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TSR's 2023 Preseason D2 XC Top 25 Rankings: #20-16 (Men)
- Grace McLaughlin
- Jul 28, 2023
- 5 min read
Written by Grace McLaughlin, additional edits by Gavin Struve & Garrett Zatlin
20. Harry Louradour, Junior, West Texas A&M
Harry Louradour is an extremely hard athlete to rank at the moment due to his absence from the national stage during both the indoor and outdoor track seasons. Even so, he’s still very much deserving of a spot in our preseason top-25 rankings, and perhaps higher given how he ended his 2022 fall campaign.
The Buffalo junior only raced once, over 1500 meters, last spring and toed the line just a few times on the indoor oval. He did, however, run 14:07 (5k) and 8:25 (3k) at the GVSU Big Meet in February, but did not qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Compared to his 18th place finish from last year’s NCAA XC Championships, the rest of Louradour performances over the past year are a bit puzzling. That said, this West Texas A&M standout did post some nice finishes leading up to the cross country national meet, even if his top-half All-American result did come as a bit of a surprise. Let's not forget, he is the 2022 Lone Star Conference champion from last fall.
Natural progression and the graduation of top names would suggest that this Frenchman should be closer to the top-10 portion of our rankings (specifically just on the fringes). However, Louradour hasn’t consistently performed quite to that level (yet).
Until we know more about Louradour’s current fitness and ability to be consistent, slotting him near his 18th place finish from last year’s NCAA XC Championships in our preseason rankings feels fair.
19. Tyler Nord, Rs. Freshman, Western Colorado
Some people may think that Tyler Nord should be closer to a top-15 runner. Others may suggest that he's not even a top-25 name. And then there are those at The Stride Report who can recognize his incredible talent, but have massive uncertainty about his potential for the upcoming cross country season.
Nord didn't race on the grass last year. Instead, he was redshirted and left to develop. That, in retrospect, turned out to be a brilliant move. The Western Colorado ace had a monster indoor track season, winning the 3k title at the RMAC Indoor Championships and later earning bronze in that same event at the indoor national meet with an 8:02 PR. He also helped his DMR squad place 4th the night before.
On the outdoor oval, Nord ran a converted 3:44 mark for 1500 meters and also posted a fantastic 14:03 (5k) personal best. He would venture to the national meet in both events, ultimately earning 8th place All-American honors in the metric mile as a true rookie.
Nord is exceptionally talented. And on paper, he is almost certainly a top-25 name in Division Two for this fall. But without knowing what he did last year and without any collegiate experience on the grass, there might be a significant learning curve. After all, this guy is still just a sophomore, academically -- it's easy to forget that considering how good he's been.
But it's that same youth-based upside that makes us wonder if this preseason ranking is actually too conservative! Yes, 3000 meters on the track is far more different than 10,000 meters on the grass, but it's hard to fake talent -- and Nord has plenty of that.
18. Scott Nutter, Junior, Wingate
Scott Nutter appears to be a prime example of athlete development at the Division Two level. To see why, one hardly needs to look past his 22nd place All-American finish at last year’s NCAA XC Championships. That was clear, tangible improvement on his already-solid 58th place finish from the 2021 national meet.
In addition to his improvement on the grass, his gains on the track in 2023 are a major reason why he resides at TSR #18 in our preseason rankings.
The Wingate star most recently placed 12th over 10,000 meters and 15th for 5000 meters at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. He also ran PRs of 13:54 (5k) and 29:17 (10k) earlier in the season. Those are very good times at this level and they show that Nutter has put himself close to the upper-tier of Division Two competition over the span of the last eight months.
But before giving him the next bump up in our rankings, we are waiting for Nutter to really make the jump from being "good" to "great."
Outside of his one All-American performance in cross country and the momentum on the track that came with it, there is not much else to offer for Nutter’s preseason ranking. Still, his relative consistency and the stability that comes with being a part of a rising Wingate program only adds to his upwards trajectory.
17. Cameron Allan, Senior, Adams State
*NOTE: While not yet confirmed, The Stride Report has learned following the publication of this article that Cameron Allan may not be returning to the NCAA later this fall based on a previous Instagram post.
Thanks to a very similar, but slightly more proven, resume to teammate Aron Orar (TSR #24), this Grizzly senior starts the 2023 cross country season at TSR #17 in our preseason rankings.
Back in March, Cameron Allan competed at the NCAA Indoor Championships, his first time at the national stage, over 3000 meters. He also ran a strong PR of 8:02 in the event at Boston University back in December.
However, those performances followed a disappointing and unexpected early end to Allan's 2022 cross country season in which all of the Adams State men shockingly failed to make it out of their regional meet.
During the spring months, Allan ventured to the NCAA Outdoor Championships where he contested the 10k (15th) and the 5k (12th). And while respectable, those results don’t necessarily match the talent that he showed earlier in the season.
The Grizzly ace ran 28:37 over 10,000 meters at the Bryan Clay Invitational and 13:50 over 5000 meters at the Portland Twilight Invite. In turn, those results were good for the NCAA #1 and NCAA #5 marks, respectively, on the D2 national leaderboard last spring.
The disparity between his stellar times and his postseason performances makes Allan a difficult name to rank. Compounding that is the aforementioned fact that he did not even compete at last year’s NCAA XC Championships.
But Allan was 4th at both the RMAC XC Championships and the Highlander Invitational. There is no denying that the top-end talent is there for him, even if we have questions about his consistency and national meet efforts.
A TSR #17 spot may not fully reward his true potential and upside, but it does give him the benefit of the doubt when looking at Adams State's flukey end to their 2022 fall campaign.
16. Andrew Amor, Senior, New Mexico Highlands
Andrew Amor is a true cross country runner in the purest sense of the phrase.
That’s both because he has enjoyed his greatest achievements on the grass and hasn’t quite translated his aerobic talent to the track. The Aussie distance talent placed 20th at last year’s NCAA XC Championships, improving upon his 30th place finish from the fall of 2021.
That pair of All-American performances is arguably even more impressive when you factor in that Amor has yet to qualify for a national meet on the oval. Luckily for the New Mexico Highlands ace, his most fruitful season is just around the corner. He’s a proven talent on the grass who has shown that he can peak for and perform at the NCAA XC Championships.
Plus, let's not forget that the D2 veteran won four-straight (smaller) meets last fall before earning top-six finishes at both his conference (RMAC) and regional (South Central) meets. Based on that streak of performances, there may be an argument for Armor to be ranked even higher.
The RMAC standout also showed solid improvements this past spring in the distance events. He ran a PR of 29:26 (10k) at the Bryan Clay Invitational and 14:49 (5k) at almost 5000 feet of elevation at the CSU-Pueblo Open.
His veteran status, recent momentum on the oval, underrated consistency and past national meet success puts Andrew Amor at TSR #16 in our preseason rankings. But truthfully, we wouldn't argue with anyone who wanted to rank him higher.
