TSR's 2022 D1 XC Top 50 Individual Rankings (Men): Update #3

Written by Garrett Zatlin & Gavin Struve

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NOTE: Theses rankings are based on how an individual fares throughout the entirety of a season, not just how they ran at the NCAA XC Championships or at a singular meet.

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KEY

(Unranked):

Was not ranked in our last update.

(#/#):

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

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

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50. Luke Tewalt, Sophomore, Wake Forest (Unranked)

I have never had so much trouble trying to finalize our rankings.

There were 10 men who could have realistically been in the running to take our final five spots. With Wil Smith, Thomas Boyden, Austin Vancil, Said Mechaal and Isaac Alonzo all residing in our "Just Missed" section, I can't say with 100% certainty that we made the right decision here.

Even so, this Wake Forest ace is much better than some people realize and after Friday, we can't just leave him out of our top-50 rankings.

We've known for a while that Luke Tewalt is talented and that he had sneaky-good upside coming into these fall months. After all, this is someone who ran 3:59 (mile), 7:56 (3k) and 13:43 (5k) on the track earlier this year.

Admittedly, Tewalt's 68th place finish at the Cowboy Jamboree earlier this season left us wanting so much more. That was certainly not a performance that would grant him a spot in our top-50.

But with a slightly better 9th place finish at the Panorama Farms XC Invite and a monumental 4th place finish at the ACC XC Championships, Tewalt undeniably deserves a spot in our rankings.

Tewalt is still young and still has to be far more consistent. His performance at the ACC XC Championships, while phenomenal, truthfully carries the most weight on his resume by a lot. Even so, the talent that we've seen from him in previous seasons, paired with the clear upwards trajectory that he has this fall, is enough for him to secure our TSR #50 spot.

49. Jackson Sharp, Senior, Wisconsin (Unranked)

After a modest 7th place finish at the Griak Invitational (which may have been intentionally conservative) and a DNF result at Nuttycombe, we were lucky enough to see Jackson Sharp rebound and earn a clutch runner-up performance at the BIG 10 XC Championships.

On paper, Sharp was very clearly the second-best runner in this field. While the rest of his Wisconsin teammates and most of the Michigan men ran well, the Aussie distance standout had a resume which made him an obvious pick to finish runner-up.

Sharp's season up until Friday had been pretty quiet and unexciting, but sometimes, we have to simply acknowledge that someone is too talented to leave out of our rankings.

48. Brian Fay, Senior, Washington (-2 / 46)

Brian Fay feels like the safest pick at our TSR #48 position, largely because he hasn't necessarily had a bad race this year. He didn't toe the line at the Cowboy Jamboree, but finishing 34th at Nuttycombe and more recently placing 9th at the PAC-12 XC Championships gives him a fairly solid resume against some competitive names.

It's also hard to envision that Fay is not going to be an All-American this fall. He was a top-40 finisher at the 202 NCAA XC Championships and it's hard to dismiss a 13:16 (5k) runner who has looked unstoppable over the longer distances on the track.

Fay's conference meet performance wasn't perfect, but he's still a strong talent who deserves to be among the best men in the country.

47. Rory Leonard, Sophomore, Oklahoma State (Unranked)

It's true, Rory Leonard has only raced twice this season, but both of his efforts have been fairly impressive. The Oklahoma State sophomore has gone from being a potential backend varsity contributor to a possible low-stick.

A 17th place finish at the Cowboy Jamboree is a result that has aged very well as the rest of the season has unfolded and a 2nd place finish at the BIG 12 XC Championships was huge as well. That latter result was enough to take down all of his top Oklahoma State teammates except for Alex Maier (who won) and Shea Foster (who didn't run).

And with a victory over Texas' Isaac Alonzo and Iowa State's Ezekiel Rop also on his resume, we can't ignore the sneaky-good scoring value that Leonard could bring to the national stage in a few week's time.

46. Nathan Lawler, Junior, Syracuse (Unranked)

After just barely missing out on a spot in our rankings during our last update, we can now give Nathan Lawler the top-50 nod. The Syracuse ace earned an excellent 27th place finish at Nuttycombe and then validated that result with an equally strong 7th place result at the ACC XC Championships.

When you tack on a 35th place finish at the Cowboy Jamboree during the beginning of the season, Lawler's resume doesn't truly have a poor performance on it.

While some aspects of his seasonal resume have certainly been better than others, his ongoing reliable presence as a low-stick has brought invaluable scoring to a Syracuse team that needed more firepower.

