TSR's 2023 D1 XC Top 25 Team Rankings (Women): Update #5 (FINAL)

TSR Collaboration
Nov 21, 2023
20 min read

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.

NOTE: These rankings are based on how a team fared throughout the entirety of a season, not just how they ran at the NCAA XC Championships or at a singular meet. You will notice that these rankings may mirror the national meet results, but not precisely. That is intentional. These rankings are intended to be an aggregate. They are not recency lists.

25. Harvard Crimson (Unranked)

No, the Harvard women aren't entering our rankings at TSR #25 just because they finished 25th at the NCAA XC Championships. We truly believe that, when looking at their season as a whole, they were the 25th-best team in the country.

The Crimson put together a fairly unsurprisingly series of results on Saturday. Maia Ramsden's 10th place individual finish was right on par with expectations while Ella Gilson's 65th place effort capped what was a sneaky-good season for the junior. However, with no one else cracking the top-150, there was only so much that the Harvard women could do to move up the final standings.

No, Harvard wasn't the flashiest team this fall, but all things considered, they held their own. A 19th place finish at the Nuttycombe Invite was a very solid result and it doesn't hurt that they won an Ivy League title.

Regardless, the Harvard women continued to show up and deliver on expectations this fall. For that reason, they had a strong enough resume to crack our team rankings.

24. Furman Paladins (-8 / 16)

There's no other way to say it: The Furman women just a tough day at the NCAA XC Championships. Carly Wilkes (80th) and Kaylie Armitage (97th) were nice bright spots and Jenna Mulhern (132nd) was decent.

But in the grand scheme of things, the Paladins' patented pack-running style couldn't stay intact in the mass talent of the national meet. Bethany Graham was a DNF after missing most of the season and the limited firepower didn't help, either. That all led to a 24th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships.

We'll admit, it feels like Furman should be ranked higher than TSR #24. They did, after all, win the Loyola Lakefront Invitational over Ole Miss and Wisconsin. They also finished 18th at the Nuttycombe Invite without Bethany Graham.

But the Paladins lost to the Wisconsin women twice this season and they also lost to Utah Valley in their only matchup of the season (the national meet). Not only that, but the Wolverines have a standout win on their resume over California Baptist.

Even so, regardless of their season finale challenges, this team had a great overall season and they should be proud with the clear progress that they made.

23. Utah Valley Wolverines (-1 / 22)

The Utah Valley women are another team who pretty much matched expectations at the national meet, thus earning an identical end-of-season ranking.

It was hard not to like the Wolverines this year. They dominated their regular season competition and when they were truly challenged by CBU at the WAC XC Championships, they rose to the occasion and pulled off the upset.

On Saturday, Morgan Nokes emerged as the team's lead scorer once more in 63rd place. Unfortunately, that would be the final UVU runner in the top-120. The team's other lead scorer this season, Ari Trimble, fell back to 127th place. And with gaps forming between the other scorers behind her, there was only so much this team could do if they wanted a top-20 finish.

Even so, Utah Valley should be very proud of how their season went. They lost numerous women from a strong 2022 lineup, including Everlyn Kemboi, but came back this fall looking just as good, if not better.

22. Wisconsin Badgers (-5 / 17)

For much of the season, we had the Wisconsin women hovering around this TSR #22 spot. They received a boost in recent weeks due to the natural flow of our rankings and a strong showing at the Great Lakes regional meet. However, a 22nd place finish on Saturday was enough for us to reflect on the Badgers' season and say, "Yeah, that's about right."

Leane Willemse's 44th place finish was nearly identical to her individual ranking, giving her team a nice scoring spark. However, with no other women cracking the top-130, Wisconsin didn't have enough firepower to be competitive with the top-half of this field.

That being said, I do like how the Badgers packed-up together and stopped the scoring from getting too out of hand. The team's final four scorers finished 133-137-152-154, further validating the idea that Wisconsin had enough depth to avoid a truly catastrophic day. Not just on Saturday, but throughout the entire season.

21. Ole Miss Rebels (+2 / 23)

What a weird season for Ole Miss.

