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

TSR Collaboration
Oct 24, 2023
8 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 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 individual has moved in the rankings.

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

20. Mohammed Bati, Sophomore, Augsburg (Unranked)

Before he even showed up to Augsburg’s campus last year, Mohammed Bati was a name that caught our eye. That’s because he had a jaw dropping 2:18:13 marathon PR to his name. That equates to 5:17 mile pace and should surely translate to a strong 8k.

And as much as we wanted to write about him last year, we didn’t really have the chance. But this season, he has given us the perfect opportunity.

The Augsburg sophomore has built himself a sneaky-good resume this fall. Earlier in the season, he finished ahead of Gunner Schlender at the Blugold Invitational. And even more recently, he beat the UW La-Crosse duo of Ethan Gregg and Isaac Wegner at the Drews/Neubauer Invitational this past weekend. Bati also beat those two men at the Running of the Cows earlier this fall.

Admittedly, we do suspect that Gregg and Wegner did not run all out in either of those races. Evne so, that does not take away from the strong start Bati is off to.

19. Caleb Silver, Senior, Central College (Unranked)

To be honest, we haven’t really had our eye on Caleb Silver this fall. He wasn’t even listed among our "Honorable Mention" names in our last rankings update just two weeks ago!

But oh my, has a lot changed since then.

Nowadays, we see this Central College veteran in a whole new light.

Silver took home a career-defining win at the Connecticut College Invitational the other week, most notably over the 13th place finisher at last year’s cross country national meet, Will Kelly of St. Olaf. Silver also out-dueled Anthony Rodriguez (Babson) who earned a respectable win over the Carnegie Mellon men at the Dickinson Long-Short Invitational earlier in the season.

Up until now, Silver was an All-American steeplechaser who hadn’t seen nearly the same success on the grass. However, this impressive win may change all of that and prove to us that he is a premier talent across seasons.

18. Frank Csorba, Senior, Lynchburg (Unranked)

If you’re surprised to find Frank Csorba in our rankings, then you may not have been paying attention. The fifth-year low-stick was a 29:37 (10k) man as a sophomore and an All-American in the 5k this past spring. He was destined to emerge as a national-caliber competitor on the grass sooner or later.

At the SUNY Geneseo Mike Woods Invitational, we saw Csorba live up to that estimation. Going up against a primarily Division Three field for the first time this fall, Csorba took home the win over strong challengers from Carnegie Mellon, Johns Hopkins and his own team.

We'd like to see more results of that quality from this Hornet star, but we have to acknowledge that he may have even more upside than we initially thought which is rare for such an experienced and accomplished runner.

17. Jack Begley, Senior, U. of Chicago (Unranked)

In past years, Jack Begley has always been on the fringes of Division Three's upper-echelon of distance talents. Yes, he's a 5k/10k guy who has qualified for some national meets on the track, but he hasn't necessarily been a real factor on the national stage.

What’s new this year, though, is that the fifth-year talent is now at U. of Chicago after transferring from Case Western. And from an outside point of view, this has been the perfect move to get him to that next level.

His 5th place run at the Augustana Interregional Invitational was really impressive, outpacing some more nationally recognized names such as Connor Riss, Christopher Collet and Spencer Moon, to name a few.

We’d say that this is his best race of Begley's life so far, but not in a surprising or “he got lucky” kind of way. He’s just elevating his fitness to levels we haven’t seen before.

16. Nikhil DeNatale, Sophomore, Williams (-1 / 15)

Has not competed since our last rankings update.

15. Connor Riss, Senior, North Central (-1 / 14)

In North Central’s most recent outing at the Augustana Interregional Invitational, Connor Riss finished 6th place overall. That was a strong performance, but it was by no means a surprising result for someone who finished 29th at the Louisville XC Classic and 8th at the MSU Spartan Invitational earlier this fall.

Regardless, Riss’ consistency so far this season has been a boon for the Cardinals and it lends them a higher floor. He may move back one spot in our rankings, but that's not necessarily based on anything that he has done since our last update.

14. Spencer Moon, Senior, Simpson (-7 / 7)

We've had Spencer Moon ranked highly all season. After all, he has a pair of wins to his name and had only lost to Christopher Collet who was 7th at last year’s cross country national meet. Who could blame him for taking that defeat? Plus, Moon was 10th at the 2022 NCAA XC Championships himself!

However, we recently saw Moon compete at his biggest meet of the season to date — the Augustana Interregional Invitational — a loaded field that gave us a better idea of where Moon is truly at. And unfortunately for him, that result was not as favorable as we had imagined.

Moon came across the line in 10th place, which was fairly underwhelming. Yes, all the names who finished in front of Moon are likely All-Americans, but Moon should be at that level, and then some.

That being said, the result was far from horrible and one race should not at all define someone's season. We have faith in Moon rounding into form more in the coming weeks.

13. Will Kelly, Junior, St. Olaf (-3 / 10)

Will Kelly posted a second-consecutive runner-up result in his most recent race. His loss to Caleb Silver at the Connecticut College XC Invitational was certainly forgivable, but it was truthfully a race that Kelly should have won.

