TSR's 2022 Preseason D2 XC Top 10 Rankings (Men): #7 Missouri Southern Lions

Edits and additional commentary by Garrett Zatlin

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It is not often that you see a team who finished outside the top-10 at the previous year's national meet comfortably move into the top-10 of our rankings the following summer.

But when it comes to the men from Missouri Southern, we feel extremely confident about what they could offer in 2022.

The Lions will return five of their seven athletes from last year's national meet lineup, including their two All-American stars, each of whom theoretically brings a key scoring edge to this team which could allow the Lions to contend with even the strongest Division Two powerhouses this fall.

The Lions have had some very strong individual runners throughout their history, but never this many at once. With three runners ranked inside the top-10 of our individual rankings, it's clear that they have gone all-in for the 2022 season -- and we have reason to believe tjat things will work out in their favor.

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The Lions kicked-off their 2021 cross country season at the SBU XC Invite, taking home the team title with 30 points, a margin that was 21 points better than the 2nd place team of Central Missouri.

This year's TSR #8 runner, Ryan Riddle, led the way for Missouri Southern by taking home the individual crown while this year's TSR #9 runner, teammate JP Rutledge, was just six seconds back in 2nd place overall.

Riley Simpson made it a clean sweep for the Lions by finishing in 3rd place with Jared Ozee and Kevin Koester finishing 9th and 15th, respectively, to solidify the team title for Missouri Southern.

Yes, it was an early-season meet meant to knock off some rust, but it was hard not to be impressed with Riddle and Rutledge's quick start. Their emergence as two of the best low-sticks in the NCAA would ultimately set up the Missouri Southern men for significant success later in the season.

Two weeks later, the Lions raced to a 2nd place team finish at the Missouri Southern Stampede meet, hosted on their home course. However, in that race, the Lions finished behind regional rival Pittsburg State.

In fact, they didn't just lose to Pitt State, they lost to them by 21 points.

Immediately, there were some questions about how effective Missouri Southern's depth would be in a larger field. However, it was also hard to be disappointed by Riddle (1st) and Rutledge (2nd) who dominated individually. To some extent, they made up for some scoring discrepancies at the backend of this lineup.

Simpson was the third Missouri Southern athlete to finish inside the top-10, placing 10th overall. Ozee was 17th overall, maintaining some highly respectable scoring support, but Zachary Finley was the Lions' final runner across the line in 41st place.

The Lions had four more athletes in the race, but none of them cracked the top-60, effectively putting more pressure on the how the low-sticks of this team performed. Lacking the same depth as other elite D2 teams in the country, Missouri Southern would need strong performances from their top-three runners on a consistent basis in order to get by.

If they didn't, then things could quickly go awry.

And unfortunately for the Lions, that is precisely what happened at the UAH Chargers XC Invite three weeks later.

The Lions' low-stick stars continued their strong running as Riddle took home his third individual victory in as many tries while Rutledge finished 6th place overall.

However, despite those strong performances, the Lions would finish 5th as a team with 171 points. Ozee and Simpson finished 41st and 47th, respectively, while Koester was the teams fifth runner in 85th place. As a whole, there just wasn't enough scoring in the second-half of this top-five to capitalize on the team's front-running stars.

With Pittsburg State, Lee (Tenn.), Alabama-Huntsville and Southern Indiana all finishing ahead of Missouri Southern, the Lions needed to make significant improvements in the postseason if they were going to make some noise, nationally.

Missouri Southern later ventured to the MIAA XC Championships where we saw this team generate a spark that grew even stronger as the postseason drew longer.

Riddle won his fourth consecutive race and his first MIAA title. Rutledge was four seconds back in 2nd place, making it the third time that fall that the duo had finished 1-2 in their four races that season.

Behind them, the Missouri Southern men saw their supporting cast make improvements upon their last race. Simpson was 9th overall while Ozee placed 14th, making it four Lion athletes inside the top-15, giving them an edge over Pittsburg State through four runners.

Unfortunately, the lack of backend scoring held the Lions back. They finished 2nd in the team standings behind Pittsburg State yet again, dropping 22 points back from their conference rivals.

However, Missouri Southern would eventually get their revenge two weeks later at the Central Regional XC Championships. Once there, the Lions finished runner-up as a team behind the NSIC champions in Augustana (SD). However, they bettered their MIAA rival, Pittsburg State, by 11 points.

The Lions would go 1-2-6-23-49 for a total of 81 points. Riddle won his fifth race of the season with Rutledge behind him, making it the fourth time that the duo had finished 1st and 2nd overall in the same race that season.

Simpson proved that he was more than capable of being Missouri Southern's third scorer and Ozee showed how vital his experience could be in a high-level racing scenario. Finley finished as the fifth Missouri Southern athlete for the second time that season, securing the team's 2nd place regional meet finish.

And despite questions about their depth, the Missouri Southern men were still able to put together a promising race on the national stage, ending their season with a result that had many of us saying, "Yeah, that seems about right."

The Lions finished their 2021 cross country campaign with a solid 13th place team finish. They scored 372 total points and were just four points behind the likes of Alabama-Huntsville, 10 points behind American International and 12 points behind Colorado Christian, the latter of whom finished 10th.

Rutledge had the race of his life, finishing 6th overall and leading the Lions in the season's biggest meet. Riddle, meanwhile, wound up in 20th place. And while you could argue that he had an "off" day, it was still a superb finish to his dominant season.

Ozee was the third Missouri Southern athlete that day, finishing 76th in what was a pleasantly surprising performance and arguably his best race of the season. He was the last runner inside the top-100 for the Lions. Simpson finished 153rd and Finley finished 161st, closing out the team's top-five.