The Rebels settled for a 3rd place finish at the Loyola Lakefront Invitational earlier this fall behind Furman and Wisconsin (but ahead of Lipscomb). But at Nuttycombe, they earned an excellent 12th place finish. They later struggled at the SEC XC Championships to place 5th, but then earned a clutch 3rd place finish at the South regional meet.

In other words, it was impossible to gauge how this team would perform on the national stage.

On Saturday, we expected Loral Winn (115th) to be the lead scorer. But instead, Winn was the second scorer while Ryan Helmers (23rd) had the race of her life, giving her team a key edge in the results. However, with the final three scorers going 126-145-174, there wasn't enough support behind Helmers for the Rebels to truly stand out.

At the end of the day, Ole Miss' 21st place finish at the national meet seems to be an accurate indication of how their season went. It wasn't amazing, but it certainly wasn't terrible, either.

20. Colorado Buffaloes (-1 / 19)

19. Iowa State Cyclones (-5 / 14)

Hold on, hear us out.

The Colorado women finished 19th at the NCAA XC Championships on Saturday, defeating the 20th place team, Iowa State, by 12 points. Naturally, one would think, "Well shouldn't the Buffaloes be ranked ahead of the Cyclones in that case?"

We wouldn't argue with anyone who did decided that. But Iowa State was ranked at TSR #14 in our last rankings update -- they were noticeably better than the Buffaloes throughout this fall. With wins over Colorado at both the Virginia Invite and the Nuttycombe Invite, we'll give the nod to the Cyclones with the understanding that this may be an unpopular decision.

Colorado and Iowa State had two very different lineup structures on Saturday.

The Buffaloes had Ella Baran (27th), Emily Covert (50th) and Karrie Baloga (82nd) offer varying levels of lead scoring value. However, their final two scorers faded to 175th and 218th. The Cyclones, meanwhile, saw Maelle Porcher, Madelynn Hill, Dana Feyen, Janette Schraft and Bella Heikes go 83-90-110-142-163, respectively.

Did any of those lineup orders or structures surprise us? No, but I do think that we expected both of these teams to be the slightest bit better than they were on Saturday.

18. California Baptist Lancers (-3 / 15)

Without Grace McLaughlin, a top-30 finisher at Nuttycombe, it shouldn't be too surprising that the Lancers finished 17th on the national stage.

Greta Karinauskaite (17th) finally had the race that we knew she was capable of. The steeplechase star gave her team a massive boost of firepower which was then complemented by Yasna Petrova (45th), someone who may be one of the more underrated women in the country, at least on the grass.

But after those two, things fell apart. The national meet field opened up significant gaps in California Baptist's top-five. Emilia Mikszuta (121st) did hold her own, but the final two scorers on this team finished 157th and 179th.

The Lancers ran incredibly well at the Nuttycombe Invite, but we did note that their margin for error was fairly slim. Pair that with the loss of McLaughlin and you actually have to respect the fact that CBU salvaged a 17th place finish on Saturday.

17. Michigan State Spartans (-7 / 10)

Gosh, it pains us to put the Michigan State women here. The Spartans were steady all season long. They overcame the loss of Kaitlyn Hines and they beautifully combined their depth with firepower. On paper, they were a perfectly balanced team.

On Saturday, Michigan State settled for a 16th place finish. It was a fine result, but not quite the top-10 performance that we thought they could produce on a good day.

Katie Osika (30th) was yet again an incredibly reliable low-stick while Makenna Veen (70th) capped what was a very solid and underrated season. Lauren Freeland (108th) didn't have her best race, but from a team perspective, that was still a perfectly acceptable result. The final two scorers on this team dropped to 149th and 169th place, leaving the Spartans out of the top-15 of the national meet.

We could argue in favor of Michigan State earning a better ranking after defeating Lipscomb, Washington and Utah at the Nuttycombe Invite, but those three teams also beat the Spartans convincingly on Saturday.

As such, Michigan State ends their season at TSR #17.

