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

Admin (Garrett Zatlin)
Nov 25, 2024
18 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. Oklahoma State Cowgirls (-7 / 18)

The Oklahoma State women had a tough outing on Saturday, falling all the way back to 27th place. Victoria Lagat (72nd) was the team's lone bright in 72nd place as no other Cowgirl cracked the top-130.

Despite the rough end to their season, this team deserves a lot of credit. They lost two standout stars from last year's team and their third low-stick ace, Billah Jepkirui, didn't race this season. Seeing this team defeat a handful of nationally ranked programs at Pre-Nationals and come within six points of New Mexico at the Cowboy Jamboree gave this team enough of a resume to remain in our top-25.

24. Florida State Seminoles (-2 / 22)

The Florida State women settled for an unexciting 24th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships. That result further complicated our analysis of the Seminoles given how up and down they were throughout the fall months.

Bieke Schipperen (57th) ran well, delivering on her role as a low-stick. However, Agnes McTighe (130th) struggled and the scorers after her were fairly spread out in the national meet results.

When it comes to FSU's 2024 fall campaign, I think we can conclude that they were more talented than we'd thought they'd be...but they were also just as inconsistent as we were expecting.

23. Gonzaga Bulldogs (-6 / 17)

The Gonzaga women started off their 2024 cross country season red hot, posting a big-time 8th place finish at the Nuttycombe Invite. But as the season progressed, the Bulldogs seemingly lost momentum and that was plenty evident at the NCAA XC Championships.

A 25th place national meet finish is a rough result for a team that was, at one point, listed inside of the top-15 of our rankings. Rosina Machu (45th) had a fine race on Saturday, but she was clearly capable of a top-25 finish.

The real issue, however, is that none of the usually-awesome supporting scorers behind Machu ran well. Their second scorer dropped to 137th place and their fifth scorer (a true freshman) settled just outside of the top-200.

Even so, Gonzaga should be very proud of the season they had. Not many people had them qualifying for this year's national meet back in August and September. The fact that they made it to Madison, Wisconsin was excellent.

22. Michigan State Spartans (Unranked)

At first glance, we didn't think the Michigan State women had done enough this season to deserve a ranking despite placing 21st at the NCAA XC Championships on Saturday. But when you look at their results from this season, it's hard to fault them for losing to the teams that they did.

Sure, they struggled a bit at the Joe Piane Invite, but placing 17th at Pre-Nationals and 6th at the ultra-deep BIG 10 XC Championships aren't bad results, especially when you look at who they lost to.

However, the biggest development for Michigan State on Saturday was true freshman Rachel Forsyth earning a monumental 16th place finish! That elite low-stick result validated her unexpected postseason success. Kaitlyn Hynes (79th), after sitting out last year, also had a really solid day, offering great scoring value at the second spot in her team's lineup.

Admittedly, things fell apart after Hynes as chasm-like gaps began to open up between the Spartans' next few runners. But all things considered, this was a commendable season for the Michigan State women.

21. Syracuse Orange (+3 / 24)

You have to commend the Syracuse women for putting together a respectable end to their season, placing 20th at the NCAA XC Championships.

Sure, they didn't have anyone crack the top-100, but Savannah Roark, Emma Eastman and Rylie Lusk went 101-106-115, respectively. That tight-knit group at least maintained some level of scoring stability despite their final two scorers fading to 154th and 182nd place.

In our eyes, Roark, Eastman and Lusk were all capable of being better on Saturday, especially the former name. Even so, it felt like the Orange fared well despite leaving some points on the table.

20. Wisconsin Badgers (-4 / 16)

A 22nd place finish at the NCAA XC Championships is not how we thought the Wisconsin women would end their season after seeing them place 5th at the Nuttycombe Invite a couple of months ago.

Lindsay Cunningham being the team's top scorer in 111th place was not an encouraging sign for a Wisconsin group that was supposed to have three women inside the top-100. The middle-lineup trio of Annika Cutforth, Shea Ruhly and Bella Jacobsen did go 142-145-146, respectively, while their fifth runner, Carolyn Shult, took 158th.

Despite the backend of their scoring group holding essentially zero gaps, the Wisconsin women simply need more firepower. That was something that we had been saying all season long and it became more and more prevalent as their fall campaign progressed, especially once they entered the postseason.

The Badger women were better than what they showed us on Saturday, but they began to move backwards as the season progressed.

