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

TSR Collaboration
Oct 11, 2022
12 min read

Written by Kevin Fischer & Hannah Thorn, 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.

20. Shaelyn Hostager, Sophomore, Wartburg (-2 / 18)

We anticipated a big jump this year for Shaelyn Hostager based on her 10k success from the spring season. And for the most part, she is meeting those expectations!

The Wartburg ace has already run a lifetime best of 21:54 for 6000 meters, finishing 4th in a very good field at the Dan Huston Invitational which featured her teammates and numerous top-tier Washington U. talents.

While she does fall back a bit in our rankings, that's not necessarily her fault. That's due to the impressive performances that we've seen from others. As long as Hostager maintains her current momentum, then she will be instrumental in helping the Knights seek a team national title.

19. Frances Schaeffler, Junior, U. of Chicago (Unranked)

Frances Schaeffler is part of the top-tier scoring trio that we've seen from U. of Chicago this fall, a much-needed development given the recent absence of low-stick teammate, Claudia Harnett.

Of course, Schaeffler is not a complete unknown as she made multiple national meet appearances on the oval in the long distance races...but has never finished higher than 15th in any of those showings.

However, this season is already off to a strong start for Schaeffler as she finished 4th at the Gil Dodds Invitational and then 5th at the D3 National Preview! In our eyes, those are two performances that very much validate her recent rise to national prominence. The consistency is also encouraging.

Schaeffler has a tendency to race right alongside her teammates, Anna Kenig-Ziesler (TSR #17) and Lucy Groothuis (TSR #16). That pack mentality has pushed her to new heights and is looking like a strong strategy to bring U. of Chicago to the podium.

18. Emily Konkus, Junior, Washington U. (+2 / 20)

The last year of competition for Emily Konkus has been full of “almosts” and close calls.

At the 2021 cross country national meet, Konkus finished 41st overall, one spot shy of All-American honors. This past spring, she made it to the 1500 meter finals at the outdoor national meet and finished 9th overall…once again one spot shy of All-American honors.

This year, we speculated that Konkus would be able to take a step forward after clearly hovering around a nationally competitve tier for the last few seasons -- and she has not disappointed.

After already running a personal best in the 6k and holding her own against several other names on this list, it looks like Konkus has gone from a fringe All-American contender to someone who is capable of being one of the better distance talents in Division Three.

A pair of 3rd place finishes at the Gil Dodds Invitational and the Dan Huston Invitational gave Konkus wins over key support scorers who she was supposed to beat, as well as a couple of ranked names -- but she's still on the verge of reaching that next tier.

17. Anna Kenig-Ziesler, Freshman, U. of Chicago (Unranked)

Kenig-Ziesler and Schaeffer have been a major part of U. of Chicago’s team success this year, finishing as their second and third scorers at both the Gil Dodds Invitational and Pre-Nationals.

In the absence of Claudia Harnett, the Maroons have been flying high this year nonetheless, and that is in part to these two women exceeding our expectations and minimizing the scoring gaps behind Lucy Groothuis.

While the Maroons haven't necessarily been facing the deepest fields compared to a few other programs, their competition has certainly not been easy. As long as Kenig-Ziesler and her teammates continue to do what they've been doing, then she'll stick around in our rankings for a good bit.

16. Lucy Groothuis, Sophomore, U. of Chicago (Unranked)

We've all known for a while that Lucy Groothuis was capable of doing a lot. She has been a national qualifier in the 5000 meter and was running well throughout the 2021 cross country season before her season was cut short in October.

However, Groothuis raced only once on the track this past winter and spring. If her name did happen to reappear on your radar heading into these fall months, then you likely still had questions about how she would rebound on the grass.

But in 2022, this U. Chicago ace has shown us (once again) that she can be an elite name in the D3 scene. A bronze medal finish at the D3 National Preview, paired with a win at the Gil Dodds Invitational, is a very promising development.