In the grand scheme of things, just one runner could have drastically changed where this team finished in the overall results. But whether that would have been for better or worse didn't necessarily matter when the points were tallied.

For the most part, Missouri Southern had a lot to be happy about.

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So, how does this team find its way into our preseason top-10 rankings? How is it that this team is suddenly at TSR #7 ahead of some other highly-regarded D2 distance programs?

Well, for starters, the Lions return five of their seven athletes from last fall's national meet. That includes an excellent core of Rutledge, Riddle, Simpson, Finley and Koester. However, we'll admit, losing Ozee is far from ideal, especially for a group that was so limited on depth throughout last fall.

Even so, the bulk of the Lions' 2021 scoring is set to return.

This past year, Rutledge continued to build upon his successful season on the grass while racing around the oval. Between the indoor and outdoor track seasons, he set four personal bests and entered what we would consider elite territory for the Division Two scene.

He ran 4:09 (mile), 8:15 (3k), 14:08 (5k) and 29:57 (10k), making him one of the better all-around runners in the country. He also finished 14th at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 10k, emphasizing his breakout season.

Then we come to Ryan Riddle who, despite being their second scorer at the national meet last fall, could be considered the best returner from Missouri Southern's 2021 team.

Riddle destroyed his personal bests on the track earlier this year, running 7:58 (3k) and 13:53 (5k) during the indoor and outdoor seasons. He swept the MIAA Indoor Championships, winning the 3k and the 5k, before eventually finishing 7th (3k) and 15th (5k) at the NCAA Indoor Championships two weeks later.

On the outdoor oval, he swept both the 5k and the 10k at the MIAA Outdoor Championships and would ultimately finish 14th at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Those aren't bad results for someone who, just a year ago, we would have considered to be a middle distance specialist after running 1:52 (800) and 4:01 (mile).

Through two runners, the Lions may have one of the best 1-2 punches in the NCAA. However, we already know how good they are. Even if they build on their performances from last fall, their scoring improvements will produce minimal impact as far as points are concerned.

Instead, it's the rest of this squad where things get interesting.

Riley Simpson is the next returner for Missouri Southern and the strides that he made during the 2021-2022 calendar year have us very excited for what he may be able have to offer in the coming months.

After solid results on the grass, Simpson posted even better results on the track. He ran 1:55 (800), 4:10 (mile), 8:19 (3k) and 14:54 (5k), showing us that his improved fitness was here to stick around.

Those times don't necessarily make him someone who is an All-American favorite, but they appear to make him a treasured supporting scorer on the grass in 2022.

With the Lions essentially going all-in this year, Simpson will need to provide some stability as the team's fourth scorer this fall. And yes, we did say fourth scorer, not third scorer.

More on that in a moment...

Zach Finley and Landon Fatino are the final two returners from last year's national meet team and they'll prove to be worthy depth pieces yet again in 2022. Both men were just freshmen the previous year, making their appearances on the Lions' 2021 varsity squad a promising development.

Another year in Missouri Southern's system only means that Finley and Fatino should be getting better. They have the necessary experience to help stabilize the backend of this lineup throughout the season, but they will need to make improvements in order for the Lions to capitalize on their full scoring potential.

Also joining Missouri Southern this fall is South Dakota transfer, Clayton Whitehead. The former Coyote athlete last raced in 2021, but will bring invaluable depth to this team for the 2022 season.

Whitehead has run 4:13 (mile), 8:28 (3k) 14:33 (5k) and 32:53 (10k), slotting him alongside Simpson in terms of track times. He'll fit in perfectly on the backend of the roster, but it's unclear what kind of impact he'll make within this varsity lineup.

And now for the biggest name of them all.

This year's TSR #5 runner, Gidieon Kimutai, missed last year's cross country season due to an injury. However, The Stride Report has confirmed that he will be back in uniform this fall.

To put it simply, that is a HUGE deal.

Kimutai's return vastly improves this team and immediately makes them a top-10 squad in our eyes. In fact, we could see this group being a top-five team come December if everything goes perfectly.

Kimutai did race during the 2022 outdoor track season, but it was nothing similar to what we had seen from him in the past. He "only" ran 14:36 (5k) and 30:17 (10k).

Sure, that 10k time is a personal best for him on the track, but given that he has run sub-30:00 three times on the grass, we feel that it was a season meant to get his legs back under him more than anything else.

This veteran superstar has two top-five finishes at the NCAA XC Championships (4th in 2018 and 5th in 2019). His experience and his ability to race on the grass should immediately improve this Lions team, giving them the best scoring trio that Division Two has to offer.

However, maybe more importantly, the introduction of Kimutai to this lineup should make Missouri Southern far less reliant on the final one or two scoring spots of their top-five. Those same scoring roles often hindered the Lions last fall.

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The 2021 cross country season for the Lions finished on a high note with their 13th place team finish. However, things could have been considerably better had Kimutai been in that lineup.

And with most of their top names returning in 2022, it's hard to see a scenario where this isn't a top-10 team in the country. In fact, one could argue that this group is a true podium contender.

Still, there are reasonable concerns and questions about this team.

Missouri Southern's success this fall will be riding on their backend scoring. Their depth will need to provide greater scoring stabilization throughout the season. We also need to see if Kimutai will be back at 100% in terms of fitness this fall -- that's not a guarantee.

But if the Lions put everything together like we think they could, then this might be one of the scariest D2 teams to line up next to for the 2022 cross country season.