TSR's 2024 D1 XC Top 25 Team Rankings (Men): Update #2

---

NOTE: These rankings are based on how a team fared throughout the entirety of a season, not just how they ran at a singular meet or (eventually) at the 2024 NCAA XC Championships. Click here to learn more about our ranking criteria (which was published in 2023).

---

KEY

(Unranked):

Was not ranked in our last update.

(#/#):

First number indicates how much the team has moved in the rankings.

The second number indicates where the team was ranked in our last update.

---

25. Michigan Wolverines (-9 / 16)

Welp...that was bad.

The Michigan men made waves at the Nuttycombe Invite when they earned a fantastic 6th place effort. That was a surprising result as many men in their lineup stepped up in a major way. Of course, you wouldn't have suspected that after seeing the Wolverines place 22nd at Pre-Nationals.

Nathan Lopez (81st) and Luke Venhuizen (85th) were decent enough, but both men were capable of better finishes, especially the former. With no other runners cracking the top-105 and low-stick Caleb Jarema flat-out struggling, it was going to be hard for Michigan to salvage a competitive result on Saturday.

It would be a bit of an overreaction to drop Michigan out of our top-25 entirely after one tough race. They did, after all, put together a huge race at the Nuttycombe Invite.

24. Eastern Kentucky Colonels (-12 / 12)

A 15th place finish at Pre-Nationals isn't necessarily bad, but it did leave us wanting so much more. Justine Kipkoech (3rd) proved to be an elite star, but the rest of this lineup just didn't offer the scoring spark that we had hoped that they would.

Tomas Vega (62nd) had a solid day while Mario Priego (95th) was decent enough. However, no other EKU men were able to crack the top-115 spots. Not only that, but 8:35 steeplechaser Kristian Imroth continues to struggle on the grass, Taha Er Rouay has still not raced this season and we didn't see Mohammed Jouhari compete this past weekend, either.

There are still multiple ways for the Colonels to improve going into the postseason. Thankfully, the upcoming ASUN XC Championships shouldn't require too much stress in order for them to secure gold.

23. Colorado Buffaloes (-3 / 20)

We can only shrug our shoulders and say, "Yeah, this result looks about right," after seeing the Buffaloes settle for 14th place at Pre-Nationals. Dean Casey (28th) looked like a low-stick this past weekend while Kole Mathison (77th) and Simon Kelati (78th) did a decent enough job of keeping Colorado afloat. The challenge, however, is that no one else on this team cracked the top-110 spots. Isaiah Givens (114th) struggled despite being capable of a top-40 finish while veteran Anthony Monte simply had a (very) tough outing.

Saturday was not a good example of what this team is capable of. We know that the overall scoring prowess of this top-five is sneaky-good, but that also requires everyone to run up to their full potential.

The Buffaloes deserve to stay inside of our top-25, but they do falter slightly after experiencing a few backend scoring deficits.

22. Furman Paladins (Unranked)

Last year, the Furman men struggled greatly at the Joe Piane Invite before bouncing back with a huge run at the Nuttycombe Invite.

Thankfully for them, the same thing happened in 2024 as the Paladins did not run well in their first major meet of this season (Nuttycombe), but then rallied for a 13th place effort at Pre-Nationals on Saturday.

Carson Williams (13th) had one of the best races of his career this past weekend, emerging as an upper-echelon star who looks like a strong All-American contender. Not only that, but Dylan Schubert (40th) returned to this lineup. And although he didn't look like the All-American ace that we've grown used to seeing, he still provided his team with great scoring value that they didn't have earlier this season.

However, Christopher Knight (80th) was arguably the most important runner for Furman on Saturday. He offered some strong stability despite the team's final two scorers fading to 132nd place and 151st place.

This team is far from perfect and the depth could give them some issues at the national meet, especially if a younger guy like Knight isn't able to handle the overwhelming nature of that stage. Even so, what we saw from Furman this past weekend is a stronger example of their talent than what they showed us at the Nuttycombe Invite a few weeks back.

21. Georgetown Hoyas (Unranked)

I'll admit, we were not high on the Georgetown men coming into season.

The Hoyas had lost a crucial scoring veteran in Parker Stokes and they did not fare well throughout last fall. However, a successful outing at the Nuttycombe Invite, paired with a strong runner-up effort at the Princeton Fall Classic on Friday, was enough for them to crack our rankings.

