2022 D2 Outdoor Top 25 Rankings (Men): Update #4

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. Nathan Hood, Senior, CSU-Pueblo (-1 / 24)

Hood hasn't contested the 800 meters in his last three meets, but back-to-back-to-back 47 second results in the 400 meters is super promising. At the very least, we know that he's consistently running at (or near) his best, making Hood one of the more under-the-radar and more dangerous names in the men's 800 meters for next weekend.

24. James Dunne, Sophomore, Adams State (-1 / 23)

A 1:53 result at the Portland Twilight meet is the only result that Dunne has posted since our last rankings update. But outside of that, there's not a whole lot to talk about with this Adams State standout. His versatility between the 800 meters and the 1500 meters is still enough to keep him in our top-25.

23. Drew Dailey, Sophomore, Shippensburg (+2 / 25)

His 1:48 mark, en route to a convincing victory, was very encouraging. A pair of wins in the 800 meters and the 1500 meters at the PSAC Championships, while promising, were hardly surprising.

And yet, at the same time, neither win was convincing or earned comfortably. Still, if that's the biggest criticism that we could find, then Dailey is in a good position heading into the postseason.

Dailey has been a dominant conference-level runner for a while, but it's clear that he has elevated his fitness to an entirely new level this year. As long as he executes on the national stage, then he's going to be an All-American.

22. Ryan Hartman, Sophomore, Augustana (SD) (Unranked)

After a few weeks of being robbed of a ranking, Hartman finally gets a spot in our rankings thanks to his steeple and his 5k prowess. The Augustana ace has run 8:44 in the steeplechase and 13:59 in the 5000 meters, times that certainly put him in our radar.

But after the NSIC Championships, where Hartman earned two conference titles in the aforementioned events, it's time to start recognizing as Hartman as a (very) deep sleeper pick for the national title.

He is super consistent, knows how to earn marquee wins and seems like a fairly safe All-American pick. On paper, there is a LOT to like about Hartman moving into the national meet.

21. Miguel Coca, Junior, Adams State (+1 / 22)

A very promising 13:58 mark for 5000 meters at the Portland Twilight meet gave Coca a strong 2nd place finish. However, after running 13:59, this results seems to be on par for our expectations. At the very least, what we learned is that Coca is still firing on all cylinders just like we saw from him at the beginning of the season.

20. Butare Rugenerwa, Rs. Junior, West Texas A&M (-2 / 18)

We try not to knock guys back for competing in a weak conference, but that’s mostly what sends Rugenerwa back two spots this time around.

To put it simply, this two-spot fall is nothing of his doing, we just needed to make room for a few other names.

Despite taking home the victories in both the 800 meters and the 1500 meters, there were just better performances all-around over the last two weeks throughout the NCAA. After traversing through both preliminary rounds and advancing, Rugenerwa was able to hold off the rest of the Lone Star field for his first 800 meter crown and another 1500 meter crown – his second in as many years.

The Buffalo athlete ran 4:19 for 1500 meters to win the title and followed that up in the 800 meters by running 1:55.

Yes, it’s a conference meet.

Yes, there is tactical racing.

But my goodness it’s hard to fathom a men’s race being won in 4:19...

Either way, the main thing that we can take away from this is that Rugenerwa is strong and that he can handle multiple races in a single weekend. He might be just as strong as he was last year when he won the outdoor national title.

But that was last year, and this year brings a new flock of talent. He will need every ounce of strength, speed and determination to pull out a repeat performance next weekend.

19. Reece Smith, Sophomore, NW Missouri (-3 / 16)

We have a small move backwards for Smith this week mostly due to some better performances from around the country.

We know that Smith is an elite steeplechaser, so it comes as no surprise to see him win the MIAA title in a time of 8:42 while defeating the next-best finisher by 12 seconds. That’s what we expected from Smith and we will expect the same kind of effort when we get to the national meet.

Smith also contested the 1500 meters at the MIAA Championships and didn’t fare as well. He finished 7th in that race, but let’s be honest here, this event is not Smith’s strong suit. Despite owning a personal best of 3:47, he has proven to us that he is more of a long distance athlete which is highlighted with his steeple and 5k personal bests.

That 1500 meter result certainly feels like another athlete doing some speed work in an effort to make sure that the turnover is there for championship style racing. It’s also worth noting that 7th place at the MIAA Championships is not a bad thing. Of the six men that beat him in that 1500 meter race, three are headed to the national meet in that event.

Smith is a serious contender in the steeplechase and his solo mark of 8:42 at his conference meet is only three seconds off of his personal best. That's promising consistency. Don’t be surprised if you see him run faster when he's lined up against the nation’s best.