45. Anthony Camerieri, Senior, Ole Miss (Unranked)

It took some internal argument, but we were able to fit Anthony Camerieri into these rankings and I couldn't be happier about that.

The Ole Miss star initially ran for Miami (OH) before venturing to Oxford, Mississippi as a graduate transfer this past summer. And while he has shown flashes of promise in events like the 3000 meters, we were not expecting Camerieri to evolve into the low-stick scorer that he has been this fall.

Much like Tewalt, we didn't exactly see an amazing result out of Camerieri at the Cowboy Jamboree earlier this season. However, this is someone who rebounded by placing 5th at the Panorama Farms Invitational and then 6th at the SEC XC Championships this past Friday.

That top-five finish at the Panorama Farms Invitational was strong, but earning a 6th place finish this past Friday, which allowed him to beat Eliud Kipsang in what may have been the most top-heavy conference meet in the NCAA this fall, was beyond impressive.

All of the momentum in the world is on Camerieri's side right now. He has been a very pleasant surprise while teammate Cole Bullock continues tries to rally from his slow start.

44. Patrick Kiprop, Sophomore, Arkansas (+6 / 50)

A runner-up finish at the Chile Pepper XC Festival was fine, but Kiprop was expected to win that race. It's a similar story with his 11th place finish at Pre-Nationals as Kiprop, on paper, was talented enough to be a top-three runner in that field.

Luckily, a 5th place finish at the SEC XC Championships puts Patrick Kiprop back on track. The Arkansas ace took down the likes of Eliud Kipsang and Anthony Camerieri in a top-heavy field that featured numerous elite-caliber talents.

It wasn't a perfect result, and his overall season has left us wanting so much more, but Friday was a solid way for Kiprop to rebound. He'll now enter the rest of the postseason with some respectable momentum.

43. Ian Shanklin, Rs. Senior, NC State (+1 / 44)

No surprises here. A 6th place finish at the ACC XC Championships appears to be perfectly on par for Ian Shanklin who continues to prove his worth as a low-stick.

His 79th place finish at Nuttycombe does admittedly limit his ranking, but a 7th place finish at Joe Piane and a strong conference meet performance sets him up for a very realistic All-American bid in Stillwater, Oklahoma in a few weeks time.

42. Thomas Vanoppen, Senior, Wake Forest (Unranked)

Few men in the NCAA are as valuable middle-lineup scorers as Thomas Vanoppen is.

Primarily a 1500 meter runner and a miler, this Belgian middle distance ace has stepped up in a massive way this fall, emerging as a crucial scorer in Wake Forest's varsity lineup which has effectively positioned the Demon Deacons as a potential podium threat.

Finishing 23rd at the Cowboy Jamboree was a very encouraging start to the season for Vanoppen who may have surprised some people with that result. But then things got even better for this Wake Forest runner who finished 4th at the Panorama Farms Invitational, taking down Camerieri, Justin Wachtel, Isaac Alonzo, Haftu Knight, teammate Luke Tewalt and numerous others.

Now, with a 5th place finish at the ACC XC Championships under his belt, we have to start asking if Vanoppen is a true low-stick for Wake Forest. He has been one of the best unsung heroes of practically any team in the NCAA this fall.

41. Meika Beaudoin-Rousseau, Senior, Stanford (Unranked)

Ladies and gentlemen, the Stanford men may have found their fifth All-American.

After a clear rust-busting effort at the University of San Francisco, we saw Meika Beaudoin-Rousseau put together a fantastic 30th place finish at Nuttycombe. That was a very promising result, but we still needed to see just a little bit more before we placed this Cardinal veteran in our top-50.

Well, sure enough, Beaudoin-Rousseau gave us yet another fantastic result at the PAC-12 XC Championships with a 5th place result.

We cannot overstate how important it was for this Stanford veteran, as well as his fellow teammates Devin Hart and Thomas Boyden, to run as well as they did. With more firepower now rising in the backend of Stanford's lineup, it's becoming increasingly more difficult to envision a scenario where the men from Palo Alto lose the national title...although BYU still has a shot.

As for Beaudoin-Rousseau, he seems to be getting better and better with each passing meet, thriving in two very different fields. That should be majorly encouraging development for Stanford as they look to find additional All-American support behind their elite trio.

