TSR's 2022 Preseason D1 XC Top 50 Rankings: Just Missed & Honorable Mentions (Men)

Here we go. Our 2022 men's and women's preseason individual cross country rankings. Let's start out with our Just Missed and Honorable Mention names.

As a reminder, you can find our rankings rubric here. This week will be our D1 rankings while next week will be our D2 and D3 rankings. Let's begin...

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JUST MISSED (in no order)

Jackson Sharp, Junior, Wisconsin

I'm sorry Jackson Sharp. It feels like boarderline robbery that you didn't make our Top 50.

If these rankings were entirely up to me, Sharp would be listed as one of the 50 best cross country runner in the NCAA. Unfortunately, I had to use him as a sacrificial bargaining tool to keep another key name in when debating with Ben and Gavin.

Sharp went from average to great last fall. A 10th place finish at the Louisville Classic was respectable, but it didn't necessarily move the needle in any dramatic way. However, a huge 16th place finish at Nuttycombe forced us at The Stride Report to truly question just how good this guy was.

A 9th place result at the BIG 10 XC Championships was solid, but it also fell behind his Nuttycombe result in terms of the overall impressiveness of the result...but not by much.

A 165th was a rough way to end Sharp's cross country season, especially since he had shown signs of being an All-American on the grass throughout last fall. On paper, that performance was certainly not indicative of his actual talent.

Luckily, Sharp would flex his fitness on the track. He ran a fantastic 3k time of 7:48, was a crucial member of Wisconsin's All-American DMR and he also ran 3:59 in the mile. However, his best mark came in the 5k after the NCAA season concluded, running 13:33 in Dublin, Ireland earlier this month.

Sharp has the potential to be a dangerous runner on the grass this fall. His trajectory is sky high and he has shown on more than one occasion that he can be in the elite tier of the NCAA.

We still need to see more consistency on the grass, but leaving Sharp out of these rankings was extremely difficult to do.

Brendan Fraser, Senior, Colorado

Lost in a Colorado roster that is filled with iconic names is Brendan Fraser. The Buffalo veteran, who initially ran for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, was one of the more underrated scorers in the PAC-12 last fall.

Fraser started his season off with an excellent 8th place finish at the top-heavy Cowboy Jamboree. He would take down All-American standouts like Yaseen Abdalla, Scott Beattie, Victory Shitsama and George Kusche in the process.

The newest Colorado Buffalo would go on to have a very nice showing at Pre-Nationals, placing 23rd overall and showing off an ability to thrive in big stages. Fraser's consistency followed him to the PAC-12 XC Championships where he placed 12th overall, further solidifying his place as a high-impact role scorer, but not quite an All-American candidate.

Fraser capped off his season with an 85th place finish at the national meet. It was a respectable result that somewhat mimicked his regular season performances, but there was potential for him to be 10 to 20 spots better.

An improved track season was encouraging to see, but Fraser's most important results have come on the grass. And admittedly, we wouldn't argue with anyone who would want Fraser in these rankings.

Consistency is a very valuable trait to have. Personally, it's something that I probably value more than Gavin and Ben do. In fact, even as I'm writing this excerpt, I'm wondering if we made a mistake by leaving Fraser out of out Top 50.

Still, I think we're just waiting for a little more firepower and a little more scoring potency from Fraser in larger, more talent-laden fields. Saying that, however, makes me feels like we're nit-picking.

Florian LePallec, Senior, California Baptist

Some people may not be familiar with LePallec right now, but there's a good chance they'll see his name again later this fall.

California Baptist has now completed their four-year transitionary period to Division One. As a result, they can now have their teams and individuals qualify for the NCAA Championships.

And on paper, LePallec may be their first runner to achieve that.

Last fall, LePallec put together a sneaky-good string of results. After two early-season rust-busters, LePallec placed 8th in the "Open" race at Joe Piane -- a fine result, but not one that truly caught your attention.

But then the California Baptist star placed 30th at Pre-Nationals, giving us reason to believe that LePallec could be competitive in national-caliber fields. Sure, it wasn't a jaw-dropping result, but he took down a handful of very solid names.

A win at WAC XC Championships ended LePallec's season on a high note before he went into a racing hibernation of sorts and didn't compete again until March. That spring season, however, was kind to LePallec who ran 13:41 for 5000 meters and earned WAC titles in the 10k and the 5k.

Admittedly, LePallec isn't one of the first few men in consideration to make our XC Top 50, but he's certainly better than an Honorable Mention name. He made very promising improvements throughout last year and with the potential to qualify for the national meet now available, LePallec should have extra motivation going into this fall.

Arjun Jha, Senior, Michigan

Arjun Jha is the BIG 10 equivalent of Brendan Fraser, except Jha has been consistently running at a high level for his entire college career.

The former Indiana runner, who will now race with the Michigan men as a graduate transfer, is easily one of the most reliable distance runners in the country. While he has yet to truly offer All-American-caliber scoring, Jha rarely has poor races (which isn't to say that they don't happen).

