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TSR's 2023 Preseason D3 XC Top 10 Rankings (Women): #7 SUNY Geneseo Knights
- Gavin Struve
- Sep 8, 2023
- 7 min read
Written by Gavin Struve, edits and additional commentary by 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.
The SUNY Geneseo women enter this season in a very similar situation as their men’s team, which is not a bad place to be.
Both groups had near dream seasons a year ago, finishing in the top-five on the national stage. Both squads are also expected to take a minor step back this fall, but each side of this program is still slotted in our preseason top-10 team rankings.
Now, Coach Dan Moore’s teams can both push each other to hold up their end of the bargain with slightly different expectations. And we think the Knight women, with a higher floor, may have the best shot to do so.
The SUNY Geneseo women don’t have the same level of proven firepower that their male counterparts possess with Nick Andrews, but they still boast an All-American-caliber low-stick and arguably better depth. That should set this team up for their eighth-straight top-10 finish on the national stage in November.
* * *
SUNY Geneseo’s 2022 fall campaign began in a challenging setting at the MSU Spartan Invitational. There, veteran ace Kathleen McCarey finished in the top-10 while Windsor Ardner landed in the top-20. That duo gave the Knights a better scoring punch through two runners than a number of Division One teams.
And with their next three scorers -- Sierra Doody (41st), Marcie Hogan (47th) and Lilly Fowler-Conner (48th) -- all coming across the line in the top-50, SUNY Geneseo was able to produce a 3rd place team finish.
The Knights fell only to Michigan State and Grand Valley State and beat out eventual Division Three national champion, Johns Hopkins. It was a very solid outing from the SUNY Geneseo women who showcased great firepower and sturdy depth.
After sweeping the top-nine spots at the local Harry F. Anderson Invitational, the Knights put forth a similarly dominant performance at their home meet where they nabbed the top-six spots in the race.
After those confidence-boosters, the SUNY Geneseo women found themselves in a much closer affair at the Rowan Interregional Border Battle, an often loaded D3-centric regular season meet.
McCarey finished 3rd, yet again offering a top low-stick for her team to lean on. However, what was arguably more impressive was that the rest of this lineup produced just enough scoring to finish a single point ahead of Carleton for the meet victory by taking spots 7-8-9-10.
The catch? Windsor Ardner did not race.
Unsurprisingly, the women from Geneseo, New York also dominated the SUNYAC XC Championships despite withholding multiple scorers from the race.
After also cruising through their regional meet, the Knights entered the NCAA XC Championships as a near podium lock and perhaps as a dark horse contender to win the national title if everything went to plan. But beyond their two All-Americans, that was the opposite of how things went.
Ardner (8th) and McCarey (10th) were outstanding as expected, delivering on expectations to the fullest extent. Erin Eivers (44th) had a solid day of her own, but with no other woman cracking the top-90, there just wasn't enough scoring potency for the Knights to finish among the top-four teams at the national meet.
In the end, SUNY-Geneseo had to settle for a still-solid 5th place team finish.
The depth was still respectable with all five scorers in the top-100, but the Knights clearly didn’t have their best day.
* * *
With knowledge of the Knights’ departures, you may be surprised to see that we have them ranked within a couple spots of where they finished last year. And if we also informed you that they don’t return any All-Americans, then you may think that we’re grasping for straws with this placement.
Of course, we believe otherwise.
Windsor Ardner and Kathleen McCarey were both top-10 All-Americans last fall and were the main reasons why this team was so successful in 2022. Not only that, but both of those women were also top-25 All-Americans in 2021 when SUNY Geneseo finished 3rd on the national stage. They were the heart and soul of this team for the past two seasons.
And now, they're gone.
For most cross country teams, those would be departures that are nearly impossible to rebound from in a single year.
But the Knights will retain some of their 2022 identity as they bring back their next three scorers from the 2022 NCAA XC Championships. And when taking into account that each of those three women were underclassmen last year, we think that there is vast untapped potential among the new-look front-half of SUNY Geneseo’s lineup.
Erin Eivers was nearly an All-American last season, finishing 44th on the national stage, and was extremely consistent through the course of the season. She also has experience running toward the front of races, recording four top-eight finishes in her six races a year ago which could help her develop into being more of a lead scorer.