40. Hillary Cheruiyot, Sophomore, Alabama (+2 / 42)

Seeing Hillary Cheruiyot finish 4th at the SEC XC Championships was probably a best-case scenario for this Alabama standout. After an unexciting 5th place finish at the Crimson Classic, the sophomore distance talent thrived on the conference stage, taking down the likes of Patrick Kiprop, Anthony Camerieri and teammate Eliud Kipsang.

Cheruiyot has been very solid all season long and seems to fare well in larger fields. His two best results this fall have come at Joe Piane and the SEC XC Championships. In theory, that should benefit Cheruiyot quite a bit at the national meet.

39. Graham Blanks, Sophomore, Harvard (+1 / 40)

Nothing too surprising from Graham Blanks this past weekend. His Harvard teammate, Acer Iverson, was clearly favored to win the Ivy League title while Blanks was overwhelmingly considered to be the second-best runner in the conference.

And sure enough, that's exactly what we saw.

Blanks' snagged a runner-up result on Friday and continues to show slightly greater consistency prior to the national meet than he did last year when he was an All-American.

38. Devin Hart, Sophomore, Stanford (-7 / 31)

After a huge, jaw-dropping 13th place finish at the Nuttycombe Invite, we had trouble trying to properly gauge where Devin Hart belonged in our top-50 rankings. His 75th place finish at the Cowboy Jamboree, which was truthfully underwhelming, made that task even more challenging.

In order to be conservative, we listed Hart at TSR #31 in our last rankings edition. And in retrospect, that turned out to be a smart move. While Hart's 10th place finish at the PAC-12 XC Championships is by no means a poor result -- in fact, it's actually quite good -- it's also not on the same level as his Nuttycombe performance.

Regardless, we still have two finishes on Hart's resume that, at the very least, suggest that this Stanford runner can probably be an All-American at the national meet. So while he does fall a bit in these rankings, his value as a cross country scorer for Stanford largely does not.

37. Kirami Yego, Sophomore, Southern Alabama (-1 / 36)

There's admittedly not a whole lot to talk about when it comes to Kirami Yego. He dominated the Sun Belt XC Championships as expected, beating teammate Teagan Flanagan (who has proven to be fairly competitive this fall) by over 40 seconds.

Yego is undoubtedly a crazy talented name with a lot of untapped potential. We still need to see how he handles racing against a large, nationally competitive field, but his fitness is among the best in the NCAA.

36. Aaron Las Heras, Senior, Wake Forest (+7 / 43)

A huge 14th place finish at the Cowboy Jamboree was a sneak-peek at the incredible firepower that this Wake Forest ace would be able to provide to his team this season.

However, we didn't see Aaron Las Heras for the rest of the regular season, specifically at the Panorama Farms Invitational, due to an "infected blister" according to the ACC Network announcers.

But Las Heras toed the line for Friday's ACC XC Championship race with seemingly zero issues. The Demon Deacon veteran somehow got even better following his Cowboy Jamboree result, posting a massive 3rd place finish.

Las Heras showed us during the spring months that he could be one of the most dangerous men in the ACC this fall. His 5k and 10k times were truly elite and he was clearly taking a massive step up in his fitness.

Well, sure enough, Las Heras looks like he's on fire. He has thrived in two very different fields this year and has taken down a number of men who have ultimately cracked our top-50 rankings. There may be a legitimate argument for him to be a top-30 talent, nationally.

35. Creed Thompson, Sophomore, BYU (+3 / 38)

34. Davin Thompson, Sophomore, BYU (+3 / 37)

33. Aidan Troutner, Sophomore, BYU (+1 / 34)

32. Brandon Garnica, Senior, BYU (+1 / 33)

It certainly wasn't intentional for all four of these BYU runners to be right next to each other in our rankings, but when there is a 1.9 second top-five time-spread at Nuttycombe and then a 7.3 second time-spread separating these four men at the West Coast Conference XC Championships, it makes sense as to why they're all lumped together.

Admittedly, there really isn't a whole lot to dissect from BYU's race this past weekend. The Cougars were supposed to easily dominate the West Coast Conference despite Gonzaga and Portland looking strong this season -- and they did.

Brandon Garnica (2nd), Creed Thompson (5th), Davin Thompson (6th) and Aidan Troutner (7th) were only broken up by Gonzaga's Wil Smith (3rd) and fellow BYU teammate, Joey Nokes (4th). However, their Nuttycombe results hold far more weight in our eyes, effectively keeping the order of these four men unchanged.

