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TSR's 2023 Preseason D2 XC Top 25 Rankings: #15-11 (Men)
- Grace McLaughlin
- Jul 29, 2023
- 5 min read
Written by Grace McLaughlin, additional edits by Gavin Struve & Garrett Zatlin
15. Logan Bocovich, Senior, Colorado Mines
You may be reading this and thinking “Logan Bocovich? Who is that?”
Of course, if you’re familiar with the Division Three scene, then you are likely familiar with this name. And now, one of the more accomplished distance runners at that level is banking on his fitness translating as he jumps up a level to the Division Two ranks.
That’s because Bocovich is now playing his trade with an elite D2 program, Colorado Mines, after a couple of successful years at the D3 level with St. Olaf. The new Oredigger recently placed 8th over 10,000 meters and 18th in the 5000 meters at the D3 NCAA Outdoor Championships.
However, maybe more impressively, he holds strong personal bests of 29:15 and 14:01 in those respective events. And for perspective, those times would have made him a top-20 name in Division Two this past spring in both events.
While Bocovich's performances on the oval are solid, it’s his 8th place finish at the 2023 Division Three NCAA XC Championships that catches our attention in a major way. His track times reiterate the notion that he can seamlessly transition to Division Two, but it's that specific effort on the grass which suggests that he can be a top talent with Colorado Mines.
After improving from 61st place at the 2021 D3 NCAA XC Championships to 8th last fall, Bocovich doesn't have to do a ton more to validate this ranking (we think). That being said, we do have questions as to how he’ll adjust to training at 7000 feet of altitude.
While there are a few questions regarding Bocovich, he hasn’t given us a reason to doubt his ability. We feel confident about the likelihood of the reigning national champions harnessing his ability and capitalizing on his still-developing raw talent.
14. Paul Knight, Rs. Sophomore, Colorado Mines
Paul Knight is a name that often gets overshadowed by his superstar teammates, but he’s built up an impressive resume of his own, as well as some recent momentum, heading into the fall months.
The Colorado Mines redshirt sophomore placed 8th over 10,000 meters at the 2023 NCAA Outdoor Championships and ran his PR of 30:13 at 5739 feet of elevation earlier in the season. Despite his lack of racing for most of the spring, those two performances showcased some highly impressive, and possibly underappreciated, aerobic strength.
However, more importantly, those efforts complement (and validate) the Oredigger ace’s 24th place finish at last year’s NCAA XC Championships. He was 7th at the South Central Region XC Championships and 8th at the RMAC XC Championships prior to his All-American performance. That is not only tremendous consistency, but also great reliability in the postseason.
And best of all? Knight achieved all of that in his first-ever collegiate cross country season.
Knight's consistency between the grass and the oval, headlined by multiple All-American honors, would have given him a top-20 preseason ranking regardless of any other factors.
However, knowing that he still has a massive amount of room for growth rightfully earned Knight a TSR #14 preseason ranking as he enters his second fall campaign with more racing knowledge and confidence.
13. Hamza Chahid, Freshman, Wingate
Considering that we have yet to see Hamza Chahid run cross country collegiately, this ranking may appear preposterous. But when accounting for his massive success on the oval, we’re confident in the Morocco native’s ability to translate his talent from the oval to the grass.
But truthfully, there's no perfect way to know for certain.
Chahid came to Wingate last winter and took the Division Two world by storm, winning a national title over 3000 meters after anchoring the Bulldogs to NCAA gold in the DMR. He then carried his momentum into the spring months, posting a mind-boggling time of 13:33 (5k) at the Bryan Clay Invitational. He also ran 3:44 in the 1500 meters at the Charlotte Invitational.
At the outdoor national meet, the Bulldog star attempted the grueling 5k/1500 double and ended his weekend in Pueblo with a 6th place finish in the 1500 meters and a DNF in the 5k. While he didn’t live up to the lofty expectations he set for himself earlier in the season, it’s hard to fault Chahid for going after, what could have been, a legacy-defining weekend.
Two national titles on the indoor oval, an All-American performance this past spring and a time of 13:33 in the 5k is an incredibly impressive first-year resume. Even so, he still has to prove himself over 10,000 meters on the grass. And while he's talented, moving up to twice that distance is not an easy challenge.
For now, a TSR #13 preseason ranking feels like an equitable landing spot for a massive talent who we have yet to see compete in the fall.
12. Ryan Hartman, Junior, Augustana (SD)
Ryan Hartman enters this season on the doorstep of the top-10 of our preseason rankings due to the success that he has maintained on the grass. The Viking junior placed 19th at the 2022 NCAA XC Championships, improving slightly upon his 22nd place finish from 2021.
At this point in our rankings, that's the best national meet consistency that we've seen from any D2 runner on the grass...outside of maybe Gideon Kimutai.
While he’s been consistently successful during the fall months, Hartman seemed a bit off during his time on the track. The Augustana ace holds praiseworthy PRs of 13:59 for 5000 meters and 8:44 in the steeplechase from the 2022 outdoor track season. However, his best times this past year were 14:28 and 9:17 in those respective events.
Despite his slight dip in performance, Hartman managed to place 8th in the steeplechase and 17th in the 5k at the 2023 NCAA Outdoor Championships this past spring -- an encouraging rebound weekend. But while he still earned All-American honors, he didn’t have the same firepower that we’ve previously seen from him on the grass.
Naturally, that raises some questions heading into this fall.
Even so, with two top-25 performances at the cross country national meet, we’ll bank on Hartman’s reliability, further corroborated by a pair of runner-up results at the Northern Sun XC Championships, coming through this fall.
11. JP Rutledge, Junior, Colorado Mines
Not only is JP Rutledge one of three Colorado Mines runners to be listed in this section of our preseason rankings, but he's also one of two incoming transfers who the Orediggers have added to their 2023 cross country roster.
Previously a top-tier scorer for Missouri Southern, another competitive D2 distance program, Rutledge brings exciting upside to Golden, Colorado along with plenty of uncertainty.
In the fall of 2021, Rutledge was fantastic. After a pair silver medals at his conference and regional meets, the former Lion star dropped an insane 6th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships. We knew that he was talented, but a somewhat light schedule made it difficult (at the time) to truly realize how good he was.
But throughout the 2022 cross country season, that same magic disappeared. Rutledge still recorded numerous top-10 results, but those efforts came at meets that he should have been winning. And when he reached the 2022 NCAA XC Championships, the Missouri Southern runner faded to 47th place.
After a fine, but admittedly modest, outdoor track season, it's hard to know what version of Rutledge we're going to get in 2023. Based off of his efforts from two years ago, he should be in the conversation for a top-five ranking. But if we're only looking at his 2022 campaign, then he may not even get mentioned in these rankings.
We don't know if a TSR #11 ranking is the right spot for Rutledge, but if any program can revitalize his nationally competitive resume, it's Colorado Mines. And we'll bank on the coaching excellence of Chris Siemers to make that happen.