Lilly Fowler-Conner made significant gains in her second collegiate cross country campaign, finishing 10th at the Rowan Interregional Border Battle, 4th at the SUNYAC XC Championships and 91st at the national meet. She figures to be a strong middle lineup scorer, or perhaps better if she continues the rate of development that she followed from year one to year two.
Sierra Doody is someone who we are very high on. She is another name who may step into a more prominent role for the Knights over the coming months. The former rookie recently showcased her versatility by qualifying for the NCAA Outdoor Championships over 800 meters this past spring.
Like Fowler-Conner, Doody snuck into the top-100 at last year’s national meet in their first appearance at that stage. She also finished a quietly-strong 41st place at the MSU Spartan Invitational. She wasn't perfect, but she seemed to hold her own in fairly large fields.
If Fowler-Connor and Doody make the expected improvements and join Eivers at the top of this lineup, then SUNY Geneseo’s final three scorers from last year’s national meet may all emerge as lead talents in 2023.
* * *
We’ve outlined a solid group of returnees, but we haven’t even mentioned Rachel Hirschkind who is the only individual on this team to crack our preseason top-20 rankings (at TSR #18). The rising senior has long been an elite steeplechaser, but we think this could finally be the season in which she puts it all together on the grass.
Hirschkind was admittedly up-and-down last fall, but she was a top-three scorer for this team on multiple occasions and has hinted at immense potential. She had an “off” day at the 2022 NCAA XC Championships, finishing 111th, but placed 59th on that stage in 2021.
In our eyes, it would almost be surprising if Hirschkind wasn't a true low-stick / All-American for this squad in 2023 -- we sincerely believe in her that much.
All of the women who we have mentioned are strong names who have each amassed at least some high-leverage experience (with respectable results) to bank on. Still, it would be nice if they had some more firepower to put them (or keep them) among the nation’s elite teams.
That’s where Penelope Greene comes in.
Greene did not even race for the Knights at last fall’s cross country national meet, but like Hirschkind, she was better in the fall of 2021. In her freshman campaign, Greene was consistently SUNY Geneseo’s third-best runner after McCarey and Ardner. That season eventually ended with Greene placing 44th at the 2021 NCAA XC Championships.
While some may suggest that she has struggled to recapture the form that she displayed nearly two years ago, she likely silenced any doubters once the calendar turned to 2023.
Greene was quietly great on the track earlier this year, running 16:47 (5000) and qualifying for that event at both the NCAA Indoor Championships and the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Her potential to be a lead scorer for this team is still plenty high as we enter the fall of 2023.
It seems more likely than not that Greene or Hirschkind will emerge as an All-American this fall. And if both do, then the rest of the NCAA should watch out. The Knights could be just as good as they were last year, even without their two low-stick stars of 2021 and 2022.
However, the question now turns to who will fill the final lineup spots for the Knights.
Katherine Vogel stockpiled racing experience last fall and more than held her own. After running a solid 17:22 (5k) PR in May, she may even be overqualified for her projected role as a sixth or seventh runner. Gabby McCarthy (17:27) is in a similar boat. While this feels like a fairly entrenched top-seven, don’t entirely rule out the possibility of a freshman contributing.
We should also note that the Knights lose Marcie Hogan, an established scorer and All-American on the track, but someone who had an "off" day at the national meet last year, finishing outside of the top-100. From a depth standpoint, that's not an ideal loss.
* * *
This was one of the most stable and consistent teams throughout the entirety of the 2022 cross country season, particularly in September and October. It’s scary to consider that this squad nearly cracked the top-four on a day when they weren’t at their best.
That being said, this is not a team devoid of uncertainties.
Hirschkind and Greene are two of the Knights’ highest-upside options and will likely be relied upon as low-sticks. However, neither of those women were at their best last fall. Still, with Eivers set to return, they can form a strong troika that has the potential of landing three women among the top-40 on the national stage.
And with Doody and Fowler-Conner — who are admittedly young runners with just one year of strong results to rely on — figuring to improve from last year, this team feels like it has a relatively high floor on paper.
Of course, we know that a maelstrom of pressure, expectations and other variables can shred up well-laid plans during any cross country season.
If the Knights get what they expect from most of their top-five women, then they should comfortably notch another top-10 team finish on the national stage. Plus, Vogel and McCarthy should be capable of stepping up and filling in should one of the projected scorers not perform up to their potential.
SUNY Geneseo figures to take a slight step back for a second year in a row, but we expect that the Knights will largely maintain their status among the very best Division Three women’s distance programs.
