First Thoughts: 2023 Sean Earl Loyola Lakefront Invitational

Over the years, the Loyola Lakefront Invitational has been a very solid meet for a lot of midwest teams. However, I'm not sure that I can remember the last time this meet was as competitive as it was on Friday.

While the Chicago-based meet didn't feature the top-heavy talent that we saw at Joe Piane, there were still a handful of interesting results that I wanted to review and chat about...

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Click here to see results

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Women's Analysis

1. Furman Paladins (58 points)

We tried to tell you...but some of you wouldn't listen.

The Furman women came into this season listed at TSR #24 in our preseason team rankings. We explained how the Paladins had numerous lineup options and how a handful of their scorers were expected to improve compared to last year.

However, the Furman women ultimately exceeded expectations on Friday with a fantastic team-centric effort. The combination of Carly Wilkes, Kaylie Armitage, Bethany Graham, Abigail Robertson and Sierra Bower went 6-7-11-15-19, respectively, in the overall results.

Sure, they may not have produced a top-tier low-stick, but the Paladins were void of any flaws on Friday. In a contest where nearly every team struggled with a certain aspect of their lineup, it was the Furman women who ran a clean race.

And here's the craziest part -- I think they can be a lot better moving forward.

Last fall, Bethany Graham, Abigail Robertson and Jenna Mulhern were (usually) the team's top-three scorers. But on Friday, those same women were the third, fourth and sixth options in this lineup, respectively.

Yes, it would have been nice if they ran a bit closer to expectations, but if the Paladins are able produce a result like that and STILL have plenty of upside, then I would be very nervous about battling this team over the next two months.

2. Ole Miss Rebels (66 points)

This was a pleasantly surprising race for the Ole Miss women!

On paper, the Rebels entered this season with strong personnel who could theoretically put together a cohesive and effective scoring group. But after an underwhelming fall campaign in 2022, we wanted to see how this team would step up a year later.

Ole Miss was very solid on Friday as Loral Winn (3rd) and Ryan Helmers (4th) gave their team two valuable low-stick positions. And while we're not necessarily surprised by either of those results, it is nice to see Winn translating her highly underrated track success to the grass.

Skylar Boogerd (12th) offered nice stability in the middle portion of this lineup, a result that is roughly on par with her resume, although I think she could have cracked the top-10. The final two Ole Miss scorers were Sarah Schiffmann (22nd) and Kristel van den Berg (25th).

Those backend results weren't totally ideal, and greater depth is ultimately how Furman won, but compared to other teams in this field, the Rebels flexed a fairly complete lineup.

And truthfully, van den Berg is probably capable of being a much more potent scorer than what she showed us on Friday. She did, after all, run times of 15:54 (5k) and 9:56 (steeple) earlier this year on the outdoor oval.

I'll be interested to see how this team fares in a larger field where significant scoring gaps can form. But for now, this was a great result that could give Ole Miss enough Kolas points to get into the national meet.

3. Wisconsin Badgers (94 points)

I could only shrug my shoulders when I saw that the Wisconsin women placed 3rd overall in this race. It's a decent result, and they took down some solid teams, but it was also clear that they didn't have enough firepower to compete with Furman and Ole Miss.

Leane Willemse (10th) was a nice surprise and someone who I frankly overlooked when evaluating this team during the summer months. Alexa Westley (13th) had a sneaky-good race as well, ultimately rebounding from a tough 2022 fall campaign.

Vivian Hacker, Danielle Orie and Victoria Heiligenthal closed out the team's scoring with respectable backend results of 21st, 23rd and 27th, respectively.

On paper, that wasn't a bad race from the Badgers, but this is a roster that should be contending for the win and even defeating the top-two teams in this field.

Of course, when you realize that the Wisconsin women didn't field Shea Ruhly or Harvard transfer Maya Rayle (who won the "Gold" race with ease by racing unattached), then you can actually look at this result and be fairly pleased with it.

