TSR's 2022 D1 XC Top 25 Team Rankings (Men): Update #3

NOTE: These rankings are based on how a team fared throughout the entirety of a season, not just how they ran at the NCAA XC Championships or a singular meet.

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KEY

(Unranked):

Was not ranked in our last update.

(#/#):

First number indicates how much the team has moved in the rankings.

The second number indicates where the team was ranked in our last update.

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ANOTHER NOTE: I know that we already said this in the first note, but we are looking at every. single. meet. that a team has run this year and are using those results to create power rankings which are essentially an aggregate of a team's season.

In our eyes, that's the most fair ranking system.

Yes, there are instances where team A defeated team B at their conference meet, but team B is still ranked higher. That's likely because team B beat team A at a different meet that more closely resembles the national meet. It could also be because we are expecting a different scoring structure in the future.

That is not always the case, but it does happen in these rankings.

Some people will not be happy. We get that. Unfortunately, no matter how hard we try, we have to make hard decisions that will leave some people frustrated. As our readership grows, we just wanted to ensure that our audience has full transparency of our rankings approach.

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25. Princeton Tigers (-2 / 23)

The Princeton men have been solid this year, maybe even good! But the Tigers aren't necessarily a "great" team...yet.

A three-point win over Harvard at the Ivy League XC Championships was solid, and the results unfolded like we thought they would. However, the Crimson aren't having their best season ever and Princeton potentially left some points on the course this past weekend.

Regardless, I love the low-stick scoring roles that Anthony Monte (3rd) and Connor Nisbet (4th) have found themselves in this fall. The rest of this supporting cast is fairly compact and there were a few non-scorers who I thought could have been a little bit better.

Yes, Princeton falls a bit in our rankings, but they haven't done anything to truly hurt their resume this season.

24. Arkansas Razorbacks (Unranked)

The Razorbacks' regular season was admittedly very underwhelming.

While they were victorious at the Chile Pepper XC Festival, they didn't dominate that light field as easily as we expected them to. And when the Arkansas men toed the line at Pre-Nationals, they were handled fairly easily by Montana State, California Baptist and Butler.

Those are all good teams, and the Arkansas men clearly didn't have their best day at Pre-Nationals. However, in that Stillwater-based race, there seemed to be a massive scoring drop-off at their fifth scoring spot while Patrick Kiprop didn't appear to be at his best.

But at the SEC XC Championships, the Razorbacks looked like a completely different team.

Kiprop (5th) offered great low-stick value, Elias Schreml (10th) continues to emerge as a sneaky-good upper-half lineup scorer, Myles Richter (12th) continues to be at his best in the postseason, Jacob McLeod (16th) shook off some early-season struggles and Ben Shearer (21st) continues to quietly provide some consistent scoring for this team.

In the end, the Arkansas men shockingly tied a talented Tennessee team at 64 points, each. However, the Volunteers ultimately got the edge on the tie-breaker, forcing the Razorbacks to settle for 3rd place, one point better than Ole Miss.

Admittedly, Tennessee had an uncharacteristically bad day. But even so, Arkansas was fantastic. They looked like a completely different (and better) team on Friday, showcasing the best depth that they've had all season long.

23. Colorado State Rams (Unranked)

Yes, the Utah State men did defeat the Colorado State men at Nuttycombe, finishing 16th overall, while the Rams were two spots behind the Aggies in that race with a still-solid 18th place finish of their own.

And while many would argue that Utah State's performance at Nuttycombe is a better indicator of their national meet potential than what we saw from them at the Mountain West XC Championships, it's also hard to ignore the fact that the CSU men were overwhelmingly better than the Aggies this past weekend.

At the Mountain West XC Championships, the Colorado State men easily placed runner-up, taking down a Utah State team that simply had an "off" day. But truthfully, even if the Aggies were at their best, it would have been hard to envision a scenario where they beat the Rams.

Thomas Chaston (4th) and Mason Brown (7th) were pleasantly surprising low-stick scorers who have elevated their roles in this lineup. With Brock Dykema, Lars Mitchell and Michael Mooney finishing 11th, 12th and 13th, respectively, the Rams were simply far more complete and flat-out better than a Utah State team that had zero answers.

With a respectable-ish Nuttycombe result and a clear leap in fitness in a championship setting, the Colorado State men are looking sneaky-good as we enter the regional meets.

