TSR's 2023 D1 XC Top 25 Team Rankings (Men): Update #3

Admin (Garrett Zatlin)
Oct 30, 2023
14 min read

NOTE: These rankings are based on how a team fared throughout the entirety of a season, not just how they ran at a singular meet or (eventually) at the 2023 NCAA XC Championships. Click here to learn more about our ranking criteria.

KEY

(Unranked):

Was not ranked in our last update.

(#/#):

First number indicates how much the team has moved in our rankings.

The second number indicates where the team was ranked in our last update.

25. Michigan Wolverines (-1 / 24)

There isn't a whole lot to talk about when it comes to the Michigan men. The Wolverines finished runner-up at the BIG 10 XC Championships, well behind Wisconsin, but somewhat comfortably ahead of a respectable Michigan State team.

Nick Foster, a usual lead scorer, had an "off" day, but truthfully, him being at 100% wouldn't have made a difference in the final results. Meanwhile, Tom Brady (3rd) looks great, Owen Mackenzie (8th) has been a quietly great transfer pickup and Caleb Jarema (11th) is becoming an increasingly more important scorer for this team.

As we move to 10k, I could see Michigan benefitting from the longer racing distance.

24. Oregon Ducks (-9 / 15)

The Oregon men were just "fine" at the PAC-12 XC Championships, placing 3rd overall behind Stanford and Washington. However, they did finish ahead of Colorado.

Friday was the first time that we saw the Ducks field a legitimately competitive lineup this fall. However, the team was missing Izaiah Steury and Simeon Birnbaum, two men who we thought would be massively impactful scorers in 2023.

In fairness to the Ducks, the trio of Elliott Cook (5th), Josh Edwards (6th) and Quincy Norman (7th) were excellent. That was a very promising nucleus of scoring. However, with other top teams largely matching that firepower, and Oregon's final two scorers placing 20th and 22nd, it felt like this Jerry Schumacher-led group was incomplete (and in a sense, they were).

Until this past Friday, the Ducks had not toed the line for a nationally competitive meet and we never truly saw their top lineup. And while yes, they did beat Colorado, the Buffaloes had a good enough Nuttycombe race where we don't mind putting them ahead of Oregon (for now).

Plus, with a struggling Washington team taking down taking down the Ducks, it's hard to justify Oregon being ranked better than TSR #24, even if we think that the talent on their team is better than that.

23. Washington Huskies (Unranked)

It was a rough regular season for the Washington men who did not look great at either the Virginia Invitational or the Nuttycombe Invitational. However, the PAC-12 XC Championships potentially signaled a turnaround for the Huskies.

Luke Houser (2nd) continues to be electric, but it was Nathan Green's introduction to this lineup that made all the difference. His 3rd place result was complemented by the rise of Evan Jenkins who placed 10th. With two more men inside the top-20, Washington actually seemed to have a fairly complete lineup!

The PAC-12 has had a few ups and downs this season, but the Huskies look like a different team with Nathan Green and Evan Jenkins running as well as they did.

22. Furman Paladins (-2 / 20)

Yes, they drop two spots, but that's not really Furman's fault. The Paladins unsurprisingly cruised through the Southern Conference XC Championships, although you have to give credit to East Tennessee State who put up a good fight.

Furman will now shift their focus to the Southeast Regional XC Championships where they'll likely be able to advance to the national meet thanks to their tremendous Nuttycombe performance from earlier this season (which likely gave them tons of Kolas points).

21. Colorado Buffaloes (-9 / 12)

Gosh, trying to rank this team has been a nightmare.

The Colorado men came into this season ranked at TSR #10, but after a poor 12th place showing at the Virginia Invitational, we dropped them to TSR #16. Luckily for them, they rebounded beautifully at the Nuttycombe Invite with a tremendous 7th place result.

But on Friday, the Boulder-based fell to 4th place at the PAC-12 XC Championships. They lost to both Stanford and Washington, two teams that had been struggling this fall, as well as Oregon, a team that had barely raced this season.

The Buffaloes is seemingly built for larger fields like the NCAA XC Championships, but their limited firepower after Austin Vancil and lineup inconsistency has made it impossible to properly gauge them this fall.