16. Utah Utes (+4 / 20)

What a fantastic season for the Utah women! It is truly incredibly to see this team rebound after losing their top-four runners from a VERY top-heavy 2022 lineup. And with so many developmental names and youngsters scattered throughout this roster, it was hard to see a scenario where this team was ranked in 2023.

Well, as it turns out, it wasn't that hard to see at all.

At the NCAA XC Championships, the duo of Mckaylie Caesar (26th) and Annastasia Peters (33rd) had performances that were truly outstanding. And while we were confident in their abilities this season, that duo most certainly outperformed our expectations for them.

Morgan Jensen's 89th place finish turned out to be a huge stabilizing performance, mainly because the final two Utes faded to 162nd place and 167th place. That, however, didn't stop the Utes from earning an excellent 13th place finish.

In retrospect, we probably overreacted to Utah's 5th place finish (which was almost a 6th place finish) at the PAC-12 XC Championships. Let's not forget that they narrowly finished runner-up behind CBU at the Griak Invite and were 15th at the Nuttycombe Invite.

Those may not have been Earth-shattering results, but they were good results, nonetheless.

15. Virginia Cavaliers (-4 / 11)

It's hard to get a gauge of how Virginia's season went.

On Saturday, the Cavaliers were led by their breakout star, Jenny Schilling, who earned a very well-deserved 39th place All-American finish. Margot Appleton's 51st place effort wasn't ideal, but it was still a decent result which held good scoring value. It's a similar story (to a lesser extent) for Anna Workman who placed 105th.

The final two scorers, Camryn Menninger and Gillian Bushee, closed out the top-five by finishing in 158th place and 159th place, respectively. That, in turn, led to UVA finishing 15th place overall.

The Cavaliers were "good" this season, but their Virginia Invite performance (where they placed 3rd) was probably the only meet where we can say that they were "great." However, with a handful of key names missing this fall, maybe a TSR #15 ranking would have made more sense in the preseason...

14. Lipscomb Bison (+7 / 21)

It was a roller coaster ride for the Lipscomb women this fall. They were clearly a nationally competitive team in each race that they toed the line for, but certain performances were far better than others.

A 4th place finish at the Loyola Lakefront Invite, for instance, was decent, but unexciting. However, a huge 10th place finish at Nuttycombe put this team in a new tier. The Bison later came back down to Earth with a 5th place finish at the South regional meet, but then they earned a massively validating 11th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships.

After emerging as a true leader for this team over the last few years, Lydia Miller decided to have the best race of her career on Saturday, earning All-American honors with a 38th place finish. Mackenzie Barnett would later secure a strong 81st place result.

Usually, most teams wouldn't be able to place 11th without a bit more scoring potency. But the backend of the Bison's lineup turned out to be the strongest part of their lineup. With Colbi Borland, Kiara Carter and Harley Kletz going 107-117-122, the Lipscomb women had a complete top-five with very few glaring flaws.

Despite their 11th place finish, we are opting to place the Bison just a few spots back from that. They clearly thrive on large, nationally competitive stages, but there season did seem to have a few ups and downs.

13. Alabama Crimson (+11 / 24)

The biggest movers in our final rankings update are the Alabama women. Their terrific 7th place finish in Charlottesville far exceeded our expectations and for that reason, they took a drastic leap up our top-25.

A 4th place finish at the South regional meet meant that the Crimson Tide had an anxious wait to see if their early-season endeavors were good enough to see them qualify them for the national meet. And heading into this past weekend, we were left questioning, how effective their top-heavy scoring structure was going to be against the nation's best teams.

Well, as it turns out, it would be very effective!

As expected, the Crimson Tide’s one-two punch was the best in the field. Freshman superstar Doris Lemngole capped off her fantastic season with an outstanding 2nd place finish while Hilda Olemomoi was as impressive as ever in 4th place. Staple third scorer, Joy Gill (53rd), was exceptional and her performance was arguably what helped keep the team's top-10 hopes alive.

Behind her, the duo of Elka Machan (160th) and McKenzie Hogue (170th) were right where they needed to be. The pair's cohesiveness was crucial in closing out the fast-finishing Washington contingent.

