TSR's 2023 Preseason D1 XC Top 50 Rankings: #10-1 (Men)

Click here to read our rankings rubric

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10. Jackson Sharp, Senior, Wisconsin

Last fall, Jackson Sharp began the 2022 cross country season in the "Just Missed" section of our preseason rankings. Now, one year later, he has cracked the top-10.

Admittedly, Sharp's fall campaign from last year got off to a rocky start. He finished 7th place overall at the Griak Invitational and he recorded a DNF result on his course at Nuttycombe. In retrospect, and based on the results of his teammates, it seemed like Sharp was just shaking off the rust at the Griak Invitational. However, a DNF at the biggest non-national meet of the year wasn't exactly encouraging.

And then the postseason happened.

At the BIG 10 XC Championships, Sharp settled for a runner-up finish behind teammate Bob Liking as the Badgers ultimately dominated the meet. And after cruising through the Great Lakes Regional XC Championships, the Aussie ace put together what may have been the best race of his career at the time.

On the rolling hills of Stillwater, Oklahoma, we saw Sharp emerge with a fantastic 16th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships. That, in turn, would spark an incredible streak of racing on the track throughout 2023.

Not only did Sharp run new personal bests of 3:57 (mile), 7:44 (3k) and 13:26 (5k) this past year, but he also earned THREE bronze medals between the indoor and outdoor national meets.

The Wisconsin standout helped his men's DMR squad finish 3rd at the NCAA Indoor Championships before coming back the next day to earn another 3rd place finish over 3000 meters (somewhat unexpectedly, I might add).

But one good weekend on the national stage can happen to anyone. It's the true stars who can do it consistently...which is exactly what Sharp did.

This past June, Sharp once again executed another brilliant race plan on the national stage. And after leading a chase pack against Ky Robinson in the 5000 meter finals, our TSR #10 runner took home yet another bronze medal.

Yes, we'll admit it, when looking strictly at his cross country performances, Sharp is probably not a top-10 distance runner. That, however, is why we look at someone's overall resume. Because when you pair his 16th place finish from the NCAA XC Championships with three bronze medals in the same year, it's hard to discount his talent.

9. Parker Wolfe, Junior, North Carolina

When it comes to analyzing top distance talents around the NCAA, we often try to break down the nuances of their resume. We look the highs and lows of their season while trying to balance a handful of extraneous factors.

But sometimes, the best analysis is the simplest analysis. And in the case of Parker Wolfe, that couldn't be more true. This Tar Heel junior is just really damn good.

Last fall, Wolfe won the Paul Short Invite, placed 6th at Nuttycombe and was the runner-up finisher at both his conference and regionals meets. He later placed 9th overall on the national stage. On the indoor oval, he ran an incredible time of 13:19 (5k). He also placed 5th over 5000 meters at both the NCAA Indoor & Outdoor Championships this past year.

There's not a single bad thing we can say about Wolfe. He delivers outstanding results every time he races, has reached an aerobically elite level across all three seasons and now has a decent amount of experience under his belt.

The only uncertainty about Wolfe is his ceiling. How much higher can he go? Can he legitimately reach the "national title contender" tier? The North Carolina star has everything you could want in a nationally competitive runner. The only thing remaining is for him to gain the necessary fitness to be in the conversation for NCAA gold.

8. Alex Maier, Senior, Oklahoma State

Man, what a tricky name to figure out.

Last fall, you could have argued that Alex Maier had the second or third-best cross country season of any collegiate when looking at someone's entire body of work. The Oklahoma State ace took home a massive win at the Cowboy Jamboree to start his season, taking down the trio of Charles Hicks, Nico Young and Drew Bosley who would go 1-2-3 at the national meet.

Later, Maier secured gold at the BIG 12 XC Championships (unsurprisingly) and then cruised through his region. On the national stage, Maier fought hard, but didn't attach himself to the top group. The veteran Cowboy settled for a 5th place finish and ended a season that, from our perspective, was a massive success.

So...then why is Maier ranked at TSR #8? Shouldn't he be listed higher?

Maier had a very strong indoor track season this past winter, running outstanding times of 7:43 (3k) and 13:11 (5k). On the national stage, he would earn two All-American honors, but was never in contention for gold. And that largely summarized his winter campaign: Maier was running super fast times, but something just seemed off.

By the spring months, it was clear that Maier wasn't at 100%. He ran three 10k races, but never cracked 28:30 despite owning a 28:12 PR in the event. He was also the silver medalist over 10,000 meters at the 2021 outdoor national meet, making his struggles that much more perplexing.

Maier would barely sneak into the national meet, snagging the final national qualifying spot at the West Regional Championships, but the Oklahoma State star would end his season with an underwhelming 21st place finish in Austin, Texas.

When he's firing on all cylinders, you could make an argument that Maier's resume is just as good as the men who headline our top-five. But after a quiet, and clearly limited, outdoor track season, we wanted to be a bit cautious with where we ranked Maier going into this fall.

