TSR's 2022 Preseason D1 XC Top 25 Rankings (Women): #16 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks

Written by Maura Beattie and Garrett Zatlin

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The Northern Arizona women have finally begun to get the credit they deserve.

After years of their men's team dominating the national headlines (and rightfully so), the Lumberjack women have put together a string of nationally competitive lineups in consecutive years, often emerging as one of the better distance programs in the the country.

In 2022, that narrative shouldn't change.

However, with the departure of key names and ongoing questions about certain scoring roles, the Lumberjacks will have their work cut-out for them later this fall.

* * *

Northern Arizona began their season at Paul Short, an early-season meet hosted by Lehigh University. There, the Lumberjacks would face strong opponents such as Villanova, Georgetown, Utah State and Adams State.

Superstar low-stick Taryn O'Neill took home the win while veteran Pipi Eitel secured a very promising 7th place finish of her own. Through two runners, NAU looked like they were in a fairly good spot scoring-wise.

From there, the Lumberjacks did see a gap form after their top-two. Hannah Behunin, Annika Reiss and Jesselyn Bries finished 23rd, 25th and 29th, respectively. And while those finishes were far from bad, NAU's backend scoring did counterbalance their scoring duo at the front of this race.

As a result, the Lumberjacks tied with Villanova for the win, although they won the tie-breaker.

For the most part, that was a solid result. While we're sure NAU wanted to secure a more convincing victory, taking down numerous nationally competitive squads had to be an encouraging first step in the 2021 fall season.

And at Pre-Nationals, things got even better.

O'Neill was fantastic once again, earning a huge 4th place result which allowed Northern Arizona to find a significant edge in the team scoring. Brynn Morley and Annika Reiss were a good ways back in 53rd place and 59th place, but it was hard to be upset about NAU's top-three.

On paper, they held great value.

Luckily, the gaps didn't get much larger after those three women. Bries locked down a 77th place finish while Eitel faltered a bit from her Paul Short performance, placing 88th.

Through five runners, Northern Arizona had quietly assembled a lineup with very few weak points. Sure, they could have closed down a few gaps or improved their firepower, but there wasn't any significant flaw holding them back.

As a result, they were rewarded with a 7th place team finish, beating Liberty on the tie-breaker.

Fast forward to the postseason and the Lumberjacks continued to produce strong results.

In a fairly weak conference, the NAU women easily won the BIG Sky XC Championships by placing all seven runners within the top-15. O’Neill once again proved that she was going to be a top-10 contender at the national meet after securing her second win of the season.

Elise Stearns, a promising underclassman, moved up nicely to fill the second scoring position with a 6th place finish. Pipi Eitel wasn't far behind with a 7th place finish of her own. Morley and Reiss rounded out the scoring in 11th place and 12th place, respectively, aiding in a 2-3-4-5 time-spread of just 12 seconds.

At the Mountain Regional XC Championships, the Lumberjacks saw O’Neill earn a victory for the third time that season. This single point was instrumental in helping the team receive an at-large bid back to Tallahassee.

Eitel, Stearns and Morley finished within seven seconds of one another by placing 35th, 40th and 41st, respectively.

However, it was veteran Delaney Rasmussen who picked up the slack and had her best performance of the season. The veteran crossed the finish line in 51st place, emerging as the team's fifth scorer en route to NAU finishing 6th in what was a truthfully not-so-great day.

But still, they advanced to Tallahassee.

Unfortunately, things weren't too much better for NAU at the NCAA XC Championships. The Lumberjacks faded to 23rd place despite a strong start to their season earlier in the year.

Despite being in the conversation for a top-10 (or even a top-five) finish, O’Neill faded to 42nd place, just outside of an All-American honor and potentially leaving 20 to 30 points on the table. Eitel, however, placed 75th overall, proving to be a respectable second scorer for her team.

As for the rest of the team, Stearns was way back in 196th place and Rasmussen faltered outside of the top-200. Morley wasn’t part of the team's top-five and Reiss didn’t even race.

But when you take all of that into consideration, a 23rd place finish at the national meet didn't seem all that bad.

* * *

Looking ahead to this fall, five of the seven women who toed the line for NAU last November are set to return -- and they'll likely be on a mission to prove that last year's national meet performance was just a fluke.

After not racing during the 2022 outdoor track season, O’Neill is expected to toe the line once again later this fall. The experienced veteran placed 6th at the 2021 winter cross country national meet and we know from her fall campaign that she is more than capable of replicating that performance come November.

O'Neill races with a lot of guts and has no problem bumping elbows with the best women in the country. However, in order for her to be successful this fall, she needs to channel the momentum that she gained two winters ago and deliver on her impressive streak of elite performances that we saw last fall.

And frankly, we have every reason to believe that she'll do exactly that.

If O'Neill performs at the national meet like we think she can, then she's going to cut-off a good chunk of points from Northern Arizona's overall team score in comparison to last year.

Of course, behind O'Neill is where the greatest scoring value lies.

At The Stride Report, we really like the idea of Elise Stearns being the second scorer for NAU this fall after the breakthroughs she made following the cross country season.

Admittedly, Stearns' 2021 fall season was a little back and forth. She was 44th at Paul Short, then 6th in the "Open" race at Pre-Nationals, 6th at the BIG Sky XC Championships, 40th at the Mountain regional meet and then 196th at the NCAA XC Championships.

Those performances were a little all over the place, but there was clear potential in what Stearns had shown on the grass -- and sure enough, we saw on that potential come out on the track.

On the outdoor oval, the rising Lumberjack talent recorded a 4:19 altitude-converted mark for 1500 meters as well as a highly encouraging 15:55 personal best for 5000 meters. Between these two performances, it’s only fair to assume that Stearns can capitalize on her newfound strength to move into the top-100 at the 2022 cross country national meet.