Abel Teffra (7th) looked like a fringe low-stick while Lucas Guerra (11th), Luke Ondracek (14th) and James Dunne (17th) offered excellent value for their respective scoring spots. Not only that, but Dunne proved at the Nuttycombe Invite that he can be a low-stick for the Hoyas' on the right day.

Now, admittedly, Georgetown's fifth man faded to 39th place on Friday. That backend gap will leave the Hoyas vulnerable to excessive scoring in a far larger field. Even so, the top-four of this lineup is far more complete than we thought it would be and we have a far stronger sense of confidence in this group than we did in the summer.

20. Wyoming Cowboys (+5 / 25)

Another race, another strong run from the Wyoming.

The entire goal for the Cowboys going into Pre-Nationals was to run their race and to take advantage of top teams that would inevitably struggle in a larger field. Sure enough, they did just that.

The quintet of Jacob White, Mason Norman, Ryker Holtzen, Gus McIntyre and Dylan Van Der Hock went 38-51-79-106-136, respectively, to take 12th place on Saturday. In fact, they actually tied with rival Utah State for 11th place, but lost the tie-breaker to the Aggies.

This wasn't the flashiest lineup by any means, but that doesn't really matter as long as they scored some Kolas points (and they almost certainly did). They'll need to clean up the latter-half of their scoring group, but all things considered, we feel like McIntyre is holding his own at that fourth spot.

19. Utah State Aggies (Unranked)

After settling for 3rd place at Paul Short a couple of weeks ago, we truthfully didn't think much of Utah State. Sure, they had a low-stick in Camren Todd, but they struggled last year and we didn't see many situations where they were going to be a nationally competitive team.

However, at Pre-Nationals this past weekend, the Aggies made a big statement en route to an 11th place finish, beating out 12th place Wyoming on a tie-breaker.

Camren Todd (17th) looks like he'll be an All-American contender this fall who can give his team national-caliber firepower. Spencer Nelson (46th) also offered sneaky-good scoring potency with a top-50 finish of his own. Meanwhile, LJ Floyd (87th) and Joshua McKee (97th) were able to keep the middle portion of this lineup somewhat stable despite their fifth man dropping all the way back to 163rd place.

The Aggies' depth is clearly going to be a point of emphasis in the postseason. In a smaller field like the Mountain West XC Championships, a more complete and balanced team like Wyoming may have the advantage. Even so, this was a great result for USU as they shattered expectations.

18. Harvard Crimson (+1 / 19)

A 10th place effort from the Harvard men at Pre-Nationals was a great result after producing a less exciting runner-up performance at Paul Short earlier this season.

The reintroduction of Graham Blanks (2nd) to this lineup obviously helped a lot, but it was Shane Brosnan (47th) who, just like last year, came through with a clutch scoring result. With sophomore Ferenc Kovacs (64th) posting a better-than-expected finish, the first three Crimson men to cross the line were quietly very impressive.

Ben Rosa (105th) didn't have his best day and Charlie Ortmans (109th) did enough to close out Harvard's team scoring relatively quickly.

The fact that Harvard was still able to secure a top-10 finish without Rosa running up to his full capabilities is actually fairly encouraging as we prepare for the postseason. If he's at his best for the Ivy League XC Championships, then the Crimson will have a good shot at taking down Princeton.

17. California Baptist Lancers (+7 / 24)

A 9th place effort at Pre-Nationals was massive for a California Baptist team that we truthfully wrote off during the preseason. Of course, we couldn't have possibly predicted the incredible rise of Zouhair Redouane (10th) who has been fantastic this fall alongside low-stick veteran Valentin Soca (16th).

The upper-tier firepower of this lineup is huge as it allows the Lancers to remain competitive despite someone having an "off" day. Thankfully, Daniel Abdala (68th) and Adam Trafecanty (71st) didn't have any "off" days. In fact, they had some of the best runs of their careers!

The upfront scoring potency of CBU, paired with their middle-lineup stability, was huge for a team that had to weather their fifth man dropping back to 150th place. But given how strong their top-four was, that latter result wasn't going to hamper this team in any significant way on Saturday.

16. Washington Huskies (-1 / 15)

After earning a tremendous 5th place finish at the Nuttycombe Invite, we had super high expectations for the Washington men. However, this past weekend, the Huskies struggled a ton, fading to 24th place.

There is, of course, a catch: Washington did not field their top lineup.

