TSR's 2023 D3 Outdoor Top 20 Individual Rankings (Men): Update #2

TSR Collaboration
Apr 18, 2023
10 min read

Written by Kevin Fischer & Brett Haffner

Additional edits and commentary by John Cusick & Garrett Zatlin

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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.

20. Nick Andrews, Junior, SUNY Geneseo (-10 / 10)

Nick Andrews has had a bit of a different focus this spring compared to his previous outdoor track seasons as he’s run 1500 meter races in back-to-back wS. This past Saturday at the Bison Outdoor Classic, the SUNY Geneseo ace ran 3:49 for the metric mile -- a really solid mark, but not one that will ultimately be competitive on the national level.

We have not yet seen Andrews in the 5000 meters or the steeplechase this season which is surprising given his performances in those events over the previous years. As a result, we weren’t sure exactly where to rank him, but he is still one of the better distance talents in the country and it felt wrong to exclude him in this ranking's update.

Andrews certainly has the potential to move up in these rankings if he puts down a fast 5000 meter mark in the coming weeks. And given how well he was running at tail-end of the winter months, it's hard to believe that he wouldn't post a nationally competitive result in that event.

19. Braden Nicholson, Sophomore, North Central (Unranked)

Braden Nicholson had a great day in the 5000 meters at UW-Platteville to finish in 6th place overall, running 14:06 over that distance.

A breakthrough in that event felt like a long time coming for this North Central ace as we knew he was in much better shape than his old career best of 14:37. But even with knowing that, this result exceeded all expectations.

Nicholson has seen himself go from somebody who has never run at a national meet on the track to one of the top guys in the country. He's also far more experienced than his sophomore eligibility would suggest.

Moving forward, this long distance standout will need to translate his talent to the biggest stage and validate that newfound fitness throughout the rest of these spring months.

18. Gunner Schlender, Junior, UW-Whitewater (Unranked)

Gunner Schlender ran well during the indoor track season, but the historic breakthroughs of teammate Christian Patzka often overshadowed his performances. This past weekend, however, he took a big leap of his own, running 14:00 over 5000 meters at the UW-Platteville Invitational!

We have been seeing his name on the national leaderboard for a couple of years now, but Schlender looks to be operating on a completely new level now. He has been far more consistent as of late and his ability to contend with (and take down) upper-tier talents should not be dismissed or ignored.

There is still some untapped potential within Schlender that could send him up these rankings over the next few weeks. However, the greatest determinant of his talent will be how he fares on the national stage after some near All-American misses on the oval over the last year.

17. Scott Sikorski, Junior, Rochester (Unranked)

After missing the mile finals at this year's indoor national meet, Scott Sikorski went into this outdoor track season hoping to avoid a similar fate in May. Well, it’s safe to say that he’s off to a pretty good start and potentially building enough momentum to avoid history repeating itself.

After running 1:51 for 800 meters the week before, the Rochester standout ran a personal best of 3:45.07 over 1500 meters this past weekend. That's a very strong result, but we already knew that Sikorski was one of the better metric milers within Division Three. And despite not running well on the national stage this past winter, we knew his fitness was at an all-time high.

The nationally competitive 800 meter speed that we've seen from Sikorski as of late will likely help him out in tactical settings as we inch closer to the postseason. Hopefully that will translate more effectively on the outdoor oval than it did over eight 200 meter laps.

16. Elias Lindgren, Junior, Williams (-4 / 12)

Long-time Williams veteran Elias Lindgren put together a nice 10,000 meter PR of 29:36 at the Bison Outdoor Classic this past weekend. That was an encouraging result for him, although not entirely a surprising one, either.

The performances that we've seen from Lindgren this season haven’t necessarily been jaw-dropping, but they have been solid and he has largely avoided late-race blowups. The end of that last sentence is the biggest takeaway from Lindgren’s most recent effort.

Even though a big splash hasn’t been made (yet), he is displaying a lot of promise midway through this spring season. And if he can correct his flaws, then he’ll be in consideration to finish inside the top-five at the national meet, especially if he's able to somehow make his front-running tactics work.

15. Travis Martin, Junior, Trinity (CT) (Unranked)

Every few months, Travis Martin always seems to throw down a miraculous performance at some point during the regular season that leaves us surprised.

So at this point, should we even be shocked his recent performance? In retrospect, I suppose not. That's because his track record (no pun intended) is becoming far more consistent than in previous years.

The Trinity ace opened up his outdoor track season by running 3:44.16 over 1500 meters at the Larry Ellis Invitational earlier this year which puts him at NCAA #2 on Division Three’s national leaderboard so far this spring.