18. Conor Wells, Senior, Chico State (Unranked)

Wells is a name who most likely everyone outside of the west coast has probably not heard of. However it's about time that he makes his way into our rankings. His latest efforts have thrown him into the mix for serious All-American contention.

It was a sweep for Wells as the CCAA Championships where he won both the 800 meters and the 1500 meters for the first time in his career. If that wasn’t a sweet enough of a send off, then what Wells did at the APU Last Chance meet certainly was.

Wells set two new personal bests and improved his spots on the national leaderboard all in on fell swoop.

First, he ran 1:49.06 to shave half a second off of his previous best set at the Chico Invite in late April. That time would be a great weekend by itself, except Wells returned later the next day to run in the 1500 meters. He ran 3:44 27 in that race and shaved two seconds off of his personal best while jumping all the way to NCAA #15 on the national leaderboard.

There are still some questions that we have for Wells, but for right now, we think he’s one of the more well-rounded athletes in the country.

17. Macauley Franks, Senior, Western Washington (+2 / 19)

Franks has raced a total of five times since we last talked about him in our rankings. That’s one 800 meter race at the Portland Twilight meet, followed by a rare steeple/1500/800 triple at the GNAC Championships this past weekend.

Beginning with that 800 meter race at the Portland Twilight meet, it may not look like much with a time of 1:50.05, but this was a breakthrough for the Western Washington athlete. Prior to that race, Franks had never run faster than 1:51.93. He absolutely smashed that time as he finished 3rd behind only TSR #4 Reece Sharman-Newell and teammate Drew Weber.

At the GNAC Championships, Franks walked away with the steeple title running 9:00 and putting seven seconds between him and the next finisher.

He returned later for the 1500 and was able to break up the Simon Fraser duo as he finished 2nd behind only TSR #15 Charlie Dannatt.

And lastly, Franks battled through preliminaries in the 800 meters to make the final and ultimately place 3rd, finishing behind both Dannatt and TSR #5 Aaron Ahl.

This is all to say that Franks is in very good company. He’s got the necessary qualities to hang with the nation’s best and he’s proven that time and time again since the turn of the year. His ability to be nationally competitive through multiple races in a single weekend has us very high on him.

16. Austin Miller, Rs. Senior, Augustana (SD) (-5 / 11)

Miller drops back five spots this time around because he arguably had the worst outcome possible at the NSIC Championships last weekend.

In a year that has seen Miller jump up tiers and join some of the nation’s best, this was not his finest moment. And to be clear, this was not as bad as it looks on paper, but we certainly expected more form the Augustana athlete this time around.

Miller finished 6th in the 1500 meters before coming back and finishing 8th in the 800 meters. Normally, we could chalk this up to four races in two days, but Miller has already proven that he can handle this kind of double on the biggest stage. And in a conference with much less talent than the NCAA field, it does come as a surprise to see him finish where he did.

Now, with all of that being said, this doesn’t take him out of the consideration of being an All-American in either of these events. Miller has taken the leap we look for in all of our ranked athletes and a couple of bad races isn’t going to change our opinion on that.

15. Charlie Dannatt, Freshman, Simon Fraser (+2 / 17)

Dannatt would be one of the favorites in either the 800 meters or the 1500 meters if it were any other year in Division Two. However, as we near the national meet, Dannatt finds himself just inside our top-15.

The Simon Fraser ace has moved up a couple of spots this time around and for good reason. Dannatt contested the same events as his teammate Aaron Ahl did at the GNAC Championships and came away with arguably a stronger collective effort when the weekend was done and over with.

First, Dannatt took home the 1500 meter conference title, running 3:48.12 and outlasting TSR #17 runner Macauley Franks and his aforementioned teammate in Ahl.

Dannatt had the second-fastest qualifying time in the 800 meters prelims, and we mention this because he ran 1:49.52 to set a new personal best in the process.

He came back to finish 4th the following day, so there’s some question as to if he did too much, but we can likely chalk that up to racing twice prior to that final.

An improvement upon that 5th place finish national meet finish in the mile is in the cards for Dannatt, but he’ll have to play the right hand at the right time in order to shock the world.

14. Afewerki Zeru, Junior, UC-Colorado Springs (+1 / 15)

Has not raced since the RMAC Championships.

13. Jan Lukas Becker, Rs. Junior, Queens (NC) (+1 / 14)

This is the final time that Queens competes in the South Atlantic Conference and it’s only fitting that Becker took home the final steeplechase title and 5000 meter title for the Royals.

