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TSR's 2023 Preseason D3 XC Top 10 Rankings (Women): #4 U. of Chicago Maroons
- Conor Daly
- Sep 11, 2023
- 8 min read
Written by Conor Daly, edits and additional commentary by Gavin Struve and 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.
We’ll put it like this: The University of Chicago women are the Division Three equivalent of the University of Washington men. And we promise you, that is not a compliment that we give out to just any team.
Both are elite mile-focused programs on the track (for their respective divisions) that are still able to run very well on the cross country course.
The Maroons return seven women this year who have run under 4:38 for 1500 meters, including four who have run under 4:31 and two who have run under 4:24. That is not something that you see every day at this level.
But before we get carried away with U. of Chicago’s successes on the track, let’s rewind the clock and remind ourselves of how well they performed on the grass last year.
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After sweeping the top-five spots at the St. Francis Saints XC Twilight, the Maroons faced off against a strong Washington U. program for an early-season duel. In what we expected to be a tight race at the Gil Dodds Invitational, the U. of Chicago women took down Washington U. in convincing fashion.
Not only did the Maroons take the top-two spots (via Lucy Groothuis and Anna Kenig-Ziesler), but they also put each of their five scorers in front of Washington U.’s fourth runner! That was an impressive show of dominance that captured attention across the nation.
Of course, that race was an early-season test in mid-September. Far greater challenges lied ahead, specifically at the D3 National Preview.
At that meet, the Maroons were led by then-seniors Groothuis, Kenig-Ziesler and Frances Schaeffler who finished in spots 3-4-5. Katarina Birimac placed 18th while Caitlin Jorgensen and Sophie Tedesco ran for 29th and 32nd, respectively.
That all led to U. of Chicago taking home a convincing win over MIT. The Maroons' had three true low-sticks in comparison to MIT's two lead runners and they also had far better depth which held limited scoring gaps.
However, the Augustana Interregional Invitational would prove to be a greater challenge. The meet featured a showdown with midwest rival, Wartburg.
Schaeffler, Kenig-Ziesler and Groothuis once again led the team, all placing within the top-10. Yet again, their firepower proved to be highly potent. Birimac, who was 14th, proved to be a reliable fourth scorer who was continuing to make sold improvements. But in the end, it was Maddie Kelly who was the difference maker.
In her first race of the season, Kelly came up big as the team’s fifth scorer, securing an incredibly clutch 18th place finish. In the end, the Maroons grabbed a statement victory, barely edging Wartburg by three points for the team title.
At the UAA XC Championships, the Maroons once again took down Washington U., flexing their depth by putting their top-seven all within the top-13 spots. In only her second race of the season, Kelly ran phenomenally. She emerged as U. of Chicago’s second runner to finish 5th overall. That was a convincing performance that improved the Maroons’ stock by a significant margin.
Let’s also not forget about the fifth through seventh runners who were also running plenty well in their own right, finishing together in 11th, 12th and 13th place. And although U. of Chicago did not need all of that depth at that particular meet, the trio of Birimac, Tedesco and Jorgensen were crucial in providing a safety net for their team's scoring.
The Maroons continued to ride their momentum by taking a comfortable runner-up finish at the Midwest Regional XC Championships, punching their ticket to the national meet in Lansing, Michigan. Everything seemed to be clicking for the Maroons; they were healthy, perfectly balanced and peaking at the right time.
U. of Chicago went into the 2022 NCAA XC Championships eyeing a national title. But unfortunately for them, gold fell out of their reach.
Kenig-Ziesler and Groothuis were fabulous as always, coming away with a pair of top-20 performances. Meanwhile, Maddie Kelly ran to an All-American-worthy 36th place finish. That result was strong, but maybe not as potent as we had hoped considering that in the latter stages of the season, Kelly was finishing with Kenig-Zeisler and Groothuis.
Consistent as always, Birimac was close behind in 45th place while Tedesco closed out the scoring in 60th place. There may have been room for marginal improvements, but for the most part, U. of Chicago ran exceptionally well.
However, at the end of the day, the Maroons came up just short of a national title, falling to Johns Hopkins by a heartbreaking three-point margin.
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The departure of what were U. of Chicago’s top-four runners for parts of last fall leaves this team with significant gaps to fill. The Maroons will compete this fall without Lucy Groothuis, Anna Kenig-Ziesler, Frances Schaeffler and Katarina Birimac.
Usually, we would be more concerned about a team that loses so many crucial pieces of their lineup. Most programs aren't able to rebound from those kinds of losses.
But over the last year, the Maroons have found great success with developing so many of their athletes, including a handful of women who were not healthy for last fall’s national meet. And when you factor-in the extensive history of this program, we’re able to envision a cohesive lineup that is still plenty competitive this fall.
Leading the charge this fall is Maddie Kelly. Despite not competing until the middle of October, Kelly was able to put together a fantastic 2022 fall campaign, highlighted by a 5th place finish on the regional stage and an All-American finish on the national stage.
That's already the resume of a serious low-stick, but it gets even better.
