t been checked, and we’re likely nitpicking here, is his racing tactics. We’re not sure it entirely matters if you can run two seconds faster than anyone else, but we haven’t seen him in anything other than a race that is slated to run fast.

Again, we're nitpicking, but it’s something worth monitoring over the next few weeks.

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

Harding joined most of the track world in California this past weekend and he, much like everyone else, certainly didn’t disappoint.

Harding walked away with a huge personal best of 13:34 in the 5000 meters. If that nine-second personal best wasn’t enough to be impressed, then how about the fact that it was the NCAA #5 mark Division Two history?

This comes at the perfect time as we had only seen Harding run a 10k since the end of the latest indoor season.

This all-time fitness is clearly there for Harding and if there were some concerns about his foot speed, his 3:46.21 (three-second personal best) effort for 1500 meters the following day should instill confidence in Harding if it comes down to a kick in a championship-style race.

You’re looking at a title favorite in both the 10k and 5k at this point and with nearly five weeks left in season, Harding should only get more competitive as the year goes on.

1. Christian Noble, Rs. Senior, Lee (Tenn.) (0 / 1)

It was just another regular old meet for the Flames veteran when he toed the line at the Flames Invitational last weekend.

Instead of opting for the California weather and a potential debut in the steeplechase, Noble opted to stay home in Cleveland and attempt to break the collegiate record in the 1500. He didn’t come away with the record like he seemingly always has, but he now has a shiny new personal best of 3:39.42 as well as the NCAA #4 mark all-time for 1500 meters in D2.

Noble followed up that performance with a new personal best in the 800 meters and a breakthrough in which he ran 1:49.95, sneaking under that elusive 1:50 barrier.

The biggest uncertainty at hand is when we will see Noble contest a steeplechase race. It’s arguably his best event, but he hasn’t toed the line for a steeple since the NCAA final last spring.

Whenever he does decide to do so, it’ll only solidify him in our top spot.

ADDED

Awet Beraki (Adams State)

Clement Duigou (Adams State)

Butare Rugenerwa (West Texas A&M)

Reece Smith (NW Missouri)

Nathan Hood (CSU-Pueblo)

James Dunne (Adams State)

KICKED OFF

Ezra Mutai (American International)

Clement Paillon (American International)

David Cardenas (Adams State)

Carlee Stimpfel (Saginaw Valley State)

Luke Julian (Colorado Mines)

Shane Cohen (Tampa)

JUST MISSED (in no particular order)

Dylan Burrows (Oklahoma Christian)

Ethan Lang (Fort Hays State)

Clement Paillon (American International)

Calahan Warren (Western Washington)

Ezra Mutai (American International)

McCauley Franks (Western Washington)

Cole Nash (Alaska Anchorage)

Ryan Riddle (Missouri Southern)

Ryan Hartman (Augustana (S.D.))

Robbie Schmidt (Fort Hays State)

Blake Jones (Illinois-Springfield)

Nadir Yusuf (MSU-Moorhead)

Luke Julian (Colorado Mines)

HONORABLE MENTIONS (in no particular order)

Jonathan Groendyk (Grand Valley State)

Drew Dailey (Shippensburg)

Abdelrahim Mahgoub (West Texas A&M)

Paul Kraemer (Embry-Riddle)

Loic Scomparin (Colorado Mines)

Duncan Fuehne (Colorado Mines)

Cade Michael (Western Colorado)

Isaac Prather (Concord)

Noah Fisher (Findlay)

Tai Smith (Wingate)

Joshua Joseph (Adams State)

Myles Bach (Nebraska-Kearney)

Dylan Ko (Colorado Mines)

Notes

• Based on prior information, The Stride Report has not yet confirmed the accuracy of Callum Elson's TFRRS eligibility.