TSR's 2022 Preseason D3 XC Top 10 Rankings (Men): #5 UW-La Crosse Eagles

Edits and additional commentary by Garrett Zatlin

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A long-time stalwart of Division Three distance running throughout the midwest, the UW-La Crosse Eagles had a very solid 2021 cross country season despite being one of the younger teams in the nation.

Now, with another year of development, this once-young squad has seemingly matured in terms of their cross country competitiveness. In 2022, their depth should only grow stronger and their potential for greater firepower seems almost inevitable.

No, the Eagles aren't a perfect team, but given their mass number of returners, their floor is seemingly high enough to the point where we aren't sure if they're capable of a poor performance this fall.

It's their upside, however, that makes this team so fascinating.

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The Eagles began their 2021 fall campaign at the Saint Olaf Invitational in mid-September. There, they would face the host Saint Olaf Oles as well as fellow conference rivals such as the UW-Eau Claire Blugolds.

While their two main opponents held greater firepower, it was the UW-La Crosse men who flexed sneaky-good depth. The combination of Ethan Gregg, Isaac Wegner, Parker Huhn, Corey Fairchild and Ethan Thompson went 9-10-12-13-17 in the final results. That allowed the Eagles to close out their scoring before either Saint Olaf and UW-Eau Claire did.

However, by simply boasting greater low-sticks, it was the Oles who took home the win with a total of 46 points, a 10-point margin of victory over the Eagles. Luckily for UW-La Crosse, they were still able to force the Blugolds to the 3rd place spot by a 12-point margin.

That was a solid start to their season, but Eagles would need to utilize their depth in larger fields and Gregg would need to exhibit better firepower as the 2021 season went on.

Luckily for them, they would be able to test their depth (and Gregg's true potential) in a large, national-caliber field at the Louisville XC Classic.

For the most part, the Eagles had a very solid outing. Gregg emerged with a monster 3rd place finish, establishing strong low-stick scoring that we had asked for after their season opener. However, it was the group behind him that really held great value at the second, third and fourth spots of this lineup.

The combination of Wegner, Fairchild and Thompson finished 28-34-35 in the overall results, giving the Eagles an excellent core that would support Gregg's outstanding low-stick performance.

Admittedly, the team's fifth runner did falter a bit, fading back to 68th place overall. That was far from a bad performance, but in order to truly contend with the top-three teams in this field, that gap needed to be closed.

D2 powerhouse Grand Valley State got the overall win fairly comfortably while fellow D3 powerhouses Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and Emory took 2nd and 3rd overall with scores that were just two points apart.

With the UW-La Crosse men roughly 30 points behind, they settled for 4th place in the final standings. And while they did lose to other national-caliber Division Three programs, there was clearly an avenue for this team to close their scoring gaps in future meets.

On paper, they were much closer to the CMS and Emory than the final scores may have suggested.

After taking down Iowa Central CC by seven points at the Jim Drews Tori Neubauer Invite, where the Eagles scoring lineup looked a bit more compact, the UW-La Crosse men advanced to the postseason.

The WIAC XC Championships would prove to be a legitimate challenge for the Eagles' first championship race. Having to face the likes of UW-Whitewater, UW-Oshkosh and UW-Eu Claire was not an easy task, especially with each team boasting a lineup structure that could counter some of the scoring that the Eagles boasted.

And yet, the UW-La Crosse men turned out to the best team of that group.

Gregg's runner-up finish was complemented by Wegner's 5th place result. That 1-2 punch was supported by the best display of the Eagles' depth that we had seen all season long. The backend scoring trio of Thompson, Huhn and Chad Franz went 7-8-9 in the overall results, simply overwhelming the rest of the field with points that couldn't be matched.

And while the UW-Whitewater men showcased great firepower, it was the Eagles who were victorious with a four-point margin of victory.

However, that result flipped at the North Regional XC Championships. UW-La Crosse had a somewhat similar lineup structure through four runners, but their final scorer faded, giving the UW-Whitewater men a one-point victory for the regional title.

Fast forward to the NCAA XC Championships and it was hard to know what we should expect from the Eagles. They looked outstanding through 80% of their scoring lineup, but their fifth scoring spot was inconsistent. What would that mean for their postseason hopes?

Unfortunately, it would not end favorably for the men from La Crosse, Wisconsin in terms of what their postseason goals likely were.

Gregg's 11th place All-American finish was fantastic, but somewhat expected. And with Wegner being the team's next scorer in 67th place, it was clear that a top-five finish was not at all going to be a possibility for the Eagles.

While their final three scorers did finish together, going 110-113-119 simply didn't leave the Eagles with enough points to meet expectations. Instead, they tallied a score of 321 points, giving them a 10th place finish in their season finale.

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Throughout last fall, the UW-La Crosse men put themselves in some tough races against teams like Saint Olaf, Emory and UW-Whitewater, all of whom were very solid, nationally competitive teams.