31. Eliud Kipsang, Sophomore, Alabama (-9 / 22)

Is this ranking drop too much for Eliud Kipsang? Perhaps, but he hasn't looked quite as sharp as he did at the beginning of the season.

A 3rd place finish at Joe Piane was fantastic and it certainly helped his stock quite a bit. However, finishing 4th at the Crimson Classic, while not necessarily bad, left us wanting more. And after seeing the 2021 SEC cross country champion fade to 7th place on Friday at his conference meet, it feels like Kipsang is missing the same firepower that we saw from him at the beginning of the season.

Of course, let's not pretend like Kipsang has been "bad". Most coaches would sell an arm and a leg to have an athlete be able to finish 7th in a conference meet that was as top-heavy as the SEC XC Championships were this year.

30. Isai Rodriguez, Senior, Oklahoma State (-11 / 19)

At long last, we finally got to see the multi-time All-American veteran return to Oklahoma State's lineup this past Friday.

Admittedly, Isai Rodriguez didn't have his most exciting cross country race ever, finishing 5th overall at the BIG 12 XC Championships. But for a legitimate rust-buster, this was a fine result. We're not going to hit the panic button just yet.

Despite Friday being Rodriguez's reintroduction back to racing, we do have to drop him a bit in our rankings. Other men in the NCAA have far better resumes and while we aren't going to penalize Rodriguez for having a delayed season debut, we probably needed to see him earn a top-three finish at the BIG 12 XC Championships to avoid a rankings drop as large as this.

29. Isaac Akers, Senior, Tulsa (+6 / 35)

Seeing the Tulsa men go 1-2-3 at the AAC XC Championships is hardly a surprise. They were expected to dominate the race and they certainly did just that.

Akers does advance to our top-30 given that he defeated two teammates who are so highly ranked in our top-50 list. And admittedly, this spot does feel a bit high for the Tulsa veteran who only finished 32nd at the Cowboy Jamboree.

However, when you remember that Akers also finished 18th at Nuttycombe earlier this season and was the 19th place All-American finisher at the 2021 NCAA Winter XC Championships, this ranking begins to look more and more realistic.

28. Haftu Strintzos, Senior, Villanova (+1 / 29)

A modest 47th place finish at the Nuttycombe Invitational was not at all what we were hoping to see from Haftu Strintzos earlier this season. As a result, he dropped to our TSR #29 spot, although we reserved hope that he would move up in our rankings with a title victory at the BIG East XC Championships this past weekend.

But instead, a runner-up finish to Barry Keane ultimately validated that original TSR #29 spot for the Villanova star. However, let's not forget that Strintzos was 3rd at Paul Short last fall, the runner-up at the 2021 BIG East XC Championships last fall and the runner-up at the 2021 Mid-Atlantic Regional XC Championships. He did all of that before going on to earn 9th place All-American honors at the national meet.

While his Nuttycombe result is admittedly hard to reconcile, we shouldn't ignore the raw talent that Strintzos has consistently shown in past races.

27. Dylan Schubert, Sophomore, Furman (+3 / 30)

Not much to say here, Furman's Dylan Schubert easily cruised to the win at the Southern Conference XC Championships.

While he won't be able to truly validate his breakout race from the Nuttycombe Invite until he reaches the NCAA XC Championships, this Paladin star can certainly make a dent in his ranking in the meantime, something he did with a convincing title victory this past weekend.

26. Shay McEvoy, Sophomore, Tulsa (-2 / 24)

Shay McEvoy has not competed since our last rankings update.

25. Barry Keane, Rs. Senior, Butler (+2 / 27)

Slowly and steadily, Butler's Barry Keane is climbing our rankings.

Placing 9th at Joe Piane, earning a runner-up finish at Pre-Nationals and becoming the BIG East cross country champion are sneaky-good results that, as a whole, give Keane a really impressive resume.

Admittedly, there were better and more competitive meets throughout the NCAA this fall, mainly the Cowboy Jamboree and the Nuttycombe Invite, but Keane still took advantage of the fields that he was in. He stayed competitive with some of the top individuals in the country and just took down a very strong runner in Haftu Strintzos this past weekend.

Could this finally be the season where Barry Keane earns All-American honors?

24. Cormac Dalton, Senior, Tulsa (+2 / 26)

While I want to say more, there's not too much to discuss when it comes to Cormac Dalton's performance at the AAC XC Championships. His runner-up result had him sandwiched between his two teammates, Isaac Akers (1st) and Michael Power (3rd). And for the most part, that was a very unsurprising result.

