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First Thoughts: 2023 Joe Piane Invitational
- Admin (Garrett Zatlin)
- Sep 29, 2023
- 15 min read
Written by Garrett Zatlin, audio & visual content via Nate Lopez
Well that was fun, huh? The Joe Piane Invitational is all wrapped up and there was quite a bit to talk about in both men's and women's races. Let's break down these results and analyze the top portion of the team results.
Women's Analysis
1. NC State Wolfpack (44 points)
That was...so. darn. impressive.
The NC State women didn't have Katelyn Tuohy, Amaris Tyynismaa, Brooke Rauber or Abby Loveys for this race. Meanwhile, the Notre Dame women didn't have Ericka VanderLende who actually produced a DNF result.
And based on that information, the Fighting Irish were supposed to win this race.
But instead, the Wolfpack did -- and that's why races aren't run on paper.
Kelsey Chmiel was unsurprisingly great, emerging as the runner-up finisher. She looked like she was only at 90% during the outdoor track season, but this is a fantastic effort in a very top-heavy field. This was also a course that favored the leg speed of a few other women.
However, the real surprise was two spots behind her.
True freshman Leah Stephens is way ahead of schedule as far as her fitness is concerned. A 4th place finish in this field which featured numerous All-American stars is wildly impressive. We knew that she was good given her pedigree and promising season opener, but this result was beyond the best-case scenario that I had for her.
It's a similar story for Grace Hartman, the redshirt freshman who placed 9th. I think we knew that Hartman was going to be a key name for the Wolfpack women this fall, but I also thought that this would be the fitness that she reached in the postseason, not in late September.
Hartman's first-to-second year jump in fitness looks incredibly promising. She's already a high-impact scorer and it looks like the Ohio native has only upside from here on out.
If she continues to run at this level, then...how many points could NC State score at the national meet assuming everyone else is firing on all cylinders?
From there, Gionna Quarzo (14th) and Jenna Schulz (15th) were flat-out solid. And frankly, that's all they needed to be! Quarzo has become an incredibly reliable piece to lean on when certain women are out of NC State's lineup and Schulz has clearly made improvements in her own fitness.
We should also note that All-American ace Sam Bush dropped to 30th in this race. She has been absent from racing since mid-April, so this wasn't exactly the most encouraging result. Even so, it's her first race of the season and she has proven to be exceptionally talented. She'll just be someone to monitor moving forward.
2. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (53 points)
I'm a little conflicted when it comes to the Notre Dame women.
We came into this cross country season viewing them as fringe podium contenders. And with NC State missing so many key runners going into Friday, I figured the Fighting Irish would be favored for the win as they seemed to have the more talented personnel.
That, however, didn't happen and Notre Dame lost to an NC State team that didn't have Tuohy, Tyynismaa, Rauber or Loveys. Sam Bush also fell out of the Wolfpack's top-five.
Simply put, if there was a time for the Irish to beat their ACC rivals, Friday was that time.
On the other hand, the NC State women were just far better than we expected. And when you pair that with the fact that Ericka VanderLende didn't finish the race for Notre Dame, this result becomes a bit easier to digest.
In fact, when we look at Notre Dame's scoring structure from this meet, there was a lot to like about this team.
Siona Chisholm (5th) and Olivia Markezich (6th) had solid outings and delivered on their low-stick potential. Yes, Markezich could have been a bit higher, but for an early-season race in November, I wouldn't say it's a big deal.
Meanwhile, veteran Andrea Markezich (12th) and rookie Grace Schager (13th) offered valuable middle lineup scoring within Notre Dame's top-five. This is roughly on par with my expectations for both of these women, although Schager was a bit better than I thought she would be. Erin Strzelecki also ran fairly well with a very respectable 17th place finish.
At the very least, having that kind of stability beyond their focal low-sticks is huge for this team. The Fighting Irish are still trying to find their identity after introducing a handful of new names to their roster during the offseason and it looks like both Andrea Markezich and Schager are acclimating quite well to training in South Bend.
While I do think Notre Dame should have been able to beat this NC State squad, I also can't look at anyone in their top-five and be upset about their efforts.
