2023 D2 Indoor Top 25 Rankings (Men): Preseason (Part Two)

Written by John Cusick & Garrett Zatlin

Click here to read Part One as well as our Just Missed & Honorable Mention names.

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

TFRRS is used as a general, but not strict, guide when determining eligibility.

13. Jan Lukas Becker, Senior, Mississippi College

In terms of overall careers among active distance runners, Jan Lukas Becker has probably been one the three-most consistent distance runner in Division Two -- and his two years at Queens (NC) before Mississippi College can attest to that.

Becker most recently finished 8th at the NCAA XC Championships, bringing his All-American count to three across all three seasons of competition. However, if you remove the lens of just being an All-American, then he’s been a top-10 finisher on the national stages six times out of the seven races that he’s toed the line for.

That is SO much more impressive than some people may realize.

That streak of national meet performances includes a 9th place finish in the 5000 meters at last year’s indoor national meet which saw him run his personal best of 13:51. He also holds marks of 4:13 (mile), 8:07 (3k), 28:27 (10k) and 8:45 (steeple).

Becker is one of the top talents in all of Division Two (even if we're looking strictly at times) and he has veteran experience on the national stage to back up that claim.

Unfortunately, TSR #13 is the best ranking that we could give this Mississippi College star while bargaining amongst ourselves. Becker has been in the national spotlight many times, but he needs to better capitalize on his opportunities. He rarely has "bad" races, but his greatest performances don't come on the national stage, either.

Before we can move him even higher, we will need to see him take on some of the more elite talents in the NCAA and come away with some head-to-head victories. That, in turn, would suggest that he can be a top-five guy in the 3k and/or the 5k on the national stage this winter.

12. Clement Duigou, Junior, Adams State

Going into the 2022 indoor track season, we didn’t quite know who Clement Duigou was.

But now, it’s safe to say that he’s a household name within Division Two.

Duigou was the runner-up finisher at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the steeplechase last spring. That result was a tad-bit shocking given that the Grizzly athlete had run 8:29 for the steeple and there didn’t seem to be an athlete in the country who could run with him.

He would later double back in the 5000 meters at that same outdoor national meet with a 12th place finish.

While we could harp on those results, it’s also worth noting that Duigou was the 5th place finisher in the 3000 meter at the 2022 NCAA Indoor Championships with a time of 8:00. Altogether, he has personal bests of 4:09 (mile), 8:00 (3k), 13:53 (5k) and 8:29 (steeple).

With those marks Duigou is one of the premiere athletes in Division Two despite being a little less than a year and a half into his time in the NCAA. His raw fitness is clearly unmatched in his best event, but we also have reason to believe that he could be even better this winter than he was last year based on how incredible he was in the steeplechase.

Duigou’s cross country season was cut short after a stunning result at the South Central Regional XC Championships. But that performance was misleading. He was on a much better trajectory this past fall than he was in 2021. If anything can be expected from Duigou this winter, it’s going to be something similar to what we saw from him in February and March.

And if he does continue to get better, which is very possible, then there’s a very good chance that we are talking about the French distance talent as a potential top-five athlete in D2.

11. Mason Strader, Junior, Pittsburg State

Mason Strader has, admittedly, been fairly quiet since last year’s indoor track season. That, in turn, makes it a bit difficult to place him in the right spot for this year's preseason rankings.

To recap his 2022 indoor track season, we saw Strader join the elite ranks of sub-4:00 D2 milers as he lowered his personal best to a fantastic mark of 3:58.47. He would help Pittsburg State’s DMR secure a 5th place finish before finishing 4th in the mile at the 2022 indoor national meet.

Strader continued his strong year of racing with a new 1500 meter PR of 3:43 in the preliminary rounds of the 2022 NCAA Outdoor Championships before finishing in 7th place in the finals. Sure, he maybe finished a bit further back than where we thought he would, but two strong All-American results and a comfortable sub-four mile result was awfully impressive.

This Pittsburg State veteran has proven to be one of the best Division Two milers in recent history, but that still hasn’t been enough for him to come out on top outside of the DMR title that the Gorillas won in 2021.

We saw hime race two times this past cross country season, but neither result gave us much insight as to what we should expect from Strader on the oval.

But at the very least, we believe that Strader has the talent and poise to race with the top of Division Two. He's got top-tier times, plenty of experience, multiple instances of national meet success and underrated consistency.

We’ll be monitoring him early-on after the winter break to see where he's at, and he still has to make another leap to be a true title contender, but Strader is one of the more complete milers that Division Two has to offer right now.

