TSR's 2022 D2 XC Top 10 Team Rankings (Women): Update #1

TSR Collaboration
Oct 10, 2022
9 min read

Written by Eric Baranoski & Grace McLaughlin

Additional commentary and edits by Garrett Zatlin & John Cusick

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. Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs (Unranked)

Winning the Griak Invitational was a heck of a way for the Minnesota-Duluth women to make an early-season statement.

And being from Minnesota, I can tell you that it means a lot, no matter the field.

The Bulldogs won the "Maroon" race handily over Winona State with three women in the top-10, a display of firepower that clearly gave them an unmatched scoring edge. Cailee Peterson was the first to cross the line for the Bulldogs with juniors Maddie Verkerke and Julia Nielsen close behind.

And with Morgan Radel placing 12th overall, only UMD's fifth scorer sat as the main scoring outlier in this otherwise outstanding lineup.

Admittedly, the Bulldogs did come back down to Earth a bit at the Lewis XC Crossover this past weekend. That meet boasted a deeper and simply more competitive D2 field.

However, finishing runner-up behind only Colorado Christian, while beating 2021 national meet qualifying teams such as Lewis, Edinboro and Saginaw Valley State is highly impressive and great validation of their Griak performance.

The backend scoring of this team will likely need to be better in the future if they want to keep their spot in our top-10 rankings. However, their firepower is excellent and their supporting cast is still able to go out and do their jobs.

Generally speaking, they've got a fairly effective lineup.

9. Colorado Christian Cougars (Unranked)

We have to give props to this Colorado Christian team.

The Cougars were the only D2 team that wanted to partake in the CU Time Trial and they may have learned a lot about how they stack up as a team.

That's because Paige Tack, after finishing 6th overall in that Boulder rust-buster, went on to secure an outstanding 5th result in a stacked Lewis Crossover field. That performance essentially validated her race from last November when she earned All-American honors.

On top of all of that, the CCU women took home the team title at the Lewis Crossover over Minnesota-Duluth (by a lot), a result that some people would consider to be an upset.

In that same race, Shannon King finished 10th overall. That's a promising result for someone who has clearly kept up the momentum from last spring when qualified for the outdoor national meet in the steeplechase.

With Michelle Kuipers (13th) and Elizabeth Mattson (16th) stabilizing the middle portion of this lineup, and D3 middle distance transfer Zanzie Demco (24th) closing out the scoring quick enough, it was hard to find any major flaws with this CCU team on Saturday.

8. Wingate Bulldogs (-1 / 7)

Wingate emerged as the only D2 team in the Paul Short "Gold" race two weekends ago, although it was hardly a specular performance.

Star front-runner Gemma Rebollo unsurprisingly led the Bulldogs the other week as the entire team set new 6000 meter personal bests on the Lehigh-hosted course.

However, Rebollo didn’t serve as the "true" low-stick that we thought she would be, finishing way outside of the top-100 in 148th place. And while the rest of her teammates went 186-207-230-232 in the overall results, keeping a fairly compact lineup, the Wingate women had to settle for a 35th place finish outside of 46 teams.

Again, Wingate was the only D2 team in the field, so that needs to be considered. Still, it's hard to put the caliber of their performance into perspective without any D2 programs also in this race.

That said, this is a team that is now without All-American ace Lara Orrock from last year’s 5th place national meet team. She isn’t currently listed on the Bulldogs' 2022 cross country roster.

Regardless, the Wingate women aren’t going to be a pushover team this fall. They should still be one of the better teams in Division Two this fall and at the very least, they should remain in our top-10 during this week's update.

7. Western Colorado Mountaineers (-1 / 6)

The Western Colorado women have won both of their dual meets so far this season, beating Colorado Mesa twice in each of their efforts.

But how will Western Colorado fare when the field expands to over 20 teams? That's still a question that we need answered as the Mountaineers haven't truly been tested yet this fall.

In the extremely small sample size that we can see, we have realized that Katie Doucette (TSR #4) is in good shape and so is low-stick teammate Allison Beasley. That's a fairly positive development given that the success of this team in 2022 runs through these two women.

