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TSR's 2023 Preseason D2 XC Top 25 Rankings: #10-6 (Women)
- Grace McLaughlin
- Jul 30, 2023
- 6 min read
Written by Grace McLaughlin, additional edits by Gavin Struve & Garrett Zatlin
10. Ana Tucker, Senior, Grand Valley State
We previously covered Ana Tucker’s graduate transfer move from Hope College to Grand Valley State. However, analyzing her merit for a top-10 preseason ranking allows us to hammer home just how impactful this pick up is for the Lakers.
Tucker is headed to Grand Valley State as a 10-time All-American at the Division Three level. She owns personal bests of 4:47 (mile), 9:32 (3k), 16:10 (5k) and 34:00 (10k). While Division Two competition is a step up and we haven’t seen her at this level yet, there are numerous factors that led us to placing Tucker at TSR #10 in our preseason rankings.
The former Hope College standout has shown that she can be consistently successful on highly competitive stages. She also seems to have strong momentum from last fall.
Tucker placed 4th at last year’s Division Three NCAA XC Championships. She also placed 3rd over 5000 meters and 4th over 10,000 meters at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. And in an era where the top of D3 has never been stronger, those were incredible results.
Not only is Tucker a true veteran with established prowess, but she’s also joining a historically elite program with women to key off of in major races. In return, she brings the potential to help carry the Lakers to a team national title, something they haven’t achieved since 2018.
Tucker’s preseason ranking of TSR #10 may seem a bit high, but when we look at our criteria for how we rank athletes, Tucker has proven to hit every mark. Her PRs on the track align with where we’ve put her and she has given us no reason to doubt her ability to translate her talent and current trajectory to the Division Two level.
9. Natalie Graber, Senior, Grand Valley State
Natalie Graber has been a true star on the grass for the Lakers for the past three years. And after a pair of incredible seasons on the track in 2023, this fall should be her best one yet.
At first glance, her 35th place finish at last year’s NCAA XC Championship does not align with her top-10 preseason ranking -- and we're plenty aware of that. But that race was an obvious outlier when compared to her success over the course of the past year.
The Grand Valley State senior started last fall off with a 4th place finish at the Division One-centric MSU Spartan Classic. She then had two more top-10 finishes at competitive Division One meets, placing 6th at the Louisville XC Classic and 8th at the Bradley Pink Classic.
Those are all VERY good results for a Division Two runner.
Graber outright won the GLIAC XC Championships over her talented teammates and glided past the regional stage. The momentum and fitness that Graber displayed early in the season indicated that she was fully capable of a top-10 finish at the cross country national meet. Of course, as we mentioned, she faded back to 35th place in the latter stages of the race.
That final result matched Graber’s finish from the 2021 NCAA XC Championships and fell just short of her 32nd place run at the 2019 NCAA XC Championships, even though she had her best regular season in 2022. And while an All-American performance is still solid, we know that she was capable of so much more.
As she ventured to the oval, we truthfully had some questions about Graber's ability to peak for the postseason as well as her ability to be a top finisher at championship meets. But the Grand Valley State star dismissed those worries with her outstanding success on the oval.
Graber anchored the Laker women to a national title in the DMR and earned a bronze medal over 3000 meters at the 2023 NCAA Indoor Championships. Both races felt like statements on Graber’s aerobic talent and developing confidence against top competition.
She followed up her stellar indoor track season with two more All-American performances on the outdoor oval — in the 5k and the steeplechase — and ran PRs of 4:21 (1500), 10:13 (steeple) and 16:08 (5k).
When it comes to what we look for in our preseason cross country rankings, Graber has it all. She has plenty of experience, further upside for a top finish at the NCAA XC Championships and she’s been a reliable member of an elite Grand Valley State team.
And outside of her performance at the 2022 cross country national meet, Graber has been incredibly consistent and has displayed a new level of firepower over the course of the past year.
8. Kendall Kramer, Junior, Alaska Fairbanks
The Alaska Fairbanks women are tough names to rank. They run extremely well on the grass, but with no track performances to analyze, it's difficult to determine where they are fitness-wise entering the fall months.
