D3 Roundtable: U. Chicago Women Snag Big Victory, North Central Men Hang Tough + Lindgren Wins Again

Edits and additional commentary by John Cusick & Garrett Zatlin

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The U. of Chicago women knocked off Wartburg at the Augustana Interregional Invitational by three points. Are they now the favorites to win the team title? Or is Wartburg still the team to beat in Division Three?

Brett: With Wartburg and U. of Chicago steamrolling their competition throughout the first-half of the regular season, this matchup truly felt like a 50/50 toss-up as to who would emerge as the victors.

If anything, this result makes the race for the team title a little murkier than expected, as neither team was truly able to separate from the other by a significant margin.

Wartburg’s advantage? Aubrie Fisher’s performances are making her an elite low-stick, which will help a ton come the national meet.

U. of Chicago’s advantage? Their 5-6-7 runners finished within 10 seconds of each other, giving them lineup flexibility, numerous scoring options and some of the best depth that Division Three has to offer.

While the Knights and the Bears might be employing differing team strategies, it’s become increasingly apparent that these two teams are in a heated deadlock to contend for the national title.

Let’s also not forget about SUNY Geneseo either, a team that quietly racked up a strong victory at the Rowan Interregional Border Battle without Windsor Ardner. They are not to be counted out, either.

In about a month, we’ll finally get to see these three loaded teams battle in what should be an incredible race.

Kevin: On paper, I believe Wartburg is still the team to beat.

As Brett mentioned, the low-stick of Aubrie Fisher will most likely have a greater scoring impact in a deeper field at the national meet. Not only that, but their next four runners were very tightly packed.

If everybody has the same kind of race that we just a month from now, then the Knights should end the season as national champions despite the loss to U. of Chicago last weekend.

However, it does look like U. of Chicago has greater depth beyond just their top-five. You never know what can happen on any given day, especially at a meet like the NCAA XC Championships. On paper, they have a far stronger floor in terms of scoring potential.

If one Wartburg runner has an "off" day, that could be catastrophic to their national title hopes. However, if one U. of Chicago runner has a bad day, the number six and number seven runners should be in a good position to lift them up.

Either way, these are the two teams with the greatest chances to lift the trophy this November, and we will see them battle again at the Midwest Regional XC Championships in a few weeks.

Hannah: I’ve always been high on Wartburg, but I don’t know if Aubrie Fisher’s star power can carry them to a national title. She will need her teammates to step up just a little.

Coming into the season, we knew that U. of Chicago would be a very strong team, but I’m not sure we expected them to be this strong.

Anna Kenig-Ziesler has been the breakout star for the Maroons. Her 7th place finish this past weekend was another result in a string of top-10 finishes for her. She has been hanging around 22 minutes and even though this course was short, 21:30 is still really impressive.

Kenig-Ziesler, along with Frances Schaeffler and Lucy Groothuis, have been a very lethal trio and I don't expect that to change in the postseason.

Also, I think we forget that this team is missing Claudia Harnett. She was the best true freshman in the country last year and she was also UAA conference champion as well as the 3rd place finisher at the 2021 Midwest Regional XC Championships meet behind only Aubrie Fisher and Kassie Parker.

And then, at the 2021 NCAA XC Championships, Harnett ran a PR of 21:26 to finish 17th overall! We haven’t seen her since late April, but if she can come back this season in any sort of impactful fitness, then this team is my new favorite to take the team title.

But only time will tell if that will happen.

As for the rivalry between Wartburg and U. of Chicago, we’ll see these two teams face off again at the Midwest regional meet. It’s the final battle before both teams try to take home the national team title in November.

Through three runners, the North Central men bested Pomona-Pitzer’s men at the Augustana Interregional Invitational. Is this a crack in the armor for the Sagehens? Or more of a building block for the Cardinals?

Brett: When you consider that the Saghens’ seventh runner, Nathaniel Getachew, beat every single team’s third runner, except for North Central, it’s admittedly difficult to suggest that there's a "crack" in their armor given their unreal depth.

However, the formation of North Central’s first three runners as a deadly trio was the most meaningful weekend result on the men’s side.

For Connor Riss, Max Svienty and Braden Nicholson to outperform Pomona-Pitzer’s Lucas Florsheim, Colin Kirkpatrick and Ian Horsburgh is a huge step in the right direction for the Cardinal's top scoring trio.

Beating some of Division Three’s well-established stars is no easy task.

