TSR's 2023 Preseason D3 XC Top 20 Rankings: #5-1 (Men)

Written by Gavin Struve additional edits and commentary Garrett Zatlin

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Click here to read our rankings rubric

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5. Nick Andrews, Senior, SUNY Geneseo

Some of the names in our preseason rankings require a bit of projection.

It can be difficult to know where to place an athlete who has a lot of untapped potential because of their youth or top performances on the track -- and those athletes often have a wider range of outcomes.

That, however, is the opposite of the case with SUNY Geneseo veteran, Nick Andrews. In fact, he was already the 6th place finisher at the NCAA XC Championships last fall, so he’d hardly have to improve upon that finish to reach where we have him ranked entering this season.

Andrews was one of the most complete runners in the nation last fall. His "worst" finish was a 17th place result at the MSU Spartan Invitational where he lost to a handful of Division One men and Division Two athletes ranked inside of our preseason top-25 lists.

From there, he twice finished runner-up before winning both the SUNYAC XC Championships and the Niagara Regional XC Championships leading up to the "Big Dance".

From there, Andrews notched his fifth All-American result which was his second on the grass. His 6th place finish was a breakout result compared to his 39th place finish at the 2021 NCAA XC Championships after a similar lead up, but it was hardly a fluke.

That’s why Andrews holds one of the spots in our preseason rankings that we’re most confident about. The following four men each deserve to be ranked ahead of him, but based on his outstanding reliability, he has done more than enough to land in our top-five.

4. Christopher Collet, Senior, Wartburg

If you were uninitiated to the minutiae of track and field (which is impossible since you’re definitely a regular TSR reader) and I told you that Christopher Collet is a five-time All-American who has won a national title in the steeplechase, holds the D3 record in that event and was a top-10 All-American at the 2022 NCAA XC Championships, then you’d think for sure that he belongs at a spot better than TSR #4.

Of course, such is the state of affairs with a bulk of talent clustering the top of the NCAA distance sphere this fall. Collet has a jam-packed resume, but only really added to it on the grass last fall. In fact, his first cross country All-American result came after he’d already won a national title on the track.

Last cross country season, Collet won five of his six races, including the Augustana Interregional Invitational and the American Rivers Conference XC Championships, entering the national meet. Those were tremendous efforts in some of the stacked D3-centric meets of the season.

The Wartburg star later backed up those performances with a 7th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships, rounding out a fantastic season.

The midwest star extended his success months later with a laudable 13:57 (5k) personal best before finishing runner-up in the steeplechase at the 2023 NCAA Outdoor Championships and running the aforementioned collegiate record a week later.

Collet arguably has as much momentum as any man in these rankings. The only thing holding him back from a higher placement is his longevity of excellence on the grass, strictly in comparison to the other men on this list.

3. Sam Acquaviva, Senior, MIT

Given his status as one of the most accomplished cross country runners in Division Three, Sam Acquaviva’s competitors were likely not pleased to learn that this title contender will be exercising his fifth year of eligibility.

The MIT stud became a household name in Division Three at the 2022 NCAA XC Championships when he raced to a bronze medal finish. That effort came after he improved throughout the course of the season and peaked for the postseason. Acquaviva went from finishing 11th at the D3 National Preview to an outstanding 3rd place at the Connecticut College Invitational before winning the NEWMAC XC Championships.

Although he didn’t look prepared for it a couple months prior, Acquaviva’s 3rd place national meet finish last fall shouldn’t have qualified as a major surprise. He was, after all, the 13th place finisher at the 2021 NCAA XC Championships.

And even though he has never recorded an All-American finish on the track, Acquaviva boasts personal bests of 8:00 (3k) and 13:57 (5k) that would be impressive at any level. That's raw talent that is almost as good anyone else in D3.

We view Acquaviva as one of the most known commodities in NCAA cross country, even at this range of our rankings. A national title this fall wouldn’t be any bigger surprise than how relatively close he came in 2022.

2. Ethan Gregg, Senior, UW-La Crosse

As strong as Collet and Acquaviva are, this was mostly a two-man race for our TSR #1 spot. And truthfully, we came exceedingly close to awarding Ethan Gregg that honor.

This guy was just the runner-up finisher in the 10k at the 2023 NCAA Outdoor Championships (behind a since-departed Division One transfer). He also won gold over 3000 meters and a bronze medal over 5000 meters at the NCAA Indoor Championships this past winter after placing 4th at the cross country national meet last fall.

It would be difficult to craft a vastly more compelling resume than that, so don’t take it as a surprise if Gregg rises above this strong group for a national title. Aerobically, when it comes to the longest collegiate racing distances, you could argue that no one is better suited for those races than this Eagle veteran.

While he was a top-tier runner and a known quantity earlier in his career, Gregg didn’t emerge as a title national contender until the past academic year, specifically last fall.

During the 2022 cross country season, he won the Griak Invitational’s "Maroon" race as well as the D3 National Preview and the WIAC XC Championships. All of that came before his top-five finish at the NCAA XC Championships.

Simply put, Gregg was straight-up dominant last fall.

This past year as a whole showed development from when Gregg was the 11th place finisher at the 2021 cross country national meet and an All-American in the 10k on the outdoor oval later that spring.

If Gregg takes another step, then this seven-time All-American may end the season at TSR #1.

1. Christian Patzka, Junior, UW-Whitewater

While he doesn’t have Gregg’s 10k success, Christian Patzka holds just about everything else that you’d want from our TSR #1 runner.

This UW-Whitewater star was the runner-up finisher at last year’s NCAA XC Championships. And truthfully, that was somewhat of a surprise after placing 4th at the WIAC XC Championships and not finishing higher than 3rd (but no lower than 8th) in any other meet that fall.

However, Patzka quickly put to bed any skepticism on the oval, showcasing an insane amount of raw talent and validating his incredible effort from November. The Wisconsin-based talent won a pair of national titles in the first half of 2023, potentially priming him for another NCAA gold medal in a few months.

Patzka, now an eight-time All-American, won the 5k national title this past winter with a shiny new PR of 13:47. He followed that result with a steeplechase victory at the 2023 NCAA Outdoor Championships after running another personal best, this one in 8:42.

This Warhawk star has everything from dynamism, consistency, top-end endurance and experience. He even boasts some of Division Three’s best speed with a 3:45 (1500) PR. While his runner-up finish at the national meet last fall came as a small surprise, we now view Patzka as someone capable of one-upping that result