TSR's 2023 D3 Outdoor Top 20 Individual Rankings (Men): Update #4 (FINAL)

TSR Collaboration
May 31, 2023
11 min read

Updated: Jun 28, 2023

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. Simon Heys, Junior, Wilmington (OH) (Unranked)

Simon Heys has been operating at the highest level of D3 for a while now with several national meets under his belt -- and this past weekend was his best one yet.

He recorded a 4th place finish, his highest national meet result ever across all three seasons, in the 10,000 meters, securing a 26-second PR of 29:12. An the process, he took down a multitude of guys who had been listed above him.

Even though he ran out of gas in a tough 5000 meter race a couple of days later, that isn’t the race that will be remembered when we think of Simon Heys during the 2023 outdoor track campaign. We always knew that he had the potential to be a true long distance juggernaut on the national stage. And although it took some time to prove, we finally saw it.

19. Scott Sikorski, Senior, Rochester (0 / 19)

Scott Sikorski added a third All-American plaque to his tally this past weekend at the outdoor national meet with a 6th place finish in the 1500 meters. The Rochester ace was in the mix for the entirety of the race and generally looked very strong.

After his 3rd place finish from the 2022 outdoor national meet, Sikorski was 10th in the mile at the indoor national meet this past winter. However, that latter result was clearly not up to his fully potential. This collegiate veteran is one of the more complete mile/1500 meter runners that Division Three has and another All-American result this past weekend shows it.

18. Travis Martin, Junior, Trinity (CT) (-3 / 15)

After leading most of the 1500 meter final, Travis Martin got swallowed up at the end, but still managed to hang on for a 5th place finish, identical to his mile finish at the indoor national meet.

While he may have hoped for a bit more, this was still a solid culmination to a really impressive season that included a 3:44 (1500) mark back in April. Martin was already a highly refined runner coming into this year, but he still found ways to become even sharper. And more importantly, he showed greater consistency and reliablity this year compared to his prior seasons of competition.

17. Max Svienty, Junior, North Central (-4 / 13)

Following his breakout 4th place finish over 5000 meters at the indoor national meet, Max Svienty had a lot to live up to during the spring. And by our standards, he delivered, most notably running PRs of 13:58 for 5000 meters and 29:14 for 10,000 meters.

And his outdoor national meet showing this weekend?

Yep, it was largely positive.

Svienty bounced back from just missing out on an All-American spot in the 10k with a nice 5th place finish over 5000 meters, further showcasing his ability to be one of the top distance talents in D3. He doesn't necessarily drop in our rankings to any fault of his own, but rather due to the result seen by other men.

16. Carter Oberfoell, Senior, Loras (-6 / 10)

Carter Oberfoell was already seen as a great middle distance talent prior to this season, but his 1:48.79 (800) mark at the American Rivers Conference Championships put him at an entirely new level.

However, just sneaking into the 800 meter finals by a few hundredths of a second and ultimately finishing 7th place overall wasn’t the ideal outdoor national meet for him -- and we know that he was likely capable of more.

Even so, this was the highest finish that he has ever recorded at a national meet, so that has to be viewed as a successful season.

15. Matthew Lecky, Junior, RPI (-1 / 14)

Matthew Lecky had a nice outdoor national meet, finishing 3rd in a very deep 1500 meter final where he was consistently in the mix with the top men of the field.

The RPI star admittedly did not have as much success over 5000 meters, but he can be excused for that given that he had just put together a great, hard, race just a few hours prior.

A bronze medal in the metric mile comes off of a great year where Lecky established himself as a premier miler in D3 after previously being more oriented towards the longer distances. He has backed up those fast regular season marks with a competitive national meet finish and that should translate to him being one of the more dynamic runners within Division Three.

14. Braden Nicholson, Senior, North Central (Unranked)

Braden Nicholson had a career performance in the 5000 meters at the outdoor national meet, hanging with Alex Phillip and Elias Lindgren up until the last lap where he closed in 62 seconds to hold on for the bronze medal.

The long-time North Central veteran scratched the 10,000 meters to go all-in on the 5k this past weekend. His gamble paid off as he took advantage of the tired legs from numerous men that were doubling. And in retrospect, that turned out to be a brilliant entry decision.

We knew that Nicholson was capable of something like this, but it came down to execution on race day -- something that he (mostly) did to perfection.

13. Jamie Moreland, Senior, Haverford (Unranked)

Jamie Moreland has thrown down some unreal regular season performances in 2023, but he struggled to capitalize at the indoor national meet, shockingly not making it past the preliminary round in the mile.

However, at the outdoor national meet this past weekend, Moreland turned the tide, running a fantastic race in the finals of the 1500 meters to place 2nd overall. He split his final 400 meters in a blistering 55.97 seconds.