One of the most versatile runners in the country, Becker will go after the steeple/5k double at the national meet next weekend. Of course, this is the easier double of the potential scenarios that would require him to run a 10k.

In both of the races Becker contested, he was the winner by a more than just a few seconds. He put six seconds between him and 2nd place in the steeple running 8:57 to their 9:03. And in the 5000 meters, he finished 14 seconds ahead of the next runner.

There are two ways you can look at these performances: He either didn’t face good enough competition, or he handled his business. We privy to take the latter here and fully expect Becker to show up at the NCAA Championships and give Queens a farewell to the D2 scene in the process.

12. Jake Mitchem, Rs. Senior, Colorado Mines (0 / 12)

Has not raced since the RMAC Championships.

11. Tanner Chada, Rs. Junior, Grand Valley State (-1 / 10)

We have small move backwards for Chada this week, but that’s largely because he didn’t contest any of his main events at the GLIAC Championships.

Chada finished 5th in the 1500 meters in what appeared to be a somewhat tactical race, but we were not expecting him to win this title. It appears that he’s just working on his foot speed before doubling at the outdoor national meet and that’s likely what most 5k/10k guys are doing at their conference meet at this point in the season.

He’ll still find his way around to the All-American spots that he always seemingly finds himself in. Chada has plenty of experience and continues to race well when necessary. There will be more of that coming next weekend

10. Tanner Maier, Rs. Sophomore, Minnesota State (+3 / 13)

Have yourself a weekend, Mr. Maier.

After witnessing multiple breakthroughs this outdoor season, we saw one last breakthrough at the NSIC Championships this past weekend. Maier took home the gold medal in his specialty event, the 800 meters, but what really made his weekend special was his 1500 meter race.

We know that Maier is not a particularly great miler given his history in the event, but he was able to finish 2nd behind only Augustana’s Evan Johnson at his conference meet. That's a fairly big development! If Maier was looking for a confidence boost, he certainly received exactly that after his extremely successful weekend.

Maier has slid under the radar with his small, incremental improvements this season, but let us not forget that he finished 3rd place in the 800 meters during the indoor track season and he’s currently got the NCAA #5 time on the national leaderboard.

And yet somehow, he feels like underdog in the event.

Things are looking good for Maier heading into the NCAA Championships and it wouldn’t come as a surprise if he replicated that top-three performance next weekend.

9. Wes Ferguson, Sophomore, Nebraska-Kearney (0 / 9)

Ferguson only contested one individual race at the MIAA Championships and that’s pretty much what we expected from him. The elite tactician did exactly that again as he controlled both the preliminary and the final, outlasting Connar Southard and a trio of Fort Hays State athletes.

Ferguson is the 800 meter champion from the indoor season, so it doesn’t come as a surprise that he runs well in championship settings. The big question at hand, however, is if can he replicate it again during the outdoor meet.

If Ferguson can continue to control races, then he’s got a really good chance at being another NCAA champion, but if he can’t do that, then we may see him get edged out when it’s all over with.

8. Dillon Powell, Sophomore, Colorado Mines (0 / 8)

Has not raced since the RMAC Championships.

7. Clement Duigou, Junior, Adams State (-1 / 6)

6. Awet Beraki, Sophomore, Adams State (-2 / 6)

Neither have raced since the Payton Jordan Invitational.

5. Aaron Ahl, Rs. Senior, Simon Fraser (+2 / 7)

Ahl has steadily increased his stock over the last two weeks. We harp on consistency when we do these rankings and Ahl has marked that box time and time again in his Simon Fraser career.

Since his hiccup at the indoor national meet this past winter, here are Ahl's results, starting with his 1500 meter times: 3:43, 3:39, 3:43, 3:48 and 3:43. Here are his 800 meter times: 1:51, 1:51, 1:51, 1:49, 1:52 and 1:50.

Now, you may wonder why he ran those 3:48 and 1:52 marks.

That 3:48 came in the single 1500 meter final at the GNAC Championships where he finished 3rd overall. He then ran 1:52 in the prelims of the 800 meters before running 1:50 in the final to take home the title.

This is not the same Aaron Ahl that we saw during the indoor track. He’s a much more consistent athlete who is continuing to improve something that has sometimes held him back in the past: His tactics.

There was no prelims for the 1500 meters, but a 3rd place finish is an acceptable result against two of the better milers in the country. What’s really nice to see is his win in the 800 meters.

We understand it’s not quite the same stage as the NCAA Championships, but getting through to the final is the most important part for Ahl this time around. We feel more confident in picking him to win the title come next week based off of these results (and other developments), but we will obviously need to see everything put into action.

