TSR's 2022 Preseason D1 XC Top 25 Rankings (Women): Just Missed & Honorable Mentions

NOTE: Earlier this summer, The Stride Report reached out to nearly every team that was considered for a possible ranking this summer. While we did receive numerous responses and great clarity, we did not get a 100% response rate. On rare occasions, we are referencing TFFRS in order to talk about returners and athletes who are out of eligibility.

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Just Missed (in no particular order)

Furman Paladins

The Furman women were floated around a few times as a team that could sneak into our rankings. But at the end of the day, we simply didn't have enough room in our XC Top 25.

The Paladins were a super young team in 2021 and they'll still be very young in 2022. Last fall, they struggled a bit in larger national meets like Joe Piane and Nuttycombe. But even so, this is a team that has shown flashes of promise over the last few seasons.

Now, in 2022, it's time to see if they'll deliver on that extremely high upside.

Bethany Graham is a true low-stick, they have tons of depth, they have a very good incoming recruiting class and some of these women have valuable experience, even at the national meet.

We have every reason to believe that the Furman women can eventually be ranked. However, we have to actually see them race at that level before that happens.

Florida Gators

Much like Furman, this Florida team was SUPER young in 2021...and it showed in their results.

Last fall, the Gators were flat-out bad at Joe Piane and improved only marginally at Pre-Nationals. Finishing 6th at the SEC XC Championships was relatively unexciting, but a 5th place team finish at the South Regional XC Championships was a bit more encouraging.

And since then, the Florida women have become noticeably better.

Parker Valby has become one of the best distance runners in the country and Stephanie Ormsby finished 16th at last year's regional meet. Everyone else on the team returns and most of them were underclassmen last year, meaning that their potential for growth is some of the highest in the NCAA.

Gabrielle Wilkinson, who is predominately an 800 meter runner, will also return after not competing last fall. She has proven in the past that she can be a respectable cross country runner.

And then there is Angelina Perez. In a world without Natalie Cook, one could argue that Perez would be the biggest name in girl's high school cross country. In theory, she could be a top-10 finisher at the South Regional XC Championships this fall.

On paper, everything about Florida says that they'll be significantly better than last year. However, we don't know exactly how much better they'll be. Will it be enough to put them into the national meet? Make them a top-25 team? Maybe even better than that?

After a quiet 2021 campaign, the Gators still have a long way to go to get those points.

Oregon State Beavers

Gosh, this was a tough one.

When you look at Oregon State's projected lineup for 2022, it's hard to dislike this team. They have two low-sticks in Kaylee Mitchell and Grace Fetherstonhaugh, a new middle-lineup scorer in Olivia Johnson (a grad transfer) and then a few promising backend pieces.

On paper, that looks like a potential top-25 team.

However, last year's results left us wanting more. Even with the addition of Johnson and the reintroduction of Meagen Lowe, the math still suggests that the Beavers need more scoring. 27th place at Nuttycombe and 7th at the West Regional XC Championships are results support that assertion.

That being said, Oregon State has everything they need to not only be a national qualifying team, but maybe a top-25 team later in the year. They have a very solid foundation, arguably the best in this portion our list, and there's a good chance that they make us look silly a couple months from now.

Illinois Fighting Illini'

Over the last few years, Coach Sarah Haveman has helped a once-unexciting Illinois cross country team go from mediocre to nationally relevant. That is an extremely impressive accomplishment.

However, last year was the first time that the Fighting Illini' trended (slightly) downward...which feels ridiculous to say considering the season that they had. They were 12th at Joe Piane, 9th at Pre-Nationals, 6th at the BIG 10 XC Championships and 5th at the Midwest Regional XC Championships. They would not advance to the national meet.

While not amazing, none of those results were all that bad.

That said, losing both Rebecca Craddock and Allison McGrath is brutal. Those are two veterans who have helped reshape this team over the last few years. They have brought steady scoring to Illinois throughout their careers and have sometimes emerged as true low-sticks.

Illinois had a great freshman class in 2021 that will continue to get better. Plus, Emma Milburn looks like promising as a top scorer. Even so, trying to replace key scorers in the middle of their top-seven will be a challenge.

Could Illinois be a ranked team? Absolutely.

But for now, we'll keep them just outside while we ponder.

Connecticut Huskies

When Maura and I were crafting these rankings, we looked at each other and thought, "Oh my gosh...are we actually going to rank UConn??"

Ultimately, we didn't, but make no mistake, we were VERY close to doing so. In fact, we were so close that we actually did put them at TSR #25 for a good portion of our conversation before revisiting.

UConn is far from a perfect team. They finished 22nd at Nuttycombe last fall and they lose a top scorer in Mia Nahom. Admittedly, that is tough to ignore when you're crafting a list of the 25 best teams in the country.

That said, the Huskies return everyone else from their varsity lineup, including two women (Melissa Zammitti and Chloe Thomas) who were in the top-15 of their region last fall. UConn placed 4th as a team last fall at the Northeast Regional XC Championships and were 3rd at the BIG East XC Championships, taking down Providence and Villanova in the process.