3. Alabama Crimson Tide (73 points)
Welcome to the NCAA, Doris Lemngole!
After an entire offseason of speculating just how good this little-known Kenyan rookie truly is, the newest member of Alabama's cross country team just sent a statement to the entire nation. The 5k and steeplechase specialist ultimately dominated this race with a nine-second win over Kelsey Chmiel.
I think we knew that Lemngole, also known as Doris Cherop, was going to be an All-American standout this fall. However, this kind of result suggests that she is likely a top-10 runner in the NCAA and maybe even somewhere in the top-five.
Given how impressive her credentials already were, that doesn't seem like a stretch at all.
Hilda Olemomoi (8th) had the first "off" day of her still-young NCAA career. I expected her to finish 2nd place in this field, but it seems like she just couldn't stay in contact with the leaders a bit past halfway.
That being said, Hilda Olemomoi may not have been at 100% going into this weekend as she was battling illness. And in that case, then there is very little reason to be concerned about this result.
However, maybe the biggest development that this team had was Joy Gill, the transfer from Incarnate Word, earn a HUGE 11th place finish! The sophomore was excellent on the grass last fall despite her rookie inexperience, but was sometimes overlooked given the light competition that she faced.
But with a year of experience and greater competition to showcase her fitness against, Gill looks like she can be a valuable third scorer for the Alabama women and minimize some expected scoring deficiencies. And if she continues to improve, then she may be a legitimate low-stick this fall.
Meanwhile, Elka Machan (24th) and McKenzie Hogue (29th) posted admirable results. All they needed to do was not subject the Crimson Tide to any excessive backend scoring. And with all five scorers finishing inside the top-30, they did exactly that.
Sure, this team may not be nearly as top-heavy as what the Crimson Tide flexed last fall, but in terms of the supporting cast that comes after their low-sticks, Alabama's depth may be better this fall compared to what they had in 2022.
4. UC-Davis Aggies (152 points)
I'll be totally honest: Going into Friday's race, I thought that this UC-Davis team was a two-woman show. Outside of Brianna Weidler and Sierra Atkins, I didn't see much from the rest of this roster on either the track or the grass that made me feel super confident about them.
But oh my, what a difference one summer can make...
Weidler (7th) and Atkins (10th) were truly fantastic. They gave their team a low-stick scoring duo that was fairly competitive with the other top squads in this field. That, of course, was largely unsurprising -- I even said that this duo could potentially sneak into top-10 in our meet preview.
However, what I wasn't expecting was seeing Maddie Kackley produce a fantastic 20th place finish! That is a huge breakout performance for someone who, truthfully, didn't show many signs of being quite that good in previous seasons.
Make no mistake, Kackley had a few decent marks on her resume going into Friday, holding personal bests of 9:39 (3k) and 16:28 (5k). Even so, I don't think I would have predicted her to be a top-20 finisher in this field and truthfully, I'm not sure if would have picked her to be in the top-40, either.
Behind Kackley was teammate Daniele Barrett who posted a decent 53rd place finish. Sure, there was a gap between her and Kackley, but it was still a nice result for a team that was not at all expected to crack the top-five on Friday.
Of course, make no mistake, there's still work to be done at the latter-half of this lineup. The Aggies' next three runners finished 63rd, 76th and 98th, respectively. But keep in mind that one of those women, Chloe Arriaga, was the 28th place finisher at the West Regional XC Championships last fall.
If she can replicate that result over the next two months, then UC-Davis is going to be an even bigger problem for their competitors than what they showed earlier today.
Kudos to UC-Davis and Coach Emma Petersen. I was happy to be so wrong about your team.
5. Florida State Seminoles (182 points)
Welp, I can't say that I'm too surprised about this result. Without Agnes McTighe and Elizabeth Funderburk, there was only so much that Alyson Churchill could do from a scoring perspective.
A 3rd place finish finish from Churchill earlier today was fantastic. It not only validates her excellent 2023 outdoor track season, but it also shows us that she has carried her momentum over to the grass.
A 33rd place finish from Bieke Schipperen was fairly solid, but with no other Seminole in the top-40, it was going to be hard for the Florida State women to truly stand out in this field. Luckily, the theoretical return of McTighe and Funderburk (if they're both at 100%) should put the FSU well past UC-Davis in a race like this.
