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TSR's 2022 Preseason D3 XC Top 20 Rankings: #20-16 (Men)
- TSR Collaboration
- Jul 30, 2022
- 5 min read
Written by Kevin Fischer & Garrett Zatlin
20. Ryan Wilson, Senior, MIT
You know him as the two-time D3 national champion in the 800 meters. However, Ryan Wilson can be very dangerous on the cross country course as well. In fact, he can be one of the best names in all of Division Three when it comes to the grass.
And that lethal range is partially why he sits at TSR #20 in our preseason rankings.
Last fall, Wilson had a respectable, but somewhat quiet, start to his cross country season. He was 10th at the Williams Purple Valley XC Invite and then 22nd at the Louisville XC Classic "Silver" race. However, Wilson began to pick up some momentum in the second-half of the fall, earning a pleasantly surprising 7th place finish at the Connecticut College Invitational.
Wilson later won the NEWMAC XC Championships and was MIT’s fourth scorer at the national meet with an excellent 29th place finish, ending his season on a massive high note before tearing up the track in the middle distances.
Wilson knows a thing or two about successful championship racing. He has built his reputation as one of the most clutch postseason runners in Division Three and his Connecticut College Invite result shows us that he can be a meaningful scorer in the regular season.
This versatile veteran will be an instrumental part of MIT’s charge for a potential team title this November. However, how much he improves from last year could ultimately determine how far the Engineers go this fall.
19. Ezra Ruggles, Junior, SUNY Geneseo
One may look at Ezra Ruggles' performance at the 2021 NCAA XC Championships and assume that the SUNY Geneseo ace wasn't a top-tier cross country runner last year.
That, of course, would be a misconception.
Last fall, Ezra Ruggles had a great cross country season, finishing in the top-three of every non-national meet that he toed the line for with the exception of a 6th place finish in a September rust-buster. A win at the Mike Wood Invitational felt like a statement victory and he was fairly steady throughout the fall months.
However, at the NCAA XC Championships, Ruggles was in 9th place with 3000 meters to go and then 14th place with 1600 meters to go. But then his wheels came off at the end and he just missed out on an All-American spot with a 43rd place finish.
But if you're not convinced about Ruggles' potential on the grass, then his recent accolades on the track should persuade you otherwise.
On the track this year, the SUNY Geneseo ace impressed us with his speed, earning a 5th place finish in the mile at the NCAA Indoor Championships and later running 3:44 over 1500 meters during the outdoor track season. With other personal bests of 8:28 (3k) and 9:18 (steeple), it's hard to look at Ruggles' resume and not like what you see.
On paper, Ruggles is a very complete and well-rounded runner. He's fairly consistent and has shown a few sparks of elite firepower. Admittedly, his national meet performance brought him back a bit in our rankings and his somewhat limited competition during fall makes him challenging to rank.
Still, it's hard to ignore the incredibly obvious national-caliber talent that this SUNY Geneseo star has shown over the last year.
18. Sam Acquaviva, Senior, MIT
It was truthfully a little tricky to figure out where to rank Sam Acquaviva.
The MIT ace was outstanding on the grass last year, especially at the national meet, but was not on campus during the spring semester. As a result, we didn’t get to see how his newfound aerobic fitness from the grass translated to the track.
Acquaviva started his 2021 fall campaign at the Williams Purple Valley XC Invite where he settled for a solid 5th place finish. From there, the MIT standout earned a very impressive 9th place finish at the Louisville XC Classic "Silver" race before establishing himself as a true low-stick with a fantastic 4th place finish at the Connecticut College Invitational.
From there, Acquaviva settled for a 5th place finish at the NEWMAC XC Championships and then a 7th place finish at the East Regional XC Championships. However, it was at the NCAA XC Championships where Acquaviva secured a monumental breakout performance.
The MIT star earned a 13th place finish on the national stage and ended a season that was, all-around, one of the best in Division Three.
However, that was basically the last time we would see a full season from Acquaviva during the academic year. He did run a new 5k PR of 14:42 back in December, but his indoor track and outdoor track results were essentially non-existent.
Having almost no recent results and nothing to validate his amazing national meet performance is ultimately why Acquaviva is ranked outside of our top-15.
Even so, there’s no reason to doubt that this MIT veteran will be able to perform at a high level in his return to the collegiate circuit, especially when you consider the caliber of the guys who he’ll be training with.
17. Gunner Schlender, Sophomore, UW-Whitewater
Gunner Schlender has already built up quite a resume in his somewhat short time as a Warhawk, earning All-American honors at last year’s cross country national meet. He also earned an All-American honor in the 5k at the NCAA Indoor Championships and later finished 10th at the outdoor national meet in the 10k.
And if that's what Schlender could do in first year of competition, then year two could be monumental.
Despite the departure of veteran David Fassbender, Schlender and teammate Christian Patzka may emerge as one of the better distance duos in Division Three this year, headlining a UW-Whitewater team that still has the potential to place very highly on the big stage.
Despite his youth, Schlender was a solid and consistent talent last year. After a trio of runner-up results in what many would call "rust-buster" meets, Schlender ventured to the Oberlin College Inter-Regional Rumble and placed 6th in a competitive field.
A bronze medal performance at the always-competitive WIAC XC Championships led to a 6th place finish at the North Regional XC Championships. Schlender would later end his season with an excellent 26th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships.
While that final performance was certainly the best result of Schlender's career (at the time), past cross country performances of his suggested that a top-30 national meet finish was a possibility.
On the track, Schlender thrived. Not only did he earn All-American honors in the 5k (indoors), but he also ran exceptional times of 8:18 (3k), 14:20 (5k) and 29:57 (10k) between the indoor and outdoor ovals.
For someone who was so young, that was incredibly exciting.
If Schlender was that good as a rookie, then the potential upside that he holds for the fall of 2022 is beyond exciting. There aren't a ton of flaws on his resume and as he improves, so will his ranking -- both his ceiling floor and his ceiling are very high.
16. Ethan Widlansky, Senior, Pomona-Pitzer
Ethan Widlansky is a grizzled veteran entering his final year of cross country eligibility. He has raced at all three of the cross country national meets that have been contested in the time that he has been on campus.
In most instances, this Sagehen star has thrived on that national stage, landing a 7th place finish at the 2019 NCAA XC Championships and then a 24th place finish at the 2021 NCAA XC Championships. In both instances, he was a key scoring piece who helped the Sagehens’ win their team national titles.
Widlansky's times on the track are solid, owning marks of 14:30 (5k) and 29:59 (10k), but they're not quite at the same caliber as his cross country finishes.
But when it comes down to it, that doesn’t matter. This Pomona-Pitzer veteran knows how to successfully navigate a big-meet cross country course and finish towards the front of any D3 field that he's entered in.
It's admittedly difficult to balance his 7th place and 24th place finishes at the cross country national meet, but the average between those two finishes is 15.5 -- and that makes our initial ranking of TSR #16 that much more appropriate for Widlansky.