19. Arkansas Razorbacks (Unranked)

Earlier in the season, we thought the Arkansas women were in major trouble. They were losing to teams that they should have soundly defeated and they were without one of their star low-sticks, Sydney Thorvaldson.

Thankfully for the Razorbacks, Thorvaldson returned for the postseason and the team began to show signs of life. Sure enough, their top-heavy lineup allowed them to beat expectations at the NCAA XC Championships with a 17th place result.

Paityn Noe (7th) has established herself as an elite distance ace while Mia Cochren (41st) came through as the low-stick that we knew she could be. Thorvaldson (78th) wasn't at her best, but having three women in the top-80 of the national meet feels like it was enough for Arkansas to salvage a strong result. That was going to be needed given that their final two scorers were 171st and 237th.

It wasn't the prettiest season, but all things considered, this was very respectable end to a fall campaign that looked like it was going very, very poorly.

18. Minnesota Golden Gophers (+2 / 20)

An 18th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships is roughly in-line with how the Minnesota women have fared throughout this season. In fact, their lineup structure at the national meet was fairly predictable as well -- and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Ali Weimer (48th) wasn't an All-American, but there is no denying that she was one of the 40-best distance runners in the country this fall. Emma Atkinson (93rd) also put together a race that was arguably her best of the season, further providing the Golden Gophers with a reliable secondary scorer.

Erin Reidy, Nadia Phillips and Izzy Roemer went 125-148-149, respectively, on Saturday. And while it was clear that Minnesota needed more firepower/scoring potency, the Golden Gophers should be pleased with how their backend runners performed.

But in the grand scheme of things, it didn't really matter too much how this team performed on the national stage. This has been a huge year filled with success for Coach Sarah Hopkins' team. No matter what result they produced on Saturday, the Golden Gophers should be incredibly proud of their season.

17. Penn State Nittany Lions (+2 / 19)

A 15th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships was a brilliant way for the Penn State women to end their breakout fall campaign. Florence Caron (19th) capped a breakout season with a huge result while Hayley Kitching (90th) and Madaline Ullom (94th) did a quietly awesome job of giving their team valuable scoring stability.

Sophia Toti (150th) and Claire Daniels (153rd) were a bit further back, but still ran well enough for the Nittany Lions to salvage a competitive result.

For the most part, the Penn State women did everything that we could have asked them to do. They took down a handful of nationally competitive teams, some of whom still reside in our top-25 rankings, and they never truly had a poor race this season. Even so, despite their success, it seems fair to say that their national meet result was on the better end of expectations.

16. Utah Utes (-4 / 12)

The Utah women entered the fall months as a team that was very much on our radar. By returning a number of top women from last fall, including two All-Americans and some much-improved depth, there were moments where we thought the Utes could possibly sneak onto the podium.

They did, after all, place 2nd at the Nuttycombe Invite and defeated a limited Oregon team at the Bill Dellinger Invitational.

However, when the postseason came around, the Utes began to falter a bit. They weren’t quite as competitive at the BIG 12 XC Championships as we thought they'd be. And when the national meet rolled around, it felt like most of the women faltered from expectations.

At the national meet, Annastasia Peters (44th) had a really strong race considering the tough season she was having However, top low-sticks like Erin Vringer (68th) and Mckaylie Caesar (120th) weren't nearly as potent as they had been earlier in the fall. With their fifth runner dropping all the way back to 205th place, the Utah women settled for an underwhelming 19th place finish.

The very best version of this team is a borderline top-10 squad. Their Nuttycombe Invite performance showed us that and their result on that stage is the biggest reason why they're not dropping more than this. Even so, the Utes were likely capable of a little bit more than what they showed at the national meet.

15. Florida Gators (+6 / 21)

A huge 12th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships is a result that we knew the Gators were capable of producing. Of course, we hadn't seen them fare this well until Saturday.

Hilda Olemomoi (3rd) is among the best of the best while junior Tia Wilson (63rd) offered a really nice secondary scoring result. The performances Bethan Morley (108th) and Allison Wilson (116th) allowed the Gators to capitalize on the potency of their low-stick(s) without their backend diluting most of their value.

Admittedly, the team's final scorer faded to 174th place, a result that held Florida back from cracking the top-10.

Even so, we entered this season with significant concerns about the Gators' depth. For Coach Will Palmer to craft the lineup that he did after losing numerous superstars from last year deserves plenty of kudos. And while this group did produce a handful of strong results earlier in the season, this final result was clearly their best team effort of the fall months.

