ANNOUNCED: Toby Gillen Transfers to Ole Miss

Earlier today, Toby Gillen and Ole Miss jointly announced that the Saint Louis distance star will be transferring to the Rebels. The breakout name from this past spring season is expected to be a standard transfer.

Initial expectations, per one source, were that Gillen would sign with a different program last week. However, a somewhat last-minute change has ultimately swung this top transfer prospect to Oxford, Mississippi.

Gillen is expected to have two seasons of indoor track eligibility and two seasons of outdoor track eligibility remaining. He also has three remaining seasons of cross country eligibility, although the Saint Louis runner is expected to be at Ole Miss for just two years.

In what could end up being one of the most important transfer signings of the summer, Gillen gives the Ole Miss men a true star talent to lean-on in the longer distances. With cross country low-stick Anthony Camerieri expected to be out of eligibility, the former Billiken runner could comfortably fill that role -- and then some.

Admittedly, Gillen's cross country resume is fairly limited as far as upper-tier scorers are concerned. That, however, is simply because this soon-to-be Rebel didn't truly begin to break out until the indoor track season.

During the winter months, Gillen ran a 5k time of 13:41. Shortly after, he would run a new 5k personal best of 13:35 to secure a huge win at the Raleigh Relays. And after running 13:30 at the West Regional Championships, yet another PR for that distance, the former Saint Louis runner would place 13th overall at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 5000 meter field.

When it comes to Ole Miss, this signing is team-altering. In fact, it completely changes the Rebels' outlook for their 2023 cross country season.

That's because, according strictly to TFRRS, the Mississippi men are losing Anthony Carmerieri, Dereck Elkins, Cole Bullock, Chris Maxon and Shane Bracken from last year's team. They are also set to lose backend support runners like Dalton Hengst and Ben Savino.

When looking at the national meet results, the Rebels are effectively losing their entire top-five scoring group and six of their top-seven names. Typically, that is a near-impossible amount of lost talent to bounce back from in a single year.

It should, however, be noted that Cole Bullock, while listed as a senior on TFRRS, only has three countable cross country seasons on his resume, not four. If he comes back to Ole Miss, and he seemingly can, then the Rebels would have a strong (but small) nucleus of accomplished scorers that they could work with.

Not only that, but Adam Smith, who is now in his first offseason as Ole Miss' distance coach, has proven that he can effectively recruit top transfers throughout the country. Earlier this year, Jack Meijer committed to run for the Rebels as a graduate transfer from Wisconsin, bringing his 13:44 (5k) PR and sneaky-good cross country resume with him.

Yes, it's true, Gillen has not yet proven that he can fully translate his success from the oval to the grass. But all things considered, this former Saint Louis runner feels like a comfortable cross country All-American candidate with a ceiling for a top-20 finish on the national stage.

The Ole Miss men now have two talented scorers to rally around this fall, and maybe three if Bullock ends up returning. Aiden Britt, the lone remaining name from last year's team, is also expected to return in 2023 and could provide respectable value with natural progression.

With so much eligibility remaining, Gillen can be a long-term low-stick as Coach Adam Smith looks for additional building blocks to create a more lasting and stable distance roster. Last year's team, despite numerous departures from year prior, stunned everyone in 2022 when they made it to the national meet and were competitive for the SEC team title.

And while the Rebels still need a few more pieces, Gillen's recent addition makes it seem like this 2023 roster could be following a very similar trajectory that we saw from them last year.