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TSR's 2023 Preseason D2 XC Top 10 Rankings (Women): #4 UC-Colorado Springs Mountain Lions
- Gavin Struve
- Sep 11, 2023
- 6 min read
Written by Gavin Struve, edits & additional commentary by Garrett Zatlin
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.
While this preseason ranking may contradict this take, the UC-Colorado Springs women feel like an underrated group entering the fall of 2023.
While they’ve been competitive towards the top of the loaded Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) and enter this season at TSR #4, they aren’t exactly considered to be the premiere squad in their conference or even their own state.
But this program has quietly developed into a true national power over the past couple of years and has the potential to continue that progress in the coming months.
Regardless of whether their ascension bears itself out in the team standings this year, we think Coach Corey Kubatzky's program is here to stay towards the top of the Division Two landscape. That starts by entering 2023 with the retention of multiple low-sticks and a recent track record of top-end success.
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The Mountain Lions started their 2022 cross country campaign in familiar confines — on their home course 6000 feet above sea level. They predictably dominated the UCCS Rust-Buster and it wasn’t because of the altitude (all of their opponents were also established at altitude). Layla Almasri, Anna Fauske and Kate Hedlund swept the top-three spots.
Next came a major step up in competition. UCCS ventured to the Bluegrass State for the Louisville Classic against what was largely a Division One field. But the Mountain Lions hardly wilted in the face of more pressure.
Neither their firepower nor their depth were elite in Louisville, but both areas looked strong. The top-three stayed the same as before as Almasri led the way in 17th, Hedlund placed 24th and Fauske finished in 34th. As for the final two scorers, Riley McGrath was 60th and Molly Breuer took 67th. Two other women finished in the top-100 for extra scoring insurance.
That all added up to a 4th place finish, putting the Mountain Lions behind only Grand Valley State in the Division Two ranks, but ahead of larger programs like Auburn and Tennessee. Their lineup seemed to be fairly balanced and their top-three women looked like they could be true low-sticks.
And the next time they raced, we got to see most of UC-Colorado Springs' varsity squad toe the line was at the RMAC XC Championships, minus Hedlund.
The Mountain Lions produced a similar scoring structure on the conference stage as they had their last time out. Almasri and Fauske led the way in 5th and 8th, respectively, offering great (but expected) firepower. From there, McGrath placed 19th, Jessica Madrid emerged in 28th place and Breuer closed out the scoring with a 32nd place finish. Two other Mountain Lions in the next three spots behind her.
That amounted to a solid 3rd place showing behind dominant in-state rivals Adams State and Colorado Mines, but ahead of strong foes like Western Colorado and CSU-Pueblo. And while they ran well, we didn't necessarily learn anything new about UCCS.
After advancing past the regional stage, it was time for the Mountain Lions to ply their trade at the cross country national meet.
As they had all season long, UC-Colorado Springs responded to a crucial situation with overwhelming poise. Almasri paced the team with an excellent 10th place finish and was followed by Hedlund in 20th place, Fauske in 24th and McGrath in 32nd.
That gave the Mountain Lions four All-Americans, their best display of firepower all season long and something that precious few teams could boast. Even more impressively, all of those women could essentially say that they lived up to (or surpassed) expectations when it mattered the most.
The Mountain Lions were in 2nd place in the team standings through 80% of their scoring lineup. But beyond them, Rachel Richtman had to step up as the fifth runner in 128th place. And the level of scoring she offered, while respectable, was not enough to keep up with the 2nd and 3rd place teams, Grand Valley State and Colorado Mines, who had beaten them earlier in the season.
Regardless, UCCS snagged a backend podium spot and had, all told, a day that they could be very proud of at NCAA XC Championships.
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It’s tough to put a team in the same spot as where they finished at last year's national meet, particularly at such a lofty spot in the Division Two hierarchy, when they lose their top runner.
Layla Almasri has expired her eligibility after consecutive top-12 finishes at the cross country national meet. And to make matters worse, Riley McGrath has left the program to join the Mountain Lions' conference rival, Colorado Mines.
That’s half of UC-Colorado Springs' All-American scoring potency out the window.
Here’s the good news: If any team can deal with those kinds of losses, it's a team that retains two other All-Americans. Thankfully, Kate Hedlund and Anna Fauske are returning to lead a group that has everyone else back from its postseason lineup beyond Almasri and McGrath.
UCCS has two women capable of being top-notch leading scorers on their own. Hedlund was the team’s second scorer at the national meet and a top-half All-American who has produced more top-tier performances in recent seasons than not. She’s listed at TSR #19 in our preseason top-25 individual rankings.
Anna Fauske, meanwhile, was arguably the more consistent of the two women last fall and is slotted at TSR #21 in our preseason rankings. And after making highly promising improvements on the track, she has enough upside to be just as impactful as Layla Almasri was throughout the fall of 2022.
Rachel Richtman returns as a surprise scorer from last year’s national meet. She and Molly Breuer should be solid complementary scoring pieces and will likely be expected to make a jump into the top-100 individuals, nationally.
Breuer, in particular, should be in line to improve after playing an important role as a freshman last year. She had moments of great promise last fall, placing 67th at the Louisville Classic and 32nd at the RMAC XC Championships -- two very solid results.
Richtman, meanwhile, will at least offer reasonable scoring stability. She made solid improvements on the track this past spring, dipping under the 11-minute barrier in the steeplechase. She could be the key x-factor for this team in 2023.
Jessica Madrid joins those women in the projected scoring lineup after also making an impact as a freshman, finishing in the top-150 at the 2022 NCAA XC Championships. Rachel Goodrich is another returner who has experience at high-level meets and could help form the backend of this lineup. Emma Montoya will likely be the freshman to see action if any.
Among newcomers, Allika Pearson spent a year redshirting with the program last year and was a multi-time All-American at the NAIA level for John Brown University. She could be a major x-factor for this team throughout the fall of 2023.
While we haven’t seen it all together yet, that’s a formidable lineup, at least on paper. The Mountain Lions enter this fall with a pair of proven All-American upperclassmen, three other women from their postseason lineup and a few capable options with different resumes to round out the lineup beyond them.
And truthfully, we would be very surprised if UCCS didn't have one of those women behind Fauske and Hedlund have a breakout season this fall.
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For some teams in the RMAC, how they fare at their conference meet almost holds more bragging rights than their national meet performance...almost.
That may not exactly be the case for the Mountain Lions who could realistically finish 3rd on the conference stage and 4th at the national meet again. UCCS is set to race the same abbreviated, but competitive schedule in 2023. That means we'll get to see how their women stack up against the top of the NCAA on a couple occasions.
The Mountain Lions will need Hedlund and Fauske to be the same kind of high-end stars that they were last year and the rest of their returners — Breuer, Richtman and Madrid — need to step up and improve with slightly larger expectations on their shoulders. The possible emergence of Pearson as a scorer could also alter this team's lineup structure for the better.
While UC-Colorado Springs suffered significant scoring losses, so too did their opponents. It also doesn’t take a ton of projection to picture this team being just as good as they were a year ago -- or at least in the podium conversation.
UCCS has enough talent top to bottom to again be one of the premier powers in the RMAC and a top-five squad, nationally.
