Transfer Market (Part 17)

While results from this past week (and weekend) continue to pour in, we thought we would offer a quick transfer update. Admittedly, today's article only features three athletes. However, you'll find that this trio of graduate transfers are all high-level names who could make significant impacts on their future teams.

Let's begin, shall we?

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Grace Jensen (Vanderbilt to Georgetown)

Earlier this week, Georgetown announced that Vanderbilt standout Grace Jensen will be joining their program starting next year. She is expected to join the Hoyas as a graduate transfer.

Jensen will have at least one full year of eligibility across all three seasons of competition, and potentially more during the indoor and outdoor track seasons, although that is unconfirmed.

Jensen has been an established and underrated name in the SEC for the last few seasons. However, her real breakout campaign began this past winter. During the 2022 indoor track season, Jensen posted incredible times of 2:07 (800), 2:47 (1k) and 4:37 (mile).

On the outdoor oval, she owns a personal best of 4:16 for 1500 meters.

Despite Jensen being at her best on the track, the Vanderbilt star has also thrived on the grass. This past fall, she placed 3rd at Commodore Classic, 24th in an elite Joe Piane field, 17th at the SEC XC Championships and 28th at the South Regional XC Championships.

In prior cross country seasons, Jensen has finished as high as 13th place (2020) and 16th place (2019) at the SEC XC Championships.

If it wasn't already obvious, Jensen's value for the Georgetown women is monumental. Not only does Jensen fit the middle distance mold that we have grown accustomed to seeing from the Hoyas, but she also perfectly complements Georgetown's cross country needs.

According to TFRRS, graduate student Kiera Bothwell is set to finish her cross country eligibility. As a result, the Hoyas needed to find an instant scoring replacement to make up for the loss of their graduate transfer from UVA.

Luckily, Jensen can fill that scoring gap incredibly well, offering a similar caliber of scoring potency and stopping the point-loss bleeding that could have come with Bothwell departing.

Not only that, but Georgetown has also added a separate grad transfer, Andrea Claeson, to their 2022 cross country roster as well. On paper, Claeson is a nationally competitive middle distance talent who can also emerge as a valuable varsity contributor on the grass.

On paper, Jensen and Claeson are essentially carbon copies of each other.

With Jensen and Claeson complementing each other in terms of their scoring value, Georgetown's 2022 cross country lineup suddenly looks very powerful. Not only do the Hoyas have numerous low-stick weapons, but they also have numerous scoring-capable veterans who, together, have the potential to raise the ceiling of this team substantially.

Evan Addison (Pittsburgh to Villanova)

The Stride Report has learned that Pittsburgh's Evan Addison will be finishing his eligibility as a graduate transfer at Villanova starting next year. He is expected to have all three seasons of eligibility when he joins the Wildcats.

Addison has been an underrated distance talent during his time with the Panthers. The soon-to-be Villanova runner is a steeplechase specialist, recently posting a personal best time of 8:44 in the event at the Duke Invitational.

That time would currently be in Villanova's all-time top-10 for the event.

In fact, the last four races on Addison's resume have all produced personal bests. Those marks include 8:16 (3k), 3:47 (1500), 1:52 (800) and his aforementioned 8:44 result.

However, Addison's next-best event is likely the mile, boasting a personal best result of 4:03 and going under the 4:10 barrier on four separate occasions.

On the grass, Addison is a respectable name, finishing 69th at the Joe Piane Invitational, 12th at the Penn State National Open and 34th at the Mid-Atlantic Regional XC Championships.

According to TFRRS, Villanova is expected to lose the final two runners from their 2021 lineup, leaving a varsity opening for Addison who could offer key value in terms of backend insurance and cross country depth.

There is still a ton of potential that lies within Addison. While he has certainly been a solid distance talent, his steeplechase success signals that he could be better in cross country and his recent string of personal bests suggest that his best performances are still ahead of him.

While there's no way to know for sure, it feels like Villanova just got a steal.

Matyas Csiki-Fejer (Suffolk to Duke)

Earlier this week, Suffolk standout Matyas Csiki-Fejer announced via Instagram that he will be finishing his eligibility as a graduate transfer at Duke starting next year. He is expected to have at least one full year of eligibility across all three seasons of competition.

The Blue Devils may have landed someone who is arguably the most underrated distance talent in all of Division Three. The long distance ace ran 8:09 for 3000 meters this past winter, placing him at NCAA #4 on the D3 national leaderboard after rounding up via conversion.

He later placed 9th at the indoor national meet in that event.

Despite not earning an All-American honor this past winter, Csiki-Fejer has seemingly begun his revenge tour. The future Duke Blue Devil just ran 14:09 for 5000 meters, giving him the second-fastest D3 5k time in the nation so far this spring.

At the time of publication, that time currently sits at NCAA #22 all-time for Division Three.

Csiki-Fejer is also an excellent cross country runner who still has tons more to offer in terms of potential scoring. This past fall, the Suffolk ace finished in the top-two in five different meets before finishing 4th at the East Regional XC Championships and later earning an All-American 35th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships.

While the Blue Devils will return a handful of promising talents, the anticipated departures of numerous veterans (according to TFRRS) puts this team in a position where they needed to replenish the talent in their varsity lineup.

Although Csiki-Fejer may not be able to cover all of the potential scoring gaps that develop within this Duke lineup, he can at least slow the bleeding of lost points. There is also a strong chance that Csiki-Fejer continues to improve upon his current high-level fitness, well beyond his 35th place finish from the D3 cross country national meet this past fall.

Csiki-Fejer joins Bucknell standout Ashlyn Ramos as a recent small school long distance standout who will be transferring into Duke as a graduate transfer in the fall of 2022.