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TSR's 2023 Preseason D1 XC Top 50 Rankings: #50-41 (Men)
- Admin (Garrett Zatlin)
- Jul 19, 2023
- 11 min read
50. Brian Masai, Rs. Freshman, Akron
It's not often that a second-year freshman makes our top-50 rankings. In fact, it's even more rare when you realize that Brian Masai has never toed the line for a collegiate cross country race, per TFRRS.
We didn't see Akron's newest distance star toe the line last year until the winter months. But when he did, Brian Masai looked like he was going to be a massive problem for years to come.
After running a pleasantly surprising 13:43 (5k) mark at Boston University this past winter, Masai ventured to the outdoor oval. There, he ripped off excellent times of 13:39 (5k) and 28:45 (10k). And despite his youth, the inexperienced rookie was able to qualify for the outdoor national meet in the former event.
It's abundantly clear that Masai has a TON of raw talent, much of which hasn't been fully tapped into or refined yet. That, of course, is a good thing. With so much upside and a clear knack for the longer distances, it's hard to see a scenario where Masai isn't a major factor on the grass later this fall.
Of course, his inexperience and youth will still leave us plenty cautious about ranking him too high. There's no guarantee that the Akron ace will fully translate his success from the track to the grass...but it's more likely than not.
49. Isaac Alonzo, Junior, Texas
Arguably one of the most underrated cross country runners in the entire NCAA last fall, Texas standout Isaac Alonzo comes into our rankings at our TSR #49 spot.
The Longhorn distance talent didn't have the flashiest resume during the 2022 cross country season, but he quietly posted some strong results.
After a tough outing at the Cowboy Jamboree (where he placed 83rd), Alonzo began to pick up some momentum. A 7th place finish at the Panorama Farms Invitational was promising, especially when you consider that he took down Luke Tewalt and teammate Haftu Knight.
And at the BIG 12 XC Championships, Alonzo secured a bronze medal, pulling ahead of Ezekiel Rop and a pack of talented Oklahoma State runners. A runner-up performance at the South Central Regional XC Championships eventually led to Alonzo posting an unexciting 95th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships.
With that resume, Alonzo would probably be one of the first men to miss out on our top-50 rankings list. However, this Texas runner eventually went to the oval where he posted times of 13:41 (5k) and 28:47 (10k).
For us, that was enough to give him a top-50 nod.
We still need to see Alonzo perform better on larger stages. Both of his races at the Cowboy Jamboree and the cross country national meet left us wanting more. But it's also clear that Alonzo found his groove last fall and truly began to break out.
With additional experience now under his belt, he could become a more reliable name for a Texas squad that looks quietly dangerous this fall.
48. Vincent Mauri, Senior, Notre Dame
The newest graduate transfer at Notre Dame (via Arizona State) is also one of the more versatile distance talents in the entire country. Vinny Mauri joins the Fighting Irish men this fall with impressive marks of 1:49 (800), 3:41 (1500), 7:55 (3k) and 13:39 (5k).
Oh, and he's pretty good on the grass.
Truthfully, after his 2022 cross country campaign, there's an argument that Mauri should be ranked higher. After winning two smaller meets last fall, this former Arizona State runner wouldn't toe the line again until the PAC-12 XC Championships.
And the results were worth the wait.
A 9th place finish at the PAC-12 XC Championships was an excellent result that put Mauri in some impressive company that, frankly, we didn't think he belonged with at the time. And after placing 11th at the West Regional XC Championships, Mauri qualified for the national meet as an individual.
In his season finale, he placed 87th overall.
We'll admit, we don't have a perfectly good grasp on what Mauri could do with the Fighting Irish in the coming months. With the exception of his PAC-12 Championship performance, most of his results in 2022 didn't really tell us anything new.
And while his national meet performance was decent, it also wasn't anything crazy special.
There's no perfect way to rank Mauri, but it does seem fair to say that his resume holds a handful of positives and largely no negatives. When you look at him from that perspective, a top-50 ranking seemed appropriate.
47. Eliud Kipsang, Junior, Alabama
You could make an argument that in terms of raw natural talent, Eliud Kipsang is one of the absolute best distance runners in the NCAA. That's something that I've been saying about him for almost two years now.
Over his career, we have seen numerous moments of all-time fitness from this Alabama star. He has run the collegiate 1500 meter of 3:33.74, has been an All-American multiple times on the track and has showcased elite range.
He has also, however, struggled with consistency.
Last fall, Kipsang looked like an absolute juggernaut at the start of the season. After shaking off the rust at the North Alabama Showcase, Kipsang threw down a huge 3rd place finish at the Joe Piane Invitational. And for a moment, you could have made the argument that this Alabama star was a top-20 runner in the country.
The rest of Kipsang's races leading up to the regional and national meets were respectable, but not anywhere near his performance from South Bend, Indiana. At the Crimson Classic, Kipsang settled for 4th place before taking home a solid 7th place finish at the SEC XC Championships.
