TSR's 2023 D2 Outdoor Top 25 Individual Rankings (Men): Update #1

John Cusick
Apr 3, 2023
11 min read

Written by John Cusick, additional edits and commentary by Garrett Zatlin

Do you have an interest in writing for The Stride Report? We're looking for high school coverage writers and potentially NAIA coverage writers. Want to know more? Read this and send us an email at contact@thestridereport.com to let us know!

Click here to see our Just Missed and Honorable Mention names.

Listed eligibility takes redshirts and Covid-related extensions into consideration.

TFRRS is used as a general guide when determining eligibility.

NOTE: Because we are in a new season, we are treating this week's rankings update as a new series of top-25 names. Therefore, we are not indicating any movement from our winter lists.

25. Luke Stuckey, Senior, Nebraska-Kearney

Luke Stuckey opened his outdoor track season at the Emporia State Relays where he clocked a fine, but unexciting time of 14:26 over 5000 meters.

The following week, we saw Stuckey return to his normal distance (1500 meters) where he ran 3:47 at the 2023 Central Nebraska Challenge. While that time is three seconds off of his PR, we think that he will continue to get better as the season goes on. He was, after all, the bronze medalist in the mile at the NCAA Indoor Championships.

Stuckey gets our TSR #25 spot due to his tactical presence when racing, but we will need to see ongoing improvement from him before moving him higher.

24. Cole Nash, Sophomore, Alaska Anchorage

Cole Nash has yet to race this season.

23. Isaac Prather, Senior, Concord

Isaac Prather enters our rankings for the first time during a track season and it’s because of his early and promising improvement in the still-young spring season.

The Concord veteran opened his season with a 9:02 steeplechase mark. Since then, he’s set two personal bests in the 5000 meters and the 1500 meters. At the Raleigh Relays, we saw Prather break 14:00 (5k) for the first time in his career as he ran 13:57, a time reflective of his talent that we've seen on the grass.

Then the following week, he dropped down in distance to run 3:49 for 1500 meters, setting another personal best and adding some encouraging turnover to complement his aerobic-based strength.

It’s clear that Prather has improved since the fall and while he didn’t qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships, we think he’ll be part of the "Big Dance" later this May.

22. Clayton Sayen, Senior, Michigan Tech

It had been a while since we've seen Clayton Sayen race on the track, so it doesn’t come as a surprise to see him debut with some rust.

The Michigan Tech star doubled up at the Raleigh Relays where we saw him run 1:51 (800) and 3:47 (1500). Those times are a ways off from where he ended his 2022 spring campaign, although at the same time, they are hardly poor performances.

But with nearly two months of racing left, we expect to see the Husky veteran return to his old form where he will prove to be a problem for his competitors.

21. Dillan Haviland, Sophomore, Northwood

Dillan Haviland had a breakout indoor track season this past winter. And because of that proven talent, as well as refined tactical skillset, he finds himself at sitting at TSR #21 to start the 2023 outdoor track season.

Sure, his performances at the Raleigh Relays weren’t Earth-shattering, but he set a new personal best in the 800 meters by posting a very solid time of 1:50.81. He coupled that effort with a 3:53 mark in the 1500 meters, although his 4:03 mile PR suggests that he’s much better than that 3:53 (1500) mark would suggest.

He will likely shatter his personal best of 3:49 (1500) sometime soon.

20. Matthew Storer, Sophomore, Colorado Christian

19. Josh Pierantoni, Senior, Colorado Christian

Matthew Storer and Josh Pierantoni started their outdoor track seasons with a pair unbelievable efforts in the 10,000 meters at CSU-Pueblo’s Early Bird Invitational.

Storer posted an altitude converted mark of 28:57.48 for the longest racing distance in the NCAA while Pierantoni was just behind him in a converted time of 28:57.92.

After seeing how Storer performed this past indoor track season, and how Pierantoni performed on the grass during the fall, it’s incredibly hard to believe that these two men won’t be able to replicate that kind of performance at sea level.

When you consider the fact that the D2 outdoor national meet is going to be hosted by CSU-Pueblo in May, these results are wildly encouraging and leave us incredibly optimistic. Right now, it's incredibly realistic to say that both Storer and Pierantoni are All-American candidates over 10,000 meters.

18. Jan Lukas Becker, Senior, Mississippi College

Jan Lukas Becker has yet to race this season.

17. Ryan Riddle, Senior, Missouri Southern

Ryan Riddle has yet to race this season.

16. Caleb Futter, Junior, Grand Valley State

I’ll be the first to admit that TSR has been pretty hard on Caleb Futter since the early success that he had in the steeplechase in 2021.

And now, as we head into the 2023 outdoor track season, the seasoned Laker veteran is proving that he’s as good as we have expected him to be. That's because Futter posted a new personal best in the steeplechase at the Raleigh Relays, finishing 5th overall in the event and clocking a time of 8:42.