However, those were also teams that we felt like the Eagles should've defeated (although they did edge the Warhawks once in their three meetings).

But in 2022, this UW-La Crosse team likely has their sights set on not just beating those programs, but also elevating themselves to a podium spot -- a goal that seems plenty probable and not just possible.

The Eagles return six of their top-seven men from last year's national meet roster, as well as some athletes who were outside of that top-seven and who are primed for breakout years. On paper, we don't know how this team won't be better than last year.

Ethan Gregg is now a three-time All-American who started this season listed at TSR #7 on our individual rankings. He has been incredibly reliable over these last couple of years, acting as the one constant who can at least counter some of the firepower from other top-tier teams.

But for as talented as Gregg is, it's the rest of this 2022 lineup that we expect to alter the trajectory of this team for the better.

Isaac Wegner will be another key returner for the Eagles this fall. He finished 67th at last year's national meet, but truthfully, he is someone who could have been an All-American. Finishing 28th at the Louisville Classic, 5th at his conference meet and 8th in his region suggests that he's probably closer to a top-35 to top-40 talent.

We also can't ignore the fact that Wegner has run 14:36 (5k) and 30:08 (10k) on the track, promising times which validate his All-American potential.

Those, however, are just the first two runners of this team.

The third and fifth scorers from last year’s national meet lineup were Parker Huhn and Corey Fairchild, two men who are also returning in 2022.

Neither Fairchild nor Huhn have crazy resumes on the track, but they do have another year of experience added onto finishes that were just outside the top-100 of the national meet. However, much like Wegner, we believe that there is greater scoring value that both of these men can bring to this team in 2022.

Fairchild was 34th at the Louisville XC Classic last fall, but showed less consistency in the postseason.

Huhn, meanwhile, came on very strong as the season progressed. Top-10 finishes at both his conference and regional meets were encouraging to see. Suggesting that he can be a top-80 finisher at this year's national meet seems like a very fair prediction.

However, the biggest x-factor on this team may be Chad Franz who is in a similar boat where he hasn’t done anything particularly eye-popping on the track.

But when you look at what he's done on the grass, he is yet another guy who has shown that he is more than capable of finishing better than 175th at the national meet. His 13th place regional meet finish tell us that he has the potential to be further up this year. Truthfully, he could be the fifth scorer for the Eagles this fall and still be a top-100 talent.

Beyond these five, there are some question marks as to who else will contribute. And yet, at the same time, there are also a lot of other guys who are showing a ton of promise and potential.

How about Michael Madoch? He was an indoor mile All-American this past winter and made it to the finals in the 1500 meters at the outdoor national meet. He hasn’t had a ton of cross country success, but he has run 14:43 for 5000 meters, so the endurance and raw talent is very clearly there.

We don't see why he can't be a scorer this fall, we just don't know to what magnitude his scoring value hold over the next few months of competition.

Of course, Madoch is far from the only Eagle with success on the oval. There are a few other names who could potentially translate their track accolades to cross country...

• Zach Slevin ran 14:46 for 5000 meters in the spring of 2021, but has had some injuries that prevented him from racing this past spring. If he's healthy, then he could be the guy who swings this team from a fringe top-10 spot to the podium.

• Adam Loenser was an outdoor national qualifier in the steeplechase this past spring and also moved up to the 5000 meters to run 14:50. If he carries this momentum to the fall, then he could be dangerous.

• Alex Strojny has a 10k personal best of 31:00 and could be a nice supporting runner in terms of depth for UW-La Crosse this fall.

• Elias Ritzke, who was the team's seventh runner at the Northeast Regional XC Championships, did not compete at last year's national meet. However, he has run 9:22 for the steeplechase, an eye-catching mark that could huge in terms of scoring over the next few months.

None of those guys other than Madoch have any cross country national meet experience. But if any of them have a big breakthrough season this fall, then we would not at all be surprised.

The only uncertainty is...who will that breakout name be?

We also can’t rule out the possibility of an incoming freshman or two sneaking into this top-seven. This year’s recruiting class has a lot of talent, but the headliners are brothers Aidan and Grant Matthai who went 9:11 and 9:16 over 3200 meters in high school.

This is a deep team, so it might take some time for the newcomers to make an impact. Still, it would not be shocking if a change of scenery bolsters an immediate impact, either from one of these star recruits or even another true freshman.

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Beyond Gregg and Wegner, it is hard to predict exactly which guys will be on the bus to Lansing and in what order they will finish.

However, that is ultimately a good sign.

That uncertainty tells us that there are a multitude of guys who can feasibly step up above where they are expected to be. And if even a couple of them see their potential materialize on the grass, then this could be a monster year for the Eagles.

With plenty of depth and upside, this could be one of the most dangerous teams that Division Three has to offer in 2022.