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TSR's 2022 Preseason D2 XC Top 25 Rankings: #20-16 (Women)
- John Cusick
- Jul 29, 2022
- 7 min read
Additional commentary by Grace McLaughlin, additional edits by Garrett Zatlin
20. Alyssa Becker, Sophomore, U-Mary
The beginning of Alyssa Becker’s cross country career didn't exactly scream that she’s a top-25 runner in Division Two. However, at the cross country national meet and in the second-half of the academic year, Becker showed us that she will be a major force to be reckoned with as she continues to improve.
Becker proved that she belonged with some of the country’s best distance talents after she finished 3rd at the Griak Invitational as she led U-Mary to a team title. A quick tune-up victory at the Jimmie Invitational built the confidence necessary for her postseason run.
She later finished 7th at the Northern Sun XC Championships before besting that placement at the Central Regional XC Championships where she finished 6th overall. Two weeks later, Becker found herself inside the top-20 at the national meet, crossing the finish line with a stunning 17th place finish which blew away expectations.
After a rocky indoor season, Becker took to the outdoor circuit where she made promising strides across multiple disciplines. After only running 5:12 for the mile on the indoor oval, Becker ran 4:43 for 1500 meters before heading to the Drake Relays where she finished 7th overall in 17:01, only behind a handful of D1 athletes and Northwest Missouri’s Caroline Cunningham.
To put it simply, she's going to be a problem for her competitors for years to come.
Becker was the leading woman for the Marauders last fall and if her rookie campaign is any indication, then she’ll continue to build upon that status this fall.
Yes, she sit at TSR #20 in our rankings which is a spot lower than her national meet finish. However, that's only because her national meet result was better than what her non-national meet finishes indicated she was capable of.
This U-Mary ace has all the makings to be an elite talent, but another successful cross country season will confirm that she is indeed one of the country’s best on the grass.
19. PJ English, Senior, Augustana (SD)
It's hard to dislike PJ English.
The Augustana star is a reliable veteran and high-value low-stick. However, maybe more importantly, she's a key piece of the underrated powerhouse that the Vikings have become.
Last fall, English began her cross country campaign with a modest 11th place finish at the Augustana Invitational. However, that was only a rust-buster which led to a very more promising 20th place at the Chile Pepper XC Festival. In that race, English was one spot behind teammate Nicolette Schmidt and a few spots ahead of Arkansas' Logan Jolly (who went on to run 9:34 in the steeple).
However, one could argue that English's best performances at the Northern Sun XC Championships and at the Central Region XC Championships where she earned outstanding finishes of 2nd and 5th, respectively. That runner-up result at her conference meet was extremely impressive, especially when you look at the women who she took down.
English would go on to secure a strong 28th place All-American finish at the NCAA XC Championships, greatly improving upon her 72nd place finish from the 2019 national meet.
Of course, her success didn't stop there.
English continued to improve and had impressive track seasons. At the indoor national meet, she placed 7th in the mile and helped the Vikings earn a 6th place finish in the DMR. She later ran a tough 1500/5k double at the outdoor national meet, placing 8th in the 1500 meters and 15th in 5000 meters.
English competes with poise and is generally very consistent, a rising trademark within this Augustana program. She has a solid balance of speed on the track and strength on the grass.
Depending on what you value more and which meets you assign more weight to, English could have been bumped up a few spots. Still, TSR #19 is a fairly solid ranking for someone who finished almost 10 spots back from this placement at the cross country national meet.
18. Nicole Lawrence, Junior, Adams State
It wasn’t long before we found ourselves adding a second Adams State athlete to our rankings. And as you'll eventually find out, this is far from the last Grizzly within our D2 XC Top 25.
The greatest part of Nicole Lawrence's overall resume was her 2021 cross country season -- although you probably wouldn't have expected that at the beginning of last fall. After all, Lawrence's 89th place finish at Paul Short didn't instill confidence in us, but that was also the case for her teammate, Fiona Hawkins.
Lawrence put that race behind her and then focused on the RMAC XC Championships where she finished a very strong 11th place overall. And much like Hawkins did, Lawrence improved upon her conference meet performance with an excellent 9th place result at the South Central XC Regional Championships.
But what came next ultimately indicated that Lawrence was peaking perfectly for the postseason. She capped off her 2021 cross country season with an outstanding finish at the national meet, placing 21st overall and finishing as the fifth scorer for the Grizzlies.