20. Butler Bulldogs (Unranked)

We knew that the Butler men would be a strong, nationally competitive team this year, but trying to lock down just how good they were going to be was a challenge. And with two major meets to go...that question hasn't gotten any easier to answer.

The Bulldogs had a very solid start to their season at the Virginia Invitational with an 8th place finish, but then they faltered quite a bit at Nuttycombe with a 24th place finish. And yet, despite that tough outing in Madison, Wisconsin, the Butler men rebounded beautifully by earning a huge upset win over Villanova this past Friday.

The newest BIG East champions had their lead scorer, Florian Le Pallec, flanked by William Zegarski and Matthew Forrester, going 3-4-5, respectively. With Will Minnette (10th) and Jesse Hamlin (14th) quickly closing out the scoring, the Villanova men just didn't have the depth to match the complete top-five that the Bulldogs boasted.

A TSR #20 ranking feels like a fair middle-ground which acknowledges Butler's tough outing at Nuttycombe, but rewards them for a significant victory that couldn't go ignored.

19. Air Force Falcons (-2 / 17)

It's admittedly hard to fault the Air Force men for their narrow 2nd place finish at the Mountain West XC Championships. The Falcons lost by two points to New Mexico despite putting five men in the top-10 of the overall results.

With the Lobos' lethal scoring trio taking the top-three spots, there was very little room for scoring improvements. In fact, if you remove the top-three spots from the equation, there were only two other spots in the top-10 of this race that weren't taken by Air Force.

The Falcons were fantastic at the Virginia Invitational earlier this year. But since then, they have slightly underwhelmed at Nuttycombe and they most recently lost the Mountain West title. They're still a top team in the nation, but other squads are simply more deserving of the spots ahead of them (for now).

18. Tennessee Volunteers (-5 / 13)

This may seem like a harsh drop, but the Tennessee men aren't necessarily falling in our rankings for anything that they did. Instead, it's based on how every other team performed.

The Volunteers did drop to 3rd place overall at the SEC XC Championships, but they only lost to a very strong Alabama team by two points. The trio of Yaseen Abdalla, Gabriel Sanchez and Dean Casey looked just as good as they were at Pre-Nationals while Brandon Olden and Jacob Lewis snuck inside the top-20 to give the Vols a somewhat complete top-five.

It's important to remember that this Tennessee team took down the Virginia men at Pre-Nationals by a somewhat comfortable margin. That same Cavalier squad just finished 3rd at the ACC XC Championships.

Admittedly, we don't know if this is a fair spot for the men from Knoxville, but it feels like they could make us look very foolish upon their likely return to Charlottesville, Virginia.

17. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (-3 / 14)

The Notre Dame men have had a decent season, but they haven't been the fringe podium threat or even the top-10 team that we thought they would be.

A 4th place finish at the ACC XC Championships wasn't ideal, although it was hardly shocking and it wasn't necessarily a bad result, either. The Fighting Irish put all five of their scorers in the top-21, but Tyler Berg was their top man in "only" 11th place.

If everyone on this team runs at their best on the same day, then the men from South Bend, Indiana are easily a top-10 team in the country. However, some lineup inconsistency from certain men has been a challenge to manage and not having Carter Solomon in top form this fall has certainly limited this team's upside.

Even so, there is still some untapped potential within this team. If a scoring contingent of Berg, Josh Methner, Vinny Mauri, Ethan Coleman and CJ Singleton all have their best races on the same day, then I wouldn't be surprised to see Notre Dame flirting with the top-10 on the national stage.

16. Alabama Crimson Tide (+3 / 19)

The Alabama men have to be feeling good after taking down a strong Tennessee team (albeit, by two points) at the SEC XC Championships.

However, the biggest reason why the Crimson Tide emerged with silver wasn't necessarily because of Victor Kiprop (1st) or Hillary Cheruiyot (3rd). Instead, it was because Eliud Kipsang (7th) rebounded beautifully after a tough start to his season. He looked like the third true low-stick that this team needed him to be and that is a huge deal as Alabama goes deeper into the postseason.

