TSR's 2022 Preseason D3 XC Top 10 Rankings (Men): #1 Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens

Edits and additional commentary by Garrett Zatlin

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With the opportunity to earn their third consecutive Division Three cross country national title right in front of them, the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens are right on the precipice of becoming a dynasty.

From squeaking out the win in 2019, to a more dominant effort in 2021, this year will serve as the final test to see if the Sagehens can complete a three-peat.

While teams such as MIT, John Carroll and Williams will give them a run for their money, it’s really hard to count out Pomona-Pitzer when you consider the extreme amount of talent they return this season which includes four All-Americans, three of whom placed in the top-14 at last year's national meet.

On paper, they are certainly the ones who everybody will be chasing. Their success on the grass has been undeniably impressive over the last few years and as of right now, that momentum has not shown any signs of slowing down anytime soon.

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After starting off the 2021 cross country season with most of their top talent sitting out of the first meet, the entire Sagehen crew made their debut at the UCR Cross Country Invitational against teams across many NCAA divisions. They would, however, face their fellow D3 counterparts and hometown rivals, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.

Top scorers Ethan Widlansky and Lucas Florsheim packed a solid 1-2 punch for the Sagehens, placing 8th and 9th, respectively, against formidable higher-division talent.

Roughly 30 seconds back was Dante Paszkeicz, Owen Keiser, Derek Fearon and Colin Kirkpatrick, all of whom finished within five seconds of each other, going 34-35-38-39. That backend group would ultimately provide a solid foundation and stop Pomona-Pitzer from having scoring deficiencies.

The team as a whole finished 3rd overall with 121 points, losing only to California Baptist and Fresno Pacific while emerging 51 points ahead of a very talented Claremont-Mudd-Scripps team. That result allowed the Sagehens to continue their reign as the top Division Three team in California.

The Cougar Challenge just a week later featured a much smaller field, but the Sagehens still showed that they were one of the best overall programs in both Division Three and Division Two.

We say that because they secured a narrow two-point win over D2 powerhouse, Chico State.

Florsheim led the charge in 3rd place, a result which was able to essentially match Chico State's own low-sticks. With Widlansky (7th), Fearon (10th) and Owen Koebett (12th) all finishing 15 to 20 seconds behind Florsheim, the middle portion of this lineup held tons of scoring value.

Freshman Joseph Cox (20th) and senior Oliver Chang (21st) provided some extra depth while Keiser and Rosencrans were a little farther back than expected.

Still, Pomona-Pitzer had to be excited about their performance. The Sagehens were able to take down a very talented Chico State team without Paszkeicz or Kirkpatrick in their lineup, something that likely made Pomona-Pitzer the deepest cross country team in Division Three.

However, the next time that we’d see the Sagehens in action, the results turned out to be very different compared to what we were expecting.

At the Augustana Interregional Invitational, the Pomona-Pitzer men would finish runner-up behind a very talented Wartburg group that was firing on all cylinders.

Florsheim (3rd), Widlansky (6th), Paszkeicz (9th) and Kirkpatrick (10th) all ran impressively, finishing within five seconds of one another. However, Fearon was just a little farther back than expected in 18th place, giving Wartburg that extra edge for the team title.

Establishing a 20-second time-spread was exactly what the Sagehens needed to do throughout the rest of the season. However, with Wartburg’s 1-2 punch coming from Freiburger and Collet, the Knights were simply able to get the better scoring edge.

In similar fashion to MIT, Pomona-Pitzer’s tight-knit pack-running would end up being much more valuable in larger meet settings, a field size that would benefit them in the long run.

In what is essentially a dual meet between Pomona-Pitzer and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps every year, the SCIAC XC Championships went in the favor of the Sagehens, this time with a 34 point to 42 point win over the rival Stags.

Widlansky had himself a day in 2nd place, giving his team an elite scoring presence yet again. Behind him was Kirkpatrick (6th), Florsheim (7th), Rosencrans (8th) and Paul Mckinley (11th) rounding out the scoring five.

