TSR's 2022 Preseason D2 XC Top 10 Rankings (Women): #5 UC-Colorado Springs Mountain Lions

Edits and additional commentary by John Cusick & Garrett Zatlin

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The UC-Colorado Springs women are a dynamic and consistent team. They’ve been on the national stage for several years, but in 2022, this season may likely be their best yet.

Last fall, the Mountain Lions had their highest national meet finish in school history with their 7th place result and two All-American runners. That, however, was just the start of something more far grand.

Not only does UCCS return four of their top-five women from last year, but they even showed extremely promising improvement and consistency on the track. They also added depth with this year’s recruiting class, effectively putting them at TSR #5 in our preseason rankings heading into the 2022 fall season.

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If we look back to their cross country season from last year, there were not too many flaws in the Mountain Lions' lineup or overall performances.

The UCCS women opened up their 2021 season with a win at the UCCS Rust-Buster, a race that was contested over 5000 meters. Their star front-runner, Layla Almasri, won the meet in a new course record, a foreshadowing of her successful fall campaign that followed.

In addition to having the top finisher, the Mountain Lions also had Kate Hedlund in 3rd place with Hannah Ellis in 5th place, a very encouraging supporting cast in the middle portion of their lineup.

The Mountain Lions would later toe the line against some tough competition at the Louisville XC Classic, another 5000 meter race where they came in 9th place out of 44 teams. That result correlated to them losing to only one Division Two program, the juggernaut women of Grand Valley State.

Almasri placed 26th overall which was a very solid low-stick result for a field that was as large as it was. Hedlund, meanwhile, placed 40th overall to further solidify herself as a true national-caliber name. Through two runners, the UCCS women looked very dangerous.

Riley McGrath solidified herself as a reliable support scorer for the Mountain Lions as she came in 95th place. Teammates Hannah Ellis and Anna Fauske rounded out the team's scoring-five by placing 113th and 148th, respectively.

That top-five group would consistently emerge as the team's core scorers through the end of the season, but the Louisville Classic did highlight the gaps that needed to be addressed once they reached a championship setting.

Luckily, UCCS improved upon their five-person spread and placed 3rd in an ultra competitive field at the RMAC XC Championships. Layla Almasri was the runner-up finisher and Hannah Ellis had a fantastic day, narrowly cracking into the top-10.

With Anna Fauske placing 16th, the Mountain Lions were able surprisingly cover the scoring drop-off in their top-five after Riley McGrath placed 29th and Kate Hedlund finished 33rd.

While Adams State and Colorado Mines did get the best of the Mountain Lions, this was a massively exciting result.

We knew that Hedlund and maybe McGrath were capable of more. Seeing Fauske and Ellis step up as middle-lineup contributors instead of backend scorers also meant that the potential of this team could be even greater at their regional and national meets.

The Mountain Lions also earned a 3rd place finish at the South Central Regional Championships to automatically qualify for the NCAA XC Championships. Their lineup structure reverted back to what we saw at the Louisville Classic, although McGrath stepped up to earn a 13th place finish and emerge as the team's second scorer on the day.

It was clear that this group was extremely talented through five runners. Everyone, when racing at their best, could finish in the top-100. In fact, their entire top-five could have maybe fought for top-80 finishes.

However, this lineup order was not solidified and certain scorers were stepping up while others were faltering. It was clear if the Mountain Lions all clicked on the same day, then they would be extremely challenging to defeat, although that was far from a guarantee.

At the NCAA XC Championships, the Mountain Lions had a solid team performance where they placed 7th overall. Layla Almasri ran to a 12th place individual finish while Riley McGrath narrowly cracked the top-40, earning an All-American honor with her 39th place result.

On paper, the UCCS women were flexing the firepower that we knew they had.

UCCS rounded out their scoring-five with a pack of three runners who finished within five seconds of each other, showing a vast improvement in their lineup deficiencies from previous meets. The combination of Anna Fauske, Hannah Ellis and Kate Hedlund all finished in the top-100, securing placements of 83rd, 87th and 91st, respectively.

A 7th place team result was excellent and there weren't many flaws in their lineup structure. And yet, we couldn't help but think that this team still left some scoring on the table.

Luckily, they'll get another shot of delivering on their full potential in 2022.