Since then, Kelly has been on another level. Her PRs of 4:22 (1500) and 16:44 (5k) speak for themselves. It’s hard to bet against someone with credentials like that. In addition to being fantastic in time-trial scenarios, the Maroon ace has also been able to perform when it matters most at the national meet, racking up three silver medals between the winter and spring months.
Regardless of what heights she reaches, she will undoubtedly be more than prepared for the challenge of being the team’s focal ace this fall. That’s why we have Kelly at TSR #13 in our preseason individual rankings.
However, possibly the more fascinating part of U. of Chicago's project lineup is that they could very easily have two high-caliber low-sticks despite their losses.
That’s because Claudia Harnett was hands-down incredible in her freshman campaign two years ago. She won the UAA XC Championships over Annika Urban and went on to place 17th at the 2021 cross country national meet.
At her best, she is a true star.
Even so, it hasn’t all been rainbows for Harnett. This past year, her sophomore year, she did not compete on the cross country course or on the outdoor oval. When she did race during indoor track, she ran a time of 4:57 (mile) and helped her team place 2nd in the DMR at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Admittedly, it’s hard to put too much stake in someone who we can’t be certain is going to step to the line. Yes, her indoor track performances showed us that she is still fit, but it’s difficult to forecast what we will see from Harnett who has offered limited results as of late.
That being said, she is rostered this season, so we will be eagerly awaiting her debut. And if she does return to her 2021 form, then the firepower on this team will still be plenty dangerous.
Another key returner is Sophie Tedesco. Unlike many of her teammates who are more middle distance specialists, Tedesco is a runner who is at her best in the longer races. And like many athletes of that ilk, her event focus equates to terrific consistency on the grass.
As a backend scorer last year, Tedesco will look to move her way up in U. of Chicago's lineup later this fall. Fortunately for her, that looks like a highly probable scenario after posting a 35:58 (10k) mark this past spring. And at the very least, she was an incredibly stable backend piece who can comfortably fit into a scoring role this fall even if she doesn't improve.
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Despite finishing just a single collegiate cross country race in her career, Evelyn Battleson-Gunkel projects to be a critical part of this lineup. She has, after all, been an indubitable force to be reckoned with on the track.
This past season, she posted marks of 4:23 (1500) and 16:48 (5k), not to mention a pair of top-10 performances at this year’s outdoor national meet. If Battleson-Gunkel is able to translate her outstanding success from the track to the grass, then she could offer a lot of untapped potential.
And frankly, an All-American honor isn't out of the question for her. Depending on who you ask, she may actually be favored to reach a top-40 honor in November despite holding almost no cross country results on her resume.
Caitlin Jorgensen also returns to the lineup for her final year in Chicago. She had a very solid fall campaign in 2022, but looks to take a jump after reaching the national meet in both the 3000 meters and the steeplechase, running 9:48 and 10:45, respectively.
Those marks make us excited to see just how fast she can go over 6k. But arguably Jorgensen’s biggest asset to this team is her reliability via her consistent performances and staying healthy, something that this Maroons squad deeply needs.
Yes, Jorgensen finished 123rd at the national meet, but her fall resume suggested that she was much better than that. She placed 19th at the Augustana Interregional Invite and 29th at the D3 National Preview.
Cat Wimmer is someone who we didn’t see in U. of Chicago’s postseason lineup last year, although we expect that to change in 2023. Last fall, she was consistent, but was just unable to claim a top-seven spot.
Wimmer is another 1500-meter specialist on this team, dropping a 4:28 mark over that distance at the outdoor national meet.
But let’s not forget that this is also someone who has very good range in the longer distances as well, backed by her 10:00 (3k) and 17:00 (5k) marks. Although she has not done so yet, we don’t see why Wimmer can’t produce performances of that caliber on the grass.
A full picture of this U. of Chicago squad would not be complete without giving credit to a pair of rising sophomores who will be looking to crack the top-seven. Emma Kelly (the younger sister of Maddie Kelly) and Nora Holmes both ran 4:36 for 1500 meters last year.
As for their first season on the grass, Emma Kelly just missed the postseason lineup whereas Holmes was U. of Chicago's seventh runner at their first meet, but didn’t compete the rest of the season. With little experience in the 6k, we foresee a lot of upside in this duo.
* * *
Now that we’re done highlighting individuals, we’d like to point out that we did not mention where exactly in this lineup we expect each of these athletes to be (other than Maddie Kelly).
That’s because it’s impossible to say.
We just outlined eight athletes who all have legitimate potential to crack the top-five portion of U. of Chicago's lineup this fall. You could make an argument for any of them and if you're the Maroons, then that’s a very good problem to have.
That kind of wiggle room, upside and depth is particularly valuable for this Maroons team that has occasionally battled injuries and availability challenges.
All things considered, the success that U. of Chicago has this fall is heavily dependent on how well they are able to get their milers ready for the rigors of a grueling cross country season.
We wouldn’t be so quick to support a team that is this reliant on milers on the men’s side, but we have seen that the 6k distance for the women can allow milers to thrive. In recent years, the Maroons have proven they can develop their milers into significant contributors on the grass, and then some.
We’re going to take that history and assume that they’re going to be able to do the same this year, in which case, the Maroons will be a scary good team yet again.