The Haverford veteran was one of the few people in this race to give Ryan Wilson somewhat of a challenge and he didn't relent in the final straightaway. Moreland looked incredibly strong when he was closing hard and he bettered his finish from last year’s 1500 meter national meet final where he placed 6th.

All-in-all, this past weekend was a great summarization of what Moreland's upside and talent could produce when everything is clicking.

12. Gunner Schlender, Sophomore, UW-Whitewater (+5 / 17)

Gunner Schlender’s breakout season only got better as he finished 3rd over 10,000 meters at the national meet, running 29:05 for the NCAA #7 all-time performance in Division Three.

Letting Ethan Gregg and Alex Phillip do their own thing was a very smart choice as Schlender sat in the chase pack for 8400 meters before hammering the final mile to secure his bronze medal position. He split 68-66-66-64 seconds over his final four laps, not letting anyone from his chase pack hang with him in the slightest.

We should also note that Schlender had one of the better doubles this past weekend. He finished a respectable 10th place over 5000 meters, getting ahead of many guys who also doubled in other events.

It’s pretty safe to say that Schlender’s focus on his aerobic ability during the outdoor track season has paid off big-time. But more importantly, he now understands how to capitalize on his incredible talent.

Schlender will be a lethal partner next to Christian Patzka come this fall...

11. Sam Llaneza, Sophomore, Lynchburg (+1 / 12)

Seeing Sam Llaneza opt for the 800/1500 meter double was certainly a bold choice, but he ended up as one of the bigger surprises of the weekend as he came home with All-American honors in both events!

The Lynchburg middle distance talent displayed great tactical abilities in both events, closing his final 400 meters in 56 seconds in the 1500 meter finals to finish 4th overall. He also had a huge negative split in the 800 meter final to finish 6th.

As one of the younger faces in both of these events, Llaneza will be a top contender come 2024. If he can find the upper-end firepower to complement his racing IQ, then you're looking at a potential NCAA gold medal winner.

10. Elias Lindgren, Senior, Williams (+1 / 11)

We’ve seen many ups and downs from Elias Lindgren over the last few years, but he ended his collegiate career on a high note, earning double All-American honors over 5000 meters and 10,000 meters this past weekend.

Lindgren's 5k effort was vintage in the fact that we saw the bold and heroic tactics that we’ve seen him employ time and time again. The Williams star was giving Alex Phillip a serious run for his money over the final 400 meters.

While his final surge wasn’t enough to give Lindgren the national title, he still made Phillip work exceptionally hard to edge him out as the Williams veteran closed in 60 seconds over the final lap while many others struggled.

This past weekend made it two consecutive years of Lindgren running one of the strongest 10k/5k doubles at the outdoor national meet. Naturally, we can cite his strength and national meet prowess for being able to execute when it mattered most.

9. Garrett Lenners, Junior, Nebraska Wesleyan (0 / 9)

Garrett Lenners’ incredible consistency on the national stage came to the forefront this past weekend as he placed 3rd in the final of the 800 meters. That marks his best finish in the event after recording multiple 4th and 5th place finishes at previous national meets.

This Nebraska Wesleyan junior has only gotten better with each national meet he runs in and leaving this season with a shiny 1:48.69 (800) PR gives his resume an exciting edge.

Lenners also added a 7th place finish in the 4x400 meter relay with his Nebraska Wesleyan teammates, bringing his career All-American count to six. With another year to go, it's worth asking if Lenners has the potential to add a national title to his resume as well...

8. Bennett Booth-Genthe, Sophomore, Pomona-Pitzer (-2 / 6)

Opting to contest only the 800 meters at the national meet, Bennett Booth-Genthe’s decision panned out relatively well, running 1:49.69 to place 4th overall in the half-mile finals this past weekend.

The 1500/800 meter double could have been reasonably done, as best evidenced by Sam Llaneza and Ryan Wilson, but Booth-Genthe still emerged as a top-half All-American and delivered a result that was within for his talent level.

Would we have liked to see him attempt the 1500/800 meter double?

Absolutely.

And could he have maybe snagged 3rd place?

Sure.

But it was in Booth-Genthe's best interest to contest only one event for the sole purpose of having the most individual success. And for the most part, it's hard to look at the resume of this Pomona-Pitzer star and say that he isn't a top-10 name.

7. Colin Kirkpatrick, Sophomore, Pomona-Pitzer (-3 / 4)

For the second-consecutive year, Colin Kirkpatrick finished the regular season with the NCAA #1 time in the steeplechase. And for the second-consecutive year, Colin Kirkpatrick has not won an NCAA title, nor has he finished inside the top-three on the national stage.

His 4th place finish in the steeplechase final this past weekend is not a bad performance by any means. But when you’ve run six seconds faster than everybody else in Division Three, you’d think we’d be seeing more from Kirkpatrick when trying to contend for the win.

