TSR's 2022 D3 XC Top 20 Individual Rankings (Men): Update #1

TSR Collaboration
Oct 11, 2022
10 min read

Written by Kevin Fischer, Brett Haffner & John Cusick

Additional edits and commentary by Garrett Zatlin

NOTE: Theses 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.

20. Matthew Kearney, Junior, MIT (Unranked)

Kearney was left off out of our preseason rankings and instead earned a spot in our "Just Missed" portion. At the time, that felt like the right decision.

After an early DNF at the Dartmouth Maribel Sanchez Souther XC Invitational, we felt both validated and concerned about what Kearney's status for this 2022 season would be.

However, Kearney would go on to finish 9th at the D3 National Preview behind a medley of strong Division Three runners. A top-10 finish against some of the best runners in Division Three instills some confidence in how we feel about Kearney moving forward.

Yes, he lost to one or two names who aren't currently ranked in our top-20, but his past history of success and his progress from the winter months gives his resume a base that others simply don't have right now.

If he consistently races like this throughout the rest of 2022, then he'll improve upon his 28th place finish from last year's national meet while giving the MIT men an all-important second low-stick in their lineup.

19. Ryan Kredell, Junior, Haverford (Unranked)

We've seen three races for Kredell during this 2022 cross country season and three top-10 results have earned this Haverford junior our TSR #19 in our latest rankings update.

Kredell won the Haverford Alumnae Alumni Open race and followed that with a 5th place finish at the Main Line Invitational. Both were strong results, but nothing that changed our mind about him.

But then Kredell ran the Lehigh Paul Short Run. There, he finished 7th in the "Brown" race and was the second Division Three runner across the line. He was only eight seconds behind winner, Gidion Sigei.

And for good measure, he was just three seconds behind fellow D3 runner, Frank Csorba.

All that to say this: Kredell has taken a leap up in his fitness and it's showing here early in 2022. We may be getting ahead of ourselves, but with three consistent performances already, we should continue to expect more of the same from this Harvard ace for the rest of the year.

18. Isaac Wegner, Junior, UW-La Crosse (Unranked)

Much like the ranked athlete behind of him, Wegner has produced three top-10 results this season, effectively putting himself inside the top-20 portion of our rankings.

Wegner finished 6th at the Ken Weidt Classic which was fine, but his two results following that is what truly excited us.

This rising UW-La Crosse ace finished 4th in the "Maroon" section at the Griak Invitational and was just two spots back of his teammate, Ethan Gregg. He followed that up with another 4th place finish at the D3 National Preview.

These are really good results for Wegner. His newfound ability to stay in touch with some of the elite talents up front and offer true, high-end scoring potency will make a huge difference for both him and his team in the postseason.

17. Matt Carter, Junior, Connecticut College (Unranked)

Welcome to the rankings, Matt Carter!

After a successful year on the indoor and outdoor ovals, there were some questions about Carter coming into the season about how he would carry his momentum to the grass. And admittedly, he didn't come across our radar during the summer, but after his performance at the D3 National Preview, our hand has been forced a bit.

Carter finished 3rd at the D3 National Preview and the only two athletes ahead of him were Ethan Gregg and Christian Patzka. That's quite the breakout performance if you ask us.

We don't want to overreact and suddenly send Carter skyrocketing up our rankings. We need to see him offer season-long consistency before that happens. But this is a really strong performance from Carter in his first race of the season.

We'd like to see him do it again, but it's hard to overlook this effort from Carter.

16. Lucas Florsheim, Junior, Pomona-Pitzer (-6 / 10)

The lead man for the Sagehens from a year ago didn't get off to the best start in 2022.

But that's alright!

After all, the cross country season is a long one.

Florsheim finished 49th at the UCR Invitational and was the fourth scorer for Pomona-Pitzer that day. That is far from what we expected out of him in the first meet of the season, but we can chalk it up to him being a little rusty.

And sure enough, Florsheim bounced back at the Cougar Challenge, producing an encouraging 11th place finish and leading the Sagehens that day.

Despite the six-spot tumble, Florsheim is still considered one of D3's better distance runners and a few more solid results should back that up. Don't expect him to stay outside of our top-10 for long, but we'll stick him here at TSR #16 for the time being.

15. Andrew Mah, Senior, MIT (Unranked)

Andrew Mah was another MIT athlete who made the "Just Missed" portion of our preseason rankings. He is also another MIT athlete who has made us look a bit silly after his recent performances.

