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TSR's 2022-23 D1 Freshman Class Rankings: #1 Oregon Ducks (Men)
Written by Gavin Struve, additional commentary and edits by Garrett Zatlin
D2 and D3 freshman class rankings are coming next week!
Despite our research, it is possible that certain names have been erroneously omitted.
Did we miss someone? If so, send us an email at contact@thestridereport.com & let us know!
The momentum keeps gathering for one of the all-time great distance running programs.
That, however, should be expected with new program director Jerry Schumacher, one of the most revered coaches in track and field, now at the helm of this roster. And before he even got to Eugene, this team already boasted the nation’s best freshman class for the 2021-22 academic year, at least by our estimation.
The Oregon men were a pleasant surprise this past cross country season, finishing 16th at the NCAA XC Championships despite placing 29th in 2021 and losing a handful of top veterans. Oregon then added Chris Solinsky, formerly the distance coach at Florida, to its A-list staff.
And now, the Ducks have the best class of rookies in the nation yet again, giving Schumacher plenty of young superstar talents to work with.
Prior to his departure from the program, former Oregon distance coach Ben Thomas followed a similar formula over the last year which gave him the NCAA's best class of rookies during the 2021-22 academic calendar.
That formula?
A beautifully balanced combination of elite domestic and international standouts with phenomenal range.
The crown jewel of the class is likely Florida native Rheinhardt Harrison who feels representative of the versatility that most of today’s star recruits possess.
Harrison has a go-to race, the mile, but is incredibly lethal across almost all distances. He holds personal bests of 1:48 (800), 3:59 (mile), 8:47 (3200) and 14:45 (5k). Those marks make him a legitimate three-season All-American-caliber threat. That's not something that you can say about most true freshmen when they first enter the NCAA.
Harrison's resume suggests that he'll be instantly competitive whenever he does race, even in the always-loaded PAC-12. He also boasts underrated experience when it comes to toeing the line against some of the nation's best distance talents, including a few top collegiates.
And in a few subtle ways, Harrison's resume mimics a lot of what we saw out of Cole Hocker at the tail-end of his time with the Ducks.
It's a similar story for James Harding, a Kiwi runner who will be traversing the Pacific to start his NCAA career in Eugene.
Harding holds a national U20 record in the half-mile, owning a jaw-dropping personal best of 1:47, and is clearly capable of moving up in distance with times of 3:45 (1500) and 8:27 (3k).
Harding may be an 800 meter specialist for the Ducks in the same vein of Luis Peralta, or he could display his range across the middle and long distances, maybe closer to that of the now-graduated Charlie Hunter.
This New Zealander also appears a perfect piece for Oregon’s perennially competitive DMR team. And yet, at the same time, we're not entirely sure Schumacher and his staff will opt to develop a 1:47 runner like Harding. Generally speaking, Schumacher is best known for his long distance knowledge. His track record of elite 800 meter runners isn't as prevalent.
But strictly between Harrison and Harding, one could argue that the Oregon Ducks have the best middle distance freshman duo in the entire NCAA this year.
Pivoting back to the domestic landscape, another Southeast native decided to make the cross-country trek (no pun intended) to the Pacific Northwest.
Larry Josh Edwards dominated the West Virginia prep scene for the last few years. He also has an incredibly well-rounded skillset -- 1:53 (800), 4:05 (1600) and 8:45 (3200) -- with some speed to boot. However, it feels like he could become UO’s next great 5000 meter runner.
Edwards was able to sneak his way into Oregon's cross country lineup this past fall. A 31st place finish at the PAC-12 XC Championships was his best result of the season. Even so, a high school resume which features wins at Nike Indoor Nationals and the Penn Relays gives us plenty of optimism about Edwards' future with the Ducks.
We then come to Aiden Smith who is a highly underrated in-state signee from a fruitful local talent base. He broke onto the scene late in his senior year and finished with one of the better resumes in the region, running 3:50 (1500), 4:06 (mile), 8:14 (3k) and 14:38 (5k).
You might think that Smith is a track-first guy before taking into account that he also finished 26th at a loaded RunningLane cross country national meet. That’s a comparable skill set to Edwards’.
On paper, it seems like Smith has only begun to realize his true potential. His mass number of personal bests last spring indicate that he may have additional upside that he can tap into over the next few years.
And despite racing at the 2021 RunningLane XC National Championships, we'll be interested to see how this Oregon native handles the collegiate realm with limited high school experience on the national stage.
Jeffery Rogers is another local product who flew under the radar a bit early. However, he’s just as well-rounded as the other men in this group. With marks of 1:53 (800), 3:54 (1500), 8:26 (3k) and 14:59 (5k XC), it’s hard to pin down Rogers’ perfect distance.
That, of course, isn’t a bad problem to have given that more events are available to contest in college than in high school.
Kutoven Stevens is arguably the most aerobic-based runner in this class. He's an 8:54 (3200) runner who faced little opposition in New Mexico. The rising star could thrive with the increased competition at the NCAA level, especially when you look at how rapid his development has been over the last year or two.
If Stevens continues to maintain this level of progression in the NCAA, then he may end up as the biggest recruiting steal from the Class of 2022.
While a handful of these men flex tremendous versatility, the final two signees who we’ll touch on appear to have the most event-specific skill sets.
Benjamin Balazs has a deadly combination of speed and endurance, as evidenced by personal bests of 1:54 (800), 4:08 (mile), 8:16 (3k), 8:55 (3200) and 14:55 (5k XC). However, he also won a high school national title in the steeplechase and competed in the USATF U20 Championships in that event last summer.
Balazs may face a learning curve, but could contribute right away in the steeplechase given that his personal best in the event is 5:47 over 2000 meters. For perspective, that time would rank him at US #3 all-time in MileSplit's all-time high school database for the event (although it's unclear how complete that list is). But for some reason, his mark is not listed.
The in-state product will also be a unique and valuable addition for this roster given that the Ducks didn’t have anyone in the top-100, nationally, in the 3000 meter steeplechase last spring.
And let's not forget, Jerry Schumacher has proven to be one of the best developers of steeplechase talents in the world while overseeing the men and women of Bowerman Track Club.
We wrap up with Matthew Pueschner who will likely be used solely in the 800 meters and the 400 meters. However, he also brings championship pedigree (winning state titles and racing at a national meet) in the former event.
With a 1:52 (800) personal best, Pueschner could find himself teaming up with the rest of these rookies on an elite DMR squad in a couple of years. And if he can properly develop under this Oregon coaching staff, then he'll be a good long-term replacement for Luis Peralta who is no longer listed on the Ducks' roster.
In summation, the men of Tracktown USA have added five distance talents who have run 1:53 or faster and two men who have run 1:48 or better for 800 meters. There are six men who have run the equivalent of 3:54 or faster in the 1500 meters and four of those guys sit at 3:50 or better. In the longer distances, all seven men have run faster than 8:30 for 3000 meters (or the equivalent) and five of these rookies have run 15:00 (5k) or faster on the cross country course.
Harrison and Harding are elite-level individual recruits and the rest of these freshmen aren’t far off thanks to their widespread range. That all adds up to an absolutely loaded class which should lead to Oregon winning PAC-12 team titles while boasting numerous individual All-Americans.
And the craziest part?
Next year's group of recruits may be even better...