We also have to give credit to Alabama's depth as they had three other men finish 23rd, 25th and 27th overall. That's probably the best supporting cast that the Crimson Tide have had in this era. That doesn't change the fact that Alabama's success is completely determined by three men, but knowing that there are reinforcements past their top-five is nice to have.

15. Stanford Cardinal (+6 / 21)

So, uh....how do we rank this team?

The Stanford men came into this season as favorites for the podium, but have had significant struggles since then, placing 9th at the Virginia Invitational and then 21st at the Nuttycombe Invitational. That first performance was enough to keep the Cardinal in our team rankings, but it was hard to be optimistic about this team going into the PAC-12 XC Championships.

But on Friday, the Stanford men looked like a completely new team. Ky Robinson (1st) was unsurprisingly great, but Cole Sprout (4th) had a huge rebound race of his own to emerge as the low-stick that we knew he is.

Not only that, but Robert DiDonato (9th) had the race of his life, Lex Young (12th) is rounding into form at the perfect time and Evan Burke (15th) deserves more credit for what may be the best cross country effort of his career.

Admittedly, the rest of this year's PAC-12 field has also underwhelmed us quite a bit, making it hard to truly gauge just how good this effort was. Even so, it's clear that the Cardinal have shaken off whatever initial challenges that they were having.

14. New Mexico Lobos (+9 / 23)

This may seem like an aggressive jump in our rankings (and it is). However, New Mexico's nine-spot move stems more from the return of Jonathan Carmin to top form rather than the Lobos' recent Mountain West title win over Air Force.

Earlier this year, New Mexico finished 3rd at the Griak Invitational behind California Baptist and Gonzaga. They also tied for 14th place at the Nuttycombe Invite with Michigan, settling behind Iowa State by a single point. And yet, despite the Lobos' sporting a lethal top-three, their supporting cast was very underwhelming.

However, Jonathan Carmin is a 13:52 (5k) runner who was a DNF at the Griak Invitational and a brutal 217th place at Nuttycombe. Without him in top form to act as a stable fourth scorer, the Lobos could only go so far.

But after sweeping the top-three spots at the Mountain West XC Championships, Carmin stepped up in a massive way to place 8th. That result, paired with Samuel Field in 20th place, gave New Mexico the edge over an Air Force team that put five men in the top-10.

Having Carmin near/at his best is huge for this team. He may not be a low-stick like Keleta, Kiplagat and Kiprop are, but he stills offers tremendous value. The New Mexico veteran cuts off a substantial amount of points and dramatically changes how effective this team can be in nationally competitive fields.

For that reason, the Lobos jump up all the way up to our top-15.

13. Princeton Tigers (+5 / 18)

Some people will say that the Princeton men beating Harvard for the Ivy League title was an upset -- and based on the rankings, it was.

Even so, the Tigers' depth-laden lineup structure matched up fairly well against a Harvard team that had improved their own depth this fall, but was still very top-heavy. And sure enough, Princeton put five in the top-11 this past Friday and beat the Crimson by three points despite Harvard putting three men in the top-five.

Princeton has put together a very solid season across the board this fall. Their initial outing at the Virginia Invitational wasn't all too great, but they were strong at Nuttycombe (placing 12th) and just took down a top-10 team in the country.

Admittedly, the Harvard men have proven -- both at last year's national meet and this year's Nuttycombe Invitational -- that their firepower can be more effective in larger fields. They also showed us that they have better depth than last year after putting all five of their scorers in the top-100 at the Nuttycombe Invite.

Even so, Princeton is as deep as ever. They're incredibly consistent, they have limited lineup gaps and Nicholas Bendtsen has been very effective as a lead scorer. Simply put, there's a lot to like about this squad.

12. Virginia Cavaliers (+4 / 16)

Just when I was ready to get off the bandwagon, the Virginia men have pulled us back in.

The Cavaliers didn't have the most exciting start to their 2023 cross country season, at least relative to expectations. They placed 7th at the Virginia Invitational to start the season and later settled for 3rd at Pre-Nationals, falling behind Arkansas and Tennessee.

Luckily, UVA bounced back at the ACC XC Championships as they finished 3rd behind two podium contenders while staying ahead of Notre Dame, Florida State and Wake Forest.

