2022 D3 Outdoor Top 15 Rankings (Men): Update #1

Brett Haffner
Apr 7, 2022
7 min read

Additional contributions by Garrett Zatlin

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.

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.

15. Stevie Steinberg, Senior, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps

Steinberg is the third Claremont-Mudd-Scripps member to have been featured on our rankings during this calendar year, along with Henry Pick and Miles Christensen.

As those two ended their indoor seasons in Winston-Salem, it was Steinberg who exploded to greatness at the Occidental Distance Carnival with a staggering 14:15 mark for 5000 meters, just behind Lucas Florsheim of Pomona-Pitzer.

We’ve seen flashes of greatness from Steinberg previously, including earning All-American honors at the cross country national meet, but this was his first track performance that truly stands out against the rest.

When Christensen and Pick return to high-level competition, Steinberg is going to be a lethal third member of what could be one of the best distance trios in Division Three this year.

14. Simon Heys, Sophomore, Wilmington (OH)

After narrowly missing the indoor national meet in both the 3000 meters and the 5000 meters, Heys earned vengeance at the Raleigh Relays, popping back onto the scene with an excellent time of 29:38 in the 10,000 meters.

Heys proved himself in 2021 as a strong 5k/10k specialist already, but this performance was truly telling of the Wilmington ace’s prowess over the longer distances.

It would not be surprising to see an impressive run over 5000 meters in the near future for Heys who could likely qualify for the national meet in both of the longer distance events.

13. Tyler Morris, Sophomore, Colby

Morris has been a reliably solid distance runner for a long time now, and his 29:36 performance over 10,000 meters at the Raleigh Relays capitalized on that consistency.

There are not many years in Division Three, if any at all, where running 14:29 in the 5000 meters at the indoor national meet does not earn you an All-American honor. However, Morris took 10th place overall at the NCAA Indoor Championships this past winter with that performance.

As evidenced by his cross country accolades, along with this stunning seasonal debut in the 10,000 meters, Morris will likely be a top contender in the longer event come the postseason.

12. Colin Kirkpatrick, Sophomore, Pomona-Pitzer

Since Pomona-Pitzer does not contest the indoor track season as regularly as the rest of Division Three, sometimes the names of the Sagehens’ best runners go under the surface for a few months.

Coming back to the scene with a storm, Kirkpatrick has thrown down a 9:05 mark in the steeplechase, as well as a 14:23 result for 5000 meters to start his outdoor season -- both extremely impressive results.

To stir everyone’s memories, Kirkpatrick was Pomona-Pitzer’s first runner at the cross country national meet in 2021, taking 10th overall behind a handful of the names in these rankings.

He’s been quiet for awhile, but it’s very clear that Kirkpatrick is going to be a big contender on the Division Three scene once again this outdoor season.

11. Tucker Cargile, Senior, Redlands

The Redlands star does fall a little bit further outside of our top-10 compared to our indoor track rankings, but that is more due to the introduction of steeplechasers and 10k runners.

Right now, it's hard to dislike anything about Cargile. He ran 4:04 in the mile this past winter and then finished runner-up in the same event at the NCAA Indoor Championships, running 4:09 in the prelims and 4:07 in the finals.

Now, after earning three wins at the same meet during a 1500/800/4x400 triple, Cargile looks sharp and ready to roll. However, seeing how he does against better competition is going to be the better gauge of his talent which we already know is elite.

10. Christopher Collet, Sophomore, Wartburg

As the reigning national runner-up in the steeplechase, Collet’s season debut was well-awaited, as he soloed a time of 9:11 on his home track, which puts him at NCAA #4 currently.

Even though the steeplechase rankings are currently dominated by athletes from out west, Collet is the prime example of the midwest guys dominating the steeplechase who should get some good opportunities to chase the elusive sub-9:00 barrier.

That doesn’t even consider how fast Collet is in the flat events, either. His 14:22 mark in the 5000 meters earned him a 6th place finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships last year after doubling back from the steeplechase, giving him one of the more impressive doubles of the national meet.

It’s very likely that we’ll see Collet rise in the rankings over the coming months of the outdoor season, especially with the steeple adding new value to his resume.

9. Bennett Booth-Genthe, Sophomore, Pomona-Pitzer

We’ve seen a lot of Pomona-Pitzer guys make some serious jumps this outdoor season. Their recent accolade of 16 guys breaking 15:00 over 5000 meters is evident of that.

Booth-Genthe is a perfect example of making that exciting new jump, but he’s got some serious range going on. Just take a look at resume...