After his 5th place finish in the mile at this year’s indoor national meet, Martin is clearly on a different level in 2023 than in previous years and is showing that by his impressive results week-in and week-out.

If he can put all of the best aspects of his resume together when it matters the most, then there may be reason to believe that he's a top-10 middle or long distance talent, nationally.

14. Matthew Lecky, Sophomore, RPI (-1 / 13)

Matthew Lecky didn’t make his outdoor track debut until two weekends ago where he ran 1:52.85 for 800 meters. That’s impressive in-and-of itself considering that he’s more of a long distance-based talent rather than a middle distance-based runner.

Then, at the Bison Outdoor Classic this past weekend, he took advantage of running against some Division One competition, ultimately throwing down a stellar 3:44 mark in the metric mile which currently places him at NCAA #3 on the national leaderboard in that event.

Lecky has always been a great 1500 meter and mile runner. And despite already knowing that, his latest performance was a great extension of his ability to compete well in a competitive scenario.

13. Ezra Ruggles, Junior, SUNY Geneseo (+2 / 15)

In one of the more surprising results of the weekend, we saw Ezra Ruggles run sub-9:00 in the steeplechase, posting a huge 8:58 mark.

As someone who we haven’t really seen dabble in this event too much, we should be wildly encouraged by this performance. We’ve seen Ruggles mainly compete in the middle distance events throughout his career, making this development incredibly intriguing.

Running that strong of a mark in the steeplechase, in a relatively new event to Ruggles, makes us wonder if we’re watching a new contender emerge in the crowded steeplechase field. Because if he's able to run like that in April, then what can he do in late May?

It’s also exciting to see some clear indication of his still-rising aerobic fitness which should translate incredibly well to the 1500 meters this outdoor track season. And if it does, that should make him an even bigger threat regarding championship racing.

12. Max Svienty, Junior, North Central (+2 / 14)

Continuing his unbelievably impressive last month of racing, Max Svienty struck once again at the UW-Platteville Invitational, running 13:59 over 5000 meters to finish just behind Christian Patzka and Christopher Collet.

After a result like that, it seems fair to say that Svienty's recent indoor national meet performance was clearly not a fluke. And when you also consider his 10k effort from the Washington U. Distance Carnival earlier this season, this North Central has made it quite clear that he’s going to be a perennial contender in the long distance events.

11. Tor Hotung-Davidsen, Sophomore, Lynchburg (0 / 11)

Tor Hotung-Davidsen finished right behind teammate Sam Llaneza in the 800 meters at the Dennis Craddock Coaches Classic this past weekend, running 1:49.66 to set a new seasonal best in the process.

This was his best race thus far of the outdoor track season for this Lynchburg star. His performances before this were very solid, but not to the level that we know Hotung-Davidsen can perform at. He’s just over half a second off of his personal best with five weeks to go before the outdoor national meet, giving us more confidence in his national title bid.

Considering he’s generally a seasoned postseason performer, taking a few races to find his rhythm isn’t too concerning in our minds. Few men in the middle distances have the well-rounded and tactical acumen that this guy does.

10. Matthew Kearney, Junior, MIT (-1 / 9)

Matthew Kearney has not raced since our last rankings update.

9. Sam Llaneza, Sophomore, Lynchburg (Unranked)

After a quiet start to the season, Sam Llaneza ran a terrific set of races at the Dennis Craddock Coaches Classic. The Lynchburg ran 1:49.62 over 800 meters and then 4:05.41 for the mile, setting massive personal bests in both events!

For D3 national leaderboard purposes, Llaneza’s mile time converts to a 3:47.23 mark for 1500 meters, currently putting him at NCAA #7, whereas in the 800 meters, he’s currently ranked at NCAA #3.

In just one meet, we've seen Llaneza go from having a solid outdoor track season to someone who we’d consider to be a strong contender for one, or potentially multiple, All-American honors at the outdoor national meet five weeks from now.

As long as he can replicate this level of performance over the next month and a half, Llaneza is in a pretty good spot to continue to do some damage.

8. Christopher Collet, Junior, Wartburg (-1 / 7)

There is no question that Christopher Collet has been firing on all cylinders so far during this outdoor track season. And in our eyes, that feels like a vast improvement over compared to his inconsistency from this past winter.

Bringing home a win in the 1500 meters at the Ashton May Invitational was a great start to his season over a talented field, running a 3:50 mark in the process. Collet then placed behind Christian Patzka at the UW-Platteville Invitational over 5000 meters, dipping under the 14:00 barrier for the first time in his career to run 13:57.