10. Luke Julian, Rs. Senior, Colorado Mines

It's hard to dislike anything about Luke Julian. In fact, even as we're typing this, it feels like placing him at a TSR #10 preseason rankings is slightly insulting. He has, after all, outperformed our initial seasonal rankings more times than not.

Julian is one of the all-around best milers in the country who can also move up in distance incredibly well. Not only does he own a 4:00.81 mile PR from last winter and an altitude converted best of 3:58.94, but Julian has also run 13:52 for 5000 meters.

What's even more impressive is that Julian can translate his times in non-mile events to All-American honors! He was, after all, the 8th place finisher at the 2021 outdoor national meet in the 5000 meters.

Julian has also advanced to the indoor national stage in the 3000 meters, but the mile and the 1500 meters are very clearly his primary events. Between just the 1500 meters and the mile, the Oredigger veteran has made five national appearances in those events and has walked with All-American honors three out of those five times.

Few men, regardless of division, are more experienced, consistent and as accomplished as Luke Julian is. His dynamic talent between a variety of events is very underrated and he has shown flashes of being a legitimate national title contender.

However, this Colorado Mines star doesn't always have his best performances on the national stage. He has recorded a handful of top-eight results, but none of those finishes reflect how big of a threat he was for NCAA gold going into those national meets.

There's no question that Julian is one of the more complete distance talents in Division Two this year, but can he optimize his postseason peak and refine ambitious national meet goals en route to a national title, or something close to it?

We think he can, we just need to see it first.

9. Caleb Futter, Junior, Grand Valley State

Few men at the Division Two level have built more momentum over the last year and a half than Caleb Futter has -- and for that reason, he comes into this season ranked at TSR #9.

After a successful 2021 indoor track campaign, Futter advanced to the outdoor season where he would run 8:44 in the steeplechase and finish runner-up in that event at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

Then, he would go on to have a very strong 2021 cross country season, although surprisingly faltered to 46th place at the national meet to end his fall campaign.

During the 2022 indoor track season, Futter slowly built up momentum, becoming one of the most dangerous milers in all of Division Two. He eventually finished 3rd overall in the mile at the indoor national meet.

The following spring, he earned All-American honors yet again in the steeplechase, this time with a 6th place finish in the event at the outdoor national meet.

And then, this past fall, Futter had the best cross country season of his life. He never had a poor race, earned a pair of bronze medals at his conference and regional meets and secured a 14th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships.

Futter is just flat-out excellent. He's a top-tier miler with great positional and tactical awareness. He often thrives in the postseason and he hasn't really had a poor performance in quite some time.

It may also be fair to suggest that this Grand Valley State standout is in the best fitness of his life following a fantastic year on the grass. And when you pair that with the fact that he's now an experienced, multi-time All-American, it's hard to rank him much lower than this.

Yes, it's true, Futter still needs to round-out his indoor track resume in a few other events and his mile PR could stand to lose two or three seconds. Even so, he feels like a complete runner void of any major weak points -- and that's hard to find.

8. Reece Sharman-Newell, Sophomore, CSU-Pueblo

If you’ve opened up these rankings, you may be a bit confused about why Reece Sharman-Newell is "only" ranked at TSR #8 and not inside our top-five.

And truthfully, we understand where your head is at.

Yes, we know that Sharman-Newell has run 1:45.56 for 800 meters and is the second-fastest man in Division Two history at that event. But we also understand that Sharman-Newell didn’t qualify for the indoor national meet last winter. And while he was insanely fast during the outdoor track season, he "only" finished 5th at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

Both of those facts have made us a bit reserved in moving him any higher than TSR #8, simply because many of the athletes ahead of him have had more success in the postseason and aren't dramatically slower. That ultimately outweighs anything that he has done.

But let's be clear, Sharman-Newell is probably one of the most naturally talented runners in the entirety of our D2 rankings. He was only a freshman last year after all! He should only get better with age, specifically when it comes to championship racing tactics.

The obvious question now is, where will Sharman-Newell will end up in our rankings by the end of the 2023 indoor track season? He’s already run 1:50 (800) and 4:18 (mile) in early December at altitude, coming off of an impressive cross country season for a middle distance athlete. Those times have converted to 1:48.17 (800) and 4:09.12 (mile), respectively.

And if that doesn't impressive you enough, just know that he has ran an altitude converted mark of 3:43 for 1500 meters last spring.

There’s no doubt that this Thunderwolf athlete will jump up in our rankings as the season goes on. In fact, we’ll likely look back and think that his preseason TSR #8 ranking was too low for him.