To his credit, Kirkpatrick ran sub-9:00 in the steeplechase six times this year and he also holds the D3 NCAA record in this event, too. His ability to hammer down a fast steeplechase performances has sparked an assault on the all-time leaderboard for this event.

6. Christopher Collet, Junior, Wartburg (+2 / 8)

It wasn’t all that surprising to see Christian Patzka make the one “big move” in the steeplechase final, but it was surprising not to see Christopher Collet respond to that move.

Of course, upon seeing that he fell at the same time that the move was made, that might make Collet's 8:50 (steeple) performance for 2nd place even more impressive in hindsight.

Like many others who struggled in doubling back the 5k, Collet finished in 11th place which was on the stronger side of the doublers, even for not finishing as an All-American.

We’ll get to see more battles between Patzka, Collet and Colin Kirkpatrick next year as the steeplechase is only getting better and better.

5. Ethan Gregg, Junior, UW-La Crosse (+2 / 7)

There’s a lot that can be said about Ethan Gregg this past weekend...but let’s highlight the good parts, first.

Running true to himself by leading a vast majority of the 10,000 meter finals, Gregg made the pace incredibly honest as he and Alex Phillip came through 5k in roughly 14:25, gapping the field in the process. While he may not have been able to match Phillip’s move, running 28:55 and finishing as the national meet runner-up was still a very good result for Gregg.

Now, to address the elephant in the room.

It was really unfortunate that we couldn’t see Gregg race the 5k as a false start / starting line stumble turned into a shocking disqualification.

Regardless of the technicalities, it was overwhelmingly clear that his competitors, the fans and most importantly, Gregg himself, wanted to see the race go down with all 22 competitors on the line.

It doesn’t feel right to dwell on what could have happened, to both Gregg and the rest of the field, but it’s become true that Division Three races are more exciting with Ethan Gregg’s presence and racing ability.

We’ll be seeing much more of Gregg come the fall as he comes back from this unfortunate incident to continue his quest for more NCAA titles. Might this serve as a spark for greatness down the road?

4. Mike Jasa, Senior, Loras (-1 / 3)

There wasn’t much that Mike Jasa could have done differently in the finals of the men's 800 meters at the national meet. He made the pace hot and established great positioning, but Ryan Wilson was just better on the day as Jasa finished in 2nd place, running 1:48.97 (800).

This outdoor track season was one of Jasa’s most consistent and potent seasons of his career, sneaking under 1:48 (800) for the first time ever and displaying great consistency.

Finishing as the national meet runner-up in his main event is not a disappointing performance in our eyes as he competed extremely well in doing so. And truthfully, if there were no Ryan Wilson in the D3 world, then Jasa would likely have ended this calendar year with two national titles instead of just one.

3. Christian Patzka, Sophomore, UW-Whitewater (+2 / 5)

It took a year of growth and hard work, but Christian Patzka finally got his national title in the steeplechase, running a brilliant championship record of 8:42 and nearly breaking Colin Kirkpatrick’s Division Three record in the process.

The championship final was Patzka’s for the taking with his mid-race move being so decisive and so bold that nobody decided to tag along. As a result, the UW-Whitewater ace ended up winning gold by over eight seconds, a result that was certainly not what we expected going into last weekend.

While he struggled in the 5k final, finishing 14th overall, many others who doubled back that same day were also out of All-American contention as well.

2. Alex Phillip, Sophomore, John Carroll (0 / 2)

Alex Phillip’s final national meet in Division Three was one for the storybooks as he finally conquered the 10k/5k double by winning both races in full splendor.

The 10k featured Phillip sitting on Ethan Gregg for a majority of the race, pulling away in the second-half to decisively win his first title of the weekend. However, he was later stuck doing a lot of work in the 5k. In that latter battle, the John Carroll star ultimately fended off a bold challenge from Elias Lindgren by closing his last lap in 58 seconds to win his second title of the weekend and the seventh title of his storied career.

Phillip will be long remembered as one of the prime faces for this developing era of Division Three distance running as he constantly broke barriers and records, developed John Carroll into a powerhouse and brought home plenty of hardware in his four years as a Blue Streak.

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

With the audacious 1500/800 meter double in front of him, Ryan Wilson made easy work of both events at the outdoor national meet, bringing home two national titles.

Even while having to navigate four races in three days, Wilson looked dominant, using his barreling finishing speed to navigate any situation presented against some great competition.

Wilson certainly left his mark on Division Three, setting numerous records, earning five national titles on the track and contributing to MIT’s cross country national title, too.

It was announced that Wilson will be taking his talents to Duke University as a graduate transfer where he’ll have one season of both indoor track and outdoor track eligibility left. We wouldn't be surprised to see Wilson eventually have national-caliber success at the Division One level as well.