23. Duncan Hamilton, Senior, Montana State (+2 / 25)

It should come as no surprise that Duncan Hamilton finished 3rd at the BIG Sky XC Championships. Behind Nico Young and Drew Bosley, it was very clear that Hamilton was the third-best runner in his conference.

Assuming that he advances out of the Mountain region without any issues, we'll be fascinated to see how Duncan Hamilton performs on the national stage as he runs with hopes of earning All-American honors.

22. Sam Gilman, Rs. Junior, Air Force (-7 / 15)

I fully understand that the goal for Air Force this past weekend was to simply win the Mountain West XC Championships -- and they did exactly that.

However, seeing Sam Gilman fade to 6th place in this field after battling for the conference title in his last two appearances wasn't the best thing ever when it comes to his stock in these rankings.

Right now, the best performance on Gilman's resume this fall is a fantastic 10th place finish at Nuttycombe (which was monumental). And while there are no questions about him being an All-American talent, I don't know if I can convincingly say where in the top-40 he'll land of this year's national meet.

21. Victor Shitsama, Senior, Oklahoma State (-8 / 13)

There's no other way to say it, Victor Shitsama just wasn't good on Friday.

The Oklahoma State All-American ace recorded a monster 3rd place finish at the Cowboy Jamboree earlier this season, but was then sidelined until the BIG 12 XC Championships this past weekend.

That absence from racing may have left Shitsama the slightest bit rusty as he fell back to 15th place on Friday, emerging as the ninth Oklahoma State Cowboy to cross the line.

While that performance is far from ideal, we also have to acknowledge that Shitsama is a two-time All-American who just had (arguably) the best cross country race of his life back in September. One race should not define his ranking.

We're certainly not going to hit the panic button on Shitsama, but we do need to bring him back a bit in our rankings if we're looking at the entirety of one's seasonal resume.

20. Yaseen Abdalla, Junior, Tennessee (+3 / 23)

Very quietly, Yaseen Abdalla is becoming one of the best distance runners in the country. The Tennessee ace threw down a huge 3rd place finish at the SEC XC Championships, finishing behind only Vincent Kiprop and Dylan Jacobs.

However, maybe more importantly, Abdalla defeated Eliud Kipsang (TSR #37), Hillary Cheruiyot (TSR #40), Patrick Kiprop (TSR #44) and Anthony Camerieri (TSR #45) en route to his bronze medal.

By defeating all of those men, and boasting a huge 4th place finish at Joe Piane from earlier this season, the number of national-caliber men who have fallen to Abdalla this fall is shockingly high.

This Tennessee ace is showing far greater consistency than he did last year and if this is someone who was able to finish 32nd at the 2021 NCAA XC Championships, then what could he do in 2022 when he is clearly so much stronger?

19. Andrew Kent, Senior, Colorado (+13 / 32)

You never really know what you're going to get out of Andrew Kent.

The Colorado star earned a monumental 8th place finish at the Cowboy Jamboree to start his season, arguably the best cross country result of his career at the time.

Naturally, that result sent his stock soaring through the roof. But following a 44th place finish at Nuttycombe, we struggled mightily to figure out where Kent stood in our Division One hierarchy of distance talent.

But after a 4th place finish at the PAC-12 XC Championships this past Friday, it seems somewhat clear that Kent's performance in Madison, Wisconsin a few weeks ago was closer to a fluke than a true example of his actual talent.

When Kent is truly firing on all cylinders, he is a scary, high-octane runner who offers tremendous low-stick value for the Buffaloes. He has clearly stepped up his fitness this year, although we'll be curious as to which version of Kent we see throughout the rest of the postseason.

18. Christian Allen, Senior, BYU (0 / 18)

A 9th place finish at the West Coast Conference XC Championships admittedly does not sound great for someone who is listed in the top-20 portion of our rankings. However, when six of the eight men ahead of you are your own teammates, we're not going to put too much emphasis into these results.

17. Michael Power, Senior, Tulsa (-1 / 16)

A 3rd place finish at the AAC XC Championships behind two teammates is not anything that really captures our attention for Michael Power. Instead, we can't get over his consistent low-stick presence in the two biggest regular season meets of the year, the Cowboy Jamboree (18th) and Nuttycombe (11th).