49.98 (400)
1:52.11 (800)
4:05.87 (mile) -- converts to 3:47.66 for 1500 meters
14:36.8 (5k)

Even before this rankings update, we had seen his mile and 5000 meter performances, but now he’s added impressive marks in the 400 meters and the 800 meters, too.

He might have one of the most diverse ranges in Division Three as we speak and he’s certainly got a lot of events to choose from throughout this season.

8. Steven Potter, Junior, UW-Oshkosh

After his 2nd place finish at the indoor national meet in the 800 meters, Potter has earned a nice start to the season, taking home a win at the Washington U. Invite, running 1:54.95 for the win.

While that might not be the fastest time we’ve seen so far, Potter continues to flex his tactical prowess with a win against some solid Wash U. competition. When he gets into a competitive 800 meter race, I’d expect that we’ll see Potter bring the heat into the low-1:50’s.

7. Jacob Ridderhoff, Senior, Washington U.

The 1500/mile specialist from Washington U. stepped up in distance this past weekend at his school’s Distance Carnival at home, contesting the 5000 meters against a solid field of competition from the University of Southern Indiana.

With this race being his first attempt over 5000 meters in three years, Ridderhoff ran a solid personal best of 14:36, giving him a very solid mark to start off the outdoor season.

If his outdoor season is anything like his indoor season, then we’ll see Ridderhoff continue to get better and better throughout the course of the next few months.

The returning runner-up finisher from the outdoor national meet, Ridderhoff is primed to be one of the favorites in the 1500 meters heading into the remainder of the outdoor track season.

6. David Fassbender, Senior, UW-Whitewater

After the way that he ran at the NCAA Indoor Championships, Fassbender made an impressive jump into being a gamer when it counts in the postseason, earning him a high status in our rankings.

Considering his pedigree of success on the grass, as well as in the longer distances on the oval, his 10,000 meters season debut of 29:45 was an extremely impressive opener for the UW-Whitewater star.

While he hasn’t had the same success quite yet at the outdoor national meet in previous years, Fassbender has shown that he’s ready to go this season and eventually bring home some All-American finishes come outdoor late May.

5. Lucas Florsheim, Sophomore, Pomona-Pitzer

In the two years that Lucas Florsheim has been at Pomona-Pitzer, his racing opportunities on the track have been pretty limited due to COVID restrictions out in California.

With the Sagehens’ racing schedule looking more normal this year, Florsheim has (so far) used his available opportunities extremely well, booming to the top of the Division Three leaderboard in the 5000 meters with a staggering mark of 14:13.

Florsheim has even stepped up to the 10,000 meters, running 29:55 at the Stanford Invitational as well.

In nearly every single race Florsheim has contested in 2022, he’s run impressively fast, showing some incredible poise and a massive leap in fitness despite only being a sophomore.

He will be one to watch out for over the course of the outdoor season as a dark horse contender.

4. Mike Jasa, Junior, Loras

After his shocking 4th place finish in the 800 meters at the indoor national meet, Jasa rebounded in a solid way at the Stanford Invitational, running 1:51.58 for a strong season opener.

While that time is not by any means a crazy fast mark, Jasa won’t have to worry, he’s got a whole season to keep dropping down his times. If anyone is capable of thriving in a future time trial setting, then it's Jasa.

While we expected a little more from him at Stanford, this was the fastest season opener of his career, showing some good promise for the coming season and the next two months.

3. Ryan Wilson, Sophomore, MIT

Wilson has not yet opened his season.

2. Aidan Ryan, Junior, Williams

Aidan Ryan’s season opener was a great start to the season, running 3:45 for 1500 meters and winning by four seconds is another solid performance.

We know that Ryan has gone to some deep, competitive meets before to chase times, so the questions are as follows: Where will he go this spring? And how fast can he run?

It would not be at all surprising to see the Williams star chase some Division Three records this outdoor season, namely in the 1500 meters and the 5000 meters.

1. Alex Phillip, Sophomore, John Carroll

Coming off of his reign of dominance at the indoor national meet, Phillip raced the event that we'd least expect him to contest: the 800 meters. He ran 1:56, which really isn’t too bad for someone who is so distance-oriented, and it likely got him a good speed workout to change things up in his training.

Whenever Phillip decides to make his season debuts in the 5000 and the 10,000 meters, it’s very likely that we’ll see the Division Three leaderboards shake up quite a bit.

Similar to Aidan Ryan, Division Three records are not safe from Alex Phillip, especially in the 5000 meters or 10,000 meters this season. Of course, none of that is new information.