But at the South Regional XC Championships, Kipsang faded to 28th place after supposedly taking a fall. Unfortunately, that didn't make his national meet effort any better as he dropped to 98th place. It was a "fine" performance, but there was simply not enough on Kipsang's seasonal resume to keep him ranked.
On the oval, the Kenyan distance standout worked his way back from an injury. But in the spring, he had another tough postseason despite running 3:37 (1500) at the Bryan Clay Invitational.
If you look at Kipsang's resume from last fall leading up to the regional meet, you could argue that he is a top-30 distance talent this fall. And strictly in terms of natural talent on the grass, he may very well be there already.
But consistency has become a challenge for Kipsang. We simply don't know what he's going to do in the postseason. He's as much of a threat as almost anyone else, but he feels like a massive wild card this fall who could go in a variety of directions in our rankings.
46. Alex Phillip, Senior, North Carolina
Division Three fans will be happy about this ranking...I think.
Alex Phillip, for those who aren't aware, is among the greatest men's distance runners in Division Three history. In fact, there's a very good argument for him to be the G.O.A.T.
Not familiar with his resume? Let's get you caught up to speed.
In total, Phillip amassed seven national titles across all three seasons during his time at John Carroll. He has also tallied 13 individual All-American honors. The incoming graduate transfer has also set new D3 records for the indoor 3k, the indoor 5k, the outdoor 5k and the 10k.
Despite running times of 7:53 (3k), 13:44 (5k) and 28:31 (10k), it's hard to truly express just how dominant Phillip was over the last few years. That's crazy to think about, especially when you realize how much stronger Division Three as a whole has become.
Now, Phillip will venture to the University of North Carolina where he'll finish out his collegiate career as a graduate student.
Trying to properly rank this incoming Tar Heel is, for the most part, largely impossible. We've seen Phillip compete with a handful of top Division One talents on the track. And more times than not, he has thrived in those settings.
But consistently seeing the very best runners in Division One every other week is not going to make Phillip's transition easy. While his times on the track are fantastic, we don't truly know how his cross country credentials match up against the best men at the D1 level.
Even so, Phillip's incredible consistency, ongoing improvements, all-time marks and extensive experience made him way too impressive to leave out of our rankings.
45. Thomas Boyden, Junior, Stanford
Over the last few years, Thomas Boyden has looked like he could (eventually) be a legitimate star for the Stanford men. He has been consistently improving, has been competitive in a handful of top meets and owns a variety of strong personal bests across multiple distances.
Now, starting with the 2023 cross country season, we're hoping that Boyden can put together all of the greatest aspects of his resume and emerge as a true low-stick for the Cardinal.
Last fall, Boyden began his season with a promising 16th place finish at the Cowboy Jamboree. It was a result that put him ahead of numerous (eventual) All-Americans and sparked optimism for the rest of his season.
However, a 119th place finish at Nuttycombe left us unsure of what this Utah native would be able to do in the postseason. Was that race just a fluke? Or was his first race at the Cowboy Jamboree an outlier result?
The answer turned out to be the former. At the PAC-12 XC Championships, Boyden earned a fantastic 7th place finish. He crowded the top-10 alongside his Stanford teammates and validated his Cowboy Jamboree result from back in September.
After cruising through the West Regional XC Championships, Boyden would end his 2022 fall campaign with a 75th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships.
Sure, it was a solid result, but it was also a performance that epitomized his season as a whole: It was "good", maybe even "very good", but not quite "great".
On the indoor oval, Boyden started his season off by running an excellent 3:57 mile PR and then a 7:54 (3k) mark at the Razorback Invitational. That, however, would be the last time that we saw this Stanford runner toe the line this year.
There is simply too much talent within this rising Stanford junior for him not to be ranked. His national meet performance was decent, his Cowboy Jamboree effort was strong and his PAC-12 XC Championship finish was excellent.
At the same time, fading hard at Nuttycombe and then disappearing since late January leaves us with plenty of questions about Boyden. If he's at 100% this fall, then he'll be a problem for almost anyone. That, however, remains to be seen.
44. Hillary Cheruiyot, Junior, Alabama
When our TSR team was getting towards the end of our rankings and we were finalizing our orders, I asked our writers, "Hey, did we rob Hillary Cheruiyot of a spot?"
And the overwhelming consensus was, "Yes."
So naturally, we made sure he got into our top-50.
Cheruiyot is a highly difficult name to properly analyze. He is incredibly talented and has often finished among the top distance talents in the NCAA. He also, however, has had a handful of challenges with consistency.
Last fall, the Alabama distance standout caught some attention by placing 6th at the Joe Piane Invitational. In that race, Cheruiyot took down a handful of collegiate stars, including Barry Keane, Dylan Jacobs and Barry Keane.
Fast forward to the SEC XC Championships, and Cheruiyot snagged a highly promising 4th place finish, once again taking down some of the top low-sticks in the country. But then this Crimson Tide ace went to the national meet...and he struggled.
Admittedly, almost everyone from Alabama struggled at the NCAA XC Championships last year. Cheruiyot ended his season with a 206th place finish despite placing 53rd at the 2021 edition of the meet.