While we believed that Mah was capable of being a top-20 runner this season, we still needed to see him deliver in 2022. However, with his win at the Dartmouth Maribel Sanchez Souther XC Invitational, followed by a 6th place finish at the D3 National Preview, we feel comfortable saying that Mah belongs in the top-20.

One thing that we know for sure is that Mah should be better than the 33rd place finish that he earned at the 2021 cross country national meet.

And if he continues to race like this, then the sky is the limit for him. When looking at his recent performances from the past year, momentum is very clearly on his side.

14. Cory Kennedy, Sophomore, RPI (Unranked)

We’ve already known that fellow RPI teammate Matthew Lecky is good, but Cory Kennedy is making a name for himself as one of RPI’s TWO low-sticks this fall.

He had a huge breakthrough performance at the Paul Short Invite, placing 59th in the "Gold" section, beating a slew of Division One names and many strong runners from both Johns Hopkins and John Carroll.

Kennedy’s current boom has helped him become a legitimate national-caliber name, but the key for him will be seeing a replication of this high-level performance in future meets this season.

That's why, just for now, he comes in at TSR #14.

13. Gunner Schlender, Sophomore, UW-Whitewater (+4 / 17)

Gunner Schlender’s freshman year at UW-Whitewater was certainly one to remember. The Warhawk star earned All-American honors in both cross country and in the 5000 meters during the winter months.

Coming into this season, there was little doubt that he would be an elite name.

And sure enough, his sophomore year is looking to follow the same trend of supreme excellence, finishing closely behind fellow teammate, Christian Patzka, in all of his races thus far this season.

A 7th place result at the D3 National Preview was also a nice performance as well.

Schlender continues to move in a good direction which should set him up well for another good postseason finish which we are expecting him to build upon. He still needs to take another step up if he wants to crack our top-10, but he's not too far from doing so.

12. Colin Kirkpatrick, Junior, Pomona-Pitzer (-4 / 8)

Kirkpatrick has only raced once this season and that effort came at the Pomona-Pitzer XC Invitational.

In that race, he finished 3rd individually behind a couple of Division Two athletes, but it was a strong result, nonetheless. However, outside of that lone race, Kirkpatrick hasn't done anything that warrants us to move him up or even keep him in the same spot.

With the postseason right slowly beginning to rear it's head around the corner, it wouldn't be a surprise to see Kirkpatrick jump back into the top-10 once he reaches his postseason peak.

However, we will need to see him reach that point before we bump him back up in our rankings.

11. Simon Heys, Junior, Wilmington (OH) (-5 / 6)

Heys has been running pretty well in the first-half of this cross country season, along with his Wilmington team, who is vastly improved compared to previous seasons.

Yes, Heys does slide down a few spots after placing 5th at the D3 National Preview, but he still ran solidly...it's just that a few guys just ran a little bit better.

Nevertheless, Heys is a highly experienced experienced competitor whose 5th place finish at the 2021 cross country national meet was an excellent indicator of his racing abilities.

If anything, we might be selling Heys a little short, and he can certainly upend our expectations throughout the second-half of the season. While we are putting him at TSR #11 in our latest rankings update, this feel closer to his floor than his actual potential.

10. Frank Csorba, Junior, Lynchburg (+3 / 13)

After a breakout season on the track in 2021, Frank Csorba is making a very strong return to form on the grass in 2022.

Csorba's run at the Paul Short Invite was nothing short of impressive, placing 4th overall in the "Brown" race and dipping under 24:00 for the first time in his career. For perspective, that would have put him in the top-100 in the "Gold" race.

Honestly, there's not much to say about Csorba right now. He's running very well and taking down some really solid names. The Lynchburg star has also proven to be fairly competitive with some mid-major Division One programs.

9. Nick Andrews, Junior, SUNY Geneseo (+5 / 14)

Andrews has been having a very solid season so far this fall, putting together strong performances at both the MSU Spartan Invitational (17th) and the Mike Woods Invitational (2nd). Those are much better results than some people may realize.

Andrews has historically thrived throughout each season he runs, resulting in many high-level performances at national meets throughout the last few seasons.

If there’s anything that we could expect from the SUNY Geneseo ace moving forward, it’s that he's due for the greatest postseason of his career. His early-season results are super encouraging (especially his Michigan State race) and there is only room for him to go upwards.

8. Tyler Morris, Junior, Colby (-4 / 4)

In his lone race of the 2022 cross country season so far, Tyler Morris put forth a dominant effort at the Maine State Championships, putting together a solo effort to win by over 30 seconds!