But until then, Sharman-Newell is slotted here as he continues to gain experience and attempts to become an increasingly larger tactical threat to the likes of Butare Rugenerwa and Wes Ferguson.

7. Charlie Dannatt, Junior, Simon Fraser

You won't find too many people who are bigger fans of Charlie Dannatt than us.

This Simon Fraser standout was running alongside Aaron Ahl (who recently ventured to the University of Washington) for the last few years. And as a result, Dannatt may not have always gotten the credit that he deserved.

But after this past cross country season, the rest of the nation was able to see how dangerous this Canadian distance runner could be.

Despite having a fantastic 2022 fall campaign and finishing 15th at the NCAA XC Championships, Dannatt is actually at his best in the middle distances. The rising Red Leaf star has run 1:49 for 800 meters, 3:42 for 1500 meters and 4:03 in the mile.

But that's just what TFRRS says. In actuality, the Simon Fraser star has posted times of 3:39 (1500) and 3:56 (mile) on the outdoor oval, the latter mark coming this past summer.

And the best part about Dannatt's resume is that he actually has national meet results to back up his incredible personal bests! The 23-year old finished 3rd overall in the 1500 meters at the 2022 NCAA Outdoor Championships and was 5th in the mile (as well as 2nd in the DMR) at the 2022 NCAA Indoor Championships.

Dannatt has an incredibly underappreciated resume. He has blistering fast times in multiple events, numerous high-placing All-American honors and is capable of effectively doubling on championship stages.

And after the best cross country season of his life, the rest of Division Two should be keeping Dannatt on their radar. Because shockingly, he could be even better this winter than he has been in any prior NCAA season of competition.

6. Awet Beraki, Senior, Adams State

This ranking may spark some debate.

In the eyes of many, Awet Beraki is a top-five talent with the potential to be listed in the top-three. After all, this is a guy who has run 13:36 (5k) and 28:12 (10k). He also owns an altitude and flat-track converted mark of 7:56 (3k) which he ran earlier this month.

And with three All-American honors on the track from the last year, including two runner-up honors in the 5k and the 10k at the 2022 NCAA Outdoor Championships, Beraki could very easily end up winning a national title in 2023.

But this past fall was not good for Beraki. Some people might suggest that the South Central Regional XC Championships were a fluke for the entire Adams State team -- and we would agree.

However, Beraki seemed to be slightly "off" at the RMAC XC Championships earlier this fall as well, falling to a surprising 7th place finish when he seemed like a near-lock to be among the top-three. And although he was incredible in the spring, an 8th place finish in the 5000 meters at the indoor national meet makes it hard to put him inside our top-five.

And to be clear, it's not that Beraki isn't talented enough to be a top-five name in our preseason rankings -- he most certainly is!

But the longer distances are absolutely loaded this year, meaning that this Adams State star will (unsurprisingly) have his work cut out for him in 2023.

5. Butare Rugenerwa, Senior, West Texas A&M

Steady, experienced, fast and accomplished. On paper, Butare Rugenerwa brings everything to the table that you could ever want out of a middle distance star.

It's admittedly easy to get caught up in the excitement of new 800 meter standouts like Reece Sharman-Newell and Wes Ferguson. But sometimes, the consistency and upper-tier reliableness of someone like Rugenerwa is arguably just as valuable.

Remember, this isn't just some guy who has run a converted 1:47 mark for 800 meters before. This is also a guy who won the 2021 outdoor national title in the half-mile event and boasts two separate top-three finishes on the national stage.

And if you're looking for consistency, Rugenerwa has that, too. The West Texas A&M product has run under 1:50 for 800 meters a total of 11 (!) times throughout his college career.

11 times!

And of those 11 instances, he's run under 1:49 four times!

For perspective, Wes Ferguson and Reece Sharman-Newell have only run under the 1:50 barrier (not including conversions) eight times throughout their careers...COMBINED.

The only reason why Rugenerwa sits at TSR #5 and not higher is more because of his competition than him. The 800 meters is becoming increasingly more competitive at the D2 level thanks to the likes of Ferguson and Sharman-Newell. A 1:47 mark doesn't mean what it used to.

But don't be mistaken, Rugenerwa could absolutely win the 2022 indoor national title in the 800 meters, especially if he can take that next step in the same way that Ferguson did last year.

4. Afewerki Zeru, Senior, UC-Colorado Springs

We'll admit, Afewerki Zeru isn't the flashiest name in the top-five portion of our rankings -- but he doesn't need to be. This UC-Colorado Springs star is so. darn. reliable. and his resume simply doesn't have a single flaw.