4. Reece Sharman-Newell, Freshman, CSU-Pueblo (0 / 4)

After skipping the RMAC Championships in late April, the CSU-Pueblo athlete headed out west for the Portland Twilight meet where he ran 1:48 and took home the victory while there.

He then ran again at the Thunderbowl at the CSU-Pueblo Last Chance meet where he set a new personal best running 3:48.06 to topple his previous best of 3:48.57. While only a small improvement, it was a move in the right direction.

Sharman-Newell is an absolute gamer when it comes to racing. The last time he lost to college competition? All the way back in March when Mason Strader beat him over 1500 meters in the first meet of the outdoor season.

Since then a ton of experience has been gained by the British athlete and there’s no reason to believe that he’s slowing down any time soon.

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

There is not much to take away from Harding’s race at the GLIAC Championships where he finished 2nd in the 1500 meters.

He finished behind Michigan Tech’s Clayton Sayen and that honestly makes sense as Sayen is one of the better middle distance athletes in the country. Harding has not been known for his middle distance races, so to see him continue to try and get better is a positive sign.

We know that he will be a factor in both the 5000 and 10,000 and those races usually come down to a kick. And despite edging out the 5k field at last year’s NCAA Outdoor Championships, there’s still room for improvement for Harding in that category.

It also doesn’t come as a surprise that Harding didn’t contest either of his main events at the conference meet. Those races are a lot to endure and winning another conference title isn’t the main objective. We’ll see if the efforts from the Laker athlete are worthwhile next weekend.

2. Callum Elson, Junior*, American International (+1 / 3)

Elson has quietly climbed the ranks of our rankings since the academic year started back in 2021. After an incredible indoor season, we were left looking for more from Elson during the outdoor season.

He has also quietly had one of the better seasons for a D2 athlete thus far. He never headed west for competition and instead stayed home and he has been rewarded each time.

Elson toed the line for the Northeast-10 Championships recently and came away with two victories in the process. He edged out teammate, and indoor runner-up, Clement Paillon in the 800 meters and took home the 5000 meter crown as well.

He then headed to Princeton to contest a 1500 meter race where he walked away with a very good time of 3:41. That mark is now currently NCAA #4 on the national leaderboard and boosts his stock upwards as we head into the NCAA Championships.

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

We can continue to harp on how good Noble is, but at this point, everything he does speaks for itself.

After the Gulf South Conference Championships, Noble walked away with two more victories (1500 and 5000) and brought home a runner-up finish as well in the 800 meters, finishing behind his teammate Titus Lagat.

That brings his total gold medal count to 20 (!) over his career as a Flame.

However, the biggest and most important news here is that Noble has turned pro since our last update, signing with New Balance. And that, understandably, leaves plenty of room for debate in these rankings.

Obviously, Noble's decision to go pro takes him out of contention for any additional NCAA titles and that also means that the greatest runner in D2 history will walk away with three NCAA titles and three D2 collegiate records.

Admittedly, we don't know if keeping Noble in these rankings is the right call. He's not going to compete at the NCAA Championships anymore, but we can't just ignore his collegiate accomplishments this spring, either.

When we talk about the greatest D2 runners during the 2022 outdoor track season, we can't just not highlight Noble.

And for that reason, we kept him in the rankings.

That should be enough to explain how Noble left his mark and how he has solidified his legacy. He will now turn his focus to the USA and potentially World Championships later this summer.

ADDED

Conor Wells (Chico State)

Ryan Hartman (Augustana (SD))

KICKED OFF

Mason Strader (Pittsburg State)

Titus Winders (Southern Indiana)

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)

Cole Nash (Alaska Anchorage)

Ryan Riddle (Missouri Southern)

Robbie Schmidt (Fort Hays State)

Nadir Yusuf (MSU-Moorhead)

Clement Paillon (American International)

Mason Strader (Pittsburg State)

Paul Kraemer (Embry-Riddle)

Titus Winders (Southern Indiana)

Shane Cohen (Tampa)

CarLee Stimpfel (Saginaw Valley State)

HONORABLE MENTIONS (in no particular order)

Luke Julian (Colorado Mines)

Abdelrahim Mahgoub (West Texas A&M)

Loic Scomparin (Colorado Mines)

Duncan Fuehne (Colorado Mines)

Kyle Moran (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)

Luke Stuckey (Nebraska-Kearney)

Ayrton Ledesma (Azusa Pacific)

Titus Lagat (Lee (Tenn.))

Aiden Urban (Westminster (Utah))

David Cardenas (Adams State)

Clayton Sayen (Michigan Tech)

Saba Khvichava (Academy of Art)

Tai Smith (Wingate)

Notes

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