TSR's 2022 Preseason D1 XC Top 25 Rankings (Men): #3 Stanford Cardinal

In the summer of 2019, The Stride Report made the somewhat controversial decision to rank the Stanford men at TSR #1 instead of the Northern Arizona men.

That ranking was naturally left with plenty of criticism, but we felt confident about our decision. Stanford, at the time, had more proven firepower and more All-American candidates than NAU did. On paper, they were the better team, at least for the preseason.

But as the season progressed, the Cardinal men never got into a rhythm. In fact, they ultimately faltered to a non-podium spot, placing 6th in Terre Haute, Indiana later that November.

Now, in 2022, the Stanford men arguably have the best firepower in the country, boasting one of the most elite scoring trios in recent memory. And while podium finishes have evaded the Cardinal in their last few cross country national meets, earning back-to-back 5th place finishes, this year's team will look to break that trend.

And the podium won't be the only thing that Stanford has their sights on.

They want to earn a national title before Lex and Leo Young even don Stanford singlets.

* * *

Heading into the fall of 2021, expectations were very high for the men of Palo Alto. They had thrived with an extremely young lineup during the winter cross country season and had flexed elite firepower.

And with everyone returning, it was hard to dislike this squad.

The first test for the Cardinal men last fall began at the FSU XC Open, the venue in which the 2021 NCAA Fall XC Championships would be hosted at.

In a field that featured top-ranked teams such as Florida State, Furman and a few other promising mid-major programs, it was Stanford that immediately flexed their dominance. Charles Hicks and Cole Sprout unsurprisingly finished 2nd and 3rd overall, establishing their place amongst the best individuals in the country.

Not far behind those two was second-year rookie Thomas Boyden who posted an extremely encouraging 6th place finish. With Evan Burke and DJ Principe placing 9th and 10th, respectively, there was simply no team in this field that came anywhere close to Stanford.

Although, surprising, Ky Robinson faltered to 23rd place, two spots behind teammate Meika Beaudoin-Rousseau.

Regardless, Stanford scored only 32 points, almost half the number of points that a respectable Furman team posted (61 points). For an early-season test, this was an encouraging result to see from the Cardinal.

Of course, things would become far more challenging at the Nuttycombe Invite, the deepest regular season meet of the year. It was also a field that held numerous top-tier distance programs that could give Stanford a run for their money.

But through three runners, the Cardinal men were beyond elite. The combination of Hicks, Sprout and Robinson went 3-6-7 in the overall results, giving them just 16 points through three runners. The Wisconsin men had the next-best scoring trio in the field, scoring 34 points, more than double what Stanford had posted.

That trio of results was massive. Not only did the PAC-12 powerhouse deliver on high expectations regarding the frontend of their lineup, but they also showed that this distance program was going to be a problem for a VERY long time, far beyond the fall of 2021.

However, after those three men, Stanford saw a relatively significant gap form. DJ Principe and Devin Hart, for the most part, ran fairly well. The backend scoring duo finished 40th and 48th overall, two of the better cross country results on their resumes.

But with Iowa State crowding the top-30 with all five of their scorers, Stanford's team score inflated far too much to keep up with the Cyclones. In the end, Iowa State would post a mere 88 points, comfortably putting themselves ahead of the Cardinal men who scored 102 points.

Still, despite the minor vulnerability, Stanford had to be encouraged. They had one of, if not the, best scoring trios in the nation. On paper, they were more than capable of taking down Colorado and company for the PAC-12 title just two weeks later.

Or so we thought.

Hicks would go on to take home the individual PAC-12 title, earning a minor upset over Oregon megastar Cooper Teare. And with Ky Robinson placing 4th overall, things were going according to plan through Stanford's first two runners.

But then Cole Sprout finished 8th overall, a result that was still plenty strong, but not quite up to the top-five expectations that we had for the former high school superstar.

Of course, Sprout finishing 8th isn't what forced Stanford to ultimately falter. Devin Hart held his own with a 15th place finish, but with the team's final scorer placing 26th overall, there simply wasn't enough depth to match the Buffaloes.

Colorado went on to put six men in the top-13, seven men in the top-17 and nine men in the top-23. And with a scoring trio that was only three points behind the Cardinal, the men from Boulder emerged victorious with a total of 39 points.

Stanford, meanwhile settled, for runner-up honors. They scored 52 points.

Even so, the Palo Alto men were still in position to earn podium honors at the national meet. After cruising through the West region, Stanford appeared to be a popular pick (by some people) to emerge as a top-four team.