6. Pitt Panthers (198 points)
Pittsburgh is my favorite city. My entire family is from there, my two best friends went to Pitt and the Steelers have given me a lot of great memories that the Browns certainly don't have.
As my cross country fandom has evolved, I have continued to wait for the Panthers to be more competitive than they have been on the grass. That was going to be a tough task for this team given how much money has been placed into the non-distance portion of this program.
But on Friday, I saw an exciting spark from the Pitt women. They were far from perfect, but they had a handful of women who looked like legitimately great scorers. And while the Panthers were without their former coach Brad Herbster, he did do a nice job in leaving behind a well-constructed cross country squad for new coach Griff Graves to refine.
Did I expect Sadie Carey-Tharp to place 17th in this field? No, I certainly did not.
Did I expect Winnie Incorvaia to place 26th on Friday? Nope, never crossed my mind.
Did I expect Emily Brown to place 35th in her first major challenge of the season? Well, yes, I actually thought that she would be closer to the top-20, but's that's neither here not there. She still ran fairly well.
Through three runners, the Panthers were outstanding relative to expectations. In fact, they were better than the Seminoles! Admittedly, the Pitt women did see some drop-offs after their top-three, but 51st and 68th place finishes from Camy Kiser and Caroline Rusinski (respectively) are serviceable results that this Pitt can work with this fall.
No, I'm not saying that this Pitt team is favored to make the national meet or anything like that, but this is a really solid result that the Panthers should be very proud of.
Quick Hits
The Washington State women may have placed 9th, but they actually had a great day by going 19-22-37-64 through four runners in the overall results. They did, however, struggle at their last scoring position. But with Alaina Stone Boggs not toeing the line, the Cougars could be very competitive when/if she returns to their lineup.
Notre Dame rookie Gretchen Farley won the "Open" section with a 5k time (16:46) that was one second faster than teammate Grace Schager (16:47) who finished 13th overall in the "Blue" race. I would imagine that Farley won't be redshirted for too much longer.
Fantastic effort from Central Michigan's Emily Paupore. She finished 17th overall in what was a massive breakout race for her. She had a few decent marks on her resume coming into Friday, but nothing that suggested Paupore would be a top-20 finisher in a field as stacked as this.
Men's Analysis
Thoughts on Chandler Gibbens (Kansas)
This past outdoor track season, Chandler Gibbens had a monumental breakout season. The unexpected Kansas star was fantastic over 5000 meters, producing a new PR of 13:28. He eventually qualified for the national meet in that event.
Gibbens was clearly at another level coming into this season, but he was facing stiff competition on Friday. We also had no idea how he would translate his recent success from the outdoor oval to the grass three to four months later.
But as it turns out, Gibbens is seemingly even better now than he ever was before.
On Friday, the Kansas ace secured a monumental win, one that may even be career-defining, over the Alabama duo of Hillary Cheruiyot and Victor Kiprop as well as every other All-American star who was at this meet.
Gibbens is still somewhat of an unknown in terms of what his ceiling is, mainly because it seems limitless right now. But this race completely redefines what he's potentially capable of, even if we don't have a ton of results like these to go off of.
If he can keep this up, then a top-10 finish on the national stage isn't out of the question.
1. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (87 points)
Was this a slimmer margin of victory than I was expecting Notre Dame to have? Yes, I thought they would earn the overall victory a bit more comfortably than they did. However, I also believed that Carter Solomon would be in contention for the individual win, and unfortunately for him, he just had a tough "off" day.
Nonetheless, the rest of the Fighting Irish men were fairly solid. Josh Methner's 6th place finish led the team. It was certainly on the better side of what we thought he would do this weekend, but he also has a history of being a top distance talent and it looks like he may be building back to that point.
CJ Singleton and Ethan Coleman, two redshirt rookies, placed 13th and 16th, respectively. Those are encouraging results for a Notre Dame program that has been leaning on graduate transfers for the last few seasons. But by developing competitive distance talents in-house, you can see an avenue for greater long-term sustainability for the Irish.