On Saturday, the men from Seattle did not have Leo Daschbach, Tyrone Gorze, Nathan Green or Evan Jenkins. Those were the Huskies' top-four men from the Nuttycombe Invite.

It would be a mistake to look at Washington's result as an actual indicator of their talent. This team is likely resting up for the postseason after knowing that they scored a ton of Kolas points last month.

15. Syracuse Orange (+8 / 23)

In our latest episode of the Blue Oval Podcast where we previewed the fields for Pre-Nationals, my fellow co-host Ben Weisel said that he was high on the Syracuse men going into this past weekend. Historically, he thought that they were well prepared for the meet.

Well, sure enough, he was right. The Orange were excellent on Saturday, producing a big-time 8th place result at Pre-Nationals to take down a handful of top teams.

This team was far from flashy -- Sam Lawler, Assaf Harari, Connor Ackley, Alex Comerford and Benne Anderson went 34-42-55-60-67, respectively -- but they didn't have any legitimate flaws and everyone largely matched expectations. And for a team that featured two redshirt freshmen, that's pretty rare.

Here's a fun fact: Ever since the Orange men joined the ACC back in 2013, the only time that they have finished outside of the top-two at the ACC XC Championships was 2020 when COVID and state regulations impacted Syracuse's ability to train/practice. And with recent momentum under their legs, it wouldn't surprise us at all if they kept up that history of postseason dominance in 2024.

14. Villanova Wildcats (+4 / 18)

The Villanova men earned a big-time win at the Princeton Fall Classic, taking down teams such as Georgetown, Princeton and a Parker Wolfe-less North Carolina squad.

Liam Murphy (2nd) and Marco Langon (4th) were unsurprisingly awesome, but it was Bailey Habler (9th) who gave this team a third high-impact scorer. That was a great development for a team that remains thin on depth. Thankfully, CJ Sullivan (24th) and Sean Donoghue (32nd) made subtle improvements and largely matched the backend scoring efforts from other top teams in the field.

While the Wildcats did win, it's important to note that UNC did not have Parker Wolfe. If they did, and if he had won, then Villanova and North Carolina would have tied at 75 points with the tie-breaker going to the Tar Heels. Of course, in the grand scheme of things, that still boosts Villanova's stock given how high we are on UNC.

13. Virginia Cavaliers (0 / 13)

The Virginia men opted to stay at home this past weekend, racing at the Panorama Farms XC Invitational. That meet ultimately turned into a head-to-head race against Wake Forest.

Gary Martin secured a huge individual win while Will Anthony snagged 4th place, giving the Cavaliers an unsurprisingly great 1-2 punch. Nathan Mountain (7th) quietly had a strong race, but the last few men in UVA's lineup seemingly all ran together, crossing the line in spots 17-18-19-20.

Virginia fell to Wake Forest by nine points and that was with Rocky Hansen being sidelined for the Demon Deacons. In the grand scheme of things, we didn't learn a whole lot about this team, but it was nice to see Mountain post an encouraging result before the postseason begins.

12. North Carolina Tar Heels (-2 / 10)

Instead of venturing back to Madison, Wisconsin this past weekend, North Carolina opted to travel to the Princeton Fall Classic where they faced off against Villanova, Georgetown and Princeton. The catch, however, is that they would be without their star low-stick, Parker Wolfe, who they were likely resting.

Ethan Strand took home the individual win over Liam Murphy, solidifying himself as a borderline superstar. That result was complemented by a low-stick effort from Colton Sands (6th) who continues to be excellent. However, with the team's final three scorers going 29-35-37, it was going to be hard for the Tar Heels to stand out in a field where other top teams also had top-tier low-sticks.

In the end, they settled for 4th place.

If Wolfe had run on Friday (and presumably won), then UNC would have tied with Villanova and secured the overall win on the tie-breaker. That still would have been a much closer result than we were expecting to see which is why the North Carolina men drop two spots.

11. Wake Forest Demon Deacons (-2 / 9)

The Wake Forest men traveled to the Panorama Farms XC Invite to face-off against the Virginia men. However, the Demon Deacons would be without low-stick star Rocky Hansen.

In the end, Wake Forest still took home the overall win as Luke Tewalt (2nd) continued his low-stick ways. Aidan Ross (5th), however, extended the success that he had from the Nuttycombe Invite, offering a high-impact scoring presence.

