Five Things To Watch: Lewis Crossover Preview

John Cusick
Oct 7, 2022
10 min read

Edits and additional commentary by Garrett Zatlin

The Lewis XC Crossover is one of the more competitive Division Two-centric cross country meets that the NCAA has to offer each and every year. In 2022, that narrative will be no different as numerous top-ranked distance programs will venture to Illinois to clash in one of the more exciting regular season meets of this season.

Below, we highlighted "five things to watch" for Saturday's showdown.

Let's begin, shall we?

NOTE: While The Stride Report was able to receive entries for this meet, we did not receive the list of names and teams in a link or file format that can be published on the site.

The Colorado Christian Men Face Their First True Test

The Colorado Christian men have already raced twice this season, although neither of those showings were given a competitive emphasis. Their first effort came at the CU Time Trial followed by the Roadrunners Invitational.

So what should we expect from this team on Saturday?

Well, after reviewing the team entries that were sent to us, we feel pretty confident that the Cougars should win this meet.

The scoring quartet of Josh Pierantoni (TSR #16), Alexander Vance, Trent Cochran and Matthew Storer can all potentially be top-80 finishers at the national meet this fall (which might even be conservative) if everything breaks their way.

That, in theory, is scoring prowess that not many teams can match in this field.

There's little doubt that Pierantoni is going to be one of the absolute best distance talents in this race. His presence alone will give his team a low-stick scoring edge over the other squads in this field which, generally speaking, seem more built around depth than low-sticks.

However, the real drivers behind how well the Cougars will race on Saturday will be Vance, Cochran and Storer.

Cochran has already given us every reason to believe that he will be a major factor in this race. He ran 14:07 for 5000 meters this past spring and was actually 5th at this meet last fall. When he's at his best, Cochran is likely an All-American-caliber talent, something that could be reflected in his result on Saturday.

But if the Cougars are going to dominate like we think they will, then either Vance or Storer will need to have a breakout race. A third top-end scorer who is capable of bridging the two halves of this lineup would be a wildly valuable development for Colorado Christian as they aim to bolster their spot in our team rankings.

At that same CU Time Trial that we mentioned earlier, the Cougars had Nicholas Ramirez, Luke Meyer, Isaac Roberts and Isaac Russo all finish within three seconds of each other. That puts them in the running as being the all-important depth pieces in the coming months for Colorado Christian.

But will they be able to cover the lineup gaps after the Cougars' top-three or top-four runners? If so, by how much? And who will that be? Your guesses are as good as mine.

We have a pretty good grip on who the top-four athletes will be for CCU on Saturday. However, determining who that fifth scorer is will likely be a priority for this team.

Luckily, we should get greater clarity after this weekend.

The Minnesota-Duluth Women Look For Another Strong Showing After Promising Victory At Griak Invitational

This should be a really exciting race for the Minnesota-Duluth women. They’re fresh off of a really strong victory over a solid Winona State group two weeks ago at the Griak Invitational.

Spearheaded by Cailee Peterson and Maddie Verkerke, the Bulldogs have some potential firepower that could propel this team to a top finish on the national stage.

Earlier this year, Peterson transferred from South Dakota and made her debut for Duluth at the Griak Invitational. Her 5th place finish was a very pleasant surprise as she gave her team another top-end runner to ignite a scoring spark at the front-end of this lineup.

If she races like that again on Saturday, and if her supporting cast is just as good as they were two weeks ago, then the Bulldogs could be considered as the favorites for the team title tomorrow.

And then we have Maddie Verkerke who appears to be having a breakout season of her own. At Griak, she was nine places better than the previous year, finishing 7th overall and 34 seconds faster than she was in the fall of 2021.

Verkerke's emergence as a possible front-runner for this team could be huge in terms of changing our perception of their scoring potency. If she can continue to build upon, or at least continue, her recent momentum, then Minnesota-Duluth will be a problem on Saturday.

Led by those two women, a shot at victory will come down to the Bulldogs' depth.

Julia Nielsen made her season debut at the Griak Invitational by finishing 9th, a result that is admittedly not too far off from what Verkerke produced. She looks to be a very good third scoring option for this Bulldog team, although there's certainly potential for her to improve a few spots as well.

