TSR's 2023 Preseason D1 XC Top 25 Rankings (Women): #18 Georgetown Hoyas

NOTE: Earlier this summer, The Stride Report reached out to nearly every team that was considered for a possible ranking this summer. While we did receive numerous responses and great clarity, we did not get a 100% response rate. On rare occasions, we are referencing TFFRS in order to talk about returners and athletes who are out of eligibility.

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Click here to see our "Just Missed" & "Honorable Mention" teams

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The Stride Report was very high on the Georgetown women throughout last year. We loved their returning low-sticks, we felt like they had plenty of experience, their depth was solid and their new transfers made a "good" team even better.

And throughout last fall, the Hoyas delivered on expectations, continuously making improvements, limiting lineup gaps and flexing underrated firepower.

But Georgetown's magical year from 2022 will be a bit more challenging to replicate. With two low-sticks now gone -- one of which was an All-American and the other nearly earning the same honor in a previous season -- the ladies from Washington, DC will likely have more challenges in 2023 than they did last fall.

Of course, when you take a step back and look at the overall talent on this roster, it's hard to envision a world where this team isn't a top-20 program by October and/or November. And who knows? By the time that the national meet rolls around, this group could be just as good as they were last year.

* * *

What we liked about Georgetown in 2022 is that they never shied away from top competition throughout the entirety of last fall. In fact, in the middle of September, the Hoyas ventured to Indiana to where they toed the line for the Coaching Tree Invite. It was a meet that featured the top-ranked North Carolina women as well as other respectable distance programs.

At a glance, the team scores tell one story. But when you dive deeper into the results, you'll realize that context is needed to fully understand how good these teams were.

The Tar Heels comfortably cruised past the Hoyas, getting the win by 16 points. Sami Corman (2nd) and Chloe Scrimgeour (3rd) had excellent races to neutralize the low-stick effort of UNC's Brynn Brown. Even Maggie Donahue (5th) was solid while graduate transfer Grace Jensen (10th) held her own.

However, the Georgetown women didn't have their fifth runner cross the line until 33rd place. They also didn't have transfers Andrea Claeson or Katy-Ann McDonald in their lineup. On paper, those women could have actually given the Hoyas a shot at the win.

As long as either of those two women had placed no lower than 17th place (and that was a very realistic possibility), then the ladies in grey and navy blue would have secured the upset victory over their ACC opponents.

But at the Paul Short Invite, it was a bit of a different story.

The Hoyas yet again had a lethal top-four which easily overwhelmed a very good field. Between North Carolina, Utah Valley, Utah State, Duke and Providence, no other program had anything close to the same level of firepower as Georgetown.

And yet, it was that fifth scoring spot that proved to be a challenge -- and this time, Katy-Ann McDonald was in the lineup, falling back to 45th place.

Admittedly, that was a slightly concerning performance for a team that needed to field a complete scoring five. But at the same time, it was also clear that McDonald was capable of running so much better than she had.

In the end, Georgetown would settle for yet another runner-up finish to North Carolina. This time, however, the scoring gap was only four points. The other teams in the field weren't even remotely close.

The Nuttycombe Invitational could be argued as the Georgetown women's most impressive showing. In Madison, Wisconsin, the Hoyas earned a fantastic 10th place finish behind the likes of low-stick standouts such as Maggie Donahue (33rd) and Grace Jensen (41st).

We also saw Sami Corman (55th) have an excellent day while McDonald (88th) and Chloe Gonzalez (93rd) were far better than we had expected them to be.

With all five women listed in the top-100 of the results, the Georgetown women had an outstanding day. They had solid firepower, zero excessive scoring and a complete top-five. The craziest part, however, is that they could have been even better.

The Hoyas didn't field Chloe Scrimgeour at the Nuttycombe Invitational. This is someone who had finished 3rd at the Coaching Tree Invitational and 4th at Paul Short. If she had finished one spot behind Jensen in 42nd place, then Georgetown would have tied for a 5th place finish with Notre Dame (after displacement) and had won the tie-breaker for that spot.

Luckily, Scrimgeour returned for the BIG East XC Championships, although she did struggle a bit. Even so, that didn't matter. The Hoyas easily took care of business and won their conference title despite Providence putting together a solid effort of their own.

And after cruising through the Mid-Atlantic Regional XC Championships, the Georgetown women ended their 2022 fall campaign on a high note at the NCAA XC Championships.

In Stillwater, Oklahoma, the Hoyas put together yet another strong performance which validated how we had felt about them going into the season. Donahue (21st) had the best race of her season by a decent margin and the same thing could be said about Jensen (39th). Scrimgeour (59th) ended an excellent breakout season, Corman (89th) offered veteran scoring value and middle distance talent Melissa Riggins (123rd) did a surprisingly nice job.

In the end, the Georgetown women took home a 10th place finish and completed a season that they had a lot to be proud of.

* * *

In general, we just really like the Georgetown women as a distance program. They're consistently great, well coached, often land great recruits/transfers and usually have a low-stick star (or two) who they can lean on.

Sure, they're not completely void of flaws, but more times than not, this team is going to deliver a top result and emerge as one of the programs on the east coast. But in 2023, the Hoyas may run into a few challenges, specifically when it comes to rebuilding their depth and finding new firepower.

That's because Georgetown is expected to lose a low-stick in Grace Jensen, an occasional lead scorer in Sami Corman and a backend contributor (who was sometimes a fourth or fifth runner) in Katy-Ann McDonald.

That's a lot of point-scoring potential for one team to lose.

In defense of the Hoyas, this team does have reinforcements and they should be able to piece together a complete lineup. Between their returners, rising talents, a key transfer and great recruits, this team has the core to be nationally competitive once again.