Hunter Jones (8th) had a quietly encouraging result, Charlie Sprott (10th) was decent enough and it was nice to see Joseph O'Brien (13th) return to racing. This doesn't necessarily alter our opinion of Wake Forest in any major way. The only reason why they drop in our rankings is to make room for other teams who ran exceptionally well this past weekend.

10. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (-5 / 5)

They may drop five spots in our rankings, but a 7th place finish at Pre-Nationals isn't bad. In fact, it felt like we saw more positives than negatives from the Fighting Irish men this past Saturday.

Carter Solomon (12th) finally looks like he's rounding back into star-caliber form. That's a big development for a team that is likely still aiming to be on the podium. We also loved what we saw from both Ethan Coleman (27th) and Izaiah Steury (29th). For some teams, those are low-stick-caliber results.

The firepower of Notre Dame was quietly better than some people realize. And although Kevin Sanchez (59th) and Daelen Ackley (74th) were a bit further back, they ensured that the team scoring didn't run away from this squad.

Ackley can likely be better moving forward (his Joe Piane Invite performance says he can be) and the same could be said for CJ Singleton. We also haven't seen low-stick veteran Josh Methner yet this season.

There are still avenues for the South Bend-based men to improve. But for now, we'll keep them at TSR #10.

9. Wisconsin Badgers (+2 / 11)

After losing two crucial lineup scorers, Jackson Sharp and Evan Bishop, from last year's team, I thought finishing 6th at Pre-Nationals was a result that Wisconsin should be proud of.

Bob Liking (6th) delivered on low-stick expectations, but Liam Newhart (39th) was the biggest winner on this team. Rowen Ellenberg (44th) also ran very well while Matan Ivri (54th) and Micah Wilson (56th) surprisingly offered some of the best backend scoring in the entire field.

Not only was the backend scoring of this group was fantastic, but the Wisconsin men also saw Adam Spencer struggle in a big way. If he rebounds back into top form in the postseason, then the Badgers will be even more dangerous in the future.

8. Alabama Crimson Tide (-1 / 7)

Yes, we know that Alabama only barley squeaked by a still-young Missouri team at their home meet, the Crimson Classic. However, the Crimson Tide did not have Hillary Cheruiyot or Dismus Lokira for that race, two star-caliber low-sticks. If they did, then the final team scores wouldn't have been all that close.

7. Northern Arizona Lumberjacks (-1 / 6)

There are two ways to look at Northern Arizona after this past weekend.

If you viewed Northern Arizona extremely highly coming into this season, then their 5th place finish at Pre-Nationals likely disappointed you. However, if you were discouraged by their runner-up loss to Notre Dame at the Joe Piane Invite earlier this season, then Saturday's result probably made it feel like the Lumberjacks took a step in the right direction.

The overall scoring potency of the Lumberjacks top-four at Pre-Nationals -- David Mullarkey (21st), Colin Sahlman (23rd), Santiago Prosser (25th) and Cory Gorgas (36th) -- was quietly great. Sure, Mullarkey could have been a bit better, but Sahlman proved that he could remain in the All-American conversation and Prosser proved that his DNF from a couple of weeks ago was just a fluke. Gorgas also looked better than his Joe Piane performance.

There was a drop-off to their fifth man, Manny Perez (73rd), but that was a halfway decent result for the freshman. Thankfully, we think guys like Kang Nyoak and Justin Keyes will be better in the future. The same goes for Cael Grotenhuis who was 21st at the Joe Piane Invite, but didn't run this past weekend.

Are the Lumberjack men still favorites to make the podium? No, likely not, but they can still realistically be in the top-four at the national meet in November.

6. New Mexico Lobos (+2 / 8)

For the most part, New Mexico had a great outing at Pre-Nationals this past weekend, taking a strong 4th place finish. Habtom Samuel taking home the win wasn't too shocking and we felt pretty good about the chances of Vincent Chirchir producing a low-stick result (11th) -- and he did.

Collins Kiprotich (26th) also emerged as a fringe low-stick after flashing great potential at the Cowboy Jamboree earlier this season. Evans Kiplagat (63rd) doesn't look like the All-American that he was last year, but given how much firepower is already on this team, that's not too worrisome for now. Rikus Van Niekerk (65th) closed out the scoring fairly quickly, offering the backend value that he was recruited for.

At this point, we've learned that it is unlikely that all of New Mexico's squad is going to run at their very best on the same day. Even so, the very best version of this Lobo squad is a fairly comfortable podium team and there is still room for improvement. For that reason, they get a slight bump up in our rankings.

5. Stanford Cardinal (+9 / 14)

Every little thing needed to go right in order for the Stanford men to place 3rd at Pre-Nationals on Saturday. And thankfully for them, every little thing DID go right for them.

Cole Sprout (9th), after multiple seasons of producing underwhelming results, finally looks like a top-tier star again. Lex Young (20th), after a quiet-ish freshman year, has clearly taken a step up in 2024. Thomas Boyden (22nd), after remaining absent from racing for quite some time, came out of nowhere to produce a low-stick result. And Leo Young, despite struggling in the postseason last fall, provided a highly valuable backend scoring result for his team on Saturday.

The firepower of this team is excellent and the overall depth was fantastic, too. Despite this lineup featuring so many younger guys (outside of just the Young brothers), the backend portion of this top-seven was still very stable along with some assistance from veteran Robert DiDonato.

We still need to see Stanford replicate this result in the postseason. That lone performance is great, but a lot needed to go right in order for them to place 3rd. Even so, the momentum of this team has risen dramatically and they have very much reentered the podium conversation.

4. Iowa State Cyclones (0 / 4)

The Iowa State men certainly didn't run poorly on Saturday, but we did think that they would be more competitive with Arkansas at Pre-Nationals. Instead, they settled for a runner-up result that was nearly 30 points back from the Razorbacks.

Robin Kwemoi Bera (5th) was great while Said Mechaal (19th) largely matched expectations. However, we thought Sanele Masondo (24th) could have been a bit better and it didn't help that Silas Winders had a tough day. Devan Kipyego (30th) was great, but the Cyclones were also without elite steeplechaser Joash Ruto.

The men of Ames, Iowa can still make improvements and be more competitive with Arkansas in the future. However, if that's going to happen, then they'll need a few things to break in their favor.

3. Arkansas Razorbacks (0 / 3)

The Arkansas men were flat-out dominant at Pre-Nationals this past weekend, taking home the win in comfortable fashion over a very good Iowa State squad.

Sure, the performances of Patrick Kiprop (4th) and Kirami Yego (7th) weren't super surprising, but seeing Yaseen Abdalla produce an outstanding 8th place result was certainly on the better end of our expectations for him. Ben Shearer (18th) also had a great race, validating his breakout year as a redshirt sophomore.

We'll admit, the drop-off to the team's fifth and final scorer, Timothy Chesondin (52nd), did leave the Razorbacks a bit vulnerable if they were facing BYU or Oklahoma State. We know that Chesondin can be better in the future, but based on how the rest of their team ran, we're realizing that the depth of this roster isn't quite as sturdy as we thought it would be during the preseason.

2. BYU Cougars (0 / 2)

A clean 15-point sweep of the Bill Dellinger Invite field was super impressive, but it truthfully didn't tell us anything that we didn't already know about BYU. Lucas Bons (7th) is quietly looking great and Davin Thompson's (10th) return is encouraging as we head into the postseason. Other than that, we don't have much to say.

1. Oklahoma State Cowboys (0 / 1)

The Oklahoma State men essentially just tempoed their home meet which featured themselves, Oral Roberts and Nelson University. We didn't learn anything new about this team and we truthfully weren't going to until they toe the line for the BIG 12 XC Championships.

---

ADDED

Furman Paladins

Utah State Aggies

Georgetown Hoyas

KICKED OFF

Princeton Tigers

Oregon Ducks

Butler Bulldogs

JUST MISSED (in no particular order)

Princeton Tigers

Oregon Ducks

Butler Bulldogs

Montana State Bobcats

Gonzaga Bulldogs

Portland Pilots

Iona Gaels

Michigan State Spartans

Tulsa Golden Hurricane

Texas Tech Red Raiders

HONORABLE MENTIONS (in no particular order)

Tulane Green Wave

Indiana Hoosiers

Cal Poly Mustangs

Ole Miss Rebels

NC State Wolfpack

Boise State Broncos

Texas Longhorns

Loyola (IL) Ramblers

Purdue Boilermakers

Florida State Seminoles

Notes

- The Florida State men did struggle greatly at Pre-Nationals, but they remain in our "Honorable Mentions" section due to missing their top scorer, Kidus Misgina.