And honestly, a TSR #16 ranking may not be strong enough for someone of her caliber.

15. Meredith Bloss, Sophomore, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (-7 / 8)

Meredith Bloss has been a bit overshadowed by her teammate, Natalie Bitetti, this year.

However, she has been plenty good in her own right, finishing 11th at the Paul Short "Brown" race and then 7th at the Pomona-Pitzer Invite. Those are two promising results, but they're not quite of the top-10 caliber that we had hoped to see, specifically the latter result.

Based on her resume this fall, there is still some room for improvement, and that's a good thing for anyone who is approaching the postseason. However, we have grown to expect just a little bit more from Bloss.

Regardless, even when she is a step off, this Athena low-stick is still one of the best talents in the country, and that's not something that we can say about a lot of top D3 women.

14. Windsor Ardner, Junior, SUNY Geneseo (+2 / 16)

Windsor Ardner opened up her 2022 cross country season with a very encouraging 19th place finish in a loaded field (consisting of teams from all divisions) at the MSU Spartan Invite.

And when you take a look at few of the Grand Valley State runners who she beat, it's hard not to give Ardner a little bit of a bump in this week's update.

Her next two results were runner-up finishes behind teammate Kathleen McCarey, a largely unsurprising development.

After a stretch where she raced three weeks in a row, Ardner finally had a weekend with no racing which will hopefully be a much-needed refresher going into the latter part of the season.

13. Morgan Lee, Sophomore, RPI (Unranked)

Lee went under our radar coming into this fall despite running 17:02 over 5000 meters during the spring months. But so far this season, she has made a big splash in the D3 scene, most notably with a 7th place finish in the "Brown" race at Paul Short in a time of 21:05.

We'll admit, Lee doesn't have quite as much championship experience as some of the other names on this list. Consistency and ongoing improvement will be a major factor that we monitor from her this fall if she is going to improve in our rankings.

That being said, Paul Short is a big stage. Anyone who would be rattled by elite and overwhelming competition likely wouldn't have fared as well as Lee did a few weekends ago.

12. Lexi Brown, Sophomore, Wartburg (Unranked)

Lexi Brown has been a very pleasant surprise this season. She has been Wartburg's second scorer in both of her races this fall and has kept the scoring gap very small behind superstar teammate Aubrie Fisher.

Brown's best cross country national meet finish was 61st place and she has never been an individual national qualifier on the track. However, so far this season, she is looking more impressive than a lot of women with more extensive resumes than hers.

If she continues to take down top-ranked top-20 talents like she already has, then Brown will not only be instrumental in the Knights’ national title campaign, but will also be in the conversation for a top-10 All-American finish.

11. Ana Tucker, Junior, Hope (-6 / 5)

Ana Tucker has had a very up and down cross country season so far.

She opened her season at the Jeff Drenth Memorial by finishing 6th place overall in 18:33 behind Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan women.

Then, she didn't race at the Gil Dodds Invitational or the D3 National Preview.

Instead, she decided to race a 5k at the Greater Louisville Classic which was held the same day as Pre-Nationals. It was a very solid 5k effort from Tucker as she finished in 17:26 for 39th place overall, but this is someone who was 11 spots better and 15 seconds faster at this same meet from last year.

We are halfway through October and Tucker doesn’t have a 6k time to her name. We'd like to see how she fares against more D3-focused fields before we put Tucker back into our top-10.

10. Mary Kate McGranahan, Junior, Amherst (Unranked)

McGranahan has been one of the biggest surprises of this cross country season.

After finishing 77th at last year's national meet and not qualifying for any national meets on the track, this year has been a standout season for the rising Amherst star.

McGranahan opened up her season by winning the Wesleyan Cardinal XC meet, although that field wasn't exactly nationally competitive. But then she followed up that rust-buster by winning the Little Three Championship in 21:38, a massive 6k PR.