22. Gonzaga Bulldogs (+2 / 24)

The Gonzaga men secured a runner-up finish at the West Coast Conference XC Championships, getting blown out by BYU, but taking down Portland in the process.

As far as team performances go, I can't say that I'm super surprised by this result. However, there were a handful of individual highlights on this team that could add up to something really promising in the future.

Wil Smith (3rd) is showcasing far greater consistency as a legitimate low-stick this season, James Mwaura (17th) finally returned to this lineup even if he didn't run super well and Evan Bates (42nd) also returned to racing, although he was clearly not at his best.

Yes, Gonzaga did beat Portland at this meet, but the Pilots and Coach Rob Conner have a history of not putting too much emphasis on the West Coast Conference XC Championships.

And when you consider how much better Portland was at Nuttycombe (relative to a limited Gonzaga team), it seems fair to reward the Bulldogs with a rankings improvement following their WCC performance, but not dramatically so.

21. Washington Huskies (+1 / 22)

Everything about the PAC-12 XC Championships suggested that the Huskies would be favored over the Oregon Ducks.

The UW men came into the meet as the better team through three runners, the ultra-fast course played favorably into the track speed of this team and the small field size limited any scoring gaps that have plagued the Washington men before.

And sure enough, all of those factors led to the Huskies finishing 3rd overall, taking down the Oregon men in the process.

Brian Fay (9th) continues to unsurprisingly lead this team, Isaac Green (11th) has been a sneaky-good secondary scorer this fall, Luke Houser (15th) has proven to be a reliable middle-lineup scorer and both Sam Affolder (23rd) and Joe Waskom (24th) turned out to be just as good as Oregon's backend contributors.

Washington should be rewarded for their ability to edge Oregon, but this field is dramatically different from what they are going to see at the national meet.

The Ducks are certainly younger and don't have the middle-lineup scorers that Washington does. However, they're ability to run as a tight pack and limit excessive scoring favors them far more in a larger field like what we saw at Nuttycombe.

For now, Oregon will remain ranked ahead of Washington. We'll see how we feel about that after the regional meets, but all things considered, this feels like a fair spot for the UW men.

20. NC State Wolfpack (-4 / 16)

Seeing the NC State men settle for a 5th place finish at the ACC XC Championships feels worse than it actually is. That's because, on paper, most of the Wolfpack men actually ran up to our expectations.

Ian Shanklin (6th) was a top-tier scorer as expected, Robinson Snider (14th) and Hannes Burger (18th) provided strong middle-lineup scoring and Ian Harrison (33rd), while not perfect, wasn't that much worse than other team's fourth scorers.

However, with Brett Gardner placing 49th, the NC State men were not able to contend with the top teams in this field. Had he simply finished 20th, then that would have been enough for NC State to edge Notre Dame for 4th place (after displacement).

The Wolfpack aren't a perfect team, but in a race where so many teams were separated by just a few points, this result shouldn't be viewed as a major fall from grace.

Yes, NC State was excellent at Nuttycombe (placing 10th overall), but given their underwhelming efforts at both Joe Piane and the ACC XC Championships, a TSR #20 ranking seems like a fair spot for them.

19. Oregon Ducks (-2 / 17)

We'll keep this analysis a little bit shorter, mainly because we already detailed a lot about Oregon's lineup structure when discussing the Washington men.

A 4th place finish for the Ducks at the PAC-12 XC Championships wasn't ideal, but we made it very clear in our meet preview and recent podcast that the Washington Huskies had an advantage during Friday's race given how large the field is and how fast the course is.

Aaron Bienenfeld (2nd) rebounded nicely from his underwhelming Nuttycombe result and Abdinasir Hussein (17th) was fairly solid as well. But in a smaller field, Oregon's compact backend depth held far less weight than it did at Nuttycombe as their final three scorers finished 21-25-30.

In theory, Oregon is going to be a better team at the national meet. Their depth favors them in those larger fielding and Nuttycombe is an excellent example of that. We'll see how the regional meets unfold, but we still think this is a good spot for the Ducks.

18. California Baptist Lancers (+2 / 20)

17. Montana State Bobcats (+2 / 19)

The California Baptist men easily trounced their competition at the WAC XC Championships while the Montana State men settled for runner-up at the BIG Sky XC Championships behind Northern Arizona. Both results were expected.

While neither performance would alter either team's ranking in a dramatic way, seeing a few other teams fall back in our top-25 has ultimately led to both CBU and Montana State advancing a few spots.

