TSR's 2023 D3 XC Top 20 Individual Rankings (Men): Update #1

TSR Collaboration
Oct 10, 2023
10 min read

Written by Conor Daly, Kevin Fischer & Gavin Struve

Additional commentary and edits by Gavin Struve & Garrett Zatlin

Do you have an interest in writing for The Stride Report? We are looking for knowledgable high school coverage writers, D2 coverage writers and D3 coverage writers who can help us with our rankings and previews! Want to know more? Read this and send us an email at contact@thestridereport.com to let us know!

NOTE: These rankings are based on how an individual 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 athlete has moved in the rankings.

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

20. Lowell Hensgen, Senior, MIT (Unranked)

Returning as a backend member of MIT’s national champion team, we weren’t quite sure what to expect from Lowell Hensgen this fall, but he has certainly made it known that he’s ready to step up for the Engineers in a major way.

With teammate Sam Acquaviva off to a slow-ish start, Hensgen has stepped up as the Engineers’ leading man. His 4th place finish in MIT’s duel with Williams was good, but not particularly spectacular. But then the fifth-year talent rolled to a 5th place finish at D3 Pre-Nationals, finishing with (and ahead of) men who were once thought to be above him.

And suddenly, the MIT men have more firepower than we originally thought.

Hensgen has come back as a different runner this fall, in the best way possible. Not only is he an invaluable member of the national-title-seeking Engineers, but he is establishing himself as a top-tier name in his own right.

19. Enrique Salazar, Senior, Manchester (Unranked)

To be frank, we overlooked Enrique Salazar in our preseason rankings. If we had known he was returning for a fifth year, then he likely would have been in our top-20. After all, he has 29:12 (10k) credentials on the track.

Even so, despite his long distance talent on the oval, the Manchester ace has never competed at a cross country national meet. It’s a strange paradox, but it appears that Salazar has figured things out this fall.

In his season opener, the D3 veteran lost to Simon Heys by only four seconds over 5000 meters (and yes, that’s the Simon Heys who just won D3 Pre-Nationals). Over 8k, Salazar took a big win over multi-time national qualifiers such as Jack Begley of U. of Chicago and Cullen Capuano of Washington U. Add in a win in the “B” race at the Live in Lou XC Classic and you have someone who’s building a sneaky-good resume.

While most people would classify this as a "breakout" season, there is enough on Salazar's resume to affirm the idea that he truly is this good that it has just taken until now to translate his fitness to the grass.

18. Lucas Florsheim, Junior, Pomona-Pitzer (-11 / 7)

As only a junior, Pomona-Pitzer’s top finisher at last year’s national meet looks to repeat, and even improve upon, his successes this year. And in our eyes, Lucas Florsheim was on track to do so, placing 12th at the UC Riverside Invitational against many respectable Division One and Division Two programs.

However, at D3 Pre-Nationals, Florsheim looked nothing like we had expected. It was more than reasonable to speculate that he would contend for the win, but instead, the Sagehen ace fell back to 23rd place as the team struggled.

No, we don’t think that because of this one performance Florsheim is worse than previously estimated -- we’re simply going to call it an "off" day. But with few results to go off of early in the season, he has to take a drop in this update given how he's looked so far. Still, he’s more than capable of moving his way back up the rankings.

17. Braden Nicholson, Senior, North Central (0 / 17)

Braden Nicholson has been running very well thus far as we had expected for the bronze medalist in the 5k at the most recent outdoor national meet. He’s been a reliable part of what is considered to be the best front-four in the country, finishing about 15 seconds behind teammate Connor Riss in both of his outings over 8k.

For a lineup that falls off a bit after their front five, Nicholson’s consistency is considered even more valuable for the Cardinals this fall.

16. Max Svienty, Senior, North Central (0 / 16)

As much as we want to focus solely on the top-end performances that Max Svienty delivers, we would be remiss to ignore his consistency issues. Last fall, Svienty had a wide variability in performances, ranging from running under 24 minutes (for the 8k) at his best to placing 158th at the national meet at his worst.

And in 2023, the same theme has run true.

In his first 8k of the season, the NCC veteran was the Cardinals’ fourth man, 30 seconds behind North Central’s lead scorer. But at the Louisville XC Classic, Svienty was the Cardinals’ first scorer by a whopping 25 seconds.

That’s roughly a 55-second swing between races only two weeks apart.