Let's not forget, Nielsen ran 16:58 (5k) and 35:46 (10k) earlier this year. If she is translating her breakthrough on the track to the grass, then we might see even more scoring value in her come Saturday.

Morgan Radel and Lauryn Renier were the fourth and fifth scorers at Griak and are expected to hold those same lineup positions at the Lewis Crossover tomorrow morning. Both athletes have experience racing on championship stages and their veteran presence should help this team's consistency. Not just on Saturday, but for the rest of the season.

That veteran scoring stability will be huge as the Bulldogs aim to close out the rest of their lineup which holds just the slightest bit of uncertainty.

Elizabeth VanLoon, Savannah Schley, Anna Palodichuk and Franny Seidel are all names who should be monitored during Saturday's race. These four women were all part of the varsity team at Griak with VanLoon finishing 32nd, Seidel placing 43rd, Schley earning a 57th place result and Palodichuk finishing 77th.

Two weeks ago, Minnesota-Duluth secured a 23-point victory over Winona State with this lineup. If this varsity group was good enough for a field as large as the one at the Griak Invitational, then it has to be good enough against a theoretically more compact field like the Lewis Crossover.

Tomorrow's race could end up in Minnesota-Duluth sending a massive statement to the rest of the NCAA as to how good their team actually is in 2022.

What Should We Expect From The Michigan Tech Men & Alabama-Huntsville Men On Saturday?

Let’s start with Michigan Tech.

The Huskies are led by Clayton Sayen (TSR #19) and Drew Kolodge. That high-octane scoring tandem finished 2nd and 3rd in the “Maroon” section at the Griak Invitational earlier this season, leading their team to the overall victory.

Those two men were separated by just two seconds, making them an interchangeable duo who could keep things interesting with the firepower that Colorado Christian is expected to flex tomorrow morning.

However, the main name to watch is Samuel Lange who finished 8th at the Griak Invitational. He's the key to this Husky team fulfilling their full potential. He’s fresh off of his best track season as a Michigan Tech athlete this past spring and that, in theory, tells us that he could b have a fitness jump this fall.

As of two weeks ago, that jump has seemingly been made, but whether or not he can replicate (or maybe even build upon) his Griak performance will be crucial for a Michigan Tech team that is trying to stay competitive with CCU.

If Lange be the high-end third scorer within his team's varsity lineup on Saturday, then we could be talking about an upset scenario.

Tucker Ringhand and Nick McKenzie also have taken steps forward in their fitness when it comes to racing on the grass.

Ringhand had a strong freshman year and with his rapid improvement, he could bolster the backend of the varsity scoring lineup. McKenzie didn’t run quite as fast as Ringhand did on the track, but he brings experience to this lineup.

There is clearly some promise at the backend of this Michigan Tech lineup, but there can't be any major scoring drop-offs if the Huskies want to pull the upset. As important as Sam Lange is to this team, Ringhand and McKenzie will be tasked with fending off the scoring support of the Cougars.

As for Alabama-Huntsville, this will be the first big test that they have faced this year.

The Chargers' performances at the Montevallo Falcon Classic and Watson Cross Country Classic look good on paper, but we don’t really have enough context as to what they mean for the rest of the season.

Yes, a head-to-head victory over a rising Mississippi College team looks good for their resume, but that’s the only thing that we can say about them right now.

Sam Wilhelm is currently the lead runner for this team who had a stellar freshman season on the outdoor track, running 14:30 (5k) and 30:11 (10k). He’s also grasped racing on the grass fairly quickly, effectively changing how this team's lineup structure might look.

We have yet to see Wilhelm race against “top” competition, so this will be a good test to see if he’s capable of being a potent low-stick for a Chargers team that has traded firepower for depth in recent years.

Caleb Boys and Allan Anderson are veteran presences on this team who have been so consistent throughout their years in this UAH program. They’ve shown that they’re still capable of being reliable runners and in this kind of field, they will likely be the main reasons why the Chargers keep things competitive with Colorado Christian and Michigan Tech.

Jack Elliott, Gabe Henneberger and Will Thompson also helped Alabama-Huntsville to a victory over Mississippi College and will likely be in the hunt for a spot in the team's varsity lineup on Saturday.

This team is fairly young, so the backend of their lineup might be susceptible to some excessive scoring. But UAH has admittedly looked better than we were expecting to see this season and their younger runners are another year older with a lot of untapped potential.