However, McGranahan's best result was taking home the win at the Purple Valley XC Classic against teammate Sophie Wolmer, Williams' stars Molly Fitzgibbons and Genna Giraryd and Lauren Selkin from Mount Holyoke...just to name a few.

Not only that, but McGranahan won that race convincingly, finishing in 22:19 which was 25 seconds faster than the next-closest competitor.

If McGranahan continues on this trajectory, then she will keep moving up our rankings and maybe even put herself in a position where she's challenging for a top-five spot at this year's national meet.

9. Natalie Bitetti, Sophomore, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (+5 / 14)

Bitetti has been racing up a storm this season. She won the Redlands Invitational, was 12th at UCR Invitational (against D1 competition), finished 3rd in the "Brown" race at Paul Short and most recently won the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational.

Whew. What a schedule.

She most certainly is the favorite to win the West region this fall and be the region's highest representative on the national stage. Her consistency so far this season has also been wildly impressive and her poise on significant stages makes it really challenging to find any flaws on her resume.

8. Sara Stephenson, Junior, Johns Hopkins (+7 / 15)

Sara Stephenson has been a great 1-2 punch alongside Alex Ross this fall.

Her 15th place finish at the MSU Spartan Invitational showed us that she was ready for a great season on the grass and her 89th place finish in the Paul Short "Gold" race left her only 11 seconds behind Ross.

Together, those results suggest that Stephenson is someone who can consistently thrive in larger, national-caliber fields. In theory, that should translate perfectly to the NCAA XC Championships.

At last year's national meet, Stephenson got a little lost in the big pack, finishing 56th overall. That's why it was nice to see the Johns Hopkins women entering these bigger races to give their runners experience running in crowded fields.

That should pay dividends for Stephenson come November.

7. Kathleen McCarey, Junior, SUNY Geneseo (0 / 7)

After ending her outdoor track season early, we weren’t entirely sure what kind of shape Kathleen McCarey would be in.

Well, it turns out that she’s fit and racing really well.

She opened her season at the MSU Spartan Invitational, running 21:43 for 8th place! That was only 10 seconds slower than our TSR #5 runner, Alex Ross, and a huge finish that put her ahead of numerous Division One and Division Two talents.

How’s that for a rust-buster?

McCarey then followed up that performance with a cross country 5k PR of 17:30 at the Harry F. Anderson Invitational. That got her the win as SUNY Geneseo took the first nine spots.

But wait, she wasn’t done with the PR train just yet!

She returned just a week later to take the win at the SUNY Geneseo Mike Woods Invitational, finishing the 6k course in 21:11 which, you guessed it, was a new PR. It was also almost 30 seconds faster than 2nd place, a spot that belonged to her teammate and our TSR #14 runner, Windsor Ardner.

McCarey doesn't just look good this season, she looks great, although we would love to see her race more of the top talent in New England. That would give us a really good idea of how she’ll fare during the championship season.

She may fall in our rankings by a spot, but that's more based on what other women have done rather than what she has done.

6. Aubrie Fisher, Junior, Wartburg (-2 / 4)

Aubrie Fisher has been a pillar of consistency for the Wartburg women this year.

She was victorious at the John Kurtt Invitational, was runner-up at the Redbird Invitational and was then victorious again at the Dan Hutson Invitational. And these weren't slow times, either. She ran 21:32 at the Redbird Invite and then 21:29 at Dan Hutson.

She’ll get a good test at the Augustana meet and then again at the American Rivers XC Conference Championships where she’ll face Kassie Parker. That’s where we’ll see if her undefeated record (against D3 competition) will continue.

For now, she drops a little bit in our rankings, although that's almost no fault of her own.

5. Alex Ross, Senior, Johns Hopkins (-2 / 3)

Following Stephenson is her teammate, Alex Ross.

Ross has mostly run against D1 talent this year and is proving that she is not afraid to back down against some of the top women in the nation.