Looking to the Cardinals’ fourth and fifth runners, Andrew Guimond and Julian Higueros ran terrific races to secure a 2nd place team finish. It will take some improvement, but if those two guys can hang with the Sagehen’s backend scorers, then…the team battle at the NCAA XC Championships may end up being a bigger battle than we expected.

North Central keeps getting better and better with every race and the improvement of their guys as individuals is truly staggering.

Considering that they weren’t even on our radar at the beginning of the season in our team rankings, I’m continually impressed every time they throw down a result on the grass this season.

Kevin: A little bit of both.

Pomona-Pitzer has great depth, but that alone might not be enough to run away with a three-peat. If you look at last year, they had six All-Americans and three men in the top-14 at the NCAA XC Championships and ultimately finished 32 points ahead of runner-up, MIT.

I don’t know if anyone on this roster currently looks like they will be one of the top-14 finishers at the national meet, let alone three. We’ve come to know the Sagehens as a group that puts it together when it counts in November, but at this point, they don’t appear to be the same team as last year -- and teams like MIT and North Central are continuing to improve.

The Sagehens are certainly still CONTENDERS for the national title, but I’m not fully convinced that they are the true favorites anymore.

As far as North Central, they deserve credit for their performance. Connor Riss, Max Svienty and Braden Nicholson have proven themselves as one of the best trios in the country, and their supporting cast is also solid.

They still aren’t quite at the dynastic levels that they have reached in the past, but they are getting dangerously close.

Hannah: This is a good building block for North Central. Coming into the season, they weren’t even on our top-10 list. Now, they look like they are moving back closer to the North Central of old where they're making a legitimate podium run.

Part of the reason why they are so successful is because Connor Riss is having a breakout year. He was 106th at the national meet last year, but he looks to be on a whole different level this season. He placed 4th at the MSU Spartan Classic, finished 18th at Pre-Nationals and recently snagged a highly encouraging runner-up finish this weekend.

When you pair those performances with Max Svienty and Braden Nicholso, you'll find that North Central has a very strong pack of three to lead their team...kind of like the U. of Chicago women.

I’m not sure the men of North Central are ready to take down the defending champs of Pomona-Pitzer yet, but after last year's performance, I think we should just be happy with where they are at.

The MIT women are off to a hot start this season which continued at the Connecticut College Invite. The Engineers ran away with the team title, knocking off Saint Olaf by 48 points and Amherst by 54 points. Should we consider this strong running from MIT? Or underwhelming results from both Saint Olaf and Amherst?

Brett: I’m gonna say it’s a combination of both.

Einat Gavish of MIT ran solidly as the team’s top low-stick, placing 5th overall, but the Engineers' strong showing came as the result of Anna Haddad, Christina Crow and Gillian Roeder as their 2-3-4 runners. Those three women finished as a tight-knit pack ahead of St. Olaf’s entire team, along with Williams’ and Amherst’s second scorers which secured the team title for the Engineers.

I thought MIT’s performance at the D3 National Preview a few weeks ago was impressive, but this week’s performance was an even greater extension of their strength.

Amherst and St. Olaf struggled with not having one of their usual low-sticks as Mary Kate McGranahan of Amherst and Sofia Carlson of Saint Olaf faltered a bit relative to their usual high-level performances.

Aside from that, I was impressed that the entire Oles’ varsity seven which finished within 15 seconds of each other, flexing some impressive depth even on an "off" day for some. That, in our minds, is the foundation for having a good team.

Kevin: MIT ran well and showed some encouraging signs, but the biggest takeaway from this meet was a sub-par performance from an Amherst team that had been very impressive up and to this point.

After a comfortable win over Williams a couple of weeks ago without a couple of their key contributors, I was high on the Mammoths and was thinking about them as a sneaky podium contender.

It’s true that Mary Kate McGranahan had an uncharacteristically "off" day this past weekend, placing 16th overall, but she was far from the only contributing factor. Even if she had won, the Amherst women still would have been almost 40 points behind MIT.

Now, I don’t think we should overreact. This is one meet and Amherst is still a great team, but there are now some concerns about how consistent they can be.

I don’t think putting St. Olaf in that same category is fair. The Oles packed up tightly and put together a strong team performance considering that Sofia Carlson, their top low-stick, had an "off" day, individually.

Hannah: Amherst has to be one of the most up-and-down teams in D3 this year. They truly confuse me. After their win over Williams, I thought they could possibly be a top-five program. However, not only were they dominated by MIT this past weekend, but they also lost to Saint Olaf and Williams.

But that’s no knock on MIT. Einat Gavish had a great day, but more importantly, so did their second, third and fourth scorers. Anna Haddad, Christina Crow and Gillian Roeder were a great pack and ultimately delivered the team title for MIT.