16. North Carolina Tar Heels (+2 / 18)

A 14th place finish at Nuttycombe left many distance running fans wanting a bit more out of the Tar Heels, but a lot of that can likely be attributed to Patrick Anderson having an "off" day in that race.

Sure enough, the North Carolina men were able to rally on Friday, finishing 3rd overall at the ACC XC Championships. They were just one point behind the Syracuse men and they also defeated a struggling Notre Dame team by a few points as well.

Parker Wolfe (2nd) is elite, but that should surprise no one. Patrick Anderson (15th) and John Tatter (16th) also ran well, but nothing that they did on Friday came as a shock. With Crawford Hope placing 25th and Ethan Strand settling for 29th, the Tar Heels were able to overcome the firepower of Notre Dame and nearly match Syracuse.

Is this a fair ranking for UNC? We think so, but it's hard to say. With Syracuse continuing to climb up our rankings and the Tar Heels finishing only one point behind them, this two-spot jump may not seem like enough.

But when you look at Tennessee, Alabama and Portland, those teams have given us reason to believe that they're better than the Tar Heels...for now.

15. Portland Pilots (-3 / 12)

After a strong showing at Nuttycombe (where they placed 11th), the Pilots ventured to the West Coast Conference XC Championships where they were trounced by BYU and lost to Gonzaga by seven points.

The Pilots actually had a lineup structure that was almost identical to what Gonzaga had, except the Pilots didn't seem to have a true low-stick in the race.

Historically, Portland and Coach Rob Conner haven't always put a ton of emphasis on this meet. And while I am certainly not suggesting that the Pilots were just jogging through this race, I do feel like their Nuttycombe performance was a better reflection of how effective their depth can be.

So while Portland does drop in our rankings, they don't drop too much.

14. Alabama Crimson Tide (+1 / 15)

13. Tennessee Volunteers (0 / 13)

I stayed up for an hour last night trying to figure out the argument of who should be ranked higher: Alabama or Tennessee?

And honestly, even as I type this, I feel like there isn't a good answer here.

The argument for Tennessee is that they beat Alabama by over 20 points at Joe Piane earlier this year. And although Tennessee faded to 2nd place at the SEC XC Championships, barely getting away from Arkansas on the tie-breaker, it also seems fair to say that A LOT went wrong for the Volunteers.

Jacob Lewis recorded a brutal DNF result at the SEC XC Championships while teammate Eli Nahom, who finished 19th at Joe Piane, just had a flat-out bad race on Friday. If just one of those men run to their full potential this past weekend, then Tennessee likely wins the conference title somewhat comfortably.

As for Alabama, their argument is...well, that they actually won the SEC title! They beat Tennessee! They had the better depth and they didn't even have to win a tie-breaker. Heck, I may have even said that I think they'll be better at the national meet than Tennessee.

But in the end, I chose Tennessee.

This rivalry matchup is currently tied at 1-1 and I give the edge to the Vols simply because I see them only going up from here. I admittedly don't look too heavily into the regional meet results, but if Alabama gets the better of the Vols on that stage, then I'll happily reconsider this ranking.

Either way, what Alabama did on Friday deserves every ounce of respect. The Crimson Tide coaching staff went out and got two graduate transfers who ultimately won them the conference title. That's a brilliant eye for scouting and talent.

12. Syracuse Orange (+2 / 14)

Going into this season, I had serious reservations about the Syracuse men.

The Orange were losing four members from last year's varsity lineup, including their top-three scorers from the national meet. And without any major roster developments since then, I didn't know how this team was going to be competitive.

But after a promising showing at the Cowboy Jamboree and an even better race at the Nuttycombe Invite, the Syracuse men were able to put together their best performance of their season at the ACC XC Championships.

The Orange finished runner-up on Friday, taking home silver by one point over North Carolina while also defeating Notre Dame, NC State and Virginia in the process.

It's been a while since I've seen a Syracuse lineup that was this complete. Nathan Lawler (7th) continues to prove that he's a true low-stick, Noah Carey (12th) continues to get better with each race, Sam Lawler (19th) has been a pleasant surprise this fall, Paul O'Donnell (22nd) has room to be even better and the same could be said for Nathan Henderson (26th).

It also doesn't hurt that Alex Comerford (30th) and Matthew Scrape (34th) were the best sixth and seventh runners in the field. In fact, no other team had a sixth runner who finished higher than Scrape did.