4. Lipscomb Bison (117 points)

While I can't say that I'm too surprised by Lipscomb's performance, I can still acknowledge how cool it is to see them emerge as a nationally competitive squad over the last year.

Lydia Miller (5th) is so underrated and a really great low-stick for this team. The Bison have plenty of scoring options in this lineup, but Miller is the woman who gives them an edge and allows the Bison to match some of the more established programs that they face.

Kiara Carter (17th), who is more of a middle distance specialist, had the best cross country race of her career. She was a key name who bridged the gap between Miller and the Bison's backend runners. If she wasn't there, then I think Gonzaga likely gets the better of Lipscomb.

Harley Kletz, Colbi Borland, Mackenzie Barnett, Ellie Brewer and Abigail Horevay closed out their team's lineup (and added some scoring insurance) by going 28-30-37-38-44, respectively. That was a respectable backend group that offered useful depth, but they certainly didn't stun the rest of this field, either.

However, we should note that Liza Corso was a DNF in this race. She has shown plenty of promise over the last year, running times of 4:19 (1500), 9:24 (3k) and 16:22 (5k). I like to think that she would've contended for a top-20 finish in this race if she was at her best.

5. Gonzaga Bulldogs (129 points)

So...who is Rosina Machu?

Yes, I did know that this Gonzaga ace was great on the track earlier this year, running times of 9:29 (3k) and 15:59 (5k), but what she just did on Friday was incredible. The sophomore, who didn't even win her first race of this season against a former D2 runner, just won this meet and did so by beating Addie Engel, an All-American star, by 24 seconds.

Let me repeat that...

TWENTY. FOUR. SECONDS.

For perspective, Katelyn Tuohy "only" beat Engel by 22.7 seconds at last year's national meet.

I have no idea how to process that kind of result, mainly because it was so dominant and truthfully, a little bit out of nowhere. Yes, Machu proved that she could be nationally competitive last year and maybe I wouldn't be as surprised if she upset Engel by a couple of seconds...but I don't think anyone could have expected this.

With Machu giving this team such a potent scoring effort, Gonzaga was able to find team success with Sadie Tuckwood (18th) and Jessica Frydenlund (20th) supporting her. Those two women gave the Bulldogs a really strong top-three and some solid stability.

Rookie Jade Rypkema had a nice effort in 39th place while Alexi Fogo finished 51st to close out the scoring. The backend of this lineup will need to close some gaps, but this was still a very successful day for Gonzaga.

The Bulldogs have a star low-stick, two solid supporting scorers and a true freshman at the backend of their lineup who may still have some upside. Keep an eye on this team moving forward...

6. Ohio State Buckeyes (165 points)

On paper, this result doesn't look great...because it isn't.

Addie Engel (2nd) was excellent as always and Daniella Santos (8th) was a valuable secondary scorer yet again. None of that surprised us. The Buckeyes also had Akemi Von Scherr (29th) produce a nice result at the third spot in this lineup. However, Ohio State's limited depth, which we have spoken about for the last year or so, continues to give this team challenges.

That said, Ohio State still didn't have Andrea Kuhn for this race. If she ran and theoretically placed 10th overall, then the Buckeyes jump to 4th place and beat Lipscomb. I don't exactly love that Kuhn still isn't racing, but I'll only be concerned if she remains absent in October.

Is this the kind of result that we expected from this team? No, we certainly thought that they would be better, but this is also a team that peaked perfectly for the postseason last fall.

With that in mind, lets put away the panic button, we definitely don't need that yet...I think.

7. Michigan Wolverines (170 points)

Rough day for Michigan. I knew that the Wolverines would have some challenges this fall after losing Ericka VanderLende, but this team struggled to find some support behind Kayla Windemuller who earned a strong 9th place finish on Friday.

Samantha Saenz (31st) and Samantha Hastie (33rd) were fairly solid, but having only one person in the top-30 of this field isn't great in the grand scheme of things.