There was no question that the Cardinal had enough firepower. But would they have enough depth to put them in a top-four spot? That was the biggest question heading into Tallahassee.

Hicks was once again phenomenal. The Stanford youngster and rising superstar finished 4th overall while Ky Robinson thrived in his own right, 14th overall. However, the third runner of Stanford's three-headed scoring monster, Cole Sprout, simply did not have his best day. The Colorado native faltered to 81st overall, a result that was far from his top-15 potential.

In fact, Sprout actually became Stanford's fourth runner that day with Devin Hart holding his own for an underrated 80th place finish, just one spot ahead of his teammate. Beaudoin-Rousseau, while not necessarily incredible, closed out the scoring fairly quickly with a respectable 94th place finish.

In the end, the Stanford men earned a 5th place team finish, their fourth-straight season missing the podium and their third 5th place finish in four years.

With 236 points, the Cardinal were only one point ahead of Tulsa and over 40 points behind Arkansas, well out of podium contention.

* * *

There is arguably no men's NCAA cross country team that is more fun and entertaining to talk about than the Stanford men.

The elite scoring trio of Hicks, Robinson and Sprout have formed one of the most effective and cohesive 1-2-3 punches that I can remember. Their recruiting classes are somehow getting better with each passing year. Their depth is massively improving. And for the most part, this team is still fairly young.

On paper, the Stanford men should be a near-lock for the podium in 2022...but that's also something that we have said multiple times before. Can this year's group be any different?

In the coming months, Hicks, Robinson and Sprout will give Stanford a nucleus of scoring that can once again be the focal point of this team.

And we'll admit, trying to go through each of those names and detailing their accolades would be an exhausting exercise that would ultimately end with the same message that I could just say right now: They're really damn good.

All three of those men earned All-American honors on both the indoor and outdoor ovals. They all ran sub-13:25 for 5000 meters and sub-27:50 for 10,000 meters. They don't have much room to improve on the grass (points-wise) compared to last year's results, but what we saw from this trio this past winter and spring says that they could be even better than they were last fall.

It's no secret that Stanford's success in 2022 will hinge on their top-three. However, as we saw at last year's national meet, that can also be a liability. Having just one of those men have a less-than-ideal day could send the Cardinal's team score spiraling downwards and out of a podium position.

But outside of that lone instance (and maybe one or two other examples), this Stanford trio has been extremely reliable. If they simply run near their full potential at the national meet, then their chances of being a podium team will skyrocket to a near-guarantee.

Of course, that possibility will also depend on how the final two scorers in this lineup perform.

And honestly, we don't have a good idea of exactly who those men will be...but we do know that Stanford has a ton of options to choose from.

If we had to take a guess, we'd say that Thomas Boyden will move into that fourth scoring role. The current third-year sophomore was fantastic over the last academic year, showing promise on the grass and then truly breaking out on the track.

Boyden's 6th place finish at the FSU XC Open was encouraging and his 81st place finish at Nuttycombe wasn't all that bad, either. However, that was the last time we would see Boyden race in the fall, a development that likely stemmed from some, "non-running related health issues during the cross/indoor season," according to his Instagram.

Since then, Boyden has scorched the track. This past spring, he ran outstanding times of 13:37 for 5000 meters and 28:44 for 10,000 meters. However, in a pair of efforts that were both impressive and unfortunate, Boyden finished 13th at the West Regional Championships in both the 5k and the 10k.

13th is the first spot out from the outdoor national meet in each event.

Despite the brutal misses, Boyden has tons to be happy about right now. His momentum is at an all-time high and his fitness is trending closer to Stanford's "Big Three" than it is to the rest of this lineup.

We have Boyden listed as an "Honorable Mention" in our preseason individual rankings, but he could have very easily cracked our top-50 if someone argued hard enough. His potential and upside is amongst the best in the country.

If he turns into the All-American candidate this fall that we think he can be, then Stanford will likely be podium locks and one step closer to truly contending for the national title.

So...who will the fifth scoring spot go to?

Again, this position could go to a variety of men, but Evan Burke is a name who followed a trend similar to that of Boyden. He had one promising cross country result, but then truly broke out on the track.

A 10th place finish at the FSU XC Open was solid, but that would be the last race he would finish during the fall of 2021. He was a DNF at the Nuttycombe Invite.

However, on the indoor and outdoor ovals, Burke would post times of 7:58 (3k) and 13:38 (5k), the latter mark being an eye-catching PR. That's an extremely strong time that would make him the second or third scorer for a handful of top-10 teams in our preseason rankings.

