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TSR's 2023 Preseason D3 XC Top 20 Rankings: #20-16 (Men)
- Conor Daly
- Jul 28, 2023
- 5 min read
Written by Conor Daly, additional edits and commentary by Gavin Struve & Garrett Zatlin
20. Gavin McElhennon, Junior, Johns Hopkins
Gavin McElhennon has been a contender for All-American finishes at many of the national meets in recent years, but has maybe been pushed aside by some of the bigger names. That could change this fall if he follows his current trajectory on the grass.
The Johns Hopkins veteran had a strong season last fall, holding his own against Division One and Two competition early in the season at Michigan State, Paul Short and Panorama Farms.
After a change of scenery, McElhennon returned to more Division Three-centric races by placing 3rd at his conference meet and then winning his regional meet. At the cross country national meet, McElhennon logged an excellent 27th place finish, his best performance to date.
McElhennon’s indoor track season was highlighted by a trip to the indoor national meet in two events as well as an 8:11 (3k) PR. However, this past winter marked the second indoor national meet in a row where McElhennon struggled to perform close to his potential.
As for the spring months, the Blue Jay ace ran a 5k PR of 14:17, but was unable to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Championships
Although McElhennon has not been a prominent figure at the national level on the track, his cross country resume suggests that he will be just fine this fall. Now that he holds a bevy of national meet experience, we think it's just a matter of time before McElhennon drops something big, making him truly deserving of a spot maybe even higher than this in our preseason rankings.
19. John Lucey, Junior, Williams
You hate to see an incredible athlete have to live in the shadows of their superstar teammates. Unfortunately, that is what happened to John Lucey last fall.
However, 2023 projects to be different for the Ephs' distance standout.
In the early portion of the 2022 cross country season, Lucey found himself in some thin races and wasn’t quite able to stick with Williams’ top low-stick, the now-graduated Elias Lindgren. Even so, Lucey racked up respectable top-10 finishes at some of smaller early-season meets, including a 10th place finish at the fairly competitive Siena XC Invitational.
Once championship season came around, Lucey rose to the occasion. His 4th place finish at the NESCAC XC Championships validated that he was headed in the right direction, setting him up well for the national meet. And sure enough, at the NCAA XC Championships, Lucey grabbed his first All-American honors with a monumental 18th place finish.
During his track campaign, the Williams star was as consistent as he could be. Four sub-14:30 performances over 5000 meters showed us that Lucey will continue to deliver competitive results regardless of the season. As such, he’s a name who we trust to perform when the national meet comes around in 2023.
Now tasked with being the low-stick of one of Division Three’s top distance programs, Lucey should be up to the challenge and he could possibly elevate his fitness even further with higher expectations placed upon his shoulders.
18. Jacob Green, Junior, Wartburg
Some runners just epitomize the gritty ethos of cross country
And in our eyes, Jacob Green is certainly one of those guys.
Last fall, Green completely leveled up in terms of his talent and fitness. After not even breaking into Wartburg’s top-seven the prior year, Green became a crucial part of the Knights’ distance program in 2022.
After serving as a reliable scorer throughout last year, Green decided that the national meet was his time to shine. The then-sophomore had a breakout race, finishing as Wartburg’s second scorer with a very impressive 22nd place finish at the NCAA XC Championships.
That momentum would extend to the oval in which Green destroyed his existing personal bests. His 14:29 performance for 5000 meters was notable, but it wasn't nearly as good as his 29:26 (10k) PR. The latter performance suggests that Green is a force to be reckoned with in the longer races which should translate well to the grass.
Green’s cross country national meet performance and a newfound 10k abilities on the track are enough for us to say that he has the kind of fitness-level that warrants a spot within the top-20 portion of our preseason rankings.
17. Braden Nicholson, Senior, North Central
Like his teammate and the man ranked one spot ahead of him (Max Svienty), North Central’s Braden Nicholson also only got better and better over the last academic year.
Nicholson had a good regular season last fall with a 15th place finish at the D3 National Preview and an 8th place finish in a very competitive Augustana Interregional Invitational. However, it was (most of) the postseason where Nicholson began to heat up.
The North Central junior finished 3rd at his conference meet, was the runner-up finisher at the Midwest Regional XC Championships and settled for a 46th place at the cross country national meet, just off of All-American status.
During the outdoor track season, Nicholson separated himself by showing off some incredible range. Nicholson ran competitive marks from the 1500 meters all the way up to the 10k. He set lifetime bests with times of 3:46 (1500), 14:06 (5k) and 29:46 (10k).
After qualifying for all three of those distances at the outdoor national meet, Nicholson opted to only contest the 5k. That decision turned out to be a wise one. In just his first national meet on the track, Nicholson executed his race plan wonderfully to score a bronze medal.
With an outdoor track season like the one he just had, it’s hard not to believe that Nicholson will be a big time player this fall. He has the perfect combination of strength and speed to be competitive in high-level races.
Yes, he struggled just a bit at last year's cross country national meet (relatively speaking), but his regular season was plenty deserving a top-20 preseason ranking. And frankly, it would be silly to suggest that he's not one of the best distance runners in Division Three this fall after the spring campaign that he just had.
16. Max Svienty, Senior, North Central
Although the end to Max Svienty’s 2022 cross country season left a bit to be desired, his track resume is simply too good to be ignored. That, in turn, has landed him a spot in our top-20.
At different points during the 2022 cross country season, Svienty ran under 24:00 for 8000 meters and placed 158th at the cross country national meet. Those two things don’t belong on the same resume.
Sure, there are a handful of his from last fall that are better than others. Still, there are a few marks which indicate that Svienty can be an elite talent this fall. At the Augustana Interregional Invitational, he finished 6th place in a field loaded with some of the best Division Three talent in the country, running 23:53.
That 6th place finish put Svienty ahead of the second runner from the then-national title favorites, Pomona-Pitzer. To complement this effort, a 4th place finish at the Midwest regional meet further validated his capabilities on the grass.
However, it's been on the track where Svienty has been a different beast. The North Central star put himself in elite company at the indoor national meet this past winter by placing 4th over 5000 meters. That momentum rolled into the outdoor track season where Svienty soloed a 29:14 (10k) just weeks later.
Svienty continued to add sub-14:00 (5k) credentials to his resume, even while racing frequently during his spring campaign. And at the outdoor national meet, he came away with top-10 finishes in both the 5k and 10k, including finishing 5th in the former event.
Coupling that streak of incredible efforts on the oval with his rapid improvement makes this North Central standout extremely dangerous. Those developments, plus his hints of exciting success on the grass should make it easy for Svienty flip the script from last fall and emerge as a front-running star for the Cardinals in November.