Jha has made appearances at four NCAA XC Championships throughout his career. Twice he finished in the top-100, earning a 91st place finish and an 85th place finish.

In his last three appearances at the BIG 10 XC Championships, he has placed in the top-12 all three times, finishing as high as 6th place last fall.

However, Jha really began to show an edge last fall when he placed 18th at Joe Piane and 25th at Nuttycombe. Those were very strong showings that seemed to align with the success he had in the postseason.

No, those performances aren't necessarily jaw-dropping, but they hold plenty of value, especially when crafting these kinds of rankings.

Jha was considered for a top-50 spot, but we ultimately went in a different direction. We still want to see him show more of a scoring spark as a low-stick. Plus, his latest cross country national meet result (176th) wasn't ideal.

Still, if we were doing an XC version of Bill Simmons' Trade Value Rankings, then Jha would certainly be on our list.

Aaron Las Heras, Senior, Wake Forest

Las Heras is such an interesting name to evaluate when it comes to our rankings. His racing schedule is somewhat nontraditional and his breakout season came on the track, not the grass. Even so, there's an argument for Las Heras to be a top-50 runner...but he only barely missed that honor in our book (for now).

The Wake Forest star admittedly underwhelmed during the 2019 cross country season and raced only twice (ACC XC Championships and the Southeast Regional XC Championships). Then, during the winter cross country, after an unexciting finish at the FSU Winter XC Open, Las Heras surprised us with a quietly strong 61st place finish at the NCAA XC Championships.

Las Heras was a bit more consistent during the fall of 2021, placing 18th at the ACC XC Championships, earning runner-up honors at his regional meet and then finishing 74th at the NCAA XC Championships.

On paper, those national meet results are encouraging, but his cross country resume as a whole doesn't necessarily scream "I'm a Top 50 cross country runner."

But his track performances probably do.

This past spring, the Demon Deacon star ran 28:13 for 10,000 meters to take home a statement 10k win at the Raleigh Relays while ALSO running 3:41 in the 1500 meters that same weekend.

A bronze medal at the ACC XC Championships in the 5k, en route to a 13:38 personal best, would ultimately be the last major highlight of Las Heras' collegiate career.

It's clear that Las Heras has tons of upside and the potential to be a true low-stick. Still, we're looking for him to deliver that firepower on the grass and we're looking for a bit more consistency. While his track results suggest that he might be a top-50 runner, we need to actually see that first before we grant him a spot in our rankings.

Jake Renfree, Sophomore, Notre Dame

As a freshman during the pandemic-altered cross country season(s), Renfree was a very respectable name, but he was far from amazing...until the national meet. At the NCAA Winter XC Championships, Renfree threw down a monster 22nd place finish, stunning the country with a huge All-American result.

Naturally, expectations were high for Renfree going into last fall, but he admittedly underwhelmed. He placed 161st at Pre-Nationals, 16th at the ACC XC Championships and then 46th at the Great Lakes Regional XC Championships.

He did not race at the NCAA XC Championships.

We opted not to rank Renfree since he only has one result on his resume that truly stands out. Admittedly, that result is probably the most important result that he could possibly have, but the rest of his performances on the grass have been fairly underwhelming.

Yes, there will be other names in these rankings who were exceptional in the winter of 2021 and then faltered a bit in the fall of 2021, but their drop wasn't as significant as Renfree's was.

Even so, we wouldn't put this Notre Dame youngster in this spot if we didn't believe in his potential. You don't finish 22nd at a cross country national meet by mistake.

Camren Todd, Junior, Utah State

Gosh, what a challenging name to figure out.

Camren Todd was an exceptional talent during the winter cross country season. He shattered expectations and gave the Aggies an unexpected low-stick who they rallied around throughout that pandemic-altered season.

Todd placed 11th at the loaded FSU Winter XC Classic before earning bronze at the Mountain West XC Championships and then a pleasantly surprising 42nd place finish at the NCAA Winter XC Championships.

All of the momentum was in Todd's favor heading into the fall. However, his season as a whole wasn't his best. The Utah State ace was a respectable 4th place at Paul Short before having rough showings at the Mountain West XC Championships (55th) and the Mountain Regional XC Championships (68th).

However, what I didn't tell you is that Todd placed 9th at Nuttycombe that season as well! in that race, he took down numerous All-Americans, including some of the best endurance-centric athletes in the NCAA. That 9th place finish was a huge result which suggested that Todd could be an elite distance talent, something we already knew from his winter cross country campaign.

There is no question that Todd can be one of the best cross country runners in the nation. Still, trying to reconcile his fall season with his winter season is a challenge and that's what ultimately forced us to put him in our "Just Missed" section.

Hillary Cheruiyot, Sophomore, Alabama

On paper, Cheruiyot never had a poor race during the 2021 fall cross country season, although his season can be broken down into two parts.