Just like Boyden, we don't know how much better Burke will be on the grass even after posting such a fast 5k PR. Still, he's due for a big cross country season and his track resume suggests that he'll have some type of impact on this team in 2022.

* * *

Of course, Boyden and Burke aren't the only men who could emerge as scorers for Stanford this fall. In fact, it would almost be disrespectful to leave Devin Hart and Meika Beaudoin-Rousseau out of that conversation.

Hart was a very underrated scorer for the Stanford men last fall. Earning a 48th place finish at Nuttycombe, a 15th place finish at the PAC-12 XC Championships and an 80th place finish at the national meet is scoring stability that almost every team in the country would love to have.

We don't know what Hart's upside is like, but at the very least, he offers outstanding depth and scoring support. He showed up, often secured a decent finish and rarely left you disappointed with his results.

A recent 7:51 (3k) personal best during the winter months was very encouraging as well.

Beaudoin-Rousseau is another name who needs to be on your radar. A long-time veteran of this Stanford program, this French distance standout was 94th at last year's national meet, a better-than-expected performance after a modest regular season and conference meet showing.

There is clearly some untapped potential within Beaudoin-Rousseau that we have not yet fully seen. I say that because this Cardinal runner went on to post an outstanding 10k time of 28:35 for 10,000 meters this past spring.

Beaudoin-Rousseau has always been a solid and fairly decent backend piece for Stanford over the years. However, his scoring impact has been minimal in most of his meets.

But that could all change following a sub-28:40 (10k) PR which was extremely encouraging. That performance suggests that he can be a top-60 or top-70 runner in the nation this fall on his best day.

Of course, that's just something that we'll have to wait and see.

There are also a few younger returners with tons of upside who showed tremendous progress this past spring. I am, of course, talking about Robert DiDonato and Nolan Topper.

DiDonato is a personal favorite of mine when looking through this Stanford roster. That's admittedly because I am also from the state of Pennsylvania like he is and because I've watched him race.

Still, this gutsy, all-out distance runner began to deliver on his suspected potential this past spring after running 13:50 for 5000 meters.

The rising sophomore is still super young and has tons of room to develop. If he follows the same trends of progression that Boyden and Burke have, then he could be very dangerous later this fall.

Fellow sophomore Nolan Topper is in an identical situation. He was fine during the cross country season, but really stepped up on the outdoor oval, running 13:54 (5k) and 28:44 (10k), the latter of which is a no-joke time for someone who was a true freshman.

Both DiDonato and Topper still have to refine their fitness in order to be the high-impact scorers that we think they can be. But if that refinement happens this fall, then the possibilities for this Stanford lineup are endless.

Finally, we have the incoming Cardinal high school recruits.

No, not Lex and Leo Young. Those guys aren't joining this team until 2023.

Instead, it's Gavin Sherry, Callum Sherry and Zane Bergen.

Gavin finished 3rd at the Eastbay XC National Championships last fall. He's also run 4:02 (mile), 8:47 (3200) and 14:30 (5k).

His brother, Callum, has run 4:07 (1600) and 8:50 (two miles).

As for Bergen, he is arguably just as good as Gavin. The Colorado native has run times of 1:49 (800), 4:00 (mile), 8:44 (3200) and 14:09 (5k XC). The Niwot High School superstar also earned a pair of 4th place finishes at the Garmin RunningLane XC National Championships and the Eastbay XC National XC Championships.

The level of talent that those three men hold is awe-inspiring. Pairing that trio with the already-incredible amount of talent on this roster is scoring potential is hard to put into words. In our eyes, both Gavin Sherry and Zane Bergen could be instant-impact contributors for Stanford this fall -- maybe even scorers.

And if the Cardinal coaching staff continues to have early success with all-time high school superstars, then the idea of Stanford winning the national title in November will be less of a pipe dream and more of a realistic possibility.

* * *

Stanford could win it all this year.

I really do believe in that statement.

Of course, the difference between Stanford and the next two teams in our rankings is that we a) don't know for sure who the final two scorers in this lineup will be, and b) don't know if Stanford's final two scorers can match the All-American prowess from the other fourth and fifth scorers on other title contending teams.

This is also a team that is heavily reliant on the success of three runners. Failing to reach the podium over the last four years has also come back to bite TSR quite a few times.

Still, it's hard to overlook this mass armory of distance running weapons. On paper, the Cardinal men could absolutely win a national title.

In fact, I could see a scenario where they win gold by over 20 points.

We just need to see the men outside of their top-three deliver on that potential.

And if they do, then I don't know how this team loses a meet all season long.