The overall depth of this lineup is some of the best in the country, many of these scorers are interchangeable, a lot of these men are experienced and Nathan Lawler's emergence gives this team a low-stick scoring edge.

On paper, it's hard to argue that Syracuse should be higher than this, but gosh, it's hard to see this team having a poor race over the rest of the season.

11. Villanova Wildcats (0 / 11)

The Villanova men dominated the BIG East XC Championships like we expected them to, putting five men in the top-10 while rookie Marco Langon gave the Wildcats a lineup that was six-men deep via his 13th place finish.

There's not much to say here as we fully expected the Villanova men to hand losses to Providence, Georgetown and Butler. The Wildcats look the best that they have been in a really long time. I'm curious to see how high their ceiling is come the national meet.

10. Colorado Buffaloes (0 / 10)

We fully expected Colorado to be soundly defeated by Stanford (which is what happened) and to put themselves somewhat comfortably ahead of both Washington and Oregon (which is also what happened).

Andrew Kent (4th) has validated himself as a true national-caliber low-stick while the rest of this lineup crowded the top-20, going 12-13-14-18-20 in the overall results. And while we did expect Vancil (and maybe Hirsch) to finish a little higher, we also can't look at these results and be too shocked.

We knew that Colorado had elite depth and that very much showed on Friday. Now, the question becomes, how much of that elite depth can evolve into high-octane firepower?

9. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (-4 / 5)

Welp, that was bad.

The Notre Dame men were likely viewed as the ACC title favorites going into Friday's race. They were fresh off of an outstanding performance at Nuttycombe and they also had a Joe Piane win on their resume as well.

Carter Solomon out-kicking Parker Wolfe for the individual title was thrilling to watch. It also validated Solomon's monster breakout race from Nuttycombe when he placed 9th. With Izaiah Steury (9th) and Josh Methner (10th) each crossing the line in the top-10, the Irish looked like they could at least grab a runner-up finish.

However, from there, the men from South Bend, Indiana just fell apart. Their next-best scorer was Quinn Gallagher in 31st place and their final scorer was Matthew Carmody who was all the way back in 41st place.

With Carmody still not racing at his full potential and Kevin Berry (62nd) simply having a bad day, the Notre Dame men couldn't control the backend scoring of their lineup, ultimately falling to 4th at the ACC XC Championships.

I think most people would agree that this was an uncharacteristically bad day for the Irish. They have been really good all year long and I don't think one race should ruin their ranking.

But are we now going to be much more cautious about this team on the national stage?

Yes, we most certainly are...

8. Wisconsin Badgers (+1 / 9)

Honestly, there isn't much to talk about there.

We knew Wisconsin would easily dominate the BIG 10 XC Championships and they did just that. Jackson Sharp (2nd) looks really strong after his DNF result at Nuttycombe while the Badgers as a whole put seven men in the top-11.

With that kind of depth, I can't see a scenario where the Wisconsin men have a poor race on the national stage.

7. Wake Forest Demon Deacons (+1 / 8)

Wow. What a race for the Wake Forest men.

For the most part, everything that could have gone right for them did.

On Friday, the Demon Deacons ventured to the ACC XC Championships where they cruised to the title with a phenomenal score of just 44 points, defeating the runner-up Syracuse men by 42 points.

Aaron Las Heras (3rd) finally delivered on his full cross country potential, Luke Tewalt (4th) threw down a performance that he's been building up to over the last few seasons, Thomas Vanoppen (5th) continues to a phenomenal middle-lineup piece, Zach Facioni (8th) was solid, but could have been even better and Joaquin Martinez De Pinillos (24th), despite the lineup gap, was still the best fifth man in the field.

When this Wake Forest team is firing on all cylinders, they are a truly scary program. And truthfully, Ben Mitchell could have been better and we didn't even Jonathan Velasco in this race!

There are a lot of avenues for the Wake Forest men to have success this fall. They just proved to us that they can be a podium team and I don't think many people would argue with me on that one.

6. Tulsa Golden Hurricanes (0 / 6)

No surprises here as the Tulsa men scored 22 points to win the AAC crown without rising low-stick, Shay McEvoy. Not seeing McEvoy in these results is a little interesting, but we won't be worried unless he's also absent at the Midwest Regional XC Championships.

5. Air Force Falcons (+2 / 7)

We ranked the Air Force men at TSR #7 in our last rankings update simply because we wanted to see them build some consistency off of their outstanding Nuttycombe result before we listed them any higher.

