TSR's 2022 D2 XC Top 10 Team Rankings (Men): Update #3

John Cusick
Nov 7, 2022
9 min read

Additional edits and commentary by Garrett Zatlin

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.

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.

10. Colorado Christian Cougars (-2 / 8)

Colorado Christian takes a two-spot tumble in our rankings because they did not race their top men at the RMAC XC Championships this past weekend.

Hudson Majeski was the top runner for the Cougars finishing in 19th place. However, outside of his result, there’s not much else to report for the CCU men.

The Cougars still have top-10 potential, but we’ve seen their best team in one competitive meet all season long. We’ll wait to see them at the South Central Regional XC Championships before moving them up or down any further.

9. Western Colorado Mountaineers (+1 / 10)

Western Colorado finished 3rd at the RMAC XC Championships this past weekend. They were 45 points behind Adams State and 65 points behind the winners, Colorado Mines.

Simon Kelati (6th) secured a top-10 finish, further solidifying himself as one of the best low-sticks in the country. Jacob Hernandez stepped up with a really strong 11th place finish of his own as well. If Hernandez had not finished where he did, then we could be discussing a disaster of a race for the Mountaineers.

Juan Diaz finished in a respectable 21st place with Sean McCauley and William Johnson finishing 27th and 28th, respectively, to give Western Colorado a total of 91 points.

Michael Grabowski had the worst race of his career as a Mountaineer, finishing 102nd in a field of 118 athletes. While that performance is less than ideal, it should actually be a confidence booster for the Mountaineers. The fact that they were able to perform as well as they did with one of their best runners not scoring is a testament to the depth of this program.

Albert Hesse was on the outside looking in at the scoring lineup and it might be time to hit the panic button with him. Hesse has not looked the same as he did in the fall of 2019 and we’ve seen enough to say that it’s more than just a little rust.

Overall, we’re walking away from this weekend encouraged about the Mountaineers’ depth without one of their top runners performing up to expectations. We’ll see how an extra 2000 meters of racing affects this team in two weeks, but things are looking up for the group from Gunnison, Colorado.

8. Missouri Southern Lions (+1 / 9)

In our conference meet preview, we said that the only team that could beat Missouri Southern was Missouri Southern themselves.

But the Lions made sure that was not the case this past weekend at the MIAA XC Championships. Gidieon Kimutai and Ryan Riddle finished 1-2, respectively, while JP Rutledge finished 6th, making it three Lions inside the top-10.

Riley Simpson finished 15th and Kaden Cole was 17th to give Missouri Southern 41 points. That was 27 points better than the runner-up team, Nebraska-Kearney.

The depth is still somewhat concerning, but with three top guys such as Kimutai, Riddle and Rutledge, you can get away with a little more than some other top teams. We’ll need to see how Simpson and company respond at their regional meet in two weeks, but much like Western Colorado, we are encouraged by this result.

7. Lee (Tenn.) Flames (0 / 7)

This was probably a closer call than this Lee (Tenn.) would have liked, but a three-point team victory at the Gulf South XC Championships is enough for us to keep them at our TSR #7 spot in this update.

Aaron Himes led the Flames with a 3rd place finish and was the first of four Lee athletes inside the top-10. Silas Eckenroad (6th), Will Stone (7th) and Ezekiel Harkless (10th) were the next three men in this lineup. Evan Moore was just two spots back in 12th place and was the fifth scorer across the finish line before Mississippi College had four athletes complete the race.

The Flames took home the team title with a score of 38 points to the Choctaws' final score of 41 points.

As we previously mentioned, it was yet another name leading Lee (Tenn.) with Himes acting as the top scorer. His performance was the saving grace, quite literally, for the Flames as they were able to secure a team title after being upset in 2021.

If we had to nit-pick, we could say that there is some concern over Adan Rodriguez and Matthew Fowler’s performances as of late. These two men showed us that they can make this team one of the best in the country, but they haven’t been at their sharpest in a few of their recent races.

We can’t say that the Flames are a top-five team in the country as of right now. However, if Rodriguez and Fowler both reemerge as scorers for this team at their regional meet, then we will feel more comfortable about our expectations for this group going into December.

6. Augustana Vikings (0 / 6)

Augustana comfortably walked away with the NSIC team title over the weekend. They scored 18 points and were 76 points better than the runner-up team, Minnesota State.

Five Viking athletes finished in the top-six of the race individually, showing us exactly what they’re capable of when they run their top lineup.

Matt Steiger was the individual winner with Ryan Hartman eight seconds back in 2nd place. Steiger has continued his strong breakout season on the grass. He’s put together back-to-back lead scoring performances for this team and that could mean two things.

A) The Vikings have two legitimate low-stick athletes in him and Hartman, or B) Hartman hasn't made the jump that we anticipated after his freshman season.

And if you asked us, it’s likely a combination of both of those things. Steiger has shown improved fitness and refined racing ability while Hartman, while still a legitimate All-American threat, might not be quite as sharp as he was at last year’s NCAA XC Championships.

Jesse Kaas, Colten Brand and Erik Gunderson finished in order, going 4-5-6 to make it a dominant performance for this team.

The Vikings will stay at TSR #6 as this was a result that we expected from them. They’ll be tested more heavily at the Central Regional XC Championships, but a strong performance there should give us the last insight that we need on this team before the national meet.

