TSR's 2023 D3 XC Top 10 Team Rankings (Men): Update #3

TSR Collaboration
Nov 6, 2023
7 min read

Written by Conor Daly, Kevin Fischer & Gavin Struve

Additional edits and commentary via Garrett Zatlin & Gavin Struve

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 the rankings.

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

10. Lynchburg Hornets (0 / 10)

At the ODAC XC Championships, the Hornets didn’t face any competition that was a problem for them. They made quick work of the field, putting five runners in the top-six in what was seemingly a conservative effort.

A lot has been going well for the Hornets as of late. Their front-end duo of Frank Csorba and Chasen Hunt may not garner as much attention as some of the top duos of our other top-ranked teams, but have been very solid, nonetheless.

The former is arguably a top-half All-American favorite and the latter is a sneaky-good second scorer, having a very realistic shot at an All-American finish of his own. We must also give credit to Sam Llaneza who has been translating his middle distance talents to the grass incredibly well this fall.

It’s the backend of Lynchburg's lineup that leaves us with questions, especially provided their placement matters even more when the Hornets face a deeper field at the national meet. Tor Hotung-Davidsen has had a few up and down races this fall and his fellow backend scorers have left a bit to be desired with their lack of consistency. Even so, that’s not uncommon for a team of this caliber.

9. RPI Engineers (-1 / 8)

The RPI men are the classic story of a team with more depth than they know what to do with. Their strength lies in their tight top-five scoring compression.

At their home opener back in September, the Engineers showed off their depth with a top-five scoring time spread of 21 seconds. Yet, we didn’t quite see their trademark backend success at D3Pre-Nationals. The Engineers didn’t perform poorly, taking home a respectable 3rd place finish, but the gaps between their scorers were too large, holding a 50-second time spread.

But in their most recent outing at the Liberty League XC Championships, we saw that same 21-second spread that the Engineers showcased in their home opener. Naturally, that brought them great success, taking five of the top-nine spots.

We already know that Cory Kennedy is primed for a top-10 finish at the cross country national meet and the duo of Vince Simonetti and Mitchell Dailey are outside contenders for All-American spots. But what the Engineers’ fourth and fifth runners can produce which is what is going to ultimately determine their success in the postseason.

8. Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens (+1 / 9)

It’s no secret that we were expecting more from the Sagehens at D3 Pre-Nationals. But while we were underwhelmed by their showing from last month, we have been anxiously awaiting to see them get a chance to bounce back.

At the SCIAC XC Championships, they had a chance to do so as they rose to the occasion, at least partially redeeming themselves.

There were a lot of encouraging signs that we saw from the Pomona-Pitzer men in their latest outing. Despite their sixth and seventh runners falling a ways back, the Sagehens delivered a full scoring five that looked very strong.

Lucas Florsheim is looking more like himself, taking home the individual win. The same couild be said for Derek Fearon who snagged bronze. And after an unexplained absence from D3 Pre-Nationals, Colin Kirkpatrick stepped up to finish as the Sagehens' fourth man. That was the performance that we knew Kirkpatrick was capable of, offering his first strong race since mid-September at just the right time.

It’s hard to say what Pomona-Pitzer's ceiling and floor are as they appear to possess a wide range of potential outcomes. They certainly have the personnel to outperform this ranking. We figured that a slight bump in our rankings would be a fair reward for their rebound performance on the conference stage, but we just couldn’t justify placing them ahead of Williams who beat them head-to-head at Pre-Nationals.

7. Williams Ephs (-1 / 6)

The Williams men have hardly done anything to hurt their stock since our last rankings update. In fact, it's been the opposite. While they were expected to win the NESCAC XC Championships, actually seeing them do so against a solid field of competition has to inspire confidence in western Massachusetts.

But unfortunately for them, they moved down a spot due to the successes of another team.

With a dynamic low-stick in John Lucey and two upper-tier complementary lead scorers in Nikhil DeNatale and Charles Namiot (who are bordering on low-sticks in their own regard), the Ephs had scorers in the 1-3-6 positions at their conference meet.

Nate Lentz — who has looked like one of the nation's better middle or backend lineup scorers — placed 11th. Williams' fifth scorer crossed the line in 22nd place with a teammate immediately behind him, offering enough for a conference title.