14. Virginia Cavaliers (0 / 14)

The Virginia women entered Saturday at our TSR #14 spot, placed 14th at the NCAA XC Championships and now end their season at TSR #14 in our rankings.

Margot Appleton (18th) delivered the low-stick All-American result that we thought she was going to post at last year's national meet. Her late-season returned stabilized this lineup in a significant way. Jenny Schilling (52nd) wasn't an All-American, but she was still very clearly a national-caliber low-stick this fall.

Tatum David (112th) had a quietly good race, Gillian Bushee (151st) was likely capable of more and the same could be said about Camryn Menninger (167th). And yet, despite the backend struggles of this lineup, UVA still salvaged a 14th place finish.

For the most part, the Cavaliers were a steady and reliable team throughout the fall months. They were never the best team in any major fields that they toed the line for, but they also never faltered at meets like the Nuttycombe Invite (11th) or the ACC XC Championships (4th). And remember, they didn't have Appleton for the former race.

13. North Carolina Tar Heels (+2 / 15)

After a brutal 2023 fall campaign, the North Carolina women rallied in 2024, returning to a nationally competitive tier. And on Saturday, the Tar Heels scored an 11th place finish. It wasn't necessarily a surprising result for UNC, but it was on the better end of our expectations for them.

Taryn Parks (27th) came out of absolutely nowhere to earn a monster All-American honor. Remember, she was "only" 71st at the Nuttycombe Invite, 23rd at the Princeton Fall Classic and 36th at the ACC XC Championships. Behind her, Brynn Brown (38th) capped her season with a well-deserved All-American finish.

Fatima Alanis (92nd) was a bit further back, but still produced a decent result. Meanwhile, Eva Klingbeil (122nd) and Ciara O'Shea (126th) did a nice job of closing out UNC's team scoring somewhat quickly.

I don't know what changed about this team compared to last year. For the most part, these are the exact same women who UNC fielded in 2023. But whatever changed, it worked.

12. Alabama Crimson Tide (-2 / 10)

The Alabama women were previously ranked at TSR #10 and placed 10th at the national meet...so why are they dropping two spots in our rankings?

Well, that is simply because both Washington and Notre Dame were previously ranked ahead of the Crimson Tide. And despite both of those teams struggling a bit on the national stage, their overall seasons were still strong enough to remain ahead of Alabama.

The Crimson Tide were a strong and steady team throughout this fall. In fact, at one point, it felt like they could have possibly been a podium threat. However, the absence of Joy Gill and the uncertainty surrounding a few newcomers made that dream short-lived.

On Saturday, Doris Lemngole secured the individual national title, unsurprisingly giving her team a lethal injection of scoring. Brenda Tuwei, in her first cross country national meet, took 29th place for a very strong All-American result. Addison Dorenkamp (86th) was much better than expected and even though Pheline Cheruto (87th) wasn't quite as potent as we thought she could be, she still ran well.

The challenge, however, is that the team's fifth runner faded to 177th place. Oddly enough, Franziska Drexler, a consistent backend contributor for Alabama throughout this season, did not race.

Alabama still deserves plenty of respect for the season that they had. They defeated NC State at the Loyola Lakefront Invite and went on to win the SEC title over two teams that currently reside in the top-20 portion of our rankings. If people wanted them ranked just a little bit higher / where they actually finished at the national meet, then we wouldn't totally disagree.

11. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (-7 / 4)

You really gotta feel for the Notre Dame women.

Throughout the entirety of this season, the Fighting Irish looked like a podium team. And if they weren't going to end their season on the podium, then they were almost certainly going to be a top-10 team at the NCAA XC Championships...or so we thought.

Saturday was a brutal outing for Notre Dame. Erin Strzelecki (37th) yet again came in incredibly clutch with another surprising All-American performance. However, pretty much no one else with the possible exception of Mary Bonner Dalton (82nd) had a good day. Siona Chisholm (81st), Gretchen Farley (141st), Reagan Riley (206th), Emily Covert (214th) and Isabel Allori (233rd) all struggled greatly at the national meet, leaving the Fighting Irish with a 16th place finish.

Notre Dame's performance from this past weekend isn't anywhere close to how good they actually are. Of course, we probably should have been more careful with our optimism leading into the national meet. After all, Dalton, Farley, Riley and Allori were inexperienced underclassman and Saturday was a good reminder of how shaky youth-based lineups like that can be.

10. Washington Huskies (-4 / 6)

At the beginning of the season, the Washington women looked incredible. They comfortably won the Nuttycombe Invite despite not having Sophie O'Sullivan or Samantha Tran. And at Pre-Nationals, the Huskies continued to impress, this time taking down NAU and falling only to the eventual national title winners, BYU.