Including altitude conversions, Zeru has run 3:48 (1500), 8:00 (3k), 13:44 (5k) and 28:56 (10k). However, more importantly, this Mountain Lion ace finished 3rd in the 10,000 meters at the 2022 NCAA Outdoor Championships before winning the 5000 meter national title at the same meet.

He would go on to secure a string of top-two finishes on the grass before placing 5th overall at the NCAA XC Championships earlier this month.

In total, Zeru owns six All-American honors across all three seasons of competition. And by the end of this academic year, he'll almost certainly secure three or four more.

There admittedly isn't a ton to talk about with Afewerki Zeru...but that's not a bad thing. Simply put, he's a wildly consistent and a quietly-elite postseason tactician who can win a national title if guys like Tanner Chada and Dillon Powell aren't careful.

And for that reason, he sits at TSR #4.

3. Wes Ferguson, Junior, Nebraska-Kearney

One of the biggest breakout stars in all of Division Two last year was Wes Ferguson, a Nebraska-Kearney runner who emerged as a lethal middle distance talent in 2022.

A 1:47 personal best in the 800 meters already put Ferguson in the conversation for a top-five spot in our preseason rankings. However, the fact that he has won two national titles, one last winter and one last spring, each in the 800 meters, showed us how brilliant of a tactician he was.

But it was just his national meet performances that we focused on. The Loper star also ran the 1000 meters on his home track against former Drake ace Adam Fogg, another fantastic tactical runner who is now-formerly from the Division One realm. In that race, Ferguson pulled off the upset, posted a time of 2:23 and set a new D2 record in the event.

We'll admit, Ferguson doesn't have a ton of versatility in championship racing distances outside of the 800 meters. His 4:07 mile PR is solid, but he greatest strength simply lies in one event.

However, when you're as dominant as Ferguson is, the ability to move up or down from a certain distance doesn't exactly hold much weight. There aren't many 800 meter race scenarios that you could throw at this Nebraska-Kearney runner that he would struggle with.

He's simply that sharp and that concise with his moves and surges.

We may have suggested that someone other than Wes Ferguson was the favorite to win the 800 meter national title last spring -- and that turned out to be a mistake. And if Ferguson continues to build on his success from 2022, then he could be listed at TSR #1 when the season is done.

2. Tanner Chada, Senior, Grand Valley State

If you've been reading our site for long enough, then you know that anything that we say about Tanner Chada in this article may feel redundant. He is simply the full package when it comes to D2 distance running and he could have an argument to be ranked at TSR #1.

Nationally competitive times in multiple events? Check.

Chada has run 4:03 (mile), 7:56 (3k), 13:37 (5k) and 28:46 (10k).

National meet experience? Check.

Chada has toed the line for 10 national meets across all three seasons of competition.

National meet success and All-Americans honors? Check.

Chada has secured a total of 12 All-American honors throughout his college career.

Career-long consistency? Check.

Chada has raced 63 times according to TFRRS. Only one of those races resulted in a DNF. And if you exclude that one DNF result, then Chada has only placed worst than 10th place nine times throughout his entire college career. Each of those instances can be attributed to Chada racing on a national stage, racing in a D1-centric field or competing as a freshman.

On paper, Chada is almost the perfect runner...but only almost.

The Grand Valley State superstar has put together an unbelievable career. However, he has yet to win NCAA gold as an individual. He's come close a handful of times, but a national title has seemingly eluded him.

That's only reason why we're placing him at TSR #2...but the argument is there for him to be listed at our top spot.

1. Dillon Powell, Sophomore, Colorado Mines

Dillon Powell isn't as dynamic as Tanner Chada.

Dillon Powell isn't as tactically sound as Afewerki Zeru.

Dillon Powell probably has just as much competition for the 5k national title this indoor track season than Wes Ferguson does in the 800 meters.

But...does any of that matter?

Powell has a national title. Chada does not.

Powell has proven that he can simply outrun his competition and not rely on tactics. Zeru has not...or at least not to the same extent.

Powell has arguably been just as convincing (or even more convincing) than Ferguson in his recent national title wins.

And when you pair all of that with personal best marks of 13:33 (5k) and 28:22 (10k), the former being a D2 indoor collegiate record, it's hard to say that too many men are simply better than Powell right now.

We'll admit, we have some questions about how this Colorado Mines megastar is going to handle more tactical, speed-based races like the 3000 meters on the national stage. There's also an argument to be had that Powell is better suited for the 10k on the outdoor oval and the 10k on the grass.

But until we see otherwise, Dillon Powell deserves to be listed at TSR #1 in our preseason rankings.