This is certainly a performance this squad should be proud of and with the vast majority of their lineup set to return, the Crimson Tide's future looks plenty bright.

12. Georgetown Hoyas (-9 / 3)

On the one day that mattered the most, the Georgetown women just couldn't find themselves firing on all cylinders.

After seeing their 3rd place team finish at Nuttycombe and 1st place results at the BIG East XC Championships and Mid-Atlantic regional meet, the Hoyas felt like legitimate contenders (and maybe even favorites) for a podium finish in Virginia. That, however, didn't come close to happening as the Georgetown women fell to an 18th place finish.

After resting through the Mid-Atlantic regional meet, low-stick Chloe Scrimgeour rejoined her teammates. The junior did all she could to help her team by finishing 8th overall, a tremendous performance to cap off a massive statement season.

We expected to see Melissa Riggins, the 15th place finisher at Nuttycombe and a breakout talent, to finish within eyesight of Scrimgeour. But it was actually the opposite that happened as the redshirt sophomore recorded a DNF, stepping off the course after the 4k mark.

Experienced veteran and All-American ace, Maggie Donahue, struggled all season to return to top form and still couldn’t get there at the cross country national meet. That being said, Donahue crossed the finish line in 55th place, a respectable result for a team in need of scoring. However, she was the last top-100 runner finisher for Georgetown.

Kelsey Swenson, Chloe Gonzalez and Mary Hennelly rounded out the scoring for the Hoyas, but by the time they finished, the gaps were simply too large to handle.

We need to have an honest conversation about this team. An 18th place finish for Georgetown this past weekend shouldn't take away from what they accomplished this season. They were very clearly better than that.

The Hoyas were outstanding since the Virginia Invitational. They had multiple women run well beyond our expectations for them. They had a complete top-five and they consistently took down top programs at major invitationals. For those reasons, we feel like dropping them back any further than TSR #12 would be unfair.

11. Oregon Ducks (+1 / 12)

A 10th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships was almost certainly on the better end of our expectations for the Oregon women. The Ducks had been good this season, but they had struggled to remain competitive with the teams in the top-half of our rankings in their lead up to the national meet.

On Saturday, the Oregon women were led by Izzy Thornton-Bott, an Aussie veteran who snagged the final individual All-American honor despite a season that wasn't as exciting as her 2022 campaign. Teammate Maddy Elmore's 52nd place finish wasn't the All-American honor that we thought she would earn, but it was still a nice low-stick result.

Anika Thompson (104th) and Katie Clute (111th) both deserve a lot of credit for the consistent and subtle improvements that they made this fall. Their efforts kept the Ducks' team scoring in check while Klaudia Kazimierska (134th) closed out Oregon's top-five a touch faster than we thought she would.

Admittedly, we almost thought about keeping Oregon at TSR #12. You could argue that the Georgetown women were better than the Ducks this season despite what the national meet results indicate.

However, it would have felt a bit awkward to keep Oregon at TSR #12 after having a performance which put the Ducks among the top-10 teams in the nation. For that reason, we gave the ladies of Eugene a one-spot bump.

10. Tennessee Volunteers (+8 / 18)

What a run by the Lady Vols!

In only their second year under Coach Sean Carlson, the Tennessee women moved up our rankings in large bunches following their 3rd place finish at the SEC XC Championships and their victory at the South Regional XC Championships.

But what happened after that is what truly blows our minds.

The Tennessee women finished 6th at the NCAA XC Championships on Saturday. The Knoxville-based women shattered expectations, taking down plenty of historically talented teams in what had to be the most surprising result of the meet.

Low-stick Ashley Jones, who transferred to Tennessee from High Point earlier this year, missed out on All-American honors by one second when she finished in 42nd place. Even so, her value as a lead scorer turned out to be so important for this team.

Behind her, the rest of the Lady Vols were separated by only 17 seconds. Three true freshmen made up part of the scoring five. The rookie trio of Jillian Candelino (72nd), Caroline Lyerly (91st) and Jessie Secor (113th) were very impressive in their national meet debuts and were instrumental to the overall success of this team.