Will Anthony (7th) was slightly better than expected and the same could be said about Nathan Mountain (14th). Gary Martin (8th) ran exactly how we thought he would. However, it was veteran Yasin Sado (12th) who came through in the clutch with a huge result!

The trio of Martin, Antony and Mountain had been a respectable 1-2-3 punch for the Cavaliers this fall. However, gaps after those men had previously plagued this lineup. But with Sado simply erasing his scoring hole at the fourth scoring spot, the Virginia men thrived.

There is still a gap to their final scorer, and we need to see them do that again, but this was a very nice race for a team that hadn't given us much to be excited about until this past Friday.

11. Villanova Wildcats (-1 / 10)

The Villanova men were just upset for the BIG East title by Butler, losing by six points. Even so, it's best not to overreact. This team finished 5th at the Virginia Invitational and were also 8th at Nuttycombe. Plus, the results that we saw this past weekend didn't necessarily do much to push a ton of teams into our top-10.

That being said, Friday showed us just how little margin for error the Wildcats have with their current lineup. Everyone needs to run at/near their best for Villanova's scoring group to be as effective as it was during the regular season.

10. Harvard Crimson (-1 / 9)

Yes, the Harvard men did lose to Princeton at the Ivy League XC Championships, but just like I mentioned with Villanova, we shouldn't overreact to this result.

The Crimson only lost by three points in a super small field and they had three men in the top-five. Ben Rosa (3rd) is evolving into a more impactful scorer and Harvard showed us at Nuttycombe that their depth has made significant improvements -- all five of their scorers placed in the top-100.

Admittedly, not seeing the Crimson's backend scorers pull through in this kind of setting wasn't ideal, but it's not the end of the world, either. Princeton also beat Harvard at last year's conference meet and the Crimson still went on to finish higher on the national stage.

Plus, who else would you really feel comfortable putting ahead of Harvard in these rankings that's not already in our top-10? Villanova was just upset by Butler, Virginia, Princeton and New Mexico already made notable jumps and Stanford has only had one good race this fall.

For that reason, our TSR #10 spot will go to Harvard.

9. Texas Longhorns (-2 / 7)

We can only shrug our shoulders when looking at Texas' latest performance from the BIG 12 XC Championships. They scored a total of 70 points, comfortably beating Iowa State, but unsurprisingly falling behind Oklahoma State and BYU.

Devin Hart (4th) is still one of the more talented distance runners in the country and Rodger Rivera (10th) continues to quietly put together a really strong season. Haftu Knight, Isaac Alonzo and Emmanuel Sgouros went 15-20-21, respectively, to close out the scoring.

You have to give Coach Greg Metcalf some credit for how he has built on the foundation that current Boston College coach, Pete Watson, left behind. Landing Hart from the transfer portal has been huge for this team and the backend development of Sgouros has made Texas a legitimate top-10 squad on the grass.

8. Arkansas Razorbacks (0 / 8)

The Arkansas men had a tremendous performance at Pre-Nationals which led to dominant victories over Tennessee, Virginia and Montana State. However, we wanted to see if the Razorbacks could replicate that success on a different stage, specifically the NCAA XC Championships.

Well, sure enough, they did just that.

Patrick Kiprop (2nd) had one of the best races of his career, Ben Shearer (5th) proved that he's legit and Kirami Yego (6th) continues to be a high-octane low-stick. But instead of Jacob McLeod and Myles Richter being the other key two scorers, it was Elias Schreml (12th) and Reuben Reina (13th) who were excellent support pieces en route to a convincing win.

The Razorbacks look incredibly dangerous this year. They have three men who could realistically be All-Americans, multiple men who could emerge as reliable backend scoring options and they even have an x-factor in Lexington Hilton if he can get back to top form.

7. Syracuse Orange (-3 / 4)

Truthfully, the Syracuse men were actually great through three runners during Friday's ACC XC Championships as Paul O'Donnell (2nd), Perry Mackinnon (5th) and Sam Lawler (10th) provided a very strong 1-2-3 punch.