The Alabama youngster began his fall season with a 38th place finish at Joe Piane and a 33rd place finish at Pre-Nationals. On paper, those were very solid results, but they also suggested that Cheruiyot was more of a top-tier role scorer and not necessarily a true low-stick.

A 22nd place finish at the SEC XC Championships validated that suspicion.

But then Cheruiyot placed 5th at the South Regional XC Championships and went on to secure a very strong 53rd place finish at the NCAA XC Championships.

In comparison, those marks were notably better than anything he had posted earlier in the season.

However, it's Cheruiyot's track times that give him an interesting case to potentially be in our XC Top 50. The Crimson Tide star ran excellent marks of 3:38 (1500), 7:48 (3k), 13:45 (5k) and 8:48 (steeple) on the indoor and outdoor oval, putting together one of the most complete distance resumes in the country.

Not only that, but Cheruiyot is also rumored to have run 13:26 for 5000 meters before, although that is not confirmed.

There are enough pieces on the resume of this Crimson Tide runner to put him in our XC Top 50. However, much like Las Heras, we want to see all of the puzzle pieces come together during one cross country season before we put him in our rankings.

Caleb Garnica, Senior, Utah State

Another Utah State runner in our "Just Missed" section, Garnica's resume over the last year has followed a similar pattern to that of teammate Camren Todd.

The Aggie veteran had a phenomenal winter cross country season. His 31st place finish at the FSU Winter XC Classic was solid. However, a narrow win at the Mountain West XC Championships followed by a monumental 28th place finish at the NCAA Winter XC Championships completely changed how we viewed Garnica.

In the fall, Garnica started out strong, taking home the win at Paul Short over an underrated field. However, from that point on, Garnica began to falter quite a bit.

The Utah State star placed an underwhelming 46th at Nuttycombe, finished an even more underwhelming 14th place at the Mountain West XC Championships and then fell to 35th place at the Mountain Regional XC Championships, ending his season early.

Someone could rank Garnica in their Top 50 and we wouldn't argue. He has a top-30 cross country All-American honor and top invitational finishes in multiple seasons.

However, if we're going to keep his teammate Camren Todd out of the rankings, who has a very similar resume and nearly identical trend of performances, then keeping Garnica out, as difficult as that was, seemed like the right decision.

Parker Stokes, Sophomore, Georgetown

I can already hear the outrage of distance fans who are probably yelling at their computers, insisting that Parker Stokes should be in our XC Top 50...and honestly, I kinda get it.

Stokes was incredible this past year. He ran a 3:58 mile multiple times, flexed great 1000 meter speed with a 2:22 PR and ran one of the fastest collegiate steeplechase marks ever (8:18) to earn bronze at the outdoor national meet.

On paper, Stokes reached another level this past spring.

But admittedly, his 2021 cross country season wasn't all that exciting.

Last fall, Stokes finished 37th at Joe Piane and 52nd at Pre-Nationals. While those results aren't bad, they aren't anywhere near consideration for an XC Top 50 ranking. And admittedly, a 6th place finish at the BIG East XC Championships doesn't necessarily move the needle much, either.

Yes, a win at the Mid-Atlantic Regional XC Championships was encouraging, but the regional meets are probably the meets that we weigh the least in our rankings. And after seeing him place 169th at the NCAA XC Championships last fall, one can begin to understand why we opted to keep Stokes out of preseason rankings.

Now, that said, there probably isn't anyone in our "Just Missed" list who could deliver on their potential better than Stokes could. On paper, everything says that this Hoya standout is going to be a problem on the grass.

Still, we just need to see that first before we put him our XC Top 50.

HONORABLE MENTIONS (in no order)

• Charlie Sweeney (Colorado)

• Andrew Kibet (Arkansas)

• Nick Scheller (Air Force)

• Wes Porter (Virginia)

• Thomas Boyden (Stanford)

• Vincent Mauri (Arizona State)

• Luke Houser (Washington)

• Joe Waskom (Washington)

• Riley Hough (Michigan State)

• Devin Hart (Stanford)

• Haftu Knight (Texas)

• Ben Perrin (Montana State)

• Baldvin Magnusson (Eastern Michigan)

• Antonio Lopez-Segura (Virginia Tech)

• Kevin Berry (Notre Dame)

• Ryan Schoppe (Oklahoma State)

• Chad Johnson (Iowa State)

• Dustin Hatfield (Eastern Illinois)

• Dylan Schubert (Furman)

• Ian Shanklin (NC State)

Quick Note(s) & Key Omissions

• We have opted to omit Dario De Caro from our rankings. His eligibility on both TFRRS and Boise State's roster lists him as a senior. We also reached out to Boise State and to De Caro to confirm his eligibility, but received no response.

• There are names listed in our rankings who have not yet finalized whether or not they will be returning to use their eligibility. We have opted to include these athletes in our rankings as the potential for them to return to the NCAA should be considered.