Veteran Rachel Stuliff, who finished 74th at the NCAA XC Championships, did an excellent job this season. She acted as a key stabilizing piece and someone who her rookie teammates could aim to run with.

Admittedly, the Tennessee women didn't show that they were a top-10 team throughout most of this season. We knew that they were good, but Saturday was a true Cinderella story for the women in Orange.

As such, we thought that a TSR #10 ranking rewarded their incredible postseason rise while still acknowledging the learning curve that they had to go through earlier this year.

9. BYU Cougars (-5 / 4)

Let's not make the analysis of this team harder than it needs to be.

The BYU women finished 14th at the NCAA XC Championships on Friday. But other than Aubrey Frentheway's 14th place finish and possibly Carlee Hansen's 66th place finish, Saturday's collective effort wasn't indicative of the Cougars' actual talent.

On paper, this team had four realistic All-Americans this season between Carmen Alder, Jenna Hutchins, Aubrey Frentheway and Lexy Halladay-Lowry. That may not have been shown on Saturday, but the Cougars took down a podium team in Oklahoma State to win the BIG 12 title and their win at Pre-Nationals was plenty convincing.

Yes, we do need to drop them in our rankings, but saying that BYU was not a top-10 team this year would feel a little silly.

8. Arkansas Razorbacks (+1 / 9)

The Arkansas women had put together a slew of brilliant results this fall, so much so that they seemed primed to crack the top-10 on Saturday. However, the inexperience of true freshman Paityn Noe and the uncertainty of how Sydney Thorvaldson would perform in the postseason left us wondering how good the Razorbacks would be on Saturday.

Well, as it turns out, they would finish 9th overall, a tremendous result to validate the potent talent at the front of their lineup and the improved supporting cast behind them.

Thorvaldson was the star of the show for the Razorbacks. Her 11th-place finish was a 102-place improvement from her 2022 cross country national meet performance. That effort not only validated her as one of the nation's future stars, but it was pivotal in leading her team to the top-10 finish that they so desired.

Behind Thorvaldson, the rest of the Razorbacks’ scoring contingent were separated by a mere 22 seconds. Ole Miss transfer Laura Taborda led that charge by placing 84th while Mia Cochran, Paityn Noe and Mary Ellen Eudaly placed 96th, 101st, and 139th, respectively, to round out the team total to 329 points, just six points adrift of 8th place Washington.

Despite it not being Noe’s best day, the women from Fayetteville still showed up big time earning a well-deserved top-10 finish. That being said, had Noe performed to the level that we think she was capable of, the Razorbacks could have been looking at an 80+ point swing and a realistic shot at the podium.

7. Stanford Cardinal (-2 / 5)

It was not a day to remember for the Stanford women. The Cardinal entered the NCAA XC Championships as podium contenders, but after some difficult days for many of their key runners, the team had to settle for 12th place.

Freshman standout Amy Bunnage led the Stanford contingent with her 59th place finish, a performance that felt far from her best. Not a world away was the trio of Lucy Jenks, Sophia Kennedy and Grace Connolly who packed-up nicely in 93-95-98, respectively. Rounding out the scoring was sophomore Riley Stewart in 128th place.

A 12th-place team finish is by no means a disaster, but we couldn’t help feeling a little underwhelmed, especially after seeing how impressive Stanford had been during the regular season. And it's those regular season results, 2nd at the Virginia Invite and 4th at Nuttycombe, that make it hard to drop the Cardinal further down than TSR #7.

With this team having such a young group at its core, there's good reason to be optimistic about the Palo Alto women. They may not have left the national meet with the outcome that they had hoped for, but they have left with a wealth of experience -- and we have little doubt that they will be able to capitalize on that in the future.

6. Washington Huskies (+7 / 13)

The Washington women never had a poor race this fall, just various performances that fluctuated between good, great and (in the postseason) excellent.