This is the part where I would usually say, "Just wait for Katelynne Hart to race," but she actually did. The former high school star toed the line for the less competitive "Gold" section on Friday where she placed 19th overall. While it's undeniable that Hart has a ton of incredible raw talent, it also seems like she experienced a setback over the last year and is working to rally back to top form.

Luckily, the Wolverines could still find success later in the season if Samantha Tran, someone who has run 15:52 over 5000 meters, returns to this lineup.

8. Northwestern Wildcats (191 points)

There's not a whole lot to say about Northwestern. They have a few decent scoring options on their roster, and I did think that they would be a little bit better on Friday, but this result doesn't really surprise me.

The Wildcats were led by Katherine Hessler who had a nice 16th place finish. Kalea Bartolotto produced a decent result of her in 26th place. But with limited firepower and significant gaps at the backend of their scoring group, the Northwestern women could only do so much.

9. Toledo Rockets (255 points)

I have no idea what happened here.

We ranked the Toledo women at TSR #22 coming into this season. They were a national qualifying team last fall and returned everyone from that lineup. Sure, they had their fair share of ups and downs in 2022, but they were clearly a top team in the NCAA.

And going into Friday, you could have argued that they should have won this race.

Obviously, that didn't happen. The Rockets' top scorer at this meet was Vilde Henriksen who finished 34th overall. The next four women in Toledo's lineup went 46-48-65-69.

Joy Chirchir, who we viewed as an All-American threat this fall, fell back to 69th place. If we did predictions for this meet, then I would have placed her in the top-five. Toledo also saw top scorer Faith Linga produce a DNF result, but truthfully, the Rockets still would have struggled even if she did finish the race.

I struggle to believe that this is actually how good Toledo is. I don't see how that could be the case. I would be shocked if they weren't significantly better in the future, but it's admittedly hard to be optimistic after that result.

Quick Hits

• N/A

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Men's Analysis

1. Wisconsin Badgers (49 points)

Yes, the Wisconsin men easily won this meet, but truthfully, I thought they would be even more dominant...despite winning by 60 points.

Bob Liking and Jackson Sharp unsurprisingly went 1-2 while Evan Bishop posted a solid 11th place finish. Micah Wilson (14th) had an encouraging race as well, clearly building on the momentum that he produced as a rookie.

However, Rowen Ellenberg was a bit further back than I expected in 21st place. And with no one else cracking the top-40, I was surprised to see a usually deep team have limited scoring choices after their top-five.

That being said, Israeli recruit Matan Ivri (a 13:57 runner for 5000 meters) didn't race and the same could be said for Adam Spencer who ran 3:31 for 1500 meters this past summer.

I wouldn't look too deep into this result. Wisconsin still controlled this race with ease, but I did think that those were lineup aspects were worth pointing out.

2. Iona Gaels (109 points)

I really liked what I saw from the Iona men! This may not have been the most loaded field, but this was still a super encouraging result.

Joshua DeSouza (9th) is getting closer to be a true low-stick after showing flashes of that kind of talent over the last year. Damien Dilcher (13th), despite being a middle distance guy, had a fantastic race and provided excellent value relative to expectations.

Matt Rankin (22nd) was fairly solid, but could be even better in the future given his 13:48 (5k) personal best from earlier this year. Lachlan Wellington (31st) and Jonathan DeSouza (34th) both did a nice job in terms of avoiding excessive scoring, but both of these men can also be better moving forward.

The Gaels don't have much room for error at the backend of their lineup, although Nick Soldevere is a decent option if needed. The Gaels also need to all run well on the same day if they want a shot at getting to the national meet or picking up Kolas points on a larger stage.

But for the most part, this was a successful race for Iona.

3. Drake Bulldogs (120 points)

Wow, where did this come from?

The Drake men have traditionally been led by Isaac Basten, but the Bulldogs made him their fourth scorer on Friday. Instead, the combination of Cameron Bell, Aziz Jdai and Enzo Marie went 15-18-19, respectively, while Basten settled for 27th place.