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It's not super common for a team to return as many elite-level scorers from a school record-setting lineup, but the UCCS women are doing just that in 2022. And after having such grand success throughout last fall, once has to think that last year's national meet finish will be the floor in terms of their capabilities later this season.

Now only that, but in addition to their returners, the Mountain Lions also added several recruits as well as a transfer who should bolster the team’s overall depth.

Coach Corey Kubatzky add Riley McGrath’s younger sister, Libby McGrath, to this year's team as well as redshirt freshman Brooke Moss from the University of Wyoming. This team also has several solid freshmen joining this group such as Abby Bartel, Audrey Bruncken, Madison Chavez, Megan Erickson, Jessica Madrid, Kaya Pillivant and Maddie Ruszkiewicz.

That's a promising young core that may hold one, or maybe even two, standout names capable of cracking this team's varsity lineup. Of course, that's just speculation based on UCCS' history of success with younger runners and the mass number of options that they have.

But even if no one emerges as an impact name, the added depth from an increased roster size can’t hurt. Rarely does a varsity lineup remain entirely the same or completely healthy throughout the entirety of a season.

Of course, UCCS is ranked in our top-five this fall not just because they were so good on the grass last year, but because almost all of their returners showed vast improvements on the track during the winter and spring months.

The Mountain Lions had a trio of milers and 1500 meter runners make the finals at both the NCAA Indoor Championships and the NCAA Outdoor Championship which is by no means an easy feat.

They placed 5th, 6th and 8th (McGrath-Hedlund-Almasri) in the mile at the NCAA Indoor Championships and then 9th, 11th and 12th (McGrath-Almasri-Hedlund) in the 1500 meters at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

Almasri and McGrath also qualified for 5000 meters at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, but they finished towards the back, which is understandable given the difficulty of the gnarly 1500/5k double.

That same trio also placed 7th in the DMR at then indoor national meet.

In fact, not only did that trio thrive in the 1500/mile, but they also set personal bests in the longer events on the track.

Almasri ran 4:47 in the mile, 4:23 in the 1500 meters, 9:38 in the 3000 meters and 16:31 in the 5000 meters in addition to being the RMAC champion in the outdoor 5k. She improved immensely from last year and was extremely consistent.

While Almasri did finish 12th at the NCAA XC Championships last fall, there's a good chance that she could be top-five finisher at the national meet come December.

McGrath, meanwhile, could be far better than what her 39th place All-American finish suggests based on her improvements from the oval. She ran 4:47 in the mile, 4:21 in the 1500 meters, 9:43 in the 3000 meters and 16:36 in the 5000 meters during the winter and spring months. She also added several All-American accolades to her resume and should be able to repeat in cross country this year.

However, maybe more importantly, McGrath's recent jump up in fitness may signal that greater season-long consistency is also be on the way for her this fall.

If that happens, then UCCS will be deserving of this ranking throughout the entirety of the season, not just at the national meet.

As for Hedlund, she focused more on her speed during winter and spring months as ran 2:12 in the 800 meters, 4:49 in the mile and 4:26 in the 1500 meters.

Getting Hedlund closer to McGrath will be vital for the Mountain Lions to improve upon their national finish from last year. However, we've seen Hedlund finish 40th at the Louisville XC Classic, emerging as the team's second scorer that day.

When she's at her best, she may be a top-50 or top-60 talent. We'll just need to see her deliver on that potential on a more consistent basis.

As for Anna Fauske, it's a very similar story. She had a solid rookie season and will benefit from a year of experience. She should be more consistent this year and could possibly be closer to McGrath on the grass. After all, placing 16th at the RMAC XC Championships suggests that she could be at least 20-ish spots better at this year's national meet.

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The UCCS Mountain Lions have a TON of potential and a scary amount of firepower heading into the season. They’ll be riding the momentum from their impressive year of performances on the grass and track.

They return most of their high-impact scorers, showed major improvements on the track and added valuable depth to their lineup to replace Hannah Ellis.

On paper, it's hard to find too many flaws with this team. In fact, maybe we might be undervaluing them at TSR #5. Perhaps they should be closer to a top-three rankings.

Regardless, there may not be a team in Division two that is more exciting and more dynamic than what the UCCS women could bring to the table this fall.