The Huskies were great at the Virginia Invite, solid at the Nuttycombe Invite and then upset Stanford to capture a PAC-12 title. But with an array of different results, we struggled to get a firm idea of what the expectations should be for this team heading into the NCAA XC Championships.

5k into Saturday's race, things weren't looking good as the Huskies slipped back to 14th place, However, a huge last kilometer by the team's entire scoring contingent saw them skyrocket into 8th place. The trio of Chloe Foerster (47th), Sophie O'Sullivan (56th) and Julia David-Smith (58th) worked fantastically together to provide a potent scoring punch.

Meanwhile, sophomore Ella Borsheim stepped up big-time finishing in 119th place. And despite not having her strongest performance, India Weir rallied to close out the scoring for the Huskies, earning them a top-10 finish.

Yes, a TSR #6 ranking does feel a bit high for a team that finished 8th on the national stage. But after beating Stanford twice this fall, pulling ahead of Arkansas in their lone matchup this past Saturday and other top programs struggling, it was hard to see how anyone other than the Huskies deserved this spot.

5. Florida Gators (+2 / 7)

As they entered the national stage, the Gators were a team with zero margin for error. They needed everyone to be in top form and firing on all cylinders if they wanted a chance to land on the podium.

Of course, this is something that we knew as early as the summer months.

To nobody's surprise, Parker Valbly was sensational and her win was what ultimately helped guide the Gators to a 5th place finish.

But for as impressive as Valby was, the run of the day for Florida had to go to Flomena Asekol. Her 6th place finish exceeded our expectations. She not only gave Valby scoring support, but she gave her team the second-best 1-2 punch of the entire national meet.

Through four runners the Gators looked strong. Allison Wilson also produced the best run of her life, finishing in 49th place and narrowly missing out on All-American honors. Elise Thorner wasn’t too far behind in 75th place, although she was unable to return to her All-American ways from last fall.

Unfortunately, a DNF from All-American transfer Amelia Mazza-Downie sent Florida's team score skyrocketing. That, in turn, was what kept this team off the podium.

Regardless, Florida's 5th place team finish was the Gators' best national meet result in school history. Of course, when you look at the entirety of their season, it's hard to be surprised by how strong they looked on Saturday and where they finished.

4. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (+4 / 8)

Jumping up our rankings are the women of Notre Dame after their 4th place finish at the cross country national meet. Heading into this past weekend, we weren’t too high on the Fighting Irish. The Notre Dame women were having a decent season, but they had yet to produce a head-turning result which suggested that they would be on the podium.

Olivia Markezich had been consistently finishing in the top-nine, week-in and week-out, at major invitationals. Her experience at prior NCAA XC Championships clearly paid off this past weekend as she was able to remain amongst the top chase pack before earning a huge bronze medal.

Behind Markezich, the Fighting Irish were significantly better than expected. Olivia's twin sister and graduate Washington transfer, Andrea Markezich, had the best race of her collegiate career en route to her first cross country All-American honor thanks to a 35th place finish. Veteran Erin Strzelecki was right behind Andrea in 37th place, also earning All-American honors.

With three All-Americans, two of whom weren't expected to crack the top-40, all that Notre Dame's bottom-two scorers needed to do was to close out the top-five reasonably fast.

That's where Siona Chisholm (114th) and true freshman Grace Schager (125th) come in. While there was certainly room for both of the ladies to improve, they still did enough for Notre Dame's firepower to carry them into the top-four.

The women of South Bend peaked at the right time for the cross country national meet, recording their highest finish since the 2004 cross country season. Schager is just getting started and could definitely team up nicely with Strzelecki and Chisholm in 2024 to lead Notre Dame back into the top-10.

3. Oklahoma State Cowgirls (+3 / 6)

Thanks in part to three individual All-American finishes, the Oklahoma State Cowgirls finished 3rd as a team, recording the best team finish in school history. Coach Dave Smith’s squad didn't have three women from their 2022 NCAA XC Championship lineup, but somehow, they came out with an even better result than last year.