At the MSU Spartan Invitational, Ross was the top D3 finisher, finishing 6th overall in a time of 21:33. That was 10 seconds ahead of SUNY Geneseo’s Kathleen McCarey, a result that almost felt like a statement to the rest of Division Three.

Ross was also the top D3 runner in the "Gold" race at Paul Short, finishing 67th overall and further proving that she can thrive in large, nationally crowded fields just like we mentioned with Stephenson.

This Blue Jay veteran is firing on all cylinders very early this season. She is looking to finish well ahead of her last year’s national meet finish of 20th place overall, a possible extension of her momentum from the spring months.

4. Clara Mayfield, Senior, Carleton (+2 / 6)

After losing to our TSR #2 runner, Fiona Smith in her season opener, Mayfield has gone undefeated in her following races.

We'll admit, Mayfield hasn’t faced the toughest competition this fall, but a win is a win.

At the Saint Olaf Invite, she won the race by over a minute, defeating teammate Hannah Preisser in the progress. Mayfield then followed up that performance at the Bluegold Invitational by taking the win by almost a minute -- 57 seconds to be exact.

These opening races should have Mayfield’s confidence flowing heading into the rest of October and November. Of course, she’ll certainly need that momentum heading into the Inter-Regional Border Battle where she will face Johns Hopkins, SUNY Geneseo and Haverford (just to name a few).

That race will be a good test to see where Mayfield’s fitness truly is.

3. Annika Urban, Junior, Emory (+9 / 12)

Annika Urban has shattered our expectations this fall. We suspected that she was a top-20 talent, nationally, but she has shown us that she is capable of so much more.

In the "Brown" race at Paul Short, Urban showed everyone that she was one to watch this season, winning the race by a jaw-dropping total of 25 seconds. And it’s not like there were slouches in that race.

In fact, the whole Claremont-Mudd-Scripps roster was in that field, plus some D1 and D2 teams.

Now, we know that times between two fields are closer to an apples-to-oranges comparison, but Urban's mark of 20:22 would have won the "Open" and "White" races at Paul Short and also put her at 46th place in the "Gold" race.

She would have also been the top D3 finisher in the "Gold" race, over 20 spots better than Johns Hopkins star, Alex Ross.

Urban has gone from good to great to elite. She is dismantling fields with ease and proving to be someone who might have enough aerobic capacity to hang with the likes of Fiona Smith and maybe even Kassie Parker.

2. Fiona Smith, Junior, Saint Benedict (0 / 2)

Fiona Smith is not afraid to race.

While others are taking slower starts to the season, Smith already has four races under her belt. So far this fall, she has a win at the CSB/SJU Triangular, a win over our TSR #3 runner, Clara Mayfield, a runner-up finish at the Griak Invitational and a runner-up finish to Kassie Parker at the D3 National Preview.

Smith is looking to be Parker’s main challenger this season. She gathered elite fitness on the oval last year and seems to only be building upon that fitness this fall. She is annihilating fields with ease and the only women that she has lost to are potential national title favorites in their respective divisions.

What's not to like?

1. Kassie Parker, Senior, Loras (0 / 1)

Kassie Parker's only loss this season was to a teammate in what seemed to be a workout at the Spartan Classic. She has also beaten her opponents by 11 seconds and 24 seconds in her other efforts.

That admittedly doesn’t sound too dominant, but that 11 second win was over Notre Dame's Olivia Markezich (TSR #17) at the National Catholic Invitational. The next closest D3 runner in that race was a minute and a half behind...and it was only a 5000 meter race.

Parker's second win was over our TSR #2 runner, Fiona Smith at the D3 National Preview. That was no easy field, either, with the ranked trio from U. Chicago and a "Just Missed" athlete, Einat Gavish, also in that race.

Essentially, what I am trying to say is that Kassie Parker continues to be unstoppable this fall...and we don’t see her losing again this season.