16. Joey Nokes, Sophomore, BYU (+1 / 17)

I don’t think you can really doubt Joey Nokes as a genuine low-stick anymore.

He probably won’t finish in the top-10 in Stillwater, Oklahoma, but he seems like as much of an All-American lock as anyone else in this range. That’s quite the development for someone who didn’t even appear as a varsity guarantee entering this season.

Nokes held steady this past weekend, placing 4th at the WCC XC Championships. That's a fine result, but it's clear that his performances from Nuttycombe and the Cowboy Jamboree still hold the most weight on his resume.

15. Nickolas Scudder, Junior, Charlotte (-1 / 14)

No surprises here. Nickolas Scudder took home Conference USA title with relative ease. He's been so darn good this year and has clearly taken his fitness to another level.

In total, he has defeated 16 men who either were ranked or are ranked by The Stride Report this fall. That's tremendous consistency and all that you need to buy stock in Scudder going into the regional and national meets.

14. Aaron Bienenfeld, Senior, Oregon (+7 / 21)

Aaron Bienenfeld’s runner-up finish at the PAC-12 XC Championships -- in which he took down Stanford stars Cole Sprout and Ky Robinson -- ultimately prompts us to readjust our rankings after moving the Oregon ace back a few spots in our last update.

But that initial rankings drop only came as the result of his 24th place Nuttycombe performance, a finish that would be considered a career day for a number of low-sticks around the country.

Bienenfeld won the Bill Dellinger Invite which acted as his season opener. His realistic ceiling at this year's national meet feels somewhere in between that season debut and his Nuttycombe performance.

And sure enough, that’s roughly where we have him now in our current rankings.

13. Dylan Jacobs, Senior, Tennessee (-1 / 12)

Dylan Jacobs started nearly 10 spots higher in these individual rankings before the season began. And even though we can rationalize this ranking, it does feel like we're robbing him of a few spots.

However, his gradual drop in our top-50 this season says far more about the improvements of others rather than any shortcomings of his own. In fact, one could even argue that Jacobs is still an individual title contender given that he finished just a few seconds behind Victor Kiprop at the SEC XC Championships.

Winning the national title probably wouldn't be any more surprising than anything else notable that Jacobs has done over the past six months -- from winning the 10,000 meter national title, to transferring to Tennessee, to finishing a bit further back (8th) at the Joe Piane Invitational.

12. Casey Clinger, Junior, BYU (-2 / 10)

Clinger has an argument to move up a few spots after winning the WCC XC Championships in a convincing manner, especially since he finished 8th at last fall’s national meet.

However, the BYU veteran has raced just twice this season. He was great, but not amazing, at the Cowboy Jamboree with his 7th place finish. Not racing at Nuttycombe also makes it a little challenging to put him ahead of a few men.

For that reason, the Cougar veteran drops two spots and stays behind a handful of men who beat him earlier in the season. Of course, this ranking isn't so much based on what Clinger has done, but more so based on the men around him.

11. Acer Iverson, Junior, Harvard (-2 / 9)

After posting top results in elite fields, Acer Iverson finally got a chance to play the victor in a competitive Ivy League XC Championships race.

An individual victory there (over teammate Graham Blanks) matches up about evenly with his 8th place mark at Nuttycombe and his 6th place finish at the Cowboy Jamboree.

We only have Iverson dropping because of the performances that we saw from other individuals, specifically those who validated their big results at Nuttycombe (i.e. Liking and Solomon).

Nothing that we've seen from Iverson since our last rankings update is a surprise, but if you're looking for a really deep sleeper who could thrive over 10,000 meters, then Iverson might be the guy you're looking for.

10. Carter Solomon, Sophomore, Notre Dame (+10 / 20)

9. Parker Wolfe, Sophomore, North Carolina (-2 / 7)

Trying to rank Parker Wolfe and Carter Solomon was a brutal decision and one that we were dreading as soon as these two men crossed the line at the ACC XC Championships. It also didn't help that Cole Sprout ran so well and continued to build his resume.

Carter Solomon hawked down Parker Wolfe in the final moments of the ACC XC Championships, out-kicking the North Carolina superstar to earn the individual conference title. The victory was massive validation for Solomon who unexpectedly posted a 9th place finish at Nuttycombe earlier in the season.

But in that same Nuttycombe race, we saw Wolfe place 6th overall...so who gets the edge when it comes to these individual rankings?