The ongoing growth of Singleton and Coleman is going to be especially important this fall. Their upside, paired with the firepower of Methner and Solomon, as well as an experienced backend, should lead to some highly impressive performances in the postseason.
Admittedly, the rest of Notre Dame's lineup didn't look super sharp. Carter Solomon faded to 24th place in what was a clear "off" day for him. He could have absolutely been in the top-three if he was at his best. Tyler Berg's 28th place finish was very respectable, but it felt like he could have been a bit closer to the top-20.
In my opinion, the Fighting Irish are so much stronger than what they showed.
Berg can be a bit better and Solomon can be a lot better. We also (surprisingly) saw Rishabh Prakash, Vincent Mauri and Tom Seitzer entered in the "Gold" race which Mauri ultimately won. If those guys run in the "Blue" race, specifically Mauri, then I like to think that Notre Dame earns a far more convincing win and boasts a more complete top-five.
2. Florida State Seminoles (95 points)
My prediction that the Florida State men would earn silver in this field ultimately came true. And what's even better is that they ran roughly how I thought they would! They had two great low-sticks and a solid supporting cast spread out between 20th and 30th place.
David Mullarkey (5th) proved that his successful outdoor track season should be taken seriously by producing a fantastic low-stick result. That was probably on the better end of what I thought he would do.
Meanwhile, Abdirizak Ibrahim (9th) did exactly what he was recruited to do -- offer potent firepower at the front of these kinds of races. And while he could have been a few spots better, this former New Mexico runner largely had a successful day.
The rest of the Seminoles' scoring group -- Cooper Schroeder, Joe Farley and Ahmed Ibrahim -- were really solid as well, finishing 21-29-31, respectively.
That was roughly what I expected from all three of these men, although Schroeder is the real hero here. He had flashed moments of being a high-impact scorer before, but we only saw them on occasion and he had never been this good on the grass.
If he can keep that going throughout the rest of the fall months, then the 'Noles will have a more complete top-five this fall than I thought they would.
3. Alabama Crimson Tide (114 points)
Honestly, I don't have too much to say about this team as far as their scoring structure goes.
Hillary Cheruiyot (2nd) was better than I thought he'd be and Victor Kiprop (3rd) delivered on his low-stick scoring potency like he usually does in the regular season.
That lethal 1-2 punch was important given that Eliud Kipsang struggled a bit, fading to 25th place and creating further questions about where his fitness has been since the outdoor track season. He'll be a key name to monitor this fall, especially since the Crimson Tide's entire scoring identity hinges how good their top-three is.
Jacob Harris (39th) and Carson Burian (43rd) were roughly as good as I thought they'd be. They didn't let Alabama team's score get out of control, but those gaps will certainly be a bit trickier to manage in larger fields like Nuttycombe and the national meet.
4. NC State Wolfpack (174 points)
This certainly wasn't the best performance for NC State, but I also wouldn't say that it's a cause for concern, either. Brett Gardner (17th) ran well to lead his team while Dan McGoey (23rd) offered a respectable secondary scorer for the Wolfpack to lean on.
However, with no one else cracking the top-40 (but their next three scorers all cracking the top-50), there just wasn't enough scoring potency for the Wolfpack to contend with the Alabama men.
Yes, Ian Harrison had an "off" day and I full expect him to be better in the future. He may not be as good as where I predicted him to be in this race (4th overall), but on paper, he's just as good as Gardner.
Even so, the rest of this team also needs to make improvements, not just Harrison.
Hannes Burger (42nd), Toby Gualter (43rd), John Malach (50th) and Wesley Larson (54th) need to collectively cover the gap between them and McGoey. The firepower on this team also needs to be more potent.
That being said, the NC State men also struggled at this meet in 2022 and they ended up having a fantastic season. It would be very premature to write this team off in September.
5. Michigan State Spartans (177 points)
Well, this certainly was't the flashiest lineup, but the Spartan's top-five nearly upset NC State, so I guess it doesn't matter how it looks, huh?
The scoring combination of Alexander Penski, Josh Smith, Owen Huard, Andrew Nolan and Aden Smith went 26-27-34-44-46, respectively, in the overall results. Parker Lambers (52nd) and Jack Pennewell (58th) added two more top-60 finishers for good measure.