However, the high-flying scoring potency that this group once flexed in 2022 is going to be harder to replicate in the coming months. And while it can certainly be done, we feel like a TSR #18 ranking is appropriate given their losses and new expectations.

Luckily, this squad brings back a handful of important scorers who will allow Georgetown to continue competing for conference and regional titles later this fall.

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Maggie Donahue isn't just good, she's great. Few teams have a low-stick scorer who is as good and as reliable as this veteran has been for the Hoyas. Sure, we can go through her entire 2022 fall campaign and try to analyze her performances, but it's her entire collegiate career that deserves the spotlight.

During the winter of 2021, she finished 32nd overall on the national stage to earn All-American honors. Then, she finished 30th at the 2021 NCAA XC Championships during the fall months. And last year, as we already mentioned, Donahue snagged a huge 21st place finish to earn her best All-American honor yet.

There's admittedly not much more to say about Donahue, but that's not a bad thing. Being as solid, as potent and as reliable as her is incredibly valuable.

And then there's Chloe Scrimgeour, someone who looks like she can be a true low-stick for her team later this fall. She was, after all, one of the first people who we (painfully) omitted from our preseason individual cross country rankings earlier this summer.

Scrimgeour was very strong throughout last fall, earning top-five finishes at both the Coaching Tree Invite and Paul Short. Not racing at Nuttycombe and struggling a bit at the BIG East XC Championships wasn't ideal, but a 59th place finish on the national stage validated her talent.

Of course, if you're still not completely sold on her being a true low-stick, or even a lead scorer, then we would suggest that you look at her most recent outdoor track season. After running 9:11 for 3000 meters during the winter months, Scrimgeour ran 15:49 (5k) at the Raleigh Relays and later earned 8th place All-American honors in that event at the outdoor national meet.

It wouldn't be surprising at all if Scrimgeour ended her 2023 fall campaign with a top-40 finish on the national stage. If that happens, then you're looking at someone who can effectively replace the scoring value that Jensen left behind.

Of course, trying to figure out the rest of this lineup is where things get tricky.

* * *

We'll admit, we're not sure what the order is going to be for the final three scorers of this lineup -- but we do think we know who they'll be.

Kelsey Swenson, Chloe Gonzalez and Melissa Riggins are probably going to be the women who make up the rest of this scoring group (barring a big season for an incoming rookie).

Swenson is a graduate transfer from Idaho who has sneaky-good credentials. She ran 16:08 (5k) and 33:21 (10k) this past spring after a strong cross country season where she placed 11th at the West Regional XC Championships -- just one spot out from individually qualifying for the national meet.

On paper, Swenson feels like the perfect runner to be the third scorer in this lineup. She's not necessarily a star, but she was fairly consistent last fall. An 11th place finish at the Griak Invitational along with a 5th place finish at the BIG Sky XC Championships are great results that should at least offer stability for this lineup.

It's still unclear how this former Idaho distance talent will fare in larger fields like the NCAA XC Championships or the Nuttycombe Invite. But truthfully, that shouldn't really be a concern for Georgetown. Simply having a solid third option is more than ok.

And then there's Chloe Gonzalez, a rising distance talent who gave us a variety of up-and-down results throughout last year.

At the Coaching Tree Invite (33rd) and Paul Short (53rd), she struggled. At Nuttycombe (93rd), she was a pleasant surprise. At the BIG East XC Championships (10th), she continued to offer great value. And on the national stage (190th), she faded hard.

It's clear that Gonzalez is talented enough to be a high-impact scorer for this team -- her performance at the Nuttycombe Invite suggests that. The same can be said about her recent 9:11 (3k) PR from this past winter.

Of course, a lack of consistency and numerous results which cover an entire spectrum of impressiveness leave us unsure as to what the expectations should be for this Hoya talent in 2023. She could evolve into a lead scorer or not even be part of this team's top-five.

Truthfully, we don't really know.

And then there's Melissa Riggins, a middle distance specialist who posted a handful of decent results on the grass during the postseason. Finishing 10th at the BIG East XC Championships, 12th at the Mid-Atlantic Regional XC Championships and 123rd on the national stage are all solid results for someone who we believe can be the fourth or fifth scorer on this team.

Let's also not forget that she ran 4:37 (mile) and 4:10 (1500) on the track this past year. If those results are translatable to the grass (which is far from guaranteed), then the Hoyas are a group that deserve to be ranked at a spot better than TSR #18.

We can piece together a competitive lineup for Georgetown through five runners, but it's very possible that one of their younger talents steps up in a major way. Or at the very least, one of these young ladies may be good enough to emerge as a backend scorer.

Incoming rookies such as Alli Crytser (VA), Natalie McLean (PA) and Barrett Justema (OR) all showed promise at the high school level, emerging as nationally competitive names at times. There are also a handful of returners who have flashed potential in prior seasons (or at the prep level) such as Mary Hennelly, Mary Grace Hegberg and Cate Joaquin.

On of those women would have to elevate to the fitness level of Kelsey Swenson this year in order for Georgetown to exceed this ranking, but that's a very realistic possibility.

* * *

Trying to overcome the losses of three women who, at one point, were all top-five scorers, isn't something that most teams can shake off, at least not entirely. And suggesting that the Georgetown women can be a fringe top-10 team this fall like they were throughout 2022 while ignoring those departures would be generous.

And yet, all things considered, Coach Mitchell Baker's team looks primed to have a respectable bounce back year.

For the most part, this team is fairly balanced. They have a true low-stick, a rising lead scorer, a solid supporting cast, great veterans and high-upside youngsters. It would be nice if they had a bit more firepower or a few more options for their lineup, but generally speaking, this team looks strong.

Now it's time to see just how strong they really are.