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TSR's 2023 Preseason D2 XC Top 10 Rankings (Women): #8 Winona State Warriors
- Grace McLaughlin
- Sep 7, 2023
- 6 min read
Written by Grace McLaughlin, edits & additional commentary by Gavin Struve & 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.
After nearly finishing in the top-10 of the national meet last year, the Winona State women figure to occupy that range in 2023. The Warriors enter this season with valuable experience, returning their top-trio and their young backend scorers.
The first thought that likely comes to mind when someone says “Winona State” is superstar Lindsay Cunningham, our TSR #1 runner in our preseason individual rankings, and that’s for good reason. She’s an all-time singular talent and a worthy national title favorite as an eight-time All-American.
But plenty of teams historically have had runners (somewhat) close to Cunningham’s caliber without a complementary supporting cast. What puts the Warriors in this range of our rankings is not the transcendence of their elite star, but rather the cohesiveness and continuity of their entire varsity lineup.
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Last fall, the Warriors opened their season with a win at the Green Bay Phoenix Open.
Cunningham took the individual title and was followed by Kaylee Beyer and McKenna Taylor in 2nd and 3rd, respectively. Sophia Taarud was their next runner in 8th place while Rachel Hoffman (11th), Rhya Brandemuehl (12th) and Mara Talabac (13th) were also in the top-15.
Yes, that was a solid result, but the Griak Invitational "Maroon" race was the real test of how legit the Warriors were as a whole.
Despite their trio of Cunningham (1st), Taylor (3rd) and Beyer (6th) all offering tremendous firepower, the Warriors still finished runner-up behind a talented Minnesota-Duluth team. Taarud ran to a solid 27th place finish with Talabac (52nd), Hoffman (55th) and Kylie Anderson (70th) rounding out their lineup.
At the Lewis Crossover, Winona State again faced solid competition and placed 3rd in the team standings behind Colorado Christian and Minnesota-Duluth. They weren't perfect, but there were still encouraging developments made within this lineup.
Cunningham won as expected and was followed by Taylor (3rd), Beyer (11th), Taarud (36th), Talabac (68th), Brandemuehl (85th) and Andrea Fromelt (121st). That race established the names who made up their lineup for the rest of the season and also showed us that Winona State had the potential to be a top-10 team.
The Bob Waxlax Invitational played out similarly with the Warriors taking silver behind another in-state foe in Minnesota State.
Cunningham (1st), Taylor (3rd), Beyer (4th), Taarud (9th) and Talabac (16th) were once again the scorers for the Warriors. However, more importantly, the continued improvement at the backend of their lineup was promising heading into the championship season. This team was clearly beginning to gain momentum.
At the NSIC XC Championships, the Warriors were 3rd behind Augustana and Minnesota State. Cunningham (1st), Taylor (3rd) and Beyer (7th) each finished in the top-10 while Taarud had a solid performance with a 19th place finish, but the lineup fell off after that. Brandemuehl was 48th and was followed by Fromelt in 54th and Talabac in 60th.
Yes, that race was a slight step back from the momentum that this team had established in their lead up to the postseason. But with Talabec having a slight "off" day (relative to expectations), there were still avenues where this team could improve their scoring.
At the Central Regional XC Championships, the Warriors had a strong top-four, but the gap to their fifth runner proved detrimental to the team scoring, and they ultimately finished 5th overall. Luckily, that final result didn’t have much of an effect as Winona State still advanced to the national meet.
In their season finale, the Warriors scoring group was structured fairly close to our expectations upon reaching the NCAA XC Championships.
Cunningham (2nd), Beyer (36th) and Taylor (52nd) provided great up-front scoring, ending their seasons by emerging as one of the more consistent trios in D2 last fall. Not only that, but Taarud (97th) peaked perfectly, holding down the middle of the lineup.
From there, Brandemuehl (223rd), Fromelt (231st) and Talabac (233rd) struggled, but the Winona State women still placed 11th overall. That was a largely positive result given some of the challenges that this team faced throughout last fall.
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Cunningham dominated the regular season last fall, winning both the Griak Invitational "Maroon" race and the Lewis Crossover. In fact, she went into the cross country national meet undefeated.
Even words like “dominant” and “unbeaten” feel inadequate when describing Cunningham’s firepower and momentum last fall. The Warrior sophomore was winning major races by huge margins and leaving talented runners in her dust.
While her silver medal performance at the 2022 NCAA XC Championships was impressive, Cunningham only got better and more successful as the year went on. The Winona State ace won the indoor national title over 5000 meters in a record time of 15:41 and placed 4th in the 3000 meters with a 9:10 mark.
On the outdoor oval, she set PRs of 15:45 (5k) and 32:43 (10k), eventually winning both of those events at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
With that kind of resume, it is easy to see why Cunningham enters this season at TSR #1 and why having her to lean on is such a plus for the Winona State women. But as we said before, the Warriors can’t rely on Cunningham’s success alone.
That’s why it is important to have both Beyer and Taylor returning. Each of those women are veritable lead scorers, even if they’re not of the caliber of their superstar running mate.
Beyer and Taylor are the real foundation of this lineup when it comes to scoring potency. Last fall, Beyer earned her first All-American honors on the cross country course with her 36th place finish. Taylor, meanwhile, finished 53rd on the national stage. Further, both women showed improvements on the track which imply that they can propel this program to a new level if their newfound fitness is successfully translated to the grass.
Beyer placed 4th in the mile at the NCAA Indoor Championships and 5th over 1500 meters at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. On top of those All-American honors, she also ran PRs of 4:46 in the mile and 17:05 in the 5k.
Taylor didn’t have quite the same level of success as Beyer, but she made some big strides on the track this spring with impressive PRs of 16:55 (5k) and 10:56 (steeple).
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The only departure from last year’s varsity squad is Fromelt which, on paper, doesn’t figure to significantly alter this team’s structure. But even if Fromelt didn’t have a major impact last fall, the loss of a varsity contributor doesn’t help for a squad that didn't bring in any transfers or substantial recruits.
Even so, Winona State has enough coming back to believe that continued development of their top runners and another year of experience for their youngsters should lead to a team improvement and a jump into the top-10...right?
Beyond their top-three, the Warriors just need to find a couple more solid scorers who can at least limit excessive backend scoring.
Taarud was a reliable presence on the grass in 2022 and she seems better suited for cross country rather than the track. We trust her pedigree in the fall months and expect her to serve as a solid fourth scorer for the Warriors. She was fairly consistent last fall and made quietly-great improvements that may have been overlooked.
And fortunately, there’s tangible reason to expect further progress from the backend contributors. That’s because both Brandemuehl and Talabac were freshmen last fall and now have a whole year of high-level experience under their belts.
Neither of those women posted any times on the track that indicate a drastic improvement from last fall, but it seems fair to expect a natural progression after each finished outside of the top-200 on the national stage in 2022. And the Warriors will need it.
Rachel Hoffman, Kylie Anderson and Allison Kenefick are a few other women with varsity experience who could step into the fifth spot and offer insurance for the Warriors’ depth.
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The Winona State women will be a compelling team to follow this fall. They should have the best runner in Division Two, a very strong middle-lineup duo, a reliable fourth scorer and a couple of women who could fill the extremely important fifth spot.
It just takes one of those returnees, or a freshman recruit, to be near Taarud’s level for this team to be drastically better scoring-wise.
Based on the momentum of Winona State’s top runners and program as a whole, we have no doubt that the Warriors will be able to improve their depth and overall firepower this season. Winona State can thank Lindsay Cunningham for putting this program on the map, but it's the team as a whole that has been responsible for reaching a nationally competitive level.