Should it be Solomon who finished behind Wolfe at Nuttycombe, but just pulled off the upset in a meet that came more recently? Or should it be Wolfe who beat Solomon in a Nuttycombe race that more closely resembles the national meet?

Honestly, we couldn't decide, but when you realize that Wolfe broke the course record at Paul Short to take home the individual win while Solomon was "only" 13th at Joe Piane, we think this edge should go to Wolfe.

Plus, we're already giving a rankings edge to Solomon over Acer Iverson, a guy who beat him at Nuttycombe.

Even so, we don't want to dismiss or downplay what this South Bend superstar has done. We had questions for the Fighting Irish ace after his unexpected breakout performance, but he silenced any doubts about his elite-caliber fitness with an upset win over Wolfe. He has been a very pleasant surprise this fall.

And sure, Wolfe drops in our rankings ever-so-slightly, but we would argue that a third elite-caliber performance on his resume only helps this UNC star in the grand scheme of things. Yes, Solomon is one of the biggest risers of the season, but Wolfe may still have the better season-long resume.

When you consider that Wolfe was already a top-30 All-American as true freshman and placed 6th at Nuttycombe, it seems like the Tar Heel ace may be the safer pick come the national meet.

8. Cole Sprout, Junior, Stanford (0 / 8)

The third Cardinal ace, Cole Sprout continued his metronomic consistency with a bronze medal finish at the PAC-12 XC Championships. That fits right in line with finishing 4th at the Cowboy Jamboree and then 7th at Nuttycombe.

And yes, Parker Wolfe did beat Sprout at Nuttycombe, but with the UNC ace being upset by Solomon, and Sprout still boasting finishes over Nico Young and Drew Bosley at the Cowboy Jamboree, we thought it was best to keep Sprout at our TSR #8 spot.

Regardless, it's conceivable, if not probable, that the Colorado-native could give Stanford three men in the top-10 at the NCAA Championships. That's crazy to think about.

At this point, Sprout's 81st place finish at last fall’s cross country national meet seems like the biggest outlier result of his career, one that he should absolutely blow out of the water later this month.

7. Drew Bosley, Junior, Northern Arizona (-1 / 6)

Drew Bosley raced admirably, losing decisively to his teammate, Nico Young, at the BIG Sky XC Championships, but finishing well ahead of a host of talented teammates as well as Montana State standout, Duncan Hamilton.

That runner-up result pairs well with a top-five run at Nuttycombe two weeks prior. But for the most part, this is roughly what we expected from the Northern Arizona star. Bosley has always looked good, but his consistency this season has been really promising to see.

6. Bob Liking, Rs. Sophomore, Wisconsin (+5 / 11)

The case for Bob Liking continues grows. After the redshirt sophomore placed 4th on his home course at the Nuttycombe Invitational, Liking validated his resume with a convincing individual title victory at the BIG 10 XC Championships.

One slight outlier race, when he placed 6th at the Griak Invitational, held him back marginally in our rankings, as did an unexciting 66th place finish at last year’s NCAA XC Championships. However, following a huge performance at Nuttycombe and further validation at his conference meet, all signs are pointing upwards for this Badger superstar.

And even with that Griak Invitational performance, the resume that Liking boasts right now very clearly puts him at TSR #6.

5. Victor Kiprop, Sophomore, Alabama (0 / 5)

In terms of realistic dark horse contenders for the individual national title, Victor Kiprop is probably your best option. The Alabama star has climbed these rankings and remains undefeated through four contests.

And many of these meets were no joke. Both Joe Piane and the SEC XC Championships have been among the most top-heavy fields, individually, in the NCAA this fall.

Kiprop edged Tennessee’s 10,000 meter national champion, Dylan Jacobs, for the SEC title this past Friday while also taking down his elite-caliber teammates as well as standouts like Patrick Kiprop (TSR #44), Yaseen Abdalla (TSR #18) and Anthony Camerieri (TSR #49).

With quietly dominant consistency, Kiprop could be the man to pull off an upset and win the national title in November.

4. Ky Robinson, Sophomore, Stanford (-3 / 1)

Don’t let this rankings drop deter you, Ky Robinson still fits cleanly in this tier of realistic individual national title contenders.

Yes, a 6th place finish at the PAC-12 XC Championships certainly didn't help his stock in these rankings, but it's hard to put too much emphasis on that performance after we saw Robinson taking down the best non-national meet field of the year at Nuttycombe.