But how will the rest of this lineup fare against a respectable field at the Pre-Nationals Invite on October 22nd? What will their supporting cast look like? And what will the gaps in this team's top-five be liked compared to last year?

There are still numerous questions that we need answered.

6. Stanislaus State Warriors (+2 / 8)

The Stanislaus State Warriors from California have a "Big Three" in terms of scorers.

I’m talking about the ladies of Kaela Dishion, Kayden Legan and Najwa Chouati. Together, they have been as good as advertised as they have been the backbone of this team throughout the early portion of this 2022 cross country season.

Dishion has been out front leading the charge while Legan and Chouati have served as reliable second and third scorers this fall. In fact, that trio went 1-2-3 at the Cougar Challenge back in September (which they ended up winning) and they all finished in the top-20 at the University of San Francisco Invite which featured Stanford and a few other Division One programs.

Few Division Two programs boast the same elite low-stick trio that the Stan State women clearly have. However, significant lineup gaps and scoring drop-offs will have to be mitigated after those three women moving forward.

Depth is already a major challenge for this super small roster, so the Warriors certainly can't have afford to have anyone in that top-five have a poor outing. But for the women that they do have, this is a really fun team.

5. Augustana Vikings (-3 / 2)

Augustana entered our preseason rankings at TSR #2 and we still expect them to be a top team later in the season.

Still, we just haven't seen anything of note from them so far this fall.

The Vikings won the WSU Wildcat XC Classic with a perfect score of 15 points, but that field hardly offered any competition. In that race, seniors Nicolette Schmidt and Megan Means ran away from their competitors and battled for the win. Schmidt ended up winning, but by less than a second.

At the Augustana Twighlight meet on September 2nd, the Vikings fielded five women, but only four ran attached. And of the women who did race, they weren't necessarily amazing.

Not only that, but this team hasn't seen low-stick star PJ English toe the line this season! That's a slightly concerning development for a program that was expected to heavily rely on their firepower this fall.

The Augustana women established last fall that they have a dynamic duo up front and an overall solid top-six...but we have yet to see them in a competitive race.

With it being a "festival year" in Division Two, with the NCAA XC Championships being two weeks later than normal, it may be fairly understandable for some teams to be holding back early in the season.

However, until we see how Augustana fares against top competitors, like at the upcoming Bradley Pink Classic, they will sit at TSR #5.

4. UC-Colorado Springs Mountain Lions (+1 / 5)

The Mountain Lions of UC-Colorado Springs move up one spot in our updated rankings due to the firepower at the front of their lineup and the increased scoring support on their team.

The Mountain Lions opened up their 2022 season at the UCCS Rust-buster where they took home a dominating win with 17 points. However, it was their first true test of the season that produced even more impressive results.

The UCCS women placed 4th in the "Gold" race at the Louisville Classic, 66 points behind the GVSU women who finished 3rd.

Layla Almasri cracked into the top-20 with her 17th place finish against some solid Division One runners. Kate Hedlund had an amazing run with her 24th place finish and was followed by Anna Fauske in 34th place.

With Riley McGrath in 60th place and Molly Breuer in 67th place, the scoring was plentiful for the Mountain Lions. We also saw Rachel Ritchman in 77th place and Jessica Madrid in 99th place to round-out this team's entire top-seven.

That Louisville Classic result was massively encouraging for this program. We know McGrath can improve in the future, Fauske is closer to being a low-stick than a support scorer and the depth of this program is better than we thought they would be.

The Mountain Lions have a balance of firepower and depth, as well as a fun mix of youth and experience on their roster. This is undoubtedly a top-five team in the country, but can they become a podium team come December?

3. Colorado Mines Orediggers (+1 / 4)

Colorado Mines only ran their “A” squad once this season, but once was enough to secure their spot at TSR #3.

The Orediggers returned their star runners from last year, added a pair of key transfers and showed improvement with their other returners.