One day, Svienty can easily be a top-10 name. But on another day, Svienty isn’t clocking a top-30 worthy performance. That variability should leave us extremely excited about his upside, although raising his floor will be crucial once he reaches the postseason.

15. Nikhil DeNatale, Sophomore, Williams (Unranked)

Nikhil DeNetale has always been destined to be nationally competitive at the NCAA level.

Out of high school, this current sophomore was one of the top recruits entering Division Three. Last year, he was 50th at the cross country national meet and an NCAA Championship qualifier in the steeplechase.

And now, in 2023, he has taken another jump this fall.

After finishing only three seconds behind teammate John Lucey at his home meet in late September, DeNatale went on to prove himself at D3 Pre-Nationals with a 4th place finish, putting himself ahead of many well-regarded multi-time All-Americans.

We aren’t shocked by this development, but we can’t say that we saw this top-end performance coming so early in DeNatale's career. We knew that he had tons of exciting upside and some of the best potential in the country, but he's certainly ahead of our projected timeline.

14. Connor Riss, Senior, North Central (Unranked)

Despite not racing against Division Three talent thus far over 8000 meters, it’s a safe bet to say that Connor Riss is a force to be reckoned with. As a member of the elite group of low-sticks that the Cardinals possess, Riss has been just as good, if not slightly better, than his counterparts.

In his first two races thus far, Riss has finished as the Cardinals’ first and second runner, checking in with strong placements in each of those races. Other than that, there’s not too much else to say...he has simply been getting the job done.

13. Emmanuel Leblond, Sophomore, Johns Hopkins (+2 / 15)

In his first two meets, Emmanuel Leblond looked solid, but hadn't faced any serious Division Three competition to that point.

Luckily, Paul Short provided that. At the Lehigh-hosted meet, the Blue Jay sophomore held his own fairly well, finishing just outside of the top-50 in the "Gold" race with a mark of 24:43 in muddy conditions. When you pair that with a 9th place finish at the Iona Paddy Doyle Meet of Champions, it's hard to dislike Leblond who has looked great so far.

As Leblond gains experience, he looks more and more like a consistent and borderline elite talent who can hang with the best.

12. Nick Andrews, Senior, SUNY Geneseo (-7 / 5)

Nick Andrews opened the season with an unsurprising win at the Harry F. Anderson Invitational, but struggled a little bit in the Paul Short "Gold" race, finishing behind nine fellow Division Three athletes. Truthfully, we expected Andrews to be the top Division Three runner in that field and finish relatively high up irrespective of division.

Still, this doesn't drastically change how we view him. He was the 6th place finisher at last year's cross country national meet and has been an All-American on the track. He looks to have just had a tough day. If he regains a step or two in the coming weeks, he should be able to soar back up our rankings.

11. Gunner Schlender, Junior, UW-Whitewater (+3 / 14)

Gunner Schlender has been more or less what we expected this fall. His performances, including a 4th place finish at the Blugold Invite, have all been solid, but he hasn't done anything to surprise us yet.

And perhaps that is more of a good thing than a bad thing at this point in the season.

We will likely learn more about Schlender when he comes up against elite interregional competition at Augustana, but for now, he's mostly done what was expected of him.

10. Will Kelly, Junior, St. Olaf (+2 / 12)

After a comfortable win at the St. Olaf Invitational, Will Kelly faced a much greater challenge at the Blugold Invite in terms of competition. He passed the test with flying colors, finishing 2nd behind only Christian Patzka while beating Mohammed Bati and our TSR #11 runner, Gunner Schlender.

Kelly has certainly impressed us, racing with the confidence and poise found in a veteran runner of his caliber. He has set himself up well to move up a tier as we enter the second-half of the season. Perhaps we undervalued him a tad entering the season, but there's really only so much higher Kelly can go before becoming a national title contender and we're simply not at that point yet.

9. Isaac Wegner, Senior, UW-La Crosse (+2 / 11)

We knew coming in that Isaac Wegner had a case as possibly the best second scorer in the country and he is certainly making that case even stronger.

Most recently at the Paul Short Invite, his 11th place finish in the "Gold" race was the second-best among Division Three athletes. After an outdoor track season where he only finished two races, this was a much-needed performance for Wegner. He is currently running as well as he ever has (which is saying a lot) and any reservations that we had based on his availability in the spring are no longer an issue.

8. Sam Acquaviva, Senior, MIT (-5 / 3)

It's no secret that Sam Acquaviva hasn't gotten off to the start that we were hoping to see. Even so, we know how great his talent level is and how quickly he can find his form.