However, with Nathan Lawler still not in top form, and Matthew Comerford and Matthew Scrape having "off" days, Syracuse didn't have enough backend support to keep up with UNC's firepower.

The Orange proved at both the Virginia Invitational and the Nuttycombe Invitational that they are built for larger fields. However, this is their second loss to UNC in three tries. And with the backend portion of their lineup looking a little iffy as we move up to 10k, we felt like we had no other options but to put Syracuse back three spots to TSR #7.

6. North Carolina Tar Heels (+5 / 11)

The Syracuse men were clearly favored to win the ACC title, but if anyone was going to beat them, then it was going to the Tar Heels.

North Carolina's firepower, featuring Parker Wolfe, Alex Phillip and Ethan Strand, was elite as always, going 1-4-6, respectively. However, the real x-factor for this team was Jake Gebhardt. The Indiana graduate transfer was solid at the Virginia Invitational, but he later underwhelmed by quite a bit at Nuttycombe.

However, a monumental 9th place finish from Gebhardt on Friday gave UNC firepower that Syracuse had no chance of matching. And with Colton Sands giving the Tar Heels a "good enough" 29th place finish to close out the scoring, the Chapel Hill-based men comfortably secured gold.

Admittedly, many of us at TSR believe that the Syracuse men have a lineup that is more reliable and potentially just as effective in larger fields compared to what UNC has. But the Tar Heels have already beaten Syracuse at the Virginia Invite this season and they just defeated them again, giving them a 2-1 record against the Orange.

In other words, the Tar Heels seem to have way more variability than Syracuse does, but they are arguably just as talented and they have very much returned to the podium conversation.

5. California Baptist Lancers (0 / 5)

No surprises here. The California Baptist men scored just 17 points en route to a comfortable victory at the WAC XC Championships, going 1-2-3-4-7.

4. Wisconsin Badgers (+2 / 6)

There's a legitimate argument for Wisconsin to be ranked at TSR #3 instead of TSR #4. They put six men in the top-10 at the BIG 10 XC Championships, scoring 19 points en route to an easy title victory.

Adam Spencer (5th) looks like a valuable middle-lineup scorer, giving the Badgers six men who are valuable lineup options. With tons of experience and great depth on their side, it's hard to dislike anything about this Wisconsin squad.

3. BYU Cougars (0 / 3)

A runner-up finish behind Oklahoma State at the BIG 12 XC Championships wasn't too surprising. Creed Thompson (3rd) and Joey Nokes (6th) were excellent, but without more firepower, the Cougars weren't going to have enough scoring to keep up with the Cowboys.

Admittedly, this lineup didn't look amazing after Thompson and Nokes. Sure, James Corrigan had a solid day in 13th place, but their next two men crossed the line in 16th and 17th place. Kenneth Rooks (who was 18th) did not emerge as a scorer and the same could be said about Luke Grundvig (23rd), Aidan Troutner (33rd), Garrett Stanford (34th) and Jacob Stanford (38th).

A lot of those backend guys who I just mentioned are likely going to be better in the future, but without Davin Thompson and Casey Clinger, the podium conversation doesn't seem as locked-in as some may think that it is.

2. Oklahoma State Cowboys (0 / 2)

Oklahoma State was fantastic at the BIG 12 XC Championships. Brian Musau (1st) proved that he was the real deal and Alex Maier (2nd) looks as strong as ever. Fouad Messaoudi (5th) is still in top form while both Will Muirhead (8th) and Jonas Price (9th) had huge breakout races. They would be considered low-sticks for pretty much every other team in that field.

However, veteran All-American Victor Shitsama struggled mightily, placing 45th, while Kenyan rookie Denis Kipngetich (14th) faltered a bit from expectations.

While Muirhead and Price have clearly made promising improvements this fall, it feels like the Cowboys will need Shitsama and Kipngetich emerging as top-tier All-Americans in order to take down a Northern Arizona team looks stacked through seven runners.

1. Northern Arizona Lumberjacks (0 / 1)

No Bosley, no Prosser, no Hasty...no problem. The Northern Arizona men cruised through the BIG Sky XC Championships, going 1-2-4-5-8 despite a very respectable Montana State team also toeing the line.