That was his fastest time in the event since he posted his previous 8:44 steeple PR all the way back in 2021. We still have some hesitancies about how Futter has performed in the postseason, but if he races like this, it will be hard not to tab him as a legitimate contender to Reece Smith and Clement Duigou.

15. Afewerki Zeru, Senior, UC-Colorado Springs

Afewerki Zeru has slowly gotten back to where we expected him to be after an injury flare-up in early January caused him to miss some time.

After a strong showing at the indoor national meet, Zeru posted a time of 13:51 for 5000 meters at the Stanford Invitational. The Mountain Lion ace owns a personal best of 13:44 in the event, so to see him run just seven seconds off of that in his first outdoor track race of the season is a welcomed sight.

The tactical prowess of Zeru will always make him a contender for a national title, but without a huge improvement in his times, it will be hard to gauge whether or not he’ll be able to outlast some of his opponents for gold come late May.

14. Zach Kreft, Rs. Senior, Walsh

While Zach Kreft was at Notre Dame, he was known more as a steeplechaser. And while he has become a bit more dynamic since then, the water pits and barriers is still where we think he'll be at his best.

Kreft contested the 10,000 meters at the Raleigh Relays where he ran 29:37. Outside of the grass, it was the first time the Walsh star had contested the event.

29:37 isn’t a bad showing for someone who’s never contested the event. However, it probably means that the midwest distance standout is going to make the steeplechase his focal race for the spring months.

Regardless, Kreft's savviness on the track effectively makes him a danger to whoever he competes against on any given day.

13. Luke Julian, Rs. Senior, Colorado Mines

Luke Julian has yet to race this season. Yes, he is starting a bit lower than where he finished in the winter, but that's only because Julian hasn't been quite as good on the outdoor oval compared to the indoor oval -- and because steeplechase title contenders put a couple guys above him.

This ranking, however, will be boosted once he affirms that this spring will be different.

12. Charlie Dannatt, Junior, Simon Fraser

After being unable to contest the NCAA Indoor Championships due to an illness, it was really encouraging to see Charlie Dannatt pick up where he left off.

Dannatt headed to Palo Alto this past weekend where he contested the 800 meters and the 1500 meters at the Stanford Invitational...and it’s safe to say that we are buying into his stock early this season.

The Simon Fraser veteran ran 1:50.95 (800) and 3:43.54 (1500) over the weekend. Those times are just one and a half seconds off of his personal bests in both of those events.

For Dannatt to already be in this kind of shape tells us that he will likely have a huge outdoor track season. He clearly took a step up this past fall and he followed that up with the best indoor track season of his career as well (which is saying a lot).

It’s only fitting that he should also have the best outdoor track season of his career in 2023.

Dannatt placed 3rd in the 1500 meters at the 2022 NCAA Outdoor Championships, but he’ll obviously have his eyes set on winning the national title despite the recent success of Coca, Julian and Chahid.

His title odds will (probably) continue to get better as the season goes on and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he worked his way into being the favorite by the season’s end.

11. Hamza Chahid, Freshman, Wingate

The outdoor track season for Hamza Chahid will prove to be an interesting one, at least from our perspective.

After winning the 3000 meter national title at the indoor national meet, it’s hard to determine which event Chahid will focus on this outdoor season. He’s already posted a mark of 3:46.96 in the 1500 meters which is less than a second off his personal best that is listed on his World Athletics page.

The rookie distance talent has "only" run 14:43 for 5000 meters (according to World Athletics), but his recent winter campaign suggests that he’s in much better shape than that.

Chahid's ability to apply masterful race tactics in championship settings gives him some flexibility about whether he moves up or down in distance from the 3k this spring. If we had to guess, this Moroccan star is best suited for the 1500 meters.

He did, after all, run 4:01.80 in the mile this past winter.

10. Reece Sharman-Newell, Sophomore, CSU-Pueblo

Reece Sharman-Newell has raced two times this spring, each effort being contested at his home track in Pueblo, Colorado.

In his first race of the season, Sharman-Newell ran an altitude converted mark of 3:49 in the 1500 meters. That’s a very impressive mark for a true half-miler and a testament to the amount of improvement Sharman-Newell has put into his strength-based training.

The Thunderwolf star followed up that performance with an altitude converted mark of 1:46.84 in the 800 meters, further validating the insane raw talent that he flexed throughout last year.

We know how good Sharman-Newell is at the half-mile. He’s proven that he is more than capable of running a fast race, whether it’s at sea level or at altitude. However, the next step for Sharman-Newell is showing us that he can effectively race in a high-leverage situation.

9. Butare Rugenerwa, Senior, West Texas A&M

Butare Rugenerwa has been one of the most consistent half-milers in Division Two throughout his West Texas A&M career.

That consistency was once again emphasized after seeing Rugenerwa open up his 2023 spring season at the Texas Relays where he ran 1:49.41 for 800 meters. At this time last year, Rugenerwa ran 1:49.83 before running his personal best of 1:48.09 the following weekend.