Collet's closing speed, aerobic ability and hurdling form have all been out in full force this outdoor track season. That, in theory, could bode extremely well when the postseason comes around. Despite the one-spot drop, this is the best that this Wartburg ace has looked in quite some time -- and he could still get even better.

7. Bennett Booth-Genthe, Sophomore, Pomona-Pitzer (-1 / 6)

Bennett Boothe-Genthe has had a great start to his outdoor track season, running 1:50.46 in the 800 meters two weekends ago and now running 3:44.96 for 1500 meters this past weekend at the Bryan Clay Invitational.

The dynamic west coast star currently sits at NCAA #4 in the 1500 meters and NCAA #7 in the 800 meters, giving him two extremely strong performances under his belt. But truthfully, knowing what he did in the mile this past winter and what he did last spring, these kind of performances were within reach for the Sagehen ace.

His consistency, from both the indoor and outdoor track seasons, has been a great asset to Booth-Genthe’s racing abilities thus far with likely more to come.

6. Mike Jasa, Junior, Loras (-1 / 5)

Mike Jasa competed on the Duhawks’ 4x400 meter relay at the UW-Platteville Invitational as they secured the NCAA #1 mark by running 3:13.74.

While there aren’t any splits available from the meet, it’s clear that Jasa’s contributions were valuable enough to help the relay throw down that kind of time with more than a month to go before the outdoor national meet.

5. Colin Kirkpatrick, Junior, Pomona-Pitzer (+3 / 8)

Colin Kirkpatrick has always been a sneaky-good all-around talent beyond just his steeplechasing abilities. And if you don't believe us, then maybe his 3:46 performance over 1500 meters at the Bryan Clay Invitational will paint a clearer picture of what he's capable of. That metric mile mark currently sits at NCAA #6 in Division Three.

But at the end of the day, Kirkpatrick is at his best in the steeplechase, something that was evident by his insane 8:44 effort in his main event, just barely missing the Division Three national record by half of a second.

Not a bad second attempt at the event this season! It seems inevitable that the Division Three steeplechase record will fall in 2023. Kirkpatrick is the likely favorite to do so, but someone like Christian Patzka or Christopher Collet could very likely do it first, making that race for the national title in the steeplechase a legendary one. Sure, elite fitness will be needed to win NCAA gold, but tactics and a good race plan may end up being just as important at this discipline.

4. Ethan Gregg, Junior, UW-La Crosse (0 / 4)

Ethan Gregg has not raced since our last rankings update.

3. Alex Phillip, Sophomore, John Carroll (0 / 3)

Alex Phillip stepped down to the 1500 meters at the Tiffin Track Carnival, setting a nice personal best of 3:50 in his "off" event. That mark doesn't entirely match the caliber of his 4:04 mile PR from this past winter, but it's still plenty quick and respectable.

In between his 5k national record and his inevitable attempt at the 10k record soon, this was a really nice tune-up for Phillip to sharpen his edges a bit and hone-in on the closing speed that he’ll need to display the NCAA Outdoor Championships come late May.

2. Christian Patzka, Junior, UW-Whitewater (0 / 2)

Taking on a loaded field at the UW-Platteville Invitational in the 5k, Christian Patzka threw down a very impressive time of 13:55. That result was good enough to secure wins of top-tier competitors such asa Christopher Collet and Max Svienty.

As the reigning indoor national champion in the 5k, Patzka’s current NCAA #2 mark in the event doesn’t match his PR from the indoor track season. Even so, this was a great first run at the distance for his outdoor track campaign.

Some people may forget that Christian Patzka's main event during the outdoor track season in the steeplechase. His 8:50 PR in that event looms over the rest of Division Three. Can he get the D3 collegiate l record of 8:43? Only time will tell, but he’s certainly in the conversation to do so -- and win NCAA gold in that event.

1. Ryan Wilson, Junior, MIT (0 / 1)

It didn’t take very long for Ryan Wilson to arrive in grand fashion for this outdoor track season.

Traveling out to California to the Bryan Clay Invitational, Wilson ran the NCAA #1 mark in both the 800 meters and the 1500 meters. His 1:47.90 mark in the 800 meters was undoubtedly impressive, but his Division Three record in the 1500 meters, running 3:40.06, was the major highlight performance of the weekend.

Are we surprised? No, not in the slightest.

Wilson’s prowess from the indoor track season is clearly still potent as he aims to continue to rewrite history within Division Three.