With an accomplished coach in Beth Alford-Sullivan now at the helm of this program, all signs are pointing upwards for the Huskies.

In the end, we opted to put UConn in our "Just Missed" section because trying to replace the scoring prowess of Mia Nahom is going to be very hard. Still, there are far more positives than negatives when it comes to this team and we like them quite a bit.

Iowa State Cyclones

Even as I'm typing this out, I feel like we have robbed the Iowa State women of a ranking.

The Cyclones were fantastic last year, significantly outperforming expectations at the national meet. However, before the NCAA XC Championships, the Cyclones were having a solid season, finishing 9th at Nuttycombe and consistently keeping things competitive with Oklahoma State in the postseason.

At the national meet, Iowa State earned a huge 9th place finish. While that result was certainly within the realm of possibility, it was a clear deviation of what we had grown to expect from the team throughout last fall.

Now, one might ask, "How on Earth does a team that was top-10 at the national meet last year suddenly fall out of the top-25?"

Well, it has to do with expired eligibility.

Cailie Logue, Ashley Tutt and Winrose Chesang are all gone. This means that Iowa State's first, second and fifth scorer from the national meet will need to be replaced this fall.

That is a TON of scoring potency that has instantly vanished from this lineup. And at big meets like Nuttycombe and the NCAA XC Championships, an overwhelming amount of the Cyclones' scoring came from Logue and Tutt -- it wasn't as balanced as other teams.

Still, there is a large handful of highly respectable names on this squad.

Feyen, Hill, Schraft and Cohoon have proven that they can put together decent finishes, albeit not consistently. Iowa State still has a solid core remaining, but how they rebuild around their current group will be the next big test.

Liberty Flames

Liberty was a team that was flying under the radar until the 2021 winter cross country season. But then they quietly put together a string of impressive results and made it to the national stage back in March.

And in the fall of 2022, they still have many of their core pieces.

The return of Calli Doan and Adelyn Ackley is huge. Those two women are one of the best 1-2 punches that the NCAA has to offer right now. In fact, they both sit within our D1 XC Top 50 individual rankings.

Liberty returns the rest of their squad minus Grace Dwyer, a fairly respectable middle-lineup contributor. And while it would be easy to suddenly throw the Flames back into our top-25 because of their numerous returners, it's hard to put them ahead of a Furman team (who returns everyone) that they lost to at the Southeastern Regional XC Championships.

Still, their performance at Pre-Nationals was very encouraging and finding critiques for this team feels like brain teaser simply because there aren't a ton. If someone wanted Liberty in our top-25, we probably wouldn't argue.

West Virginia Mountaineers

For the last few seasons, the West Virginia women have emerged as a consistently competitive squad that have been able to make some noise at the national level. However, in some years, we don't always have a good gauge of how their team will perform.

And in 2022, that remains true.

Last year, Mountaineers didn't run well at the Nuttycombe Invite, placing 19th. However, placing 3rd at the BIG 12 XC Championships and earning a runner-up finish at the Mid-Atlantic XC Championships made sense.

The WVU women ended their season with a 21st place finish at the national meet.

According to TFRRS, West Virginia loses Sylvia Russell and Hayley Jackson. Both of those women often appeared as scorers for their team last fall. That's admittedly a tough loss. While neither of those distance talents were the low-stick star that their teammate Ceili McCabe was, they still provided immensely valuable scoring stability.

Even so, this team still has some really promising pieces. Plus, the departures of Russell and Jackson aren't so dramatic that the Mountaineers can't recover. It depends on how you view a few other teams, but West Virginia may have had an argument to be ranked.

Princeton Tigers

This is more of a personal favorite, but I am very high on the Princeton women this fall. I think they have tons of young, high-upside pieces who could be great scorers in 2022.

Even so, this team is still very much in the "prove it" phase of their roster lifecycle.

A 16th place finish at Joe Piane wasn't great, but their runner-up performance at the Ivy League XC Championships was respectable. The Tigers later secured a quietly strong 4th place finish at the Mid-Atlantic Regional XC Championships which ended their season as a team.

Now here's the catch: The Tigers return everyone in 2022.

Yes, everyone.

That is huge! This team could be really good if the right scorers continue to develop. They have a budding low-stick in Fiona Max and their backend scoring was actually better than a few teams that beat them throughout last fall.

Is Princeton a top-25 team yet? No, not quite. They still have to prove themselves before we can put them in that conversation.

But are they primed to do exactly that over the next few months? I'd say it's likely.

Honorable Mentions (in no particular order)

• Northwestern Wildcats

• Ohio State Buckeyes

• Minnesota Golden Gophers

• Syracuse Orange

• Harvard Crimson

• Butler Bulldogs

• Texas Longhorns

• Rice Owls

• San Francisco Dons

• Kentucky Wildcats

• Indiana Hoosiers