With Widlansky finishing a little higher in the results, the team's 35-second top-five time-spread was a little higher than usual, but still very solid overall. And while CMS was able to match the Sagehens through three scorers, it was Pomona-Pitzer's depth that once again showed how valuable it could be.

Most years, the West Regional XC Championships end up being very similar to the SCIAC XC Championship, just with more runners and deeper talent.

And sure enough, it was once again the Sagehens’ victory, scoring 35 points and employing a five-second time-spread in the process.

Despite a loss to Wartburg earlier in the year, the Pomona-Pitzer men still felt like title favorites. Their firepower was elite and their depth was the best in the country. The only that question remained was, how would they perform against all of Division Three at the cross country national meet?

The answer: spectacularly.

Colin Kirkpatrick: 10th

Derek Fearon: 12th

Lucas Florsheim: 14th

Ethan Widlansky: 24th

Dante Paszkeicz: 30th

Paul McKinley: 31st

Jack Rosencrans: 56th

That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you win a national title. With the Sagehens' tight time-spread still holding strong despite having so many All-Americans, there was simply no team in the field that could come close to matching the scoring that Pomona-Pitzer had earned.

In the end, the men from out west boasted six All-Americans and a 15-second top-five time-spread. However, maybe more importantly, they won the national title by a jaw-dropping total of 32 points.

With so many names that contributed to the scoring lineup throughout the year, it was Kirkpatrick, Fearon, Florsheim and Widlansky’s overall consistency that carried them to this team title, performing race-in and race-out to get to that point.

And then they took to the track...which is an entirely different story.

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Without as many opportunities for Pomona-Pitzer to get into nearby indoor track meets, their sights are usually set on the outdoor season. And this past year, they were beyond incredible during the regular season.

When the Sagehens had SIXTEEN (!) guys break 15:00 in the 5000 meters at the Occidental Distance Carnival, everybody was blown away by how impressive their depth was. Based on those results, one had to think that Pomona-Pitzer, in theory, could qualify two teams for the NCAA XC Championships.

They're just that deep.

But when we talk about the Sagehens' top individuals, we have to highlight Lucas Florsheim who got out to a hot start last spring. He ran 14:13 for 5000 meters and 29:55 for 10,000 meters, serving as one of the best young talents in Division Three.

Meanwhile, teammate Colin Kirkpatrick was pretty much great at any distance, running 1:52 in the 800 meters, 3:47 in the 1500 meters and 14:23 in the 5000 meters. However, this rising star was best known for his near-Division Three record in the steeplechase, running an unbelievable time of 8:46 over the barriers and water pits.

And how about Bennett Booth-Genthe? He wasn’t a factor during the 2021 cross country season, but he broke out in a major way this past spring and became a middle distance star, running 1:49 in the 800 meters and 3:45 in the 1500 meters.

We should also mention Jack Rosencrans who became a potent 1500 meters stud, running 3:46 and continuing to build on his fitness after a promising cross country campaign.

All of these guys that we just mentioned, plus Nathaniel Getachew and Cameron Halter in the steeplechase, qualified for the outdoor national meet back in May. Unfortunately, the best men’s distance program in Division Three only scored four points in their season finale despite sending six men to the meet.

Read that last sentence again.

All in all, it was shocking to see the Sagehens not perform to their usual level on such a massive stage, especially since they had so many individuals qualified for the meet.

That, however, doesn’t take away from their success on the grass – their track performances, as far as our preseason rankings are concerned, are merely a point of novelty.

That's because six of those guys who ran at the outdoor national meet are back this season. And when you return fellow All-Americans like Widlansky and Fearon, it's hard to imagine a scenario where this team loses in 2022.

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With the breadth of depth that Pomona-Pitzer has, from their underclassmen to their top-heavy returners, the Sagehens are undeniably at the top of Division Three as we speak.

If their top group is healthy and firing on all cylinders, then this roster has the chance to be one of the single-best collections of cross country talent that Division Three has ever seen.

We could try to offer fancy analysis about their firepower, depth, stability, consistency, etc., but sometimes, it's best just to state the obvious.

The Pomona-Pitzer men are just the most talented team in the country.

It's just as simple as that.