That upside might outweigh the cautionary aspects that we have with this team going into Saturday's race.

Lindsay Cunningham Looks To Send Another Statement

Two weeks ago, Winona State superstar Lindsay Cunningham (TSR #3) stomped her competition on the way to a second Griak Invitational crown in her still-young career.

Cunningham could do the same thing this weekend in Illinois. She is clearly the best runner in this field and will be looking to make another case as to why should could potentially act as a contender to Robles as an individual national title contender.

We’ve seen this Winona State ace take a leap in every aspect of her racing in 2022...and we’re just two races in. Cunningham was on an absolute terror during the fall of 2021, winning five races before a 7th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships.

Ultimately, the question surrounding Cunningham coming into Saturday's race is not, "Will she win?" but rather, "How much will she win by?" If her margin of victory is at all similar to what we saw at the Griak Invitational, then she could easily move up to our TSR #2 spot in our individual rankings (if she's not there already).

Paige Tack (Colorado Christian) and Kylie Anicic (Edinboro) are two other names to watch as they are very talented in their own right.

Tack looked good at the CU Time Trial and was a surprise standout for the Cougars in 2021, finishing as a 21st place All-American at the national meet last fall.

Meanwhile, Anicic has run times of 16:39 (5k) and 34:37 (10k), making her one of the better endurance athletes in the country. She also has some high-level experience, previously racing for Division One program Towson.

We also really like Cunningham's teammate, Kaylee Beyer. We think this Winona State standout is super underrated, likely because Cunningham dominates the headlines. But when you look at her resume, it's very realistic that she could end up taking down Tack and/or Anicic if she has a perfect race.

Finishing 6th at the Griak Invitational earlier this season and running 4:22 for 1500 meters this past spring (en route to All-American honors) all suggest that Beyer could be due for a major statement race on Saturday.

There are truthfully a few other women in this field who are a bit more proven in cross country, but Beyer has a lot of momentum on her side coming into this race.

Western Washington Sizes Up Their Competition

When we say this, it goes for both the men's and women’s teams of Western Washington.

This program as a whole is young, boasts sold depth and might be a problem for the rest of the country in the near future. That exciting future might not come to fruition at the national meet in December, but it’s also not out of the realm of possibility, either.

Let’s start with the women.

Mia Crocker has been the most consistent runner for the Vikings this season, helping her team work through some adjustments within their scoring lineup.

Sophie Wright, who won the CWU XC Invite, finished 18th as the fifth runner for Western Washington at the Bill Roe WWU Classic. Meanwhile, Ashley Reeck, Alanna Parker, Meaera Shannon, Alexis Parker, Marian Ledesma and Evelyn Collins-Winn have all rotated throughout this varsity lineup through two meets this season.

Outside of Ledesma, the rest of the women in this group would be considered underclassmen which could explain some of the lineup order inconsistency right out of the gate. Six women are slated to be part of this WWU team for at least two more seasons.

Things have also been brewing for a while on the men's side.

After the departure of McCauley Franks, who is now at North Florida, we were left wondering how the Vikings would respond in 2022.

Well, it appears that things are just fine in Bellingham.

Jeret Gillingham has arguably become a household name on the west coast, but it’s not just him who has been getting the job done. Gillingham led the Vikings to a sweep at the CWU XC Invite with Andrew Oslin and Kevin McDermott close behind him.

At the WWU Bill Roe Classic, the roles were changed as McDermott and Oslin finished 3rd and 4th overall with Gillingham back in 10th place.

It’s nice that WWU can respond fairly well when things don’t always go right. Much like their women's team, there seems to be some interchangeableness amongst their varsity group.

Jalen Javurek, Jared Alderfer, Ryan Clough and George Karamitsos are all names who have a chance to stick in this varsity lineup long-term. It’ll be interesting to see how they perform in a high-pressure situation that we'll see on Saturday.

Like the women, everyone outside of Oslin is considered to be an underclassman according to TFRRS, making it another six athletes who are looking to make a lasting impact.

Now, let's not get ahead of ourselves, the Vikings have a ways to go. Their overall scoring will simply need to be better on Saturday if they want to be competitive with the top teams in this field.

But this weekend will likely be a good example of what we should expect from this team in 2022 -- and potentially for years after.