Nonetheless, he's beaten names like Bati and Gunner Schlender earlier this fall and has given us no reason this season, or in recent memory, to truly question whether he will show up for the biggest meets.

12. Nick Andrews, Senior, SUNY Geneseo (0 / 12)

Has not raced since our last update.

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

Has not raced since our last update.

10. Isaac Wegner, Senior, UW-La Crosse (-1 / 9)

We're having a bit of a hard time gauging Isaac Wegner this fall after what have appeared to be two intentionally conservative efforts.

He wasn't really in contention to win mid-sized fields at the Running of the Cows or most recently the Drews/Neubauer Invitational. Of course, the same can be said for teammate Ethan Gregg and both men were very strong against high-class competition at Paul Short. That's why we're putting minimal emphasis on their latest runs.

All told, Wegner has yet to raise any valid concerns about his fitness level. We know this is a range of the individual picture that he can comfortably occupy, as he did last year.

9. Christopher Collet, Senior, Wartburg (-6 / 3)

Christopher Collet had a similar performance to Spencer Moon (who he beat a few weeks ago) at the Augustana Interregional Invitational. At that meet, the Wartburg ace finished below expectations with a good, but underwhelming, 8th place result.

We're not hitting the panic button for this established multi-time All-American yet. Just like we mentioned with Moon, one race shouldn't define someone's season, especially when they have the history of success that Collet does.

Even so, it's fair to wonder if he's near the same kind of fitness that he held last fall when he won the Augustana Interregional and placed 7th at the cross country national meet. We should get our answer over the coming month, but either way, Collet is a safe bet to remain among the top names.

8. Max Svienty, Senior, North Central (+8 / 16)

Without completely blowing away our expectations for what was possible for him, Max Svienty has impressed us with a really solid fall campaign. As such, he has the looks of the top runner for Division Three's top team.

Ahead of our last update, the North Central veteran finished an incredible 6th place ahead of some veritable Division Two stars at the Louisville XC Classic. Two weeks later, he was arguably just as good against some of Division Three's best at the Augustana Interregional Invitational, placing 4th overall.

It appears that this accomplished 5k star is finally putting it all together on the grass, consistently racing at an elite level. Make no mistake, Svienty was already one of the better names in Division Three prior to this season. However, it seems fair to suggest that he's now approaching the "elite" tier among cross country runners in this division.

7. Gunner Schlender, Junior, UW-Whitewater (+4 / 11)

A 3rd place finish at the Augustana Interregional Invitational is a very promising sign for Gunner Schlender, especially as we enter the postseason. And after an unexciting 4th place finish at the Blugold Invitational, this UW-Whitewater star needed to regain some momentum in order to move up into the top-10 portion of our rankings.

Since then, Schlender has rediscovered that spark against a loaded field, taking down Collet, Begley and the entire North Central squad, in some cases fairly comfortably. He looks to be back in the elite form that we're used to seeing from the man who is likely the most talented secondary scoring option in the country -- and just in time for the postseason.

6. James Settles, Senior, Colorado College (Unranked)

In the first-half of the season, we hadn't really seen James Settles tested against high-level Division Three competition, so we weren't really sure where he was at. He hadn't slipped up at all this fall and his record on the oval last spring was impressive, but we didn't have definitive proof he was a top-tier level.

So what did he do? He went to the Augustana Invitational and shattered expectations.

A 2nd place finish just a second-and-a-half behind our TSR #1 runner, Christian Patzka, is about as good of a performance as we could have hoped for from Settles. And in turn, he has made us look foolish for not including him in previous rankings update.

Among the relatively known quantities in Division Three, Settles has made one of the biggest leaps in fitness so far this season.

5. Cory Kennedy, Junior, RPI (+1 / 6)

Has not raced since our last update.

4. John Lucey, Junior, Williams (+1 / 5)

Has not raced since our last update.

3. Simon Heys, Senior, Wilmington (OH) (+1 / 4)

Since our last update, Simon Heys picked up another win in a smaller field which is exactly what we expected. We didn’t really learn any new information about Heys in recent weeks, but we know that he is still at the top-end of Division Three.

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

Since our last rankings update, Ethan Gregg competed at the Drews/Neubauer Invite, but his 5th place finish was most likely not an all-out effort given how closely he finished to his teammate, Isaac Wegner.

While a respectable result, that performance paled in comparison to his preceding race at Paul Short a few weeks ago. We really can’t draw any conclusions about the Eagles' focal star right now and it seems fair to keep Gregg at our TSR #2 spot for the time being.

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

Christian Patzka came into the biggest regular season meet of the Division Three cross country season as the fairly clear favorite -- and he did not disappoint.

While his win at the Augustana Interregional Invitational didn’t surprise us, that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t impressive. He got the job done against a field with several other top-20 athletes. That performance, paired with his win at the Blugold Invitational and credentials of past years, served to confirm his status as the top distance runner in the country at this time.