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TSR's 2022 Preseason D2 XC Top 10 Rankings (Women): #8 Stanislaus State Warriors
- Grace McLaughlin
- Sep 8, 2022
- 8 min read
Edits and additional commentary by John Cusick & Garrett Zatlin
The Stanislaus State Warriors head into the 2022 cross country season with a lot working against them and several unknowns. However, their exciting scoring potential and growing history of excellence is enough, in our minds, to earn them a spot in our top-10.
In general, the Warriors excel on the grass, barely compete during the indoor track season, are working with a small roster and have a limited schedule.
But time and time again, this team shows up when it matters the most. And we have every reason to believe that the Warriors will continue their underappreciated trend of excellence over the next few months of competition.
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Remember when we said that they had a limited racing schedule?
Well, we were not kidding when we said that.
In the first of only two regular season meets, we saw the Warriors open up at the University of San Francisco Invite against mainly Division One teams along with some Division Two regional foes sprinkled in.
In that race, the Stanislaus State women would finish 8th out of 12 teams. That result, on paper, may seem underwhelming until you realize that the Warriors were the top D2 team in the final standings.
Sabrina Garcia and Kaela Dishion led the way as they finished 21st and 23rd overall, respectively. Those were fairly solid results that gave the Stan State women a decent group of low-sticks scorers to rally around.
Nancy Juarez, Grace Kenny and Katarina Borchin were the final three scorers in this lineup and the only other runners in the race for Stanislaus State. They finished 43rd, 64th and 77th to give the Warriors 187 points and decent-enough scoring stability.
Our first thoughts after seeing those results?
This team has razor thin margins when it came to someone having an "off" day.
If just one woman slipped up, the rest of this team's scoring would crumble.
Of course, that was just the team's first meet of the season. Trying to judge the Warriors off of one race that was unlike any other field that they would face later that year is, admittedly, a bit unfair.
Three weeks later, the Warriors toed the line at the Cougar Challenge. And when it was all said and done, it was safe to say that their positioning at this meet inspired much more confidence than their first race of the season.
A 2nd place team finish, just two points behind the established Chico State women, stemmed from some strong front-running where we saw three Warriors finish inside the top-nine spots.
Dishion won the race by six seconds with teammates Garcia (6th) and Juarez (9th) following behind her. Iris Carrillo made her scoring debut, finishing as the team's fourth scorer in 17th place, a huge finish which stabilized the middle portion of this lineup. Borchin brought up the rear in 32nd place.
However, yet again, it was just five women racing for the Warriors with four of the same runners reappearing from their lineup at the University of San Francisco Invite. Without much depth, consistency would have to be the possible anecdote to limit any fallout during the postseason.
The Warriors went on to win the CCAA XC Championships, taking down Chico State in the process, and later finish 2nd at the West Regional XC Championships.
Once again, Stan State had their key front-runners, Dishion and Garcia, leading the way for them in the races that mattered the most. Dishion took home individual gold at the CCAA meet and then again at the West Regional XC Championships.
Garcia earned silver at her conference meet and then followed up that performance with an 11th place finish at the West Regional XC Championships..
We mentioned consistency being a vital part of this team, especially with such limited depth being available. And luckily for the Stanislaus State women, Juarez and Carrillo continued to offer reliable and good-enough backend support in the postseason.
Jaurez earned a very promising 7th place finish at the CCAA XC Championships and was later 39th at her regional meet. Meanwhile, Carrilo finished 11th at her conference before earning a 15th place finish at the West Regional XC Championships.
Borchin and Grace Kenny played essential roles at both meets, serving as the Warriors' fifth and sixth runners. Borchin picked up finishes of 17th and 47th at her conference and regional meets while Kenny placed 36th and 70th, respectively.
Things were clearly picking up for the Stan State women in the postseason. Their low-sticks were better than ever, their backend was interchangeable and their depth was beginning to improve ever-so-slightly.
Of course, all of that would be truly put to the test at the NCAA XC Championships.
Dishion led this team again at the national meet with her 48th place finish, a solid result that admittedly had the potential to be even better depending on who you asked. Meanwhile, Garcia and Juarez cracked the top-90, posting finishes of 88th and 90th, respectively.
Through three runners, Stan State looked like they held minimal scoring deficiencies.
However, with their final two scorers placing 122nd and 175th, there was too much of a scoring gap for the Warriors to crack the top-10. Instead, they finished with 447 points and settled for a 12th place finish overall.
But frankly, that was a super encouraging result, mainly because things could have gone so much better for this team than they actually did.
Dishion could have finished higher and closer to a top-30 All-American honor. Garcia and Juarez only cracked the top-90, but were probably closer to being top-70 finishers. Carrillo continued her consistent running, but their fifth scoring spot certainly had an opportunity to be so much better.
And if Borchin had finished where she usually does in this lineup, then the Warriors were easily looking at an 11th place finish as a team and maybe even a top-10 team finish without everyone else improving upon their results.