Yes, their fifth runner was a bit further back in 41st place, but generally speaking, this was an outstanding effort from Drake. I just didn't expect them to have that kind of scoring. Sure, none of those guys are necessarily low-sticks, but crowding the top-20 like they did and minimizing gaps through four runners was very impressive.

Oh, and by the way, Brogan Giffin (a transfer from Boise State) was a DNF in this race. I like to think that he could have been somewhere in the top-30 on Friday, maybe even top-20.

I still want to see more from this team, mainly because I've had trouble gauging how good this field was or wasn't. Regardless, this was an ideal start for the Drake men, especially if Basten makes a jump up to that top group (and I think he will).

4. Loyola (Ill.) Ramblers (122 points)

Slowly but surely, Loyola's relatively new coaching staff is building an increasingly more competitive distance squad. It will take more time, and the Ramblers need to continue their recruitment of underrated transfers, but Friday was a great step in the right direction.

Chris Devaney (3rd) looks like he could be a low-stick in a similar way that Ryan Martins was last fall. His bronze medal result was complemented by Jason Clayton's 17th place finish which deserved plenty of respect as well.

Gabe Smit (30th), Jake Phillips (32nd) and Cael Mulholland (40th) certainly have room for improvement, but they made sure that the backend of the Ramblers' scoring group stayed fairly stable.

On paper, Loyola has a lineup structure that is essentially the inverse of what Drake showed us on Friday. I'm not exactly sure which scoring approach is going to be more conducive to future success, but I'll be interested to see how this team develops.

5. Ole Miss Rebels (135 points)

Through three runners, the Ole Miss men looked incredible, staying competitive with the top scoring trio of Wisconsin...but then things fell apart.

Jack Meijer (5th), Toby Gillen (7th) and Cole Bullock (8th) delivered on expectations of being true low-sticks for this team. I did think Gillen would be a bit closer to the top of these results, but generally speaking, the Rebels had an excellent 1-2-3 punch.

The problem, however, is that the men from Oxford, Mississippi just didn't have any scoring support. Aiden Britt (37th) put together a passable performance, but with the team's fifth man dropping all the way back to 80th place, you can see how the Rebels faded to 5th place in the team standings.

This is something that we said could happen. We knew that Ole Miss had talent, but we also said that they had zero margin for error and that they had a ton of different ways (both good and bad) as to how their season could unfold.

We should note that Cruz Gomez didn't race, but I'm not entirely positive what kind of impact he would have made for the Rebels.

I'm not willing to write off Ole Miss yet (I did that last fall and it went poorly for me), but structurally, this team will only be as good as their fifth man is.

6. Tulsa Golden Hurricanes (162 points)

The Tulsa men essentially had the same lineup structure as Drake, except they were just a handful of points behind the Bulldogs in each of those respective scoring spots.

Chris McLeod (16th) was solid, Charlie Krasnoff (23rd) and Christian Baker (29th) were decent and Johnny Livingstone (39th) did enough to get by. However, the Golden Hurricanes had no one else finish in the top-50. And for a team that didn't have any significant firepower, it was going to be hard for these men to be competitive with the top teams in this field.

However, it's important to realize that Shay McEvoy, someone who we listed in the top-20 of our preseason individual rankings, didn't race on Friday. If the cross country All-American had toed the line and finished 3rd, then Tulsa would have tied Iona for 2nd place after factoring in displacement (although they would have lost on the tie-breaker).

Even in that scenario, we would still expect more from our TSR #23 team -- there's clearly some work to do. That being said, the Golden Hurricanes are in a rebuilding year and despite that, they can still be fairly competitive.

7. Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders (195 points)

I don't really have a whole lot to say about Middle Tennessee State. However, Brian Kiptoo (4th) and Vincent Yegon (10th) look like they could be two very strong names in the future if they continue to develop. Don't sleep on that duo.

Quick Hits

• I liked what we saw from Toledo's Dennis Mutai (6th) and Kentucky's Jake Allen (12th). These guys aren't necessarily stars, but they continue to post really solid results.