The Colorado Mines women were victorious at the Roadrunners Invitational with a dominating score of 17 points. Transfer Jenna Ramsey took home the win and was followed by star veterans Zoe Baker (TSR #8) and Molly Maskin (TSR #22) in 2nd and 3rd, respectively.

Newcomer Clare Peters made an impressive debut with her 5th place finish while returner Molly Hoser rounded out their top-five in 6th place.

The additions of Jenna Ramsey and Clare Peters have elevated this team to an entirely new level. Their lineup of Ramsey, Baker, Maskin, Peters and Hoser holds incredible talent and unreal firepower. While they don’t have a lot of room for error with their sixth and seventh runners, most of these women are experienced and have proved their consistency enough to diminish most of our concerns.

The Orediggers will be looking to improve upon their 4th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships from last year, and so far, it looks as though they will have no issues accomplishing that feat.

2. Grand Valley State Lakers (+1 / 3)

Grand Valley State has raced twice this season. Both of their efforts were strong, but not unexpected, either.

The Lakers may have lost their NCAA individual cross country national champion, but they return numerous stars and have developed enough of their roster for that departure to not be as big of a hit as it could have been.

With that in mind, their current lineup looks different this year compared to last, and the Lakers will rely more on the power of their pack than they have in prior seasons.

The GVSU women opened up their 2022 cross country season with a runner-up finish at the MSU Spartan Invite and most recently placed 3rd at the Louisville Classic. At both meets, they were the top Division Two team and held their own against nationally ranked Division One teams.

2021 cross country national meet runner-up, Klaudia O’Malley, veteran ace Natalie Graber and middle distance speedster Taryn Chapko have established themselves as part of the Lakers’ focal scoring trio.

But outside of that three-woman group, there are several new names and young talents who Grand Valley State is heavily relying on this fall.

In Louisville, Graber snagged an impressive 6th place finish and was followed by Kiley (13th), O’Malley (35th), Chapko (38th) and Vanderkooi (41st) to complete their scoring-five.

Kayce Rympa and Madison Ebright rounded out their top-seven.

Graber has stepped up to be the Lakers’ top runner this fall with O’Malley still in the mix, but further back than her runner-up finish at the cross country national meet last fall would have suggested.

The inexperience of Kiley and Vanderkooi is worrisome, but they have shown that they will be impactful team members, especially Kiley who was fantastic in Louisville.

We should also note that the minimal impact of Nebraska transfer Grace Pagone is substantial. However, if she does start racing at 100% again, then she could be part of the Lakers' main scoring pack come December.

Grand Valley State’s lineup is far from perfect. There are a handful of moving pieces within this top-seven and some top low-sticks aren't racing quite as well as we had hoped they would.

And yet, despite all of that, their unreal depth, crazy high scoring upside and past history of success still make the Lakers a top Division Two team in the country.

1. Adams State Grizzlies (0 / 1)

Patience.

To be quite honest, there isn't much to say about the Adams State Grizzlies at the moment. They have raced twice this season, but their strategic lineups make it difficult to gauge just how good they are this season.

They have fieled some unattached athletes, some “A” team runners and some “B” team runners, but have yet to debut a few of their stars.

At the Joe Vigil XC Open, Brianna Robles ran away from the field and won by over 30 seconds. Nicole Lawerence finished 2nd and was followed by Precious Robinson (4th), Emily Schoellkopf (5th), Morgan Hykes (6th) and Franziska Althaus (9th).

The Grizzlies also had Tristian Spence, Maggie McCleskey, Ava O’Connor and Fiona Hawkins race unattached and place in the top-10.

At the Ted Castaneda XC Classic, Adams State raced their apparent “B” team, but won the team title with Franziska Althaus winning the race. Tristian Spence ran unattached again and placed 2nd overall, leaving us wondering if she will be in an Adams State uniform at their next race.

There are more questions than answers with the Adams State Grizzlies, but the unreal level of talent that they have on their roster, combined with no reasons to doubt them, is enough to keep this team at TSR #1.