This Stanford superstar may not be the overall title favorite that his former ranking suggests, but we know that he’s capable of securing gold and it only helps that we've already seen him defeat a national-caliber field once this year.

3. Charles Hicks, Junior, Stanford (+1 / 4)

Charles Hicks has arguably been more consistent runner over his career than the two men ranked above him. That reputation held true on Friday after he notched a second-straight PAC-12 individual title.

A TSR #3 ranking almost seems to be too conservative of a spot for the top returner from last year’s NCAA XC Championship meet. Hicks has lost to three men this season in as many races -- two of whom are ranked above him here -- in three loaded fields.

That’s probably the best three-race resume of anyone this season and his recent conference victory only boosts his case for him winning NCAA gold in a few weeks time.

2. Nico Young, Junior, Northern Arizona (+1 / 3)

Nico Young torched his competition at the BIG Sky XC Championships to comfortably win his first conference title on the grass over multiple other high-end All-American talents. He has arguably gotten better in every race after opening his season with a strong 5th place finish at Cowboy Jamboree and an outstanding 2nd place result at Nuttycombe.

On paper, this might be the most consistently elite he's ever been on the grass.

Young has improved his stock ever since the preseason and appears a solid bet to contend for the individual title or improve upon a 3rd place result, his best-ever All-American performance on either the grass or the track.

The only question is, does he have the defining edge that will allow him to pull off the win and secure NCAA gold? We're not entirely sure what the answer to that question is, but this may be the best chance he's ever had at doing so.

1. Alex Maier, Junior, Oklahoma State (+1 / 2)

It feels only fair that Alex Maier should ascend back to the top spot after winning his second race in as many tries this season. However, maybe more importantly, Maier takes our top spot after we saw Ky Robinson drop to 6th at the PAC-12 XC Championships.

Maier won probably the second-most competitive regular season meet of the year, the Cowboy Jamboree. However, he relinquished his top spot since then, moving down to our TSR #2 position as the Nuttycombe Invite brought big results while Maier sat out from racing for over a month.

But the Oklahoma State star looked just as crisp this past Friday, beating a very solid field by over 15 seconds and leading his team to a dominant victory.

After earning top-15 All-American honors on the grass last year and securing a breakout runner-up finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 10,000 meters, Maier may be as good of a bet as any to win the individual national title in a few weeks.

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ADDED

Anthony Camerieri (Ole Miss)

Rory Leonard (Oklahoma State)

Nathan Lawler (Syracuse)

Luke Tewalt (Wake Forest)

Thomas Vanoppen (Wake Forest)

Jackson Sharp (Wisconsin)

Meika Beaudoin-Rousseau (Stanford)

KICKED OFF

Seth Hirsch (Colorado)

Camren Todd (Utah State)

Shea Foster (Oklahoma State)

James Mwaura (Gonzaga)

Zach Facioni (Wake Forest)

Austin Vancil (Colorado)

Fearghal Curtin (Florida State)

JUST MISSED (in no particular order)

Seth Hirsch (Colorado)

Isaac Alonzo (Texas)

Camren Todd (Utah State)

Shea Foster (Oklahoma State)

James Mwaura (Gonzaga)

Zach Facioni (Wake Forest)

Said Mechaal (California Baptist)

Austin Vancil (Colorado)

Thomas Boyden (Stanford)

Wil Smith (Gonzaga)

Luke Combs (Air Force)

Ryan Johnson (Air Force)

Sean Maison (Air Force)

Izaiah Steury (Notre Dame)

Fearghal Curtin (Florida State)

Vincent Mauri (Arizona State)

HONORABLE MENTIONS (in no particular order)

Parker Stokes (Georgetown)

Ryan Kinnane (Auburn)

Josh Methner (Notre Dame)

Ethan Marshall (Air Force)

Scott Maison (Air Force)

Parker Stokes (Georgetown)

Ezekiel Rop (Iowa State)

Gabriel Sanchez (Indiana)

Patrick Anderson (North Carolina)

Kevin Berry (Notre Dame)

Antonio Lopez Segura (Virginia Tech)

Matthew Ricthman (Montana State)

Ben Perrin (Montana State)

Jake Ritter (Cal Poly)

Ryan Schoppe (Oklahoma State)

Ahmed Jaziri (Eastern Kentucky)

Eric Casarez (Texas A&M)

Chris Maxon (Ole Miss)

Santiago Prosser (Northern Arizona)

Notes

- N/A