Then there is Annika Reiss who should be back in the mix of things for the Lumberjacks this fall after a respectable fall 2021 campaign.

Her 80th place finish at the Mountain regional meet doesn’t match her true potential, although her 16:06 (5k) performance on the track does. Her 25th place finish at Paul Short and 12th place finish at the BIG Sky XC Championships aren't too shabby, either.

Reiss had some modest finishes on the grass last fall, hovering right around the 5-6-7 scoring positions for NAU. But after some gained confidence from this past spring season, the junior has a chance to be a more reliable scorer this time around.

Brynn Morley is another name who needs to be mentioned, especially when you consider her extensive experience and proven history of success.

Morley has competed at three NCAA XC Championships over the course of her career and has had a few up-and-down experiences in each effort. Her best showing came at the March 2021 national meet where she placed 93rd.

Her 2021 fall campaign was highlighted by middle-of-the-pack finishes and emerging as a scorer in every meet except for Paul Short and the cross country national meet. A 53rd place finish at Pre-Nationals was definitely Morley’s best race of the season and that proved to us that she can be a legitimate high-value scorer on the right day.

Like some of her teammates, Morley also had a tough day at the NCAA XC Championships, but if her recent outdoor track season indicates anything, it's that her 2021 national meet experience will be in the rearview.

During the 2022 outdoor track season, Morley dropped six seconds off of her 1500 PR en route to a 4:19 personal best. She also dropped a respectable 5k time of 16:19 this past year as well.

The experience that Morley has gained on the grass, combined with her improvements on the track, should allow her to play an instrumental role for the Lumberjacks later this fall as long as she can replicate her best results more consistently.

We also can't forget about Jesselyn Bries who will be on a revenge tour this fall after missing out on qualifying for the 2022 outdoor national meet in the 5k by two places.

The 16:14 (5k) runner has shown her growth over the longer distances this past year and is on track to add depth to this NAU roster once again.

The rising senior wasn’t expected to be the third scorer at last year's cross country national meet after being the team's eighth runner at the BIG Sky XC Championships and NAU's sixth runner at the Mountain regional meet.

Still, she dug down deep in Tallahassee and improved upon her winter cross country national meet showing, by placing 136th overall.

Like Morley, Bries plays a strong supporting role for NAU in cross country. As the outdoor 5k champion at the BIG Sky Championships in the spring, Bries has clearly shown an improved racing acumen, even if her times don't jump off the page.

We think she has the potential to carry that track success over to the grass. And if she does, then that could be huge for NAU this fall.

* * *

With Taryn O'Neill being the superstar that she is, the Northern Arizona women are always going to have a low-stick scoring edge that they can rally around. Last year's team was far from perfect and their consistency needs to improve, but there are clearly enough pieces on this team for them to be nationally competitive (if everyone runs well on the same day).

But reinforcements may be necessary for Northern Arizona this fall, especially after seeing so much fluctuation throughout this lineup.

Luckily, NAU has plenty of options.

Meagan Van Pelt and Nikita Moore are two names to watch out for as possible scorers this fall. Van Pelt owns a 16:11 PR for 5000 meters and Moore comes in with a 16:18 personal best.

However, the name who we think could be due for a breakout season this fall is underclassman Maggie Congdon.

The rising Lumberjack talent won the "Open" race at Paul Short last fall and finished 15th at the BIG Sky XC Championships. While she did falter at Pre-Nationals and not race past her conference meet, it's clear that there is a ton of untapped talent within this former high school standout.

And let's not forget, there are numerous other youngsters who could VERY good this fall. Women like Samantha Blair, Anna Fenske and Tori Gaitan have flexed high-end potential at the high school level and could make some noise in 2022.

All of this depth looks promising, but they still have to deliver on this speculative upside in order to make up for a few key scoring losses.

That's because women like Eitel, Rasmussen, Behunin and Jessa Hanson have all run out of cross country eligibility and/or won't return.

Losing Eitel probably hurts the most. She was somewhat consistent last fall and provided great scoring support near the upper-half of this lineup. Trying to replace her scoring value, while certainly doable, won't be easy.

The departure of a standout 10k runner like Hanson isn't ideal, but she also didn't race last fall. She'll simply be one less scoring weapon available to NAU in 2022.

Behunin had a very solid showing at Paul Short last fall, but after faltering at Pre-Nationals, we didn't see her again for the rest of the season. Much like Hanson, this Northern Arizona team has already gone through most of a season without Behunin in the lineup.

Rasmussen was a respectable backend piece and it would have been nice to have her back, but there should be enough support to fill her role from last year.

While the loss of those four runners may seem damaging, NAU is actually well positioned to cover those gaps. And truthfully, the amount of scoring lost from last year's team isn't a ton. One of those women was almost never a scorer and two of those women played little-to-no role in the Lumberjacks' top-seven at all last fall.

* * *

We'll admit, Northern Arizona didn't have the most steady lineup in the NCAA last fall. They had some inconsistencies throughout the latter portion of their 2021 season and the loss of Eitel may prove to be a significant challenge over the next few months.

But make no mistake, the pieces are very much there for Northern Arizona to be great in 2022.

As long as O’Neill delivers a performance on the national stage that is closer to her full potential, then the Lumberjacks should already see a significant scoring improvement compared to last year.

Meanwhile, the veterans in their returning lineup are plenty experienced and have shown that they can provide legitimate scoring value in past meets. As long as they can come together and run well on the same day, then NAU should be able to mimic a time-spread similar to what we saw at Pre-Nationals.

And with so many untapped talents waiting in the background of this roster, it feels like the the scoring opportunities for NAU are endless.