However, Morris didn't truly battle with any true national-caliber name en route to that win.

Once this Colby ace gets to race some national-level competition, it would not be surprising to see Morris’ stock rise even higher considering that he’s a strong postseason performer from his numerous All-American performances on the grass and the track.

7. Graham Tuohy-Gaydos, Sophomore, Williams (-4 / 3)

After a really tough and uncharacteristic season opener where he finished 40th at the Siena XC Invitational, Tuohy-Gaydos has bounced back pretty well, posting back-to-back runner-up finishes behind teammate Elias Lindgren.

That early-season result was admittedly a little bit concerning and it's a big reason why he drops a few spots in our rankings.

We will be interested to see how Tuohy-Gaydos responds when he has to once again face top-tier competition from opposing teams, but we are by no means hitting the panic button.

6. Matthew Lecky, Junior, RPI (Unranked)

Lecky was absolutely on our radar this summer after a great track season, but we had some reservations about ranking him in our preseason top-20. That was mainly because his best cross country result was a 38th place All-American finish and we weren’t sure whether his track times would carry over to a big jump in cross country.

Well, we were wrong.

Sometimes, we just overanalyze these things.

Lecky has definitively answered any questions that we may have had about him early in this season, holding his own against Elias Lindgren and running sub-24 minutes over 800 meter en route to a 61st place finish in the "Gold" race at Paul Short.

This RPI ace was a dynamic and dangerous distance talent on the oval this winter, showcasing incredible strength across a variety of distances. And so far this fall, that strength has potentially translated better than we were expecting.

5. Christopher Collet, Junior, Wartburg (+4 / 9)

Steeplechase national champion, Christopher Collet, has seamlessly translated his success on the oval to the course. He was great last fall, but he's clearly even better in 2022.

Wartburg has competed in fairly small meets this season, so Collet hasn’t faced many elite D3 names yet. However, he has comfortably beaten all of his D3 competition that he has faced and recorded an impressive 2nd place in an almost exclusively D1 and D2 field at the Redbird Invite.

As the season progresses, it will be exciting to see Collet showdown against some other top D3 names. He's looking really sharp even if his competition has been fairly minimal so far this year.

4. Christian Patzka, Sophomore, UW-Whitewater (+7 / 11)

Patzka came into this season with great momentum after earning All-American finishes on the track in both the 5000 meters and the steeplechase. Expectations were high for him to make a jump up on the grass this fall.

And now that it’s October, Patzka has not only met those expectations, but he has also exceeded those expectations. He has raced three times so far this fall, winning twice and finishing runner-up once, losing only to our TSR #3 runner, Ethan Gregg, at Pre-Nationals.

With the loss of veteran David Fassbender, Patzka is now "the guy" at UW-Whitewater, and he looks at right home in that role. His firepower from the track has not only translated over to the grass, but it has since gotten even stronger.

3. Ethan Gregg, Junior, UW-La Crosse (+4 / 7)

We knew that Ethan Gregg would be one of the top runners in D3 this fall, but he really made a splash when he won the "Maroon" race at the Griak Invitational earlier this year, beating top D2 talents such as Clayton Sayen in the process.

The UW-La Crosse Eagle later backed up that performance up with a win at Pre-Nationals the next weekend, this time taking down Christian Patzka.

Despite already being an elite force in Division Three, Gregg appears to have made yet another jump up in his fitness this year. He is proving to be unafraid to attack these fields from the gun and his margins of victory over some upper-tier competition is far better than some people may realize.

2. Elias Lindgren, Senior, Williams (0 / 2)

Lindgren has yet to lose on the grass this fall. That's a promising stat, but a lot of runners have also not faced a ton of competition this fall.

Lindgren is not one of those guys.

The Williams superstar has faced the likes of Matthew Lecky (TSR #6) and teammate Grahm Tuohy-Gaydos (TSR #7) so far this fall, as well as numerous Division One talents at the Siena XC Invitational.

Lindgren has show time and time again that he is one of the nation’s absolute best. If he keeps up this form, then he may be able to challenge Alex Phillip for the individual title.

1. Alex Phillip, Junior, John Carroll (0 / 1)

There have been some major surprises this season on both the team and individual sides so far this season.

Alex Phillip is not one of those surprises.

A 7th place finish in the Paul Short "Gold" simply reinforces his status as the best D3 distance runner in the country. And if that isn't enough for you, then maybe a runner-up finish at the MSU Spartan Invitational is.