Regardless, Kendall Kramer displayed enough consistency and raw talent last fall to warrant a spot at TSR #8 in our preseason rankings.
The Nanook ace entered our radar after her 6th place finish at D2 Pre-Nationals last fall. Then, she validated that performance with a key win at the GNAC XC Championships and a runner-up finish at the West Regional XC Championships right alongside teammate, Naomi Bailey.
Kramer ended her season on a high note with an outstanding 8th place finish at the 2022 NCAA XC Championships. She also greatly improved upon her 72nd place finish from the 2021 national meet.
While the Alaska Fairbanks junior doesn’t have any track results to review, she was an All-American in nordic skiing back in March, so we can at least assume that she’s aerobically fit heading into this fall.
Kramer displayed reliability and consistency in her performances through the entirety of last fall that it wouldn’t be fair to say that she peaked for the national meet. Sure, it was arguably her best result, but nothing on her resume leading up to that point indicated that we should be majorly surprised by a top-10 finish.
With that in mind, she’s earned the assumption, and this ranking, that she’ll return to a top-10 spot despite not being able to show her talent on the oval as most of her competitors have.
7. Precious Robinson, Senior, Adams State
When you see the name “Adams State,” you probably think of superstars like Stephanie Cotter and Brianna Robles. But behind those two megastars is the Grizzlies’ consistent and sneaky-talented third scorer, Precious Robinson.
Robinson opened up her 2022 cross country season with a 4th place finish at the Joe I. Vigil XC Open and later recorded another 4th place finish at the competitive Highlander XC Invitational.
She carried her success into the latter part of the season with a bronze medal at the RMAC XC Championships and unsurprisingly went on to place 15th at the NCAA XC Championships. But even if we didn’t learn anything from her performance on the national stage, we were still impressed by it.
On top of last year’s success, the Adams State ace was 11th at the 2021 cross country national meet, indicating that she is an incredibly dependable competitor in the postseason. In fact, it may be fair to suggest that Robinson was capable of finishing several spots higher than 15th at last year's national meet, but that may also be us splitting hairs.
A solid track runner, Robinson placed 12th over 3000 meters at the 2023 NCAA Indoor Championships with a PR of 9:32. On the outdoor oval, she displayed her talent in the endurance events with an 11th place finish in the 5000 meters and 7th place finish in the 10,000 meters.
With new personal bests of 16:23 (5k) and 33:54 (10k) and two top-15 finishes at the cross country national meet, Robinson heads into this season with both experience and momentum. She is very much deserving of a spot in the top-10 of our preseason cross country rankings.
6. Lauren Kiley, Sophomore, Grand Valley State
Last fall, Lauren Kiley established herself as a freshman phenom for a traditional powerhouse program in Grand Valley State. Her debut campaign was highlighted by an incredible 7th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships.
Now, in 2023, Kiley returns with more experience and strong track accolades to back up her rookie year success, landing her at TSR #6 in our preseason rankings.
The young Laker star didn't just impress us at the 2022 cross country national meet. She was also the runner-up finisher at both the GLIAC XC Championships and the Midwest Regional XC Championships.
Simply put, Kiley caught fire at just the right time. Her star turn showed not only that she is consistent, but also that her 7th place national meet finish wasn’t a fluke.
Similar to many of her Laker teammates, Kiley has been more successful on the grass than the track, but she still had solid indoor and outdoor track seasons. She placed 11th over 5000 meters and 14th in the 3000 meters at the NCAA Indoor Championships. The GVSU ace later secured a 16th place finish over 5000 meters at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Compared to her cross country success, and the other women listed in this range of the rankings, those track performances aren’t particularly flashy. But when you consider that she was a true freshman last year, they’re hardly underwhelming.
Kiley ended her freshman year with applause-worthy personal bests of 9:29 (3k) and 16:17 (5k). Combine those times with her top-10 finish at the cross country national meet and overall youth, and Kiley has perhaps the highest upside of anyone in our rankings.
The potential, the talent and the poise that Kiley displayed last year indicates that she is going to be a problem for the rest of the Division Two scene for the next few years.