After all, they had "only" placed 9th at the Cowboy Jamboree earlier in the season.

But the Falcons went into the Mountain West XC Championships this past weekend and cruised to the conference crown with a score of just 20 points, defeating Colorado State and Utah State in the process.

Naturally, one might say, "Cool, but isn't that what we should expect from our TSR #7 ranked team in the country? Did we really learn anything new about the Falcons?"

While it's true that Air Force was expected to dominate their conference meet, it's also important to recognize that they were this dominant without top scorers such as Luke Combs, Ryan Johnson and the still-absent Nick Scheller.

To think that Air Force's win could have been even more dominant this past weekend is what truly improves their stock in our rankings.

4. Northern Arizona Lumberjacks (0 / 4)

I know that the Northern Arizona men were supposed to easily dominate the BIG Sky XC Championships -- and they did! But posting just 19 points against a top-20 team (Montana State) in the country is a really nice way to rebound from a less-than-ideal regular season.

3. Oklahoma State Cowboys (0 / 3)

The Oklahoma State men cruised through BIG 12 XC Championships as expected, scoring just 21 points and putting nine men in the top-15. There are, however, a few key developments that we wanted to make note of.

First off, Isai Rodriguez (5th) has returned. If he can get back into his All-American form, then the Cowboys should be favored for the podium.

Secondly, Fouad Messaoudi made his season debut this past Friday, placing 6th overall. He's an underrated talent who could do something really special at the national meet.

Third off of all, Victor Shitsama (15th) had a really tough outing. We're not going to overreact to that result, but...it certainly wasn't ideal.

Finally, cross country All-American, Shea Foster, has not yet raced this season. If we had to guess, it looks like he wont be toeing the line at the national meet. And if that's the case, then that is a major blow to Oklahoma State's already tight national title chances.

2. BYU Cougars (0 / 2)

Spoiler: BYU is really deep.

Putting eight men in the top-12 of any non-rust-buster race is an absurd stat, especially when that field also holds two other ranked teams in Gonzaga and Portland. I don't think we really learned about the Cougars following their WCC title victory, but that doesn't make them any less impressive.

1. Stanford Cardinal (0 / 1)

Wow. What a race by the Stanford men at the PAC-12 XC Championships.

What we saw from the Cardinal on Friday is a level of combined depth and firepower that I have never seen from this team before, or at least not in a very long time.

Charles Hicks (1st), Cole Sprout (3rd) and Ky Robinson (6th) were great as always, but it was the other varsity contributors who stepped up in a major way, ultimately changing our perception and overall understanding of this team.

Meika Beaudoin-Rousseau placed 5th overall on Friday to not only validate his 30th place finish at Nuttycombe, but to also put himself in the All-American conversation.

Thomas Boyden, meanwhile, rebounded from his not-so-great effort at Nuttycombe to finish 7th, validating his role as an elite backend scorer who could still be an All-American on a perfect day.

Devin Hart's 10th place finish was admittedly not quite as good as his 13th place finish at Nuttycombe, but it was still an excellent result which shows us consistent high-level scoring (especially for someone who was their team's sixth runner).

All that we needed to see from the Cardinal this past weekend is that their backend contributors could be reliable and somewhat quickly close out their scoring. But Beaudoin-Rousseau, Boyden and Hart all went above and beyond while simultaneously showcasing more consistency.

And with those performances fresh in our minds, it is looking increasingly less likely that any other team in the NCAA will defeat the Cardinal come the national meet.

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ADDED

Arkansas Razorbacks

Colorado State Rams

KICKED OFF

Utah State Aggies

Virginia Cavaliers

JUST MISSED (in no particular order)

Texas Longhorns

Butler Bulldogs

Georgetown Hoyas

Ole Miss Rebels

Michigan Wolverines

Iowa State Cyclones

Harvard Crimson

Virginia Cavaliers

Charlotte 49ers

Providence Friars

Duke Blue Devils

Utah State Aggies

Cal Poly Mustangs

HONORABLE MENTIONS (in no particular order)

Eastern Kentucky Colonels

Michigan State Spartans

Boise State Broncos

Furman Paladins

UCLA Bruins

La Salle Explorers

Indiana Hoosiers

Loyola (Ill.) Ramblers

South Dakota State Jackrabbits

Wyoming Cowboys

Notes

- N/A