To put it simply, this team didn't even touch their ceiling in November of last year.
* * *
Looking at last year's results and this year's lineup, it makes perfect sense for the Stanislaus State women to be TSR #8. However, out of those six runners that they had in 2021, they only return Dishion, Borhcin and Legan -- and that's admittedly concerning.
Dishion had a fantastic season last year, but the next returner on this team is Katarina Borchin who placed 194th at the national meet. While we are very confident that Borchin will be better in 2022, she'll have some work to do to fill-in for the departures of a few names.
Meanwhile, Kayden Legan, the third returner from last fall, only competed in the Warriors' first meet of the 2021 cross country. Truthfully, we don't exactly know what her full scoring potential is like.
All of this, in turn, leaves Stanislaus State with considerable lineup gaps, a fact that is almost forcing them to rebuild from scratch aside from the return of Dishion.
And yet, despite losing most of their scorers, the Warriors still managed to make the top-10 of our rankings. In fact, we believe that this team is on the rise for even bigger and better results.
The biggest thing that the Warriors have going for them this fall is their incoming recruiting class. The Warriors have added two pivotal transfers who will each have massively crucial roles in this team's 2022 lineup.
Angelina Ronquillo and Najwa Chouati have been added to Stan State's 2022 roster. And with those additions comes the potential for even greater firepower than they had last fall.
Ronquillo might sound like a familiar name to those who follow the Division Two scene. That, of course, is because she was an All-American runner at Cal State East Bay, but has not competed since 2019 NCAA XC Championships where she placed 30th overall.
Not only that, but she also holds nationally competitive personal bests of 16:55 for 5000 meters and 4:31 for 1500 meters.
Meanwhile, Chouati has run 10:09 (3k), 17:45 (5k) and 11:01 (steeplechase) on the track. And while she doesn't necessarily quite hold the same caliber of times that Ronquillo does, Chouati still brings bring some necessary experience with her as she moves from Lindenwood to Stanislaus State.
Oh, and more importantly, she was 70th at last fall's cross country national meet. That's a huge development as she could bring some valuable experience to a lineup that graduated most of its veteran expertise.
The question, however, is if these incoming women will be back to their old form heading into this fall and if Chouati's steeple talent will translate to the grass.
Dishion will be their clear front-runner for this team after she had a phenomenal season last fall. She won the CCAC XC Championships, won the West Regional XC Championships and barely missed being an All-American with her 48th place finish at the cross country national meet.
On the track, she ran 16:57 for 5000 meters and 36:40 for 10,000 meters. In March of 2020, about a week before the season was canceled, Dishion made some noise with her 35:53 (10k) PR, but didn't have a chance to put her talent on full display.
She is a talented and consistent runner who will be a vital leader for the Warriors this season.
As for Legan, she improved throughout her rookie year and will likely be a key part of the Warriors' top-five. Her 2021 cross country season was cut short, but she made huge strides on the track when she ran eyebrow-raising times of 16:52 (5k) and 36:45 (10k).
On paper, she should be so much better this fall than she ever has been in her still-young college career.
Borchin, who we mentioned earlier, was usually this team's fifth scorer last fall and she has since gained valuable experience over the past year. We're strong believers that she'll be better in 2022 than she was in 2021, but just how much better? That could be the question that dramatically swings this team's results in one way or another.
Stanislaus State has also added two ket freshmen to their roster for the 2022 season in Haleigh Humble and Isabel Moreno.
Haleigh Humble is likely the main name to watch as she has run 18:33 for 5000 meters on the grass and placed a highly encouraging 26th place overall at the 2021 CIF State Cross Country Championships.
On the track, she has earned personal bests of 2:13 (800), 4:58 (mile) and 11:07 (3200), times that would make her a competitive recruit on even some of the better Division One rosters.
If Humble bursts onto the scene this fall like we think she can, then this roster rebuild will be closer to a roster reload. Her upside could bring a massive scoring spark and plug any remaining departures from last year that the new transfers and Dishion didn't already cover.
* * *
As we said previously, the Stan State women had to completely retool their team this outside of returning Dishion -- and we think they did a pretty good job of doing so.
With some combination of Dishion, Legan, Ronquillo, Chouati, Borchin and Humble as their hypothetical lineup, this is a solid team that could even be better than last year. Dishion and Ronquillo are two proven low-sticks, Chouati is closer to a low-stick than not, Borchin and Legan are expected to improve and Humble could be a major x-factor.
Admittedly, there are still numerous questions about all of this potential actually translating to this team. A lot has to go right in order for this group to truly become one of the best cross country squads in Division Two.
But after a very encouraging season opener at the University of San Francisco Invite, which featured an unmentioned runner in Yahaira Zuniga as the team's fourth scorer, it's hard not to be optimistic about this group in 2022.