That was the first time that we had seen Lawrence at the cross country national meet, so her performance was somewhat surprising...but maybe we should have seen that breakout coming.
After all, Lawrence had run 2:10 (800) and 4:29 (1500) during the 2021 outdoor track season and had qualified for her first national meet as an individual that spring where she finished 16th in the 1500 meters.
Sure, that wasn't the best national meet finish ever, but it was still a good building block.
After her success on the grass, Lawrence had another slow start to the track season. Of course, what she accomplished during the winter was clearly worth the wait.
At the Husky Classic, Lawrence shattered her personal bests, running an outstanding weekend double of 4:45 (mile) and 9:41 (3k). She later helped Adams State's DMR finish 3rd at the indoor national meet.
Now, admittedly, there was some shakiness in her individual efforts during the indoor and outdoor national meets -- and from a consistency standpoint, that's not ideal. Still, one thing that we feel confident about is that Lawrence will return to the form that we saw from her last fall.
There’s a very good chance that Lawrence can be a highly potent low-stick for the Grizzlies this fall. Her postseason last fall was fantastic and her top-tier marks on the oval validated her outstanding cross country All-American finish from earlier that year.
Sure, she could be a bit more consistent, but it feels like we're being overly picky for someone who end up in our top-10 come season's end.
17. Gemma Rebollo, Sophomore, Wingate
Is Gemma Rebollo the next superstar of Division Two? She ran extremely well as a freshman throughout last year and had multiple impressive performances on the grass and track.
But with a year of collegiate experience under her belt, what can this Wingate standout do now that she has established herself in the upper-echelon of D2 distance women?
Rebollo's 2022 cross country season started with a promising 5th place finish at the D2 Pre-Nationals meet. That was a solid result, although the field wasn't quite as top-heavy as one would expect for a meet of that caliber.
From that point, the Wingate youngster would finish a modest 12th place at the SAC XC Championships before placing 15th at the Southeast Regional XC Championships. Rebollo would narrowly miss All-American status at the NCAA XC Championships with her 44th place finish, although that result felt like an accurate reflection of her 2021 fall campaign.
But then the winter months rolled around.
During the indoor track season, Rebollo truly began to break out, securing outstanding personal bests of 9:43 (3k) and 16:42 (5k) and later placing 15th at the indoor national meet in the 5k with a time of 16:57.
Rebollo continued to build on her momentum during the outdoor track season, emerging as a very solid long distance specialist, placing 8th in a loaded 10k field at the NCAA Outdoor Championships and earning All-American honors.
When you look at her improvements throughout her freshman year and her ability to compete against the top talents in D2, it would be hard to suggest that Rebollo isn't a top-25 runner. The runner that she is now is far better than the runner she was nine to 12 months ago.
Rebollo is still young and still needs to prove that her track times will translate to the grass. However, if history has taught us anything, it's that young stars like Rebollo will be a boarderline star over the next few months.
16. Nicolette Schmidt, Senior, Augustana (SD)
Nicolette Schmidt is an established veteran and a true three-season threat. Her consistency, versatility and reliability offers great value. And later this fall, she could capitalize on her strengths, putting Augustana in the same conversation as Adams State and Grand Valley State.
Schmidt started her 2021 cross country season by finishing 19th at the Chile Pepper XC Festival in a field filled with D1 athletes and some of the top D2 athletes in the country. That was a strong result and Schmidt's confidence boost was apparent as she finished 4th at the Northern Sun XC Championships followed by a 3rd place finish at the Central Regional XC Championships.
While helping the Augustana women to a top-three team finish at the NCAA XC Championships, Schmidt found herself crossing the line in 20th place, cementing herself as one of the most well-rounded athletes in Division Two.
Following successful indoor and outdoor campaigns, Schmidt now owns personal bets of 4:27 (1500), 4:50 (mile), 9:41 (3k) and 16:30 (5k, set back in 2021). She still races like she is one of the best in the country, but now her times more firmly support that assertion.
Frankly, there isn't necessarily a flaw on the resume of this Viking veteran. She has continued to get better and has flexed highly underrated consistency. She thrives in big fields and is easily one of the experienced women in the country.
Yes, there's an argument to rank her higher, but this still feels like a very fair spot.