If this latest result is any indication of how his season will go in 2023, then there is a very good chance that we could see Rugenerwa break into the 1:47 realm for 800 meters. But while we’ve seen the Buffalo superstar win a national title before, running 1:47 this spring feels like the bare minimum of what he needs to do to replicate that feat.

Regardless, Rugenerwa is one of the safest bets to finish as an All-American in May. The question remaining, however, is how much can he improve before heading to Pueblo in May?

8. Tanner Chada, Senior, Grand Valley State

Tanner Chada has yet to race this season.

7. Clement Duigou, Junior, Adams State

Clement Duigou has yet to race this season. However, after running one of the fastest steeplechase times in D2 history last spring, while also putting together a strong winter campaign, it feels fair to put this Adams State star at TSR #7.

6. Reece Smith, Senior, NW Missouri

Reece Smith finds himself at TSR #6 to start off this outdoor track season.

The reigning steeplechase national champion did miss the beginning for the indoor track season, but he rallied incredibly well, playing a vital part in the Bearcats' DMR three weeks ago. And if his finish to that season indicates how his outdoor track campaign will go, then it will be incredibly hard to knock him off of his current throne.

Smith and the rest of his NW Missouri team ventured to CSU-Pueblo to get a look at the national meet location. There, he posted an altitude converted mark of 9:05 in the steeplechase.

Nothing special, but nothing terrible, either.

As the spring months go on, Smith should only get faster -- and there’s a very real chance that we could see him better his steeple personal best of 8:33 in the right race scenario. And remember, he anchored NW Missouri’s DMR team with a sub-4:00 split to lock up a runner-up finish at the indoor national meet. If that were an individual event, then that time would have made Smith the fastest miler of all of the steeplechasers in Division Two.

He is the reigning champion and has improved immensely since last year. Because of that, we believe that Smith belongs inside the top-10 of our rankings.

5. Awet Beraki, Senior, Adams State

Awet Beraki has yet to race this season.

4. Wes Ferguson, Junior, Nebraska-Kearney

Wes Ferguson is likely the biggest challenger to Oussama El Bouchayby over 800 meters when it comes to winning the national title. That is probably the least surprising statement that we've made in these rankings.

Three weeks ago, we saw Ferguson nearly pull off his third-straight national title victory at the half-mile distance before he was fended off by El Bouchayby over the final 50 meters. But in the process, we saw this Loper megastar run his 800 meter personal best of 1:47.16.

And after seeing that he opened his outdoor track season by running 1:47.87 for 800 meters at the 2023 Central Nebraska Challenge, it’s hard to be discouraged by what he may accomplish this season.

It was clear during the winter months that Ferguson was working on his strength in an effort to bolster his chances of winning another national title. That is still in the cards for the 2023 outdoor track season, but to knock-off El Bouchayby for gold, there needs to be a rather large improvement from Ferguson (time-wise) before we can talk about him reclaiming his 800 meter national title.

3. Miguel Coca, Senior, Adams State

The breakout indoor track season that we saw from Miguel Coca this past winter has seamlessly extended into the spring months.

We say that because Coca posted an altitude converted mark of 3:40 for 1500 meters. His raw time was 3:45.71 and while it’s early, that raw time alone would be the sixth-fastest mark over 1500 meters in the country so far. We feel comfortable saying that Coca should destroy his personal best of 3:42 (1500) whenever he gets to sea level.

But the biggest takeaway from this result is how good Coca looked at altitude. That's important given that the national meet will be held at CSU-Pueblo, a track sitting at elevation where Coca is arguably the most comfortable.

We’re not sure how anyone can take him down right now or in that setting.

2. Dillon Powell, Sophomore, Colorado Mines

This is the first time that Dillon Powell hasn’t been ranked at TSR #1 in quite some time.

And that’s a crazy thing to think about especially after seeing him run 13:30 (5000) at the Stanford Invitational. That was just two seconds off of his personal best from this past indoor track season, telling us that he hasn’t skipped a beat since winning the national title in the 5k.

He’s the currently 5k/10k title favorite and we’ll keep him as that until shown otherwise.

1. Oussama El Bouchayby, Freshman, Angelo State

When you run 1:45.31 over 800 meters and finish less than a tenth of a second off of the 27-year-old record in the event, it’s incredibly tough to not rank you at TSR #1 to start the outdoor track season.

And that’s exactly what Oussama El Bouchayby did at the Texas Relays.

In fact, not only did he run 1:45.31 for the half-mile distance, but he also knocked off Bryce Hoppel, Tiarnan Crokren and Yusuf Bizimana in the process! And he did so with an outstanding display of tactics and patience.

El Bouchayby is the clear favorite to win the national title in the 800 meters this spring. He's nearly a full second clear of the next best half-miler who he’ll see in Division Two this season and if he gets to race the way that he wants to, then we’re not sure who can knock him off without an incredible performance.