After a sub-standard performance in a solid field that he was expected to beat at Williams, one could argue that we started to see hints of a (minor) bounce back when he placed 13th at D3 Pre-Nationals.

Either way, Acquaviva is looking more like a backend All-American than a title contender at this point. But it would be foolish at this point to write him off in our very first rankings update after seeing so many exceptional results from him in recent years, specifically when he reaches the postseason.

7. Spencer Moon, Senior, Simpson (IA) (+2 / 9)

In three races this season, Spencer Moon has only lost to one man: TSR #3 runner, Christopher Collet. Although, at the same time, Collet is the only top-20 name that Moon has faced. Regardless, the latter has done everything that you could ask of him given the race situations that he has been in.

Bigger challenges will come soon that may tell us more about where he truly is, but we can't help but be impressed with Moon's steady start to the season.

6. Cory Kennedy, Junior, RPI (+2 / 8)

As has been the case with several men in this range of our rankings, Cory Kennedy has delivered on expectations to this point of the fall. That's a good thing for someone shouldering such a large scoring burden for a top team.

The Engineers' top ace won the RPI Harvest Classic over his talented teammates before going on to offer the RPI another minimal-point scoring result when he finished 3rd at D3 Pre-Nationals. And while I'm tempted to say that we didn't learn anything new about Kennedy over the past month, it's still reassuring to see him pick up right where we expected him to this season. He looks just as good as he ever has been when he's peaking or in his prime.

5. John Lucey, Junior, Williams (+14 / 19)

John Lucey is one of the biggest risers in our first rankings update after barely sneaking into our preseason top-20 individuals. But after finishing runner-up (by a second) to Simon Heys at D3 Pre-Nationals following three-straight wins, Lucey is receiving a well-deserved boost.

At this rate, I don't think it would be incredulous to suggest that Lucey won't finish outside of the top-two in any remaining meet, including the NCAA XC Championships. He has built a scary amount of momentum, has extensive experience and has been unafraid to challenge elite talents.

That's a formula for great postseason success.

4. Simon Heys, Senior, Wilmington (OH) (+2 / 6)

In a relatively wide-open Division Three men's landscape, Simon Heys should be taken seriously as a national title contender. That's especially true after his victory at D3 Pre-Nationals, but he also opened his season with a win over Enrique Salazar and put forth a solid performance at the All Ohio Intercollegiate XC Challenge, fading to a top-ranked D2 talent in Noah Fisher.

This is someone who was a three-season All-American over the past academic year and placed 5th at the 2021 NCAA XC Championships. He has always been talented, but now he is beginning to consistently deliver on his full potential.

Is it possible that we undervalued Heys by placing him at TSR #6 preseason after he finished 15th at the 2022 cross country national meet?

3. Christopher Collet, Senior, Wartburg (+1 / 4)

We've seen Christopher Collet race just once this fall, but what we saw was enough to give him a one-spot bump in our first rankings update of the season. On his home course in late September, Collet beat Hawkeye State rival, Spencer Moon (TSR #7), by over eight seconds.

Even if his team moved down from the top spot, Collet looks to hold the same pedigree as a reliably elite lead scorer and versatile multi-time All-American.

2. Ethan Gregg , Senior, UW-La Crosse (0 / 2)

Ethan Gregg has posited two widely varying results this season, but that hasn't necessarily led us to question his consistency.

The UW-La Crosse star finished 6th overall, and as the Eagles' second scorer, at a Running of the Cows meet that UW-La Crosse won with ease. But then Gregg exploded for a 3rd place finish in the Paul Short "Gold" race.

That effort of 24:00 in less-than-ideal conditions slated him as the top Division Three runner in the meet by some margin. No, he hasn't won a meet yet this season, but Gregg has been more impressive than nearly every Division Three athlete who has. As a reliable big-meet performer, Gregg's hunt for his first national title on the grass is still very much alive.

1. Christian Patzka, Junior, UW-Whitewater (0 / 1)

UW-Whitewater's leading man has had a similar start to the fall as his above-listed cross-state rival. Christian Patzka finished fourth on his team in an easy effort on their home course. Then, he went on to face solid competition at the Blugold Invitational where he unsurprisingly pulled away from top names as Will Kelly, Mohammed Bati and Gunner Schlender.

Patzka has given us nary a reason to knock him from the top spot in our Division Three individual rankings. He remains at TSR #1 with no concerns.