Sophomore talent Billah Jepkirui finished 144 places higher than she did in 2022 at the cross country national meet which, even in the moment back then, we knew was a fluke. Her monster 7th place on Saturday fueled the Cowgirls with a massive boost of scoring potency that Roe had historically provided for this program.

Long-time veteran Molly Born is now a two-time cross country All-American after finishing 21st, an incredible redemption result after years of injuries. Born’s finish, followed by that of Roe's 34th place effort, gave the Cowgirls three women in front of Notre Dame’s second runner.

But in a way, you could argue that the Cowgirls' supporting cast was just as good.

Middle distance star Gabija Galvydyte placed 48th overall, further proving that she is one of the absolute best fourth scorers in the NCAA for the second year in a row. Cayden Dawson sealed the deal in 100th place, giving Oklahoma State a far more complete top-five than we had expected them to boast.

With such a limited schedule, a lot of the Cowgirls' final ranking was going to be based on where they finished at the national meet. So naturally, they now sit at TSR #3.

2. Northern Arizona Lumberjacks (-1 / 1)

Relative to expectations, it was a tough day for the Lady Lumberjacks at the NCAA XC Championships. Northern Arizona came in as the national title favorites. Not just because they had defeated NC State earlier in the season, but because the Wolfpack had a multitude of challenges to overcome.

Gracelyn Larkin (13th) and Annika Reiss (15th) did what they had done all season long by finishing within spitting distance of one another. The dynamic duo helped NAU stay in the run for the national title as the team's usual ace, Elise Stearns, had an "off" day...but still finished 20th overall.

Transfers Ruby Smee and Ali Upshaw paired up nicely by finishing one second apart in 54th place and 57th place, respectively. We anticipated that those Lumberjacks would be game-changers for their team on Saturday. And while they ran well, there were expectations that they could have been a bit closer to the top-40.

Unfortunately, everything that this team did just wasn’t enough. NAU came out on the wrong side of the stick, falling to the Wolfpack by a mere point.

At the end of the day, a 2nd place finish for the Lumberjacks is the best in program history. They’ve been making a name for themselves the past few seasons and by making the podium this year is still a great way to cap off a stellar season.

1. NC State Wolfpack (+1 / 2)

Even when everything was against them, the Wolfpack women fought tooth and nail en route to a stunning a one-point victory over Northern Arizona.

On Friday, Coach Laurie Henes informed the press that All-American veteran, Kelsey Chmiel, wouldn’t be toeing the line on Saturday due to a late-season injury. That was a major blow for the Wolfpack who were already having different challenges with Amaris Tyynismaa and Sam Bush throughout the season.

Things only got worse for NC State as the 2022 NCAA XC Championship individual winner, Katelyn Tuohy, continued to fall back from the lead on Saturday. Tuohy, who we later learned was ill, fell as low as 11th place, but rallied late to finish 5th overall.

With a handful of young backend runners, the challenges were mounting for NC State while their odds of a national title seemingly dwindled.

Amaris Tyynismaa, a two-time, top-10 All-American at Alabama, bounced back insanely well after recording two consecutive DNFs leading up the cross country national meet. Tyynismaa’s 25th place finish was perfectly matched by Sam Bush's 28th place finish, giving NC State a pair of unbelievably clutch middle-lineup results. Neither of those women had run anything this season which suggested that they would be top-30 All-Americans.

From there, it came down to what the remaining runners would do. Leah Stephens, who impressed earlier this season, competed well in her first showing at the NCAA XC Championships by finishing 43rd. And then there was the ever-consistent redshirt rookie scorer, Grace Hartman, who was 16 seconds back in 63rd place.

As the live results continued to change, NC State was hoping for a miracle. Losing handily to NAU earlier this season at Nuttycombe, the Wolfpack knew that they had to be at their best to take down the Lumberjacks in Virginia. And sure enough, that’s exactly what happened when the scoreboard read "NC State: 123 points, Northern Arizona: 124 points."

The women of Raleigh were awarded with their third-consecutive NCAA title this past weekend by using every card they had. Only happy tears were shed for NC State...probably because they return to our TSR #1 spot, right?