7. Fouad Messaoudi, Sophomore, Oklahoma State

Trying to rank Fouad Messaoudi in our preseason top-50 feels like an impossible task. He has only two collegiate cross country results on his resume and his specialty on the track never went above 3000 meters.

And yet, despite the limited data, this Oklahoma State sophomore turned out to be one of the most complete and refined distance runners in the NCAA over the past year.

Last fall, Messaoudi didn't make his season debut until the BIG 12 XC Championships. And when he did race, he finished 6th place overall. It was a fine result, maybe even a good one, but truthfully, no one thought twice about his race.

Of course, people cared a whole lot more when the Moroccan Cowboy came out of absolutely nowhere to finish 12th place overall at the NCAA XC Championships. And even in the summer of 2023, that result still surprises me a little.

Since then, Messaoudi has caught fire. On the indoor oval, the Oklahoma State could do absolutely no wrong, running times of 3:55 (mile) and 7:41 (3k). When including relays, he won nine out of 10 races during the winter months, including national titles in the 3k and the DMR.

On the outdoor oval, Messaoudi focused on the 1500 meters where he initially looked incredible, running 3:35 for the metric mile at the Bryan Clay Invitational. However, by the national meet, the Cowboy star fell out of All-American contention.

Is this too generous of a ranking for Messaoudi? Are we still in love with his incredible indoor track season? Is it fair to say that he's even better now than he was when he finished 12th at the NCAA XC Championships? How much does it matter that he hasn't contested a 5k race at the collegiate level yet? Am I asking too many questions? Are we overthinking this?

At the end of the day, Messaoudi has an unreal amount of talent. Maybe even more than a couple of guys listed ahead of him. That, ladies and gentlemen, is why we have him ranked at TSR #7 in our preseason rankings.

6. Graham Blanks, Junior, Harvard

For a heavy portion of the 2022 cross country season, Graham Blanks wasn't even the best distance runner on his team. That honor belonged to Acer Iverson...although not for the entire season.

Last fall, Blanks finished 13th place overall at the Cowboy Jamboree. It was an excellent finish that validated the All-American success that he had, somewhat surprisingly, found the year prior. His 26th place finish at Nuttycombe also deserved respect, but that was hardly a jaw-dropping performance.

At the Ivy League XC Championships and the Northeast Regional XC Championships, Blanks and Acer Iverson would exchange 1-2 finishes over competition that they were clearly superior to. The national meet, however, would be the far more important test.

And it was that where Blanks, somehow, found a switch and flipped it.

Things haven't been the same since.

Blanks would go to Stillwater, Oklahoma and drop an absolutely incredible 6th place finish. In what was the greatest race of his life at that point, and maybe still is, the Harvard star completely reset expectations for what he was capable of.

After a strong indoor track season where Blanks qualified for the national over 3000 meters and 5000 meters, the Crimson star would have an even stronger spring campaign. At one point, Blanks had won five out of six races leading up to the national meet.

And once he reached Austin, Texas, Graham Blanks found himself with a 6th place finish (10k) and a runner-up result (5k).

Blanks hasn't been the same runner since last year's cross country national meet -- and I'm sure he's ok with that. The Harvard star is on an insane hot streak right now and could even enter the national title conversation later this fall.

However, we've opted to keep Blanks at TSR #6 for now. His cross country resume from last year was solid, but his national meet result is a clear outlier when comparing results. In 2023, we would like to see Blanks put together a full season of dominance.

Of course, after seeing what he did back in June, that seems more probable than possible.

5. Casey Clinger, Senior, BYU

For almost the entirety of Casey Clinger's collegiate career, the BYU superstar has been someone who has been as strong as an All-American lock as you can get. But until this past winter, he hadn't truly reached the status of "national title contender."

That, however, may be changing.

Sure we could try to go race by race and detail Clinger's 2022 cross country season. But what would that accomplish? Instead, the better approach is to hit the main highlights of his career...and my goodness, there are many.

Clinger has made four appearances at the NCAA XC Championships and because of the pandemic-extended eligibility, this year will be his fifth. In those four showings, Clinger has finished 24th, 13th, 8th and 7th, improving with each year.

The Cowboy Jamboree from last fall? He placed 7th. The FSU Invite from the fall of 2021? Clinger placed 8th. The Oklahoma State Invitational during the fall of 2020? He settled for 3rd place despite being in contention to win.

But what Clinger did on the track this past year has made us realize that he may be closer to NCAA gold than we realize. On the indoor oval, the Cougar veteran ran times of 7:43 (3k) and 13:17 (5k). He would later venture to the indoor national meet where he legitimately contended for the 5k national title only to finish runner-up. Clinger would later place 4th in the 3k finals.

At the outdoor national meet, Clinger secured bronze after running a 28:01 (10k) PR in poor conditions earlier in the season.

Simply put, Clinger is as experienced and as reliable as they come. He has never had a poor race and in 2023, he has shown greater refinement in his aerobic fitness. Would I put him in the same tier as the four men ranked above him? Truthfully, I'm not sure, but I wouldn't argue against anyone who did.