On the oval, Cheruiyot had moments of excellence, running times of 13:39 for 5000 meters and 3:40 for 1500 meters. However, the predominant steeplechaser never contested that event last spring. And on a few occasions, he faded in the postseason.
In short, he's exceptionally talented, but hillier courses have proven to be a challenge for him.
Even so, Cheruiyot was great in a handful of key moments last year. And because of that, we were able to find, what we think, is a very solid position for him in our top-50 rankings.
43. Liam Murphy, Junior, Villanova
Despite being just a sophomore last fall, Villanova's Liam Murphy made subtle and consistent improvements throughout the 2022 cross country season. And although he was one of the younger guys in the NCAA, he was also one of the more reliable runners.
Murphy truly began his season at Paul Short, a top-heavy meet which featured the likes of Georgetown, Utah State, North Carolina, Duke and, of course, Villanova.
Yet, despite a handful of underappreciated distance standouts crowding the field, it was Murphy who emerged with an excellent 4th place finish. Sure, greater challenges lied ahead for the then-Villanova sophomore, but that was a massive step in the right direction.
A 51st place finish at Nuttycombe was roughly on par with our expectations. Even in a massive field loaded with talent, Murphy stay composed and recorded a respectable result.
But it was in the postseason when the Wildcat star truly began to rally.
The New Jersey native placed 3rd at the BIG East XC Championships behind only Barry Keane and teammate Haftu Strintzos. Murphy would later secure the overall win at the Mid-Atlantic Regional XC Championships.
Murphy's inexperience eventually caught up to him on the national stage where he placed 92nd overall. Even so, his season could be viewed as a success. However, maybe more importantly, Murphy's fall campaign primed him for an incredible year on the track.
On the indoor oval, Murphy ran times of 3:55 (mile) and 7:45 (3k). On the outdoor oval, he ran 3:39 (1500) and 13:43 (5k). And while those times were fantastic, it was Murphy's ability to control his fitness with ease that truly caught our attention.
There is an unreal amount of upside within Murphy. He has shown the composure of an elder collegiate veteran and there's been few instances where he's ever had a poor showing. Of course, we still need to see him deliver on some of that exciting potential before we can rank him any higher.
42. Kenneth Rooks, Junior, BYU
It blows my mind that we are placing an 8:16 steeplechaser, an American national champion and a collegiate national champion at "only" TSR #42 in our rankings. And yet, that's just how the NCAA works nowadays.
Everything that you need to know about Rooks' success on the track can be summarized in the above paragraph. From a collegiate standpoint, he's the best steeplechaser we've ever seen since Henry Rono.
But for as good as Rooks is/was in the steeplechase, his cross country accolades are far less exciting. That, ladies and gentlemen, is why he has left us scratching our heads as we constructed this top-50 list.
Finishing 51st at the Cowboy Jamboree and 63rd at Nuttycombe aren't necessarily bad results. For many competitive teams in the NCAA, Rooks would have been a very solid second or third scorer.
He wasn't, however, a top-50 caliber runner.
In fact, after placing 22nd at the Mountain Regional XC Championships, Rooks didn't even make BYU's top-seven going into the national meet!
Now, in fairness to Rooks, all seven of the Cougars who went to the NCAA XC Championships last fall had very realistic shots of being All-Americans. In fact, all seven of them placed in the top-52 spots!
As we approach the 2023 cross country season, it seems crazy to think that Rooks wouldn't be able to translate his incredible steeplechase success to the grass. Even translating 80% of that success would still put him in the All-American conversation.
But with no certainty about how he'll fare this fall, and with the World Championships taking place in mid-August, we settled on placing Rooks at TSR #42...for now.
41. Lex Young, Freshman, Stanford
Let's not make this section of analysis any harder than it needs to be.
Lex Young is one of the best high school distance runners of all-time. With personal best marks of 3:59.99 (1600), 8:35 (3200) and 13:34 (5k track), this incoming Stanford rookie was simply too good to leave out of our rankings.
We'll admit, Young's ranking hinges quite a bit on his 13:34 (5k) PR that he ran this past spring. He struggled at the NXN Championships last fall and, somewhat surprisingly, has never won an individual national title at the high school level (per MileSplit).
But a high school 5k time as fast as 13:34 is absurd.
And sure, in today's day and age of distance running, everyone is faster across the board. Even so, surpassing Galen Rupp's former 5k record by roughly three seconds cannot be ignored when crafting these rankings. That's an incredible achievement.
Lex Young has also helped his case by having run under 13:45 (5k) three total times over his high school career. For someone so young running at such an elite level, that kind of consistency is a massive asset in the NCAA.
Young still needs to translate his best 5k performances from the track to the grass. We're not suggesting that he hasn't had great cross country success before, but in comparison to some of his freshman counterparts, he'll need to be a bit more refined this fall if he wants to be an All-American.
Even so, the ceiling for this incoming freshman out of Newbury Park seems limitless.