This is a solid team that seemingly likes to loosely run as a group and lean on their depth. However, the need for greater firepower is glaring.
Unless that entire top-five can collectively move up their positioning in larger fields (relative to their competition), then it's going to be a struggle for Michigan State to take down certain programs. They need a more-defined lead scorer -- maybe even two.
The good news is that the Spartans still have CarLee Stimpfel and Riley Hough waiting in the wings of their program. Those two men are arguably the top-two scoring options on this team. And when they're at their best, they certainly give this team a major boost.
And with that knowledge, you have to be very happy with how the men in green and white performed if you're a Michigan State fan.
6. Charlotte 49ers (186 points)
I was a little surprised to see the Charlotte men venture all the way to Indiana to compete in a high-profile cross country meet seven days after racing at the Virginia Invitational. That's a lot of high-level, early-season racing for any team.
Even so, that decision may have been a good one.
Sure, the 49ers didn't crack the top-five during Friday's race, but they did take down Akron, Furman and Montana State. From a Kolas perspective, it's possible that one of those team could produce a point for Charlotte, although is far from guaranteed.
To no one's surprise, Nickolas Scudder (8th) produced a strong low-stick result. Aaron Rovnak (32nd) continues to offer nice scoring value at the second spot in this lineup while Maddon Muhammad (41st) rebounded fairly well from a tough outing at the Virginia Invitational.
Hunter White (51st) and Alec Esposito (55th) closed out the 49ers' scoring with decent results, effectively giving their team a scoring structure similar to that of Michigan State, except the 'Niners had a low-stick and were less compact.
This was a solid rebound race from Charlotte, but they'll need to continue to improve if they want a shot at making it to the national meet.
7. Akron Zips (222 points)
8. Furman Paladins (236 points)
9. Montana State Bobcats (257 points)
I'm lumping these teams together because I only have a few highlights for each.
The Akron men seem to be adopting the model where they recruit a few overseas standouts and lean on those men for scoring. So far, that's working out fairly well as we saw Brian Masai (4th) and Timothy Chesondin (7th) give the Zips a fantastic 1-2 punch. Titus Kirui (22nd) was also an excellent third piece, making Akron look like a legitimate problem for many respectable teams around the country.
Akron's limited depth ultimately caught up to them, but in terms of firepower, this team looks like they can be very dangerous in most meets that they toe the line for.
Furman didn't have their best day, but Carson Williams (10th) ran very well, Cameron Ponder (33rd) will likely improve as the season goes on, Dylan Schubert (47th) just had an "off" day and Brayden Seymour posted a DNF result.
I see only upside from here when it comes to the Paladins.
UPDATE: Schubert has been battling / recovering from mono per Coach Robert Gary via a press release article on Furman's website.
As for Montana State, they relied on Ben Perrin (11th) who was as good as advertised and Owen Smith (15th) was a very pleasant surprise. Unfortunately, the Bobcats just flat-out struggled after those two men, going 50-88-98 in the overall results to round out their scoring.
While that result may look bad (and it is), Montana State should take some comfort in knowing that Matthew Ricthman, Levi Taylor and Rob McManus can all be so much better (by significant margins) moving forward.
Quick Hits
Nice races by Washington State's Brian Barsaiya (12th), Youngstown State's Hunter Christopher (15th), Tulane's Illia Kunin (18th), Washington State's Kelvin Limo (19th) and Iowa's Max Murphy (20th). You could argue that Friday was the best cross country race of their careers.
Tulane's 13th place finish may look bad, but they didn't have Bradley Makuvire who could have finished anywhere from 20th place to 10th place. If he were to theoretically finish 15th place overall in this field (and factor-in displacement for everyone else), then the Green Wave would move up to 7th place and tie with Akron. They would, however, lose the tie-breaker.
I have no idea what happened to Southern Utah. I thought they could be a sneaky-good team that would be able to upset a few squads...but they finished last. Santiago Gaitan was a DNF, but that hardly mattered. I struggle to believe that this result is representative of what the Thunderbirds are capable of.