4. Habtom Samuel Keleta, Freshman, New Mexico*

NOTE: It is unclear whether or not Habtom Samuel Keleta will still be venturing to the NCAA this year following the coaching change at the University of New Mexico. TSR also not been able to confirm Keleta's officially eligibility for this fall.

"Who?"

That's probably what a good number of our readers are thinking right now.

Despite the recent headlines surrounding New Mexico this summer, the bigger development may have been the news that Habtom Samuel Keleta was joining the Lobos later this fall. That announcement was made earlier in the spring.

For those unfamiliar with Keleta, let's get you caught up on the 19-year old megastar.

The Eritrea native posted jaw-dropping personal bests of 13:13 (5k) and 27:20 (10k) just over a year ago. Not only that, but this incoming Lobo also placed 17th at the World XC Championships this past February.

No, not the U20 Championships, I mean the actual World XC Championships.

For perspective, Ky Robinson placed 23rd in that race while Aaron Las Heras placed 22nd.

Strictly on paper, there is a VERY good argument that Keleta will be the best cross country runner in the NCAA this fall. His 5k time would sit at NCAA #7 all-time (outdoors) while his 10k mark would be good enough for NCAA #2 all-time.

However, we have opted to place Keleta at TSR #4 for now. Because for as good as this future New Mexico runner is, we have a ton of questions.

Is Keleta still expected to join the Lobos after the recent coaching change? How will he translate his track times to the grass on a consistent basis? Is he still in the same fitness as he was last year?

In our eyes, these are very fair questions. And in order to be ranked at TSR #1, we need a little more certainty about what someone is going to do at the NCAA level. Of course, our opinion can very easily be changed after a few races from Keleta this fall...

3. Nico Young, Junior, Northern Arizona

2. Drew Bosley, Senior, Northern Arizona

It makes sense to lump the analysis for these two men together, They did, after all, run alongside each other throughout most of last fall and emerged as the best 1-2 punch in the country.

Let's not get too caught up in the nuances of what this duo did on the grass last year. They were outstanding at both Nuttycombe and the Cowboy Jamboree. They later peaked perfectly for the national meet as Nico Young earned a narrow runner-up finish while Bosley had one of the best races of his life, finishing 3rd.

So what gives? With Charles Hicks turning pro, these two men are the top returners from last year's national meet. Shouldn't they be the clear 1-2 ranked runners in TSR's top-50 list?

Well, there is certainly an argument for this NAU duo to headline our preseason rankings. If someone wanted to list them in the top-two spots, we wouldn't argue. Our hesitation, however, pertains to the health of these two men.

During both the winter and spring months, Nico Young just looked off. He was racing sparingly and when he did race, he didn't often toe the line for big races. As it turns out, the Lumberjack star had dealt with an injury after the cross country season and he was working his way back up.

And while we can probably expect him to be near full strength for this fall, I'm not sure we have the same conviction about his fitness right now as we have in previous seasons.

Bosley, meanwhile, is in a similar boat. During the winter months, the NAU star was absolutely incredible. He ran 13:13 for 5000 meters in December and then ran 7:36 over 3000 meters to set a new collegiate record. A silver and bronze medal at the indoor national meet, while not what Bosley wanted, capped off an incredible winter campaign.

However, an injury is what kept Bosley out for most of the outdoor track season. And with his status/fitness a bit up-in-the-air, we're not sure if we have enough confidence to place him at TSR #1 right now.

However, Bosley does get our TSR #2 spot, largely because his peak fitness can be argued as more potent than both Ky Robinson and Young...depending on who you ask.

Like we said, there isn't a wrong answer as to what this top-three or top-four could look like. And truthfully, this pair of rankings isn't so much about Young and Bosley's talent, but more so the certainty that we have about Ky Robinson's current fitness.

1. Ky Robinson, Junior, Stanford

We'll be honest, if either Drew Bosley or Nico Young had the outdoor track seasons that we were expecting them to, then I'm not sure if Ky Robinson would be ranked at TSR #1. Of course, consistency and availability do play key roles when crafting our summer rankings.

And after seeing how he ended his spring campaign, we feel like we made the right choice by placing Robinson at our top spot.

When reflecting on the 2022 cross country season, Robinson had an excellent fall campaign. However, it wasn't a resume that would usually put a runner at TSR #1. The Stanford star did win the Nuttycombe Invitational, but he settled for 6th place at the PAC-12 XC Championships and then secured a 10th place finish on the national stage.

But what Robinson would proceed to do over the next six months was absolutely outstanding. The Cardinal juggernaut ran 13:11 (5k) to win the Boston U. Season Opener against a stacked field. He then placed 23rd at the World XC Championships and peaked perfectly for the outdoor national meet where he earned national titles in both the 10k and the 5k.

When you factor-in Robinson's impressive win at Nuttycombe along with the recent injury troubles of the NAU men, there seemed to be a clear-enough path for this Stanford veteran to be ranked at TSR #1.

Truthfully, we don't know if there is a "correct" answer for our TSR #1 ranking. But given all of the varying aspects that we just spoke about, we feel like this is the "most correct" choice.