.png)
TSR's 2023 Preseason D2 XC Top 25 Rankings: #5-1 (Men)
- Marissa Kuik
- Jul 31, 2023
- 6 min read
Written by Marissa Kuik, additional edits by Gavin Struve & Garrett Zatlin
5. Loic Scomparin, Junior, Colorado Mines
When your teammate is Dillon Powell, it is understandably easy to get overshadowed. However, Loic Scomparin is here to make a name for himself this cross country season after he has already done so on the track.
Scomparin has largely been regarded as a longer distance talent, tending to shine most in the 5k and the 10k. But then he took the Division Two world by surprise when he ran the NCAA #2 all-time mark (within D2) over 3000 meters this past winter!
Though his indoor national meet performance was underwhelming (an 8th place finish in the 3k), it’s hard to fault him for contesting a distance in which he ran so fast (7:51). Plus, he came back and performed well at the outdoor national meet.
In the spring, Scomparin went with his more familiar race, the 10k, and finished an impressive 3rd place overall at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. That, in our eyes, should translate beautifully to the grass this fall when paired with the firepower of his 3k fitness.
When it was all said and done, Scomparin compiled one of the more impressive years on the track. He ran new personal bests of 3:45 (1500), 13:45 (5k) and 29:09 (10k). Of course, it could be argued that he was simply riding his newfound momentum from a phenomenal 2022 cross country season.
Scomparin opened his abbreviated 2022 fall campaign with a runner-up finish at D2 Pre-Nationals, losing only to Powell, and ended it with a 10th place performance at the 2022 NCAA XC Championships.
It feels safe to say that Scomparin has entered a new realm of fitness in 2023. In fact, it could even be argued that he won’t be overshadowed by anyone else on his own team after this fall season.
4. Cole Nash, Junior, Alaska Anchorage
We have not seen Cole Nash since he sustained a pretty nasty injury at the 2023 NCAA Indoor Championships. However, that does not deter us from putting him this high in our preseason rankings. If afforded enough recovery time, then he should still be a dynamic racer with a knack for the longer distances.
Nash definitely had one of the more impressive and complete cross country seasons of anyone last fall. As just a sophomore, the Seawolf star won three races outright, including the GNAC XC Championships. He finished runner-up twice, including at the West Regional XC Championships. Then, finally, he capped it all off with a 6th place finish in Seattle at the cross country national meet.
Clearly, Nash can compete at an extremely high level on the grass, but we were also impressed by his new PRs set in the winter over 3000 meters (8:03) and 5000 meters (13:48). And since then, we have been left wondering how much he could have developed that latter mark, as well as his 10k time, during the spring months.
Unfortunately, we did not get to see him race on the outdoor oval.
As long as he is healthy, Nash should be up with the top men in Division Two this fall. And if his time off didn’t halt his rapid progression too severely, then he could challenge for the individual national title come November.
3. Jan Lukas Becker, Rs. Senior, Mississippi College
Possibly one of the greatest comeback wins of the whole outdoor national meet was Jan Lukas Becker’s victory over 10,000 meters this past spring.
Becker was already at a disadvantage racing at altitude and going up against Awet Beraki who knows racing at high elevation like the back of his hand. And at one point, it seemed like Beraki had the win in the bag after he gapped Becker.
But then Becker somehow managed to slowly reel in Beraki and ultimately put a gap on him en route to winning the 10k national title. It validated this veteran as someone who finally deserved our full attention as a legitimate national title threat in the longer distance events.
Beyond his incredible 10k win, Becker also ran some massive PRs during the indoor track season, including marks of 13:47 (5k) and 7:58 (3k). Plus, he had a fantastic season on the grass last fall as well.
In the fall of 2022, Becker came away with two victories, one at the GSC XC Championships and the other at the South Regional XC Championships. He capped off that year by finishing 8th at the NCAA XC Championships after making the bold move to go out hard and lead the first half of the race.
That effort marked Becker’s second top-10 finish in a row at the cross country national meet.
Now, you may be wondering why Becker is only placed at TSR #3 in our preseason rankings, and understandably so. Allow us to explain...
Part of the reason is because we want to see him improve even further on the national stage. Not only that, but the South region and the Gulf South Conference do not hold as many heavy-hitters as some other conferences and regions like the RMAC or the West region.
We know that there is a good chance that Becker will prove us wrong, but for now, the one-time national champion earns a spot in the middle of our top-five preseason rankings.
2. Duncan Fuehne, Senior, Colorado Mines
We'll admit, Duncan Fuehne’s 3rd place finish at the 2022 NCAA Cross Country Championships was somewhat of a surprise.
Yes, he performed well enough throughout the 2022 cross country season to validate that result and show that it wasn’t a fluke. But at the same time, he only raced twice before the national meet.
Last fall, Fuehne finished 3rd at D2 Pre-Nationals and was 5th at the RMAC XC Championships. While the RMAC is a loaded conference, we didn’t anticipate Fuehne finishing two spots higher on the national stage than he did at the conference level.
That’s especially true after he recorded a DNF at the 2021 NCAA XC Championships.
After his breakout performance in early December, expectations for the track season were exceedingly high for this Oredigger. And to be honest, we felt like he did not quite reach those expectations. Fuehne did run 13:58 for 5000 meters, but finished an underwhelming 9th place at the indoor national meet.
The Colorado Mines star raced sparingly once again during the outdoor track season and came away with another 9th place finish, this time in the 10k, and then an 8th place result in the 5k at the outdoor national meet.
Sure, that's not bad, but it was also a little below the top-end possibility for someone who finished 3rd on the national stage during the fall months.
Nevertheless, Fuehne still holds a mass amount of talent and momentum going into this fall. He is the top returner from last year’s cross country national meet after all. Even if his track seasons were not perfect, he still improved in some of his events and he has shown us that he is at his best on the grass, even with an abbreviated season.
Until he shows us otherwise, Fuehne opens up our rankings at TSR #2.
1. Awet Beraki, Junior, Adams State
We all know what you're thinking: “Adams State didn’t even make it to the cross country national meet! How can we put Awet Beraki at TSR #1 if he didn’t even race?”
Yes, that concern is 100% valid and it had us questioning where to place Beraki as well. However, we still believe that this Adams State star is the top distance talent in Division Two right now by some margin.
Similar to a lot of his teammates, Beraki had a chip on his shoulder after shockingly missing the cross country national meet last fall. And as a result, he seemingly took that unsaid frustration out on his competition in the early portion of the indoor track season.
The same weekend as the D2 cross country national meet, Beraki ventured to the east coast and ripped an ultra-fast 5k mark of 13:39. He ended his indoor track season with a runner-up finish in that event (losing only to Dillon Powell) on the national stage and a 7th place finish over 3000 meters with a new PR of 8:04.
Beraki then raced sparingly during the outdoor track season, but he still performed incredibly well once the outdoor national meet came around. He finished 2nd over 10,000 meters and then easily won the 5000 meter national title against a very tough field.
It’s true that Beraki needs to work on his racing tactics when it comes to the grass, but we still believe that he has the potential to come out on top this fall, particularly in such a wide open season.
After all, this is someone who holds absurdly fast track PRs of 13:36 (5k) and 28:12 (10k). He also has seven Division Two All-American finishes in as many tries, so once he does reach the national stage, he’s absolutely lethal.