5. Chico State Wildcats (0 / 5)

We are going to keep this analysis fairly straightforward.

Chico State scored 20 points en route to their 20th straight CCAA team title. The Wildcats had six athletes cross the finish line inside the top-10 and all six men were in before Cal Poly Pomona had three runners complete the race.

This absolute dominance from Chico State is exactly what we expected from this team. Rory Abberton took home the individual title, finishing four seconds ahead of teammate Jack Emanuel who finished 2nd.

Cameron Duquette (4th), Brayden McLaughlin (5th) and Omar Alvarez-Hernandez (8th) were the final three scorers, securing a 35 point margin of victory.

The immediate takeaway that we have is the performance of McLaughlin.

It’s nice that McLaughlin appears to be rounding back into the form that we expected him to be in after leading this team in 2021. His ability to perform at a high level will be the biggest thing to watch two weeks from now.

He elevates the scoring potency of this team dramatically.

The performance from Duquette is also a promising sign going forward. He might not have the same kind of ceiling that McLaughlin has, but if he can consistently run like this the next two times out, then we could be talking about a Chico State team that is better than TSR #5 in the country.

4. Wingate Bulldogs (0 / 4)

Wingate sent a “B” squad to compete at the SAC XC Championships and they walked away with a team title, scoring just 25 points in the process.

Souheil Boufrizi took home the individual title for Wingate while five other Bulldogs finished inside the top-10. Boufrizi has the potential to make his team's regional lineup in two weeks and this performance will likely help his case.

It appears that Wingate is getting ready to make some noise at the Southeast Regional XC Championships in two weeks and the amount of depth that they continue to display reinforces how we feel about their team.

It doesn't feel like there's a "true" worst-case scenario outside of the entire team performing poorly and we have yet to see that this season.

The Bulldogs stay put at our TSR #4 spot this week and we will reevaluate them after their regional meet performance.

3. Grand Valley State Lakers (0 / 3)

Grand Valley State won their 20th straight GLIAC title last weekend, scoring 28 points to Saginaw Valley’s total score of 61 points. Tanner Chada won the individual title by 30 seconds and the Lakers put six athletes inside the top-10.

Caleb Futter finished 3rd overall and his performance is huge when we start talking about the podium race in December. Until recently, Futter had not lived up to the expectations placed upon him after the graduation of Isaac Harding. However, this performance certainly changes that narrative for Grand Valley State.

If he can perform like this at the national meet, then the 1-2 punch of Chada and Futter could challenge the top-two runners from Adams State, making the race for 2nd place much more interesting.

Andrew Hylen was the fifth runner across the line for the Lakers last weekend, but we should expect him to be in the top-three of this lineup in a couple of weeks. Add in Koby Fraaza who didn’t race this past weekend and this is a legitimately scary lineup through four runners.

You could argue that the Lakers are currently the second-best team in the country, but for now, they’ll stick here at TSR #3.

2. Adams State Grizzlies (0 / 2)

Things could have gone better for Adams State at the RMAC XC Championships. Then again, things could have gone worse for Adams State. And that is the sole reason why this team will stick at TSR #2 this time around.

The Grizzlies' top runner at the RMAC XC Championships was not Awet Beraki as we all expected. Instead, it was Cameron Allan who finished 4th overall and helped keep this team stay afloat despite an "off" day from one of the country’s best in Beraki.

Beraki finished 7th overall and was the second scorer for Adams State. Miguel Coca (10th), Clement Duigou (12th) and Yonas Haile (13th) were the final three scorers, helping the Grizzlies score 46 points.

Even if Beraki finished where we expected him to (top-three), that wouldn't change the team results. But it does mean that this team could have finished with less than 46 points. Meanwhile, Allan has shown that he has true low-stick potential. His finish adds him to the list of elite runners in the country and he could fight for a top-10 spot at the national meet on the right day.

The supporting cast for the Grizzlies ran as expected and in a conference setting, having five runners inside the top-13 is usually a good recipe for success. It just so happens that another team can somehow place five athletes inside the top-nine.

This is by no means a poor showing from the Grizzlies. They are a top-three team in the country at the moment and given that there was room for them to improve after this performance, we feel comfortable leaving them here as our second-best team in our rankings.

1. Colorado Mines Orediggers (0 / 1)

The performance laid down by Colorado Mines this past weekend is hard to put into words. A team effort that culminated in 26 points and a 20-point margin of victory over the country's second-best team is simply tremendous.

Dillon Powell made light work of the field, winning his second consecutive RMAC individual title. Chris Cathcart had a huge performance, finishing 3rd overall. His service as his team's second scorer brings an even higher ceiling to the Orediggers.

Duncan Fuehne continued his strong showings as the team’s third scorer finishing 5th overall. Paul Knight jumped in the varsity lineup as the fourth scorer by finishing 8th while Luke Julian finished 9th.

They scored 26 points and that was without Loic Scomparin!

If Scomparin runs, you could be looking at six Orediggers inside the top-10 and an even lower score than those 26 points that they scored to secure their fourth straight RMAC title.

Before this past weekend, you could argue that Colorado Mines wasn’t the best team in the country. That is no longer the case after their display at the RMAC XC Championships.

They’ll have another big test at the South Central Regional XC Championships, but our confidence in Colorado Mines is higher than it’s ever been this season.