I don’t want to get too hyped for the Engineers as they still have to make some backend adjustments.

Kirsi Rajagopal was 28th this past weekend. That's a fairly respectable result, but in a bigger field, a lot of points are being given up in those 20 seconds between her and Roeder. Meanwhile, their fifth runner was Lexi Fernandez who finished in 41st place.

And yet, at the end of the day, almost every team has scoring drop-offs and MIT has been able to minimize most of their backend deficiencies for most of this season. Who am I to say that it will be any different for the Engineers during the postseason?

Whose performance(s) over the weekend stood out the most to you?

Brett: On the women’s side, I’ve been very impressed with Vivian Kane of NYU.

After an impressive 12th place finish at the Paul Short "Brown" race, Kane took home the win at the Connecticut College Invitational over some talented names in Division Three, including Genna Girard of Williams and Sophia Wolmer of Amherst.

She’s been throwing together some impressive results this year as a freshman and has continued to get better with each race she toes the line for. I’d point to her as an underdog name who could surprise some people in the latter stages of the postseason.

On the men’s side, Connor Riss of North Central has undoubtedly been one of the most improved and impressive names to enter the national scene this fall.

In 2021, he was solid, placing just outside the top-100 at the national meet – not bad for his first national meet performance. Then, on the track, Riss ran some respectable distance marks of 8:36 in the 3000 meters and 14:42 in the 5000 meters, but really shined in the 1500 meters, running 3:49.

While none of those marks would have qualified him for a national meet on the track, Riss has now evolved into someone capable of competing with the best of Division Three on the grass, finishing 2nd behind perennial superstar Christopher Collet at Augustana this past weekend.

If he can continue this newfound ability as a strong low-stick for the Cardinals, then Riss could very well be competing for a top-10 finisher at the national meet in November.

Kevin: I’ll say Morgan Lee of RPI on the women’s side.

She was already gaining some recognition after a big performance at Paul Short. However, she exceeded expectations with an impressive 2nd place finish at the Rowan Interregional Border Battle, upsetting SUNY Geneseo’s Kathleen McCarey along the way.

Lee was in 5th place through a mile and then 3rd place through 4.25k, but stayed patient and came away with another, arguably even more impressive, statement race. She got onto our radar two weeks ago, but this past weekend, she proved that her recent success was no fluke and that she can perform consistently at a high level.

For the men, UW-La Crosse’s Corey Fairchild had a huge breakout day at the Jim Drews/Tori Neubauer Invitational. A couple of weeks ago, we talked about how La Crosse had one of the best duos in the country in Ethan Gregg and Isaac Wegner, but we also noted that they had some holes beyond those two.

Well, Fairchild may have just plugged one of those holes. He finished 6th overall with a personal best time of 24:47 this past weekend, crossing the line right with Gregg and Wegner.

La Crosse ultimately had a good team day, taking the win over JUCO powerhouse Iowa Central CC. Still, Fairchild’s individual performance in particular should be highlighted because of the implications that he has on the dynamics of his team.

If he can keep this up and become a third star for the Eagles, then that scoring impact could be huge in November.

Hannah: I hate to sound like a broken record, but Kassie Parker is the best in D3.

I know her winning yet another meet shouldn’t stand out, but seeing her run 20:00 at the Augustana Interregional Invitation is bananas. I know the course is short, but that is still crazy.

When you factor in the fact that she recorded a 48-second victory over Aubrie Fisher, that just makes her result even crazier.

Many people (me included) think that Aubrie Fisher is a top-three talent in this year's national meet field and Kassie Parker just blew her away. I don’t think it’s a question whether Kassie Parker will win yet another national title, but rather by how much?

For the men, I have a tough time picking a standout performance that we haven’t already mentioned somewhere else in this article. After digging around meet results, I stopped at the Connecticut College Invitational results and realized that it was a much deeper race than I originally thought.

Elias Lindgren of Williams took the win over Tyler Morris of Colby, Sam Acquaviva and Matthew Kearney of MIT, Matt Carter of Connecticut College and his teammate Graham Tuohy Gaydos. That is a wildly loaded field.

Lindgren’s mark of 23:43 was seven seconds better than Morris and was another 20 seconds ahead of Acquaviva.

This also means that Lindgren has kept his undefeated streak going. He has won at the Sienna XC Invitational, the Little 3 XC Championship and the Purple Valley Invitational.

This win might not be mind-blowing, but it’s still legit. Lindgren keeps proving over and over again that he should be in contention for that individual national title in November.