That NESCAC victory pairs well with a Pre-Nationals runner-up performance and shows us that the Ephs are in strong form entering the postseason. This is a program and roster that has ample national meet experience and we feel confident in them finishing their season around this range.

6. Carnegie Mellon Tartans (+1 / 7)

Even if they were the favorites, a UAA title was a statement for the Carnegie Mellon men. Specifically, the fashion in which they achieved that win (by 42 points) signaled that the Tartans were ready to move up in our rankings.

Matthew Porter and Matthew Coyle, who finished with the bronze and silver medals respectively, are both borderline low-sticks. They also received ample support with their Tartan teammates closing out the scoring in places 5-6-7.

This is a tested team that is passing through each stage of its season with flying colors, stacking a solid performance at Paul Short with a victory among other talented teams at the SUNY Geneseo Mike Woods Invitational.

Porter will deservedly garner much of the attention as the Division One transfer-turned-lead scorer, but this appears to be a complete and improved scoring lineup even from the version of the Tartans that finished 11th at the 2022 cross country national meet.

5. Wartburg Knights (0 / 5)

No change here for Wartburg, a team that won the American Rivers Conference XC Championships with relative ease. It's a good thing too, because they had far more to lose in not winning the race than they had to gain in winning it.

Such is the burden of building high results-based expectations...

Christopher Collet nabbed another conference title. And although they don't appear to have another star this fall, nine total men in the top-15 gave the Knights plenty of scoring power to win the conference.

After finishing a narrow 3rd place at the Augustana Interregional with a similar scoring structure, Wartburg is still very much in the chase for a podium appearance. And if Jacob Green can somehow make a similar sudden star turn to what he provided late last fall, then the Knights are probably better than this ranking suggests.

4. UW-Whitewater Warhawks (-1 / 3)

Yes, UW-La Crosse got the better of rival UW-Whitewater, but all is hardly lost for the Warhawks. This team is still a veritable podium candidate and feels like they have a pretty high floor.

Christian Patzka has been everything that this team can ask for and more after finishing as the individual national runner-up last fall. He's won three-straight races, before then falling only to teammates in what was almost certainly a tune-up effort.

But there's only so much point-minimization value that Patzka can offer from the lead scorer spot. He'll need co-star Gunner Schlender to be at his best as well over the coming weeks.

Many of these men are known quantities and, beyond Patzka, just didn't have their best races on the conference stage. Schlender, Hundley and Krause are far more potent scorers than what they showed the other week.

Rest assured, we saw hints of what this team can be in larger fields, specifically at the Augustana Interregional (2nd) and the Blugold Invitational (1st).

3. MIT Engineers (-1 / 2)

MIT wasn't challenged at all at the NEWMAC XC Championships, recording a final score of 20 points while putting 12 runners among the top-15 finishers.

That result was no surprise and we didn't learn much new about this squad which also won D3 Pre-Nationals in October. They remain one of the nation's most formidable teams as the defending national champion.

2. UW-La Crosse Eagles (+2 / 4)

We went into the WIAC XC Championships expecting an intense battle between two heavyweights. But truthfully, that duel turned out to be pretty one-sided.

UW-La Crosse shattered our expectations, putting three men in front of Gunner Schlender and five in the top-seven to score just 22 points. As we mentioned in last week's "Group Chat" article, this is a team who we now believe can challenge for the national title.

The backend scorers for the Eagles really stepped up in a big way in a season, specifically Joey Sullivan, while stars Ethan Gregg and Isaac Wegner have once again been the main talking points.

Grant Matthai is suddenly looking like the third All-American-level piece that this team needed. And with only sixteen seconds between their fourth and seventh runners at the WIAC XC Championships, there is certainly no shortage of depth for the Eagles as we enter November.

1. North Central Cardinals (0 / 1)

There was nothing surprising about the way that North Central dominated the CCIW XC Championships against lesser competition.

While impressive, we don't have much to say about this result as the Cardinals were never expected to be tested in that setting coming off of their win at the Augustana Interregional. With a relatively wide-open national scene, things will (naturally) get a lot more challenging for our TSR #1 team over the next couple of weeks.