TSR's 2022 Preseason D2 XC Top 10 Rankings (Women): Just Missed & Honorable Mentions

Written by John Cusick with additional contributions from Eric Baranoski

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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 some 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)

Dallas Baptist Patriots

The Patriot women finished 17th at last year's NCAA XC Championships, losing to Simon Fraser on a tie-breaker, and were led by Madison Brown who finished just outside the top-40 at that meet.

Heading into the 2022 cross country season, the Patriots have added some promising firepower with Lily Jacobs who transferred in from Baylor. And as long as Emme O’Donnell is on the championship roster come November (she raced at the Lone Star XC Championships, but was out of their regional and national meet lineups), then you’re looking at a fringe top-10 team during the 2022 season.

Brown is the clear low-stick for this team and they’ll go as far as she can take them. But the addition of Jacobs and the return of O’Donnell elevates this team to a potentially new (and more promising) level.

Dallas Baptist is returning five of their seven athletes from last year's national meet and we all know how much experience can benefit a team when racing on the grass.

However, there will need to be a significant improvement from the rest of the supporting cast in order for a potential top-10 ranking to come to fruition. Outside of Brown, no one on this returning roster was inside the top-125 at last year's national meet.

Although, in fairness, their middle-lineup scorers did show promise at meets like the UAH Chargers XC Invite where DBU put four women in the top-31.

If this Dallas Baptist team improves as a collective whole, then there’s a serious conversation about them being significantly better than their 17th place national meet finish from last fall.

Brown is a legitimate low-stick, Jacobs is sneaky-good and with some added depth, it would not come as a surprise to see this program crack our top-10 by the end of the season.

Saginaw Valley State Cardinals

Saginaw Valley State was one of the more interesting teams that we had to consider for a ranking, although they ultimately fell short of our top-10 simply due to their youth.

Of their expected impact runners (we have identified nine), six of them are still considered to underclassmen with their eligibility. And in total, eight of those nine runners are returners from a team that finished 14th at last year's NCAA XC Championships.

In theory, everything on paper signals that the Cardinals should be a better team heading into this season, especially when you consider that they have added former Grand Valley State athlete Lynsey Amthor to their roster.

Last fall, the Cardinals flexed a consistent lead runner in Arianna Wegienka who will return for her senior season. However, with Amthor coming in, she should immediately make an impact and serve as the team's complementary low-stick in 2022.

Now, admittedly, that new roster addition should also be taken with a grain of salt as we have yet to see Amthor on the grass. However, her 16:59 (5k) personal best tells us that she should be the best runner on this team come November.

Add in returners like Alexa Keiser, Jenna Picard, Emma Banning, Lauren Buckner and Maddie Isola, and we are talking about a really nice scoring seven for this Saginaw Valley State team.

However, the biggest uncertainty at hand is how big of an improvement their backend will see as their top-three will certainly keep them competitive in nearly every meet that they toe the line for this fall.

Alaska Fairbanks Nanooks

We heavily considered this Alaska Fairbanks team for a spot in our top-10 list. However, as we sat down and looked closer, we ultimately couldn’t justify placing them there.

Well, at least not yet that is.

Last fall, the Nanooks were led by their young trio of Rosie Fordham, Naomi Bailey and Kendall Kramer. They were impressive at the Bill Roe Classic, finishing 4th overall as a team, just eight points behind an established distance power in Chico State.

The Alaska Fairbanks women also held their own at the sneaky-strong GNAC XC Championships where they placed 3rd thanks to an outstanding 2-3-4 finish from their aforementioned scoring trio.

However, their 2021 season was cut short at the West Regional XC Championships. Not necessarily because they weren't talented enough to advance to the national stage, but more because the Nanooks were unable to field a full team, a somewhat surprising development considering that they had six women cross the line at their conference just two weeks earlier.

Fordham, Kramer and Bailey went on to put together finishes of 4-5-6 at the West regional meet with Delainey Zock placing 33rd. Add those four together with the correct math, and you’ve got a total of 48 points.

Then, if you add in Aila Berrigan, who was the team's fifth runner at the GNAC XC Championships, and assume that she barely cracks the top-100 (which is admittedly not a given), then you’ve got a really good argument that this group is a national qualifying team.

We opted to put the Nanooks here because of their potential. Each woman who we’ve named was an underclassman last fall and their room for growth is enormous.

And yet, at the same time, there still is so much unknown about this team.

They don’t participate in track and it’s been more than nine months since we last saw them compete. Their depth, as we saw last fall, is also extremely limited -- even boarderline nonexistent at times.

On paper, they’ve got a chance to be part of the NCAA's best distance squads, but we will need to see them actually deliver on that potential before we can say anything definitive.

West Texas A&M Buffaloes

When you think of West Texas A&M, you likely think of Florance Uwajeneza and, as of this past outdoor track season, steeplechase national champion, Eleonora Curtabbi. On paper, those two women give the Buffaloes some of the best firepower in the country.

But outside of those two high-octane scoring stars, the Buffaloes are somewhat limited in terms of depth and lineup options.

The Lone Star Conference program returns Betty Bajika who faltered a bit at the end of last fall. However, she went on to have solid outdoor track season in the 5k and the 10k. Raquel Chavez, the other returning varsity member, is more of a middle distance runner who has never run on the national stage before.

Luckily, West Texas A&M did sign four rookies who could help fill-in the backend of the lineup. Kallie Bullard hails from Pecos, Texas and has the necessary legs to potentially offering scoring support if she continues to develop. Her best event in high school was the 3200 meters where she went sub-11:30 for two miles.

Raeley Howard is another Texan who has more of a middle distance flare as she has run 2:24 for 800 meters and 5:31 for 1600 meters. The third name, Lexi Maul, has some respectable range, running 5:18 for 1600 meters, 11:10 for 3200 meters and even 18:10 for 5000 meters on the track.

An international signee in Anete Randma is another key name to watch. The Estonian brings personal bests of 2:16 for 800 meters and 4:43 for 1500 meters to West Texas A&M this fall.

After ending their 2021 cross country season at the national meet just outside of the top-10 (in 13th place), all eyes will be on West Texas A&M to see how they can build from there.

Leaning on Uwanjaneza and Curtabbi should make them nationally competitive once again, but that duo will only the Buffaloes so far if their supporting cast maintains the same lineup gaps from year.

And to be completely honest, it's looking like it will be more of the same this year, at least on paper. The Buffaloes are very young and will have to force their freshmen to grow up a little faster than normal in order to help the team.

But that youth also brings upside, making West Texas A&M a very realistic candidate for a top-10 ranking depending on who you talk to.

Honorable Mentions (in no particular order)

• Chico State Wildcats

• Lee (Tenn.) Flames

• Simon Fraser

• Colorado Christian Cougars

• Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs