TSR's 2024 D1 XC Top 25 Team Rankings (Men): Update #5 - FINAL

Admin (Garrett Zatlin)
Nov 25, 2024
16 min read

IMPORTANT NOTE: These rankings are based on how a team fared throughout the entirety of a season, not just how they ran at the NCAA XC Championships or at a singular meet. You will notice that these rankings may mirror the national meet results, but not precisely. That is intentional. These rankings are intended to be an aggregate. They are not recency lists. 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. Harvard Crimson (-3 / 22)

The Harvard men were a tricky team to figure out this season.

They secured a huge 10th place finish at Pre-Nationals, but then fell victim to an upset by Princeton (for the second year in a row) at the Ivy League XC Championships. And on Saturday, individual national title winner Graham Blanks was the lone bright spot. None of the other Crimson men ran well.

Harvard ultimately settled for 27th place, a poor result considering where we had them listed in our preseason rankings. Sure, Blanks was phenomenal and Shane Brosnan (57th) continues to be one of the steadier names in this lineup. The problem? Their third runner placed 192nd and their final two scorers didn't crack the top-230 spots...yikes.

Even so, that Pre-Nationals performance still rings loud in our heads and it felt like enough for them to remain in our rankings to close out the season.

24. Princeton Tigers (-3 / 21)

The Princeton men took home a truthfully disappointing 24th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships. And the deeper that you look into their results leading up to this meet, the less exciting they are.

Yes, the Tigers were great at the Nuttycombe Invite, placing 9th to defeat the likes of Villanova, Virginia, Syracuse, Georgetown and more. But at their home meet, both Villanova and Georgetown got their revenge. Yes, Princeton did upset Harvard for the Ivy League title, but the Crimson weren't exactly great in the postseason.

Princeton also barely escaped the Hoyas and a strong Navy squad at the Mid-Atlantic regional meet a couple of weeks ago.

We liked what we saw out of Myles Hogan (64th) and Nicholas Bendtsen (77th) on Saturday. However, both of those men were likely capable of more, especially the latter. And with no other runners cracking the top-160, the Tigers left us shrugging our shoulders on Sunday.

23. Georgetown Hoyas (Unranked)

A 23rd place finish from Georgetown at the national meet is pretty unsurprising. The Hoyas sat on the fringes of our team rankings (both in and out) throughout the fall months. To see them sneak into our final set of rankings isn't a surprise.

Georgetown's scoring contingent of Abel Teffra (65th), Luke Ondracek (114th) and James Dunne (123rd) had fine outings. Teffra's performance should even be considered as a "good" run. Even so, there was only so much that this team could do given that their final two scorers placed 176th and 208th.

Relative to how the rest of their fall campaign went, this result is very much aligned with our expectations.

22. Utah State Aggies (-4 / 18)

A 22nd place finish at the NCAA XC Championships was a slightly underwhelming end to the season for a Utah State team that (seemingly) had so much promise.

Their 3rd place finish at the Paul Short Run was admittedly hard to gauge and they didn't field their top-six men at the Mountain West XC Championships. However, when they ventured to Pre-Nationals, the Aggies took 11th place, a strong result that put USU in the top-25 portion of our rankings.

But on Saturday, Camren Todd (25th) was the only true bright spot for a squad that simply wasn't prepared to face the overwhelming nature of the national meet. No other Utah State men finished inside of the top-130 and their fifth scorer faded to 204th place.

Regardless, this is a team that handily beat our expectations for them this fall. They should be plenty proud of even getting to the NCAA XC Championships.

21. Butler Bulldogs (+4 / 25)

All things considered, the Butler men should be fairly happy with their 20th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships. Their regular season results weren't bad, but they also weren't exciting. A handful of top men simply struggled throughout the fall months and other key names weren't even present.

In fairness, the Bulldogs did begin to rally in the postseason. At the national meet, Will Zegarksi capped off a huge breakout season with a 17th place All-American. Meanwhile, teammate Austin Gabay (68th) turned out to be one of the more underrated transfer pickups of the offseason.

Veteran Florian Le Pallec (103rd) was clearly not in top form this fall, but salvaged enough fitness to keep his team somewhat competitive. However, Butler's final two scorers finished 183rd and 198th.

In a season where numerous things didn't break in the Bulldogs favor, I thought Coach Matt Roe was able to make the most out of a tough fall campaign.

20. Colorado Buffaloes (+4 / 24)

A 19th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships was probably on the better side of our expectations for the Colorado men going into Saturday. Of course, it wasn't dramatically better than what the Buffaloes were capable of producing.

Dean Casey (30th) had a slow start to the season, but built momentum and peaked perfectly on the national stage. The challenge, however, is that he was Colorado's lone low-stick. Behind him Lukas Haug (105th), Isaiah Givens (127th), Simon Kelati (159th) and James Overberg (160th) closed out the scoring.

We'll admit, Colorado was far from the flashiest team in the country. Guys such as Givens, Kelati and Kole Mathison weren't nearly as potent from a scoring perspective as we thought they would be. The Buffaloes did produce a couple of solid results earlier in the season, but they also had an oddly poor performance at the BIG 12 XC Championships where they fell to Texas Tech.

Coach Sean Carlson was able to put together a fine fall campaign considering that this was his first season at Colorado. Despite certain men not running as well as we thought they would, the Buffaloes were still able to defeat a handful of respectable programs. However, it will still take time before Colorado returns to the elite level of excellence that they were once known for.

19. Virginia Cavaliers (-8 / 11)

In the fall of 2022, the Virginia men placed 22nd at the national meet.

In the fall of 2023, the Virginia men placed 22nd at the national meet.

Now, in the fall of 2024, the Virginia men have placed 21st at the national meet.

A few years ago, we expected the Cavalier men to eventually evolve into podium contenders by around this time. And yet, that hasn't been the case. In fact, their national meet results have shown essentially zero progress. That has been a fairly frustrating development given that their earlier results suggest that they are at least a top-15 team in the NCAA.

Sure, Gary Martin (13th) was absolutely incredible on Saturday, but no other UVA runner cracked the top-100.

I still believe in Coach Vin Lananna. Him and his staff have been quietly excellent when it comes to recruiting and the talent is very clearly there. Just look at how well the spring of 2024 went for Virginia!

Even so, the Cavaliers need to simply be better on the grass, specifically in their season finale, moving forward.

18. Alabama Crimson Tide (-6 / 12)

Going into the NCAA XC Championships, we knew that the Alabama men had a ton of elite firepower. However, we also knew that their margin for error was fairly slim, especially for a lineup that featured a two inexperienced international talents.

But in the grand scheme of things, none of the Crimson Tide men ran well. In fact, they didn't even produce an individual All-American result. Dismus Lokira (41st), Victor Kiprop (51st) and Dennis Kipruto (75th) didn't necessarily run poorly, but all three of those men were capable of being All-Americans. And with no other men cracking the top-190, it was hard to find too many positives for Alabama.

As a result, the Crimson Tide placed 18th overall.

We unfortunately had to drop the men of Tuscaloosa six spots in our rankings. That's because, when you look at their results throughout this season, the only ranked team who they beat was Butler.

17. Furman Paladins (+3 / 20)

All things considered, Saturday had to be viewed as a success for the Furman men.

Dylan Schubert had the race of his life, placing 3rd overall. We imagine that Carson Williams (42nd) was gunning for All-American honors, but he should be proud of the season that he had, nonetheless. He was a very underrated secondary scorer throughout this fall.

Admittedly, that 1-2 punch carried the Paladins in the team scoring, but freshman Colin Eckerman (145th) had a decent run considering his inexperience. The team's final two scorers, however, dropped to 180th and 185th. All of that led to Furman placing 17th in the final team standings.

For a team that dropped all the way back to 21st place at the Nuttycombe Invite back in September (albeit, with Schubert), the end to their season carried plenty of positives. They slowly improved as the fall months unfolded and they seemingly saved their best result of the season for the meet that mattered the most.

16. Washington Huskies (0 / 16)

The Washington men ended their season with a 16th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships...and we don't really know if there's much analysis needed for that result.

The Huskies were led by Nathan Green (54th) while Tyrone Gorze (84th), Evan Jenkins (103rd) and Leo Daschbach (117th) offered fairly respectable scoring value, although some more-so than others. Ronan McMahon-Staggs (164th) closed out the scoring for the Washington men.

The best way to describe the Huskies' national meet performance was, "decent" or maybe even, "good," but it certainly wasn't "great." And with the possible exception of their 5th place finish from the Nuttycombe Invite, that is also the best way to describe how their season as a whole went.

15. Villanova Wildcats (-2 / 13)

The Villanova duo of Liam Murphy and Marco Langon ended fantastic cross country seasons by placing 9th and 15th, respectively, at the national meet. That kind of result isn't too surprising for the former, but it was great to see Langon having that kind of success after showcasing impressive fitness over the last year.

The Wildcats' standout Aussie rookie, Bailey Habler, took 125th place while CJ Sullivan (150th) and Devon Comber (201st) closed out the scoring. In the end, Villanova took 15th place in the final standings.

In the grand scheme of things, it feels perfectly appropriate that Villanova ended their season in the very middle of the national meet results. They were extremely top-heavy, somewhat stable at the middle portion of their scoring group and highly volatile at their fourth and fifth lineup spots.

And when you look at how their season as a whole went, it's hard to be too surprised.

14. Oregon Ducks (+3 / 17)

Last year, the Oregon men didn't even come close to qualifying for the NCAA XC Championships. One year later, and the Ducks have finished in the top-half of the national meet results, taking 14th place on Saturday.

Aiden Smith (29th) had shown signs of promise in the postseason, but his All-American result was incredible. That performance came (somewhat) out of nowhere. Behind him, redshirt freshman Simeon Birnbaum (74th) held his own with a very solid result that sets him up well for the future.

However, what we really liked about Oregon's team effort was Evan Dorenkamp, Elliott Cook and Quincy Norman staying together, finishing 116-118-124, respectively. That was arguably the most stable that the backend of the Ducks' lineup had looked throughout the entirety of this season.

Saturday yielded more than just a nice result for Oregon. In the grand scheme of things, the Ducks positioned themselves for future long-term success and showed prospective recruits that they are returning to national relevance.

13. California Baptist Lancers (+6 / 19)

The fact that the California Baptist men finished 13th at the NCAA XC Championships is incredible to me. This group lost a ton of top-tier scorers from a 2023 squad as well as their coach. If the Lancers qualified for the national meet in 2024, then that was already going to be considered a grand success.

But CBU did more than that. On Saturday, Zouhair Redouane (26th) and Valentin Soca (33rd) each posted outstanding All-American performances. That, in turn, gave their team tons of scoring potency.

Daniel Abdala (95th) continued to be one of the more underrated middle-lineup scorers in the nation while Pedro Marin (115th) concluded what turned out to be a quietly great season. Yes, the Lancers' fifth runner did drop to 177th place, but CBU's front-end scoring potency largely countered that.

I have major respect for Coach Sean Smith. He did a great job at Azusa Pacific, but this is arguably his best coaching job yet.

12. Syracuse Orange (+3 / 15)

Syracuse wasn't the most exciting cross country team in the NCAA, but they didn't need to be. The Orange were flat-out solid throughout the entirety of this season. They didn't necessarily produce any results that jumped off the page, but they never really had a truly poor performance, either.

Sure enough, the Orange quietly delivered another strong effort to wrap up their 2024 fall campaign. Relative to how the start of his season went, few men in the NCAA peaked better than Sam Lawler (28th). However, it was veterans Assaf Harari (74th) and Alex Comerford (76th) who gave Syracuse an excellent scoring base through three runners.

Redshirt freshman Benne Anderson (91st), despite his inexperience, was a crucial fourth scorer. He is likely the reason why this team cracked the top-15 on Saturday. With fellow redshirt freshman Connor Ackley (139th) doing enough to get by, the Orange ended their season with a 12th place national meet finish.

That result wasn't out of the realm of possibility for Syracuse, but it was certainly on the better end of expectations. And despite the concerns found in our preseason assessment of this team, Coach Brien Bell further proved to be one of the more underrated coaches in the country as far as development is concerned.

11. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (+3 / 14)

A 10th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships caps a very weird season for the Notre Dame men. Their fall campaign featured upsetting Northern Arizona on their home course, placing 7th at Pre-Nationals, dropping to 6th place at the ACC XC Championships and now taking 10th place at the NCAA XC Championships.

The Fighting Irish went through a rollercoaster ride of sorts this season, weathering highs and lows throughout their fall campaign.

Izaiah Steury (24th) was having a good season, but his All-American result was easily the best result of his career. That injection of scoring potency was followed by a nice effort from Ethan Coleman (48th). Behind them, freshman Drew Griffith (90th) and redshirt sophomore Daelen Ackley (99th) offered much-needed stability at the two most important points of Notre Dame's lineup.

CJ Singleton (143rd) capped the Irish's top-five, but it feels like Notre Dame left points on the table. Carter Solomon wasn't even a scorer for his team on Saturday despite placing 12th at Pre-Nationals. We also didn't see low-stick veteran Josh Methner compete this season.

And yet, despite all of that, Notre Dame placed 10th at the national meet. In turn, we are left scratching our heads wondering what to make out of their last few months of racing.

10. Stanford Cardinal (-5 / 5)

There's no other way around it -- seeing Stanford place 12th at the NCAA XC Championships this past weekend was disappointing.

The Cardinal looked great all season long. They showed plenty of early promise before going on to place 3rd at Pre-Nationals and then finish runner-up at the ACC XC Championships. Cole Sprout finally looked like his old self, Lex Young and Thomas Boyden evolved into fringe low-sticks, Leo Young became far more reliable and the freshmen behind those four men (specifically Paul Bergeron) looked very, very strong.

But on Saturday, the Cardinal struggled to establish greater low-stick scoring potency. No one on their team finished higher than 63rd place. However, at the same time, their top-four men finished in the top-92 spots while their fifth man stayed somewhat close in 113th place.

None of the Stanford men truly blew up on Saturday, but five "just okay" performances weren't going to yield much excitement in the team results. And yet...who cares? This is a team of the future that could be contending for a national title in two to three years.

9. New Mexico Lobos (-3 / 6)

The New Mexico men finished 9th at the NCAA XC Championships, but I have no idea how to gauge their performance as a whole.

On one hand, the Lobos had a fantastic low-stick trio which featured Habtom Samuel (2nd), Collins Kiprotich (35th) and Evans Kiplagat (40th), each of whom earned All-American honors. However, after them, gaps began to form.

Rikus Van Niekerk (98th) had a decent race, stabilizing his team's lineup with a top-100 result. However, Vincent Chirchir (148th) was the team's final scorer and he was much further back than expected.

We had said throughout the season that if everyone on New Mexico's team ran at their best on the same day, then they would be on the podium. And if you put Chirchir in an All-American position, then that's exactly what would have happened.

8. North Carolina Tar Heels (+2 / 10)

The North Carolina men could have had a large handful of problems with depth this season after losing Alex Phillip and Jake Gebhardt from their 2023 team. That, however, was not an issue -- and the national meet showed us why.

Parker Wolfe (7th) and Ethan Strand (8th) were incredible, both on Saturday and throughout the season. However, it was the breakout fall campaign from Colton Sands (52nd) who gave this team some much needed stability. The late-season rise of Will Coogan (82nd) also needs to be recognized and the same could be said about Patrick Anderson (142nd) to a lesser extent.

Sure, the Tar Heels didn't have the best supporting cast in the country, but it was certainly better than we thought it would be. Wolfe and Strand may produce the highlights, but Sands and Coogan acted as the backbone of this team in 2024.

7. Wake Forest Demon Deacons (0 / 7)

The Wake Forest men had their star low-stick, Rocky Hansen, fade to 100th place on Saturday. And yet, despite that, Wake Forest still finished 7th overall at the national meet.

That, of course, was because Charlie Sprott (32nd) emerged as a low-stick and was closely followed by JoJo Jourdon (47th), Joseph O'Brien (56th) and Luke Tewalt (61st). That was a highly impressive scoring contingent that held tons of great value compared to the respective spots of other team's lineups.

Yes, the Demon Deacons did lose to the UNC men at the national meet by one place. However, this Wake Forest squad was 3rd at the Nuttycombe Invite and won the ACC team title without Hansen. In both of those instances, they defeated North Carolina.

For that reason, we kept them at TSR #7.

6. Oklahoma State Cowboys (-4 / 2)

Yes, I know the Oklahoma State men placed 8th at the national meet, but is anyone really going to say that they weren't one of the top teams in the country? Here is what I said about the Cowboys in our latest "First Thoughts" article...

"Through two runners, the Cowboys looked great as Brian Musau (6th) and Denis Kipngetich (11th) delivered on low-stick expectations. But to see so many crucial scorers like Victor Shitsama (70th), Laban Kipkemboi (107th), Adisu Guadia (110th), Ryan Schoppe (121st) and Fouad Messaoudi (222nd) all struggle was...odd.

It's one thing for one or two of those men to not run well, but five of them? I can't lie, I was scratching my head on that one.

Even so, I think most people can still see that, from a raw talent perspective, Oklahoma State is still a top-three team in the country. That, of course, was not seen on Saturday."

And yes, while I do think that they have the best raw talent in the country, we also need to see results which actually suggest that. On Saturday, we didn't see that, therefore dropping the Cowboys to TSR #6 in our final rankings.

5. Northern Arizona Lumberjacks (+3 / 8)

All things considered, you really have to commend the Northern Arizona men for salvaging a 5th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships. It would have surprised no one if the Lumberjacks faded to 9th or 10th place on Saturday.

Instead, they were 25 points off from the podium.

David Mullarkey (18th) and Santiago Prosser (38th) were the low-sticks that we thought they could be. However, it was the backend scoring trio of Corey Gorgas (60th), Colin Sahlman (67th) and Justin Keyes (87th) who did a very solid job. They ensured that NAU's team score stayed in check, something that other top-ranked teams had trouble doing.

Sure, NAU didn't reach the podium, but it just goes to show how valuable depth and stability can be in the postseason.

4. Wisconsin Badgers (+5 / 9)

Speaking of depth and stability, that's exactly what gave the Wisconsin men a well-deserved podium result at the NCAA XC Championships on Saturday.

Bob Liking (16th) finally had a great national meet performance that was long overdue. However, it was the group behind him that packed together incredibly well. Adam Spencer (45th) ran an extremely smart race, picking off runners in the latter-half of the 10k distance. Behind him, it was Micah Wilson (53rd), Matan Ivri (58th) and Christian de Vaal (69th) who truly put the Badgers on the podium.

Make no mistake, each of those latter three men had shown signs of promise earlier this fall and they had all made clear improvements. However, the ongoing progression of Ivri and de Vaal led to them peaking beautifully for the postseason while Wilson saved the best race of his career for the perfect time.

It is extremely hard to get on the podium with just one individual All-American -- but the Wisconsin men did just that. Outstanding job to the Madison-based men who took full advantage of racing on their home course.

3. Arkansas Razorbacks (0 / 3)

We were well aware that the Arkansas men had a lethal top-three in Yaseen Abdalla, Kirami Yego and Patrick Kiprop. However, the biggest question was if they had a good enough backend to keep themselves on the podium.

The answer? Yes, they did have enough...even if it didn't look like they did.

The Abdalla-Yego-Kiprop trio went 4-20-21, respectively, in the final results. That top-three carried the Razorbacks in the scoring -- and that was necessary. Ben Shearer (55th) held his own after a few "off" days earlier this fall, but the team's final scorer didn't cross the line until 136th place.

Arkansas essentially lived and died by their top-three. And in their effort to reach the podium, it worked.

2. Iowa State Cyclones (+2 / 4)

If we had told you going into the weekend that Said Mechaal would be Iowa State's top scorer, where would you have thought he finished? If I had to guess, you likely would not have said 10th place.

That, of course, is exactly where Mechaal placed. Behind him, Sanele Masondo (23rd) peaked perfectly for the national meet once again. The same could be said for Joash Ruto (34th). The Cyclones' fourth scorer, Robin Kwemoi Bera (37th), wasn't quite as potent as we thought he would be, but he salvaged an All-American result. Gable Sieperda (49th) closed out the scoring.

If Kwemoi Bera had finished closer to where we thought he could have placed, then Iowa State wins the national title. Of course, Mechaal outperformed expectations in his own right by 20ish spots, theoretically balancing each other out.

Regardless, Iowa State did everything right this season. They went all-in on landing a few key stars while they still had a few All-Americans of their own. Their depth was elite and many of their men peaked right on time.

It was hard to dislike anything about this squad in 2024.

1. BYU Cougars (0 / 1)

In an effort to not be redundant, I would suggest that you could go back and read our "First Thoughts" article for further analysis on the BYU men.