But as the postseason approach, it felt like Washington began to lose momentum. They finished runner-up at the BIG 10 XC Championships behind Oregon (as expected), but the Ducks had easily trounced their conference rivals. And after a lacking performance at the West regional meet, the Washington women underwhelmed on Saturday, taking 13th place at the NCAA XC Championships.

The Huskies didn't have a single woman crack the top-50 spots at the national meet. If I had told you that after their performance at the Nuttycombe Invite, I don't think many people would have believed me.

Sure, Maeve Stiles (58th), Julia David-Smith (73rd) and Amina Maatoug (93rd) offered decent scoring results, but Foerster struggled greatly while a few of her teammates were not at their best.

The Huskies remain as a top-10 team in our rankings given how dominant they were in the regular season. For a moment, it looked they were borderline locks for the podium. And for as disappointing as Saturday had to be, it's important to recognize how good this team was as a whole throughout 2024.

9. Georgetown Hoyas (-2 / 7)

The Georgetown women settled for a 9th place team finish at the NCAA XC Championships, a somewhat predictable result. Sure, the Hoyas likely could have threatened for a top-five result, but remaining inside the top-10 seemed to be the expectation for this team.

Chloe Scrimgeour (23rd), Lucy Jenks (49th) and Melissa Riggins (54th) didn't have their best races, but they certainly didn't run poorly. The same can be said about Almi Nerurkar (110th) and Charlotte Tomkinson (114th) who closed out the scoring. And although the rest of this team's depth wasn't quite as high up as we thought they'd be, it largely didn't matter.

As long as their latter two runners didn't let the team score get out of control, the Hoyas were never going to truly struggle on the national stage.

8. NC State Wolfpack (+5 / 13)

The NC State women ended their season with an 8th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships. And for a team that underwhelmed at times this fall, seeing the Wolfpack peak perfectly for the national meet was incredibly promising.

We'll admit, our idea of the Wolfpack being a top-10 team on Saturday seemed unlikely, especially after their plummeted to 5th place at the ACC XC Championships. But on the national stage, everything clicked.

Grace Hartman (5th) and Hannah Gapes (8th) ended their seasons as the best 1-2 punch in the country. That is not something that we would have predicted at the start of this season.

However, the real hero on this team is Brooke Rauber who struggled during the regular season, but came alive for the regional and national meets. She secured a massive 50th place finish on Saturday, bridging the two halves of NC State's lineup.

Angelina Napoleon (96th) had her best race of the season and that was enough to offset the gap to the Wolfpacks' final scorer who settled for 160th place overall. All of this was done without Fiona Smith and with freshman Ellie Shea having a tough outing.

Kudos to Coach Laurie Henes. During a season that looked like it was spiraling, she rallied her team and helped them peak for the national meet right on time.

7. New Mexico Lobos (+4 / 11)

The New Mexico women took 7th place on Saturday, a somewhat predictable result as long as everyone in their lineup ran up to expectations. That was surely the case upfront as Pamela Kosgei (2nd) and Mercy Kirarei (34th) produced outstanding All-American performances.

However, the strength of this lineup could be found in the performances of Klara Dess (74th), Natalie Bitetti (91st) and Tilly Simpson (118th). We weren't entirely sure what the Lobos' supporting cast was going to look like this fall, but seeing those three women run well on the same day was probably a best case scenario.

New Mexico proved to be a formidable team throughout the fall months. They defeated Oklahoma State at the Cowboy Jamboree and settled for a very strong 7th place effort at Pre-Nationals. In retrospect, keeping them at TSR #11 up until now was probably a mistake on our part.

6. Stanford Cardinal (+3 / 9)

Throughout this season, we preached how the Stanford women needed more firepower -- or at least, another viable lineup option. Both Sophia Kennedy and Zofia Dudek were great low-sticks throughout the fall months, but Riley Stewart had been a bit inconsistent and the backend of their lineup had some work to do.

That was evident at Pre-Nationals where Stanford placed 11th, a fairly surprising result for a historical powerhouse. But once the postseason rolled around, Stewart became more reliable and superstar low-stick Amy Bunnage came back to racing at the West Regional XC Championships and the NCAA XC Championships.

On the national stage, the Cardinal had their best races of the season...for the most part. Bunnage (4th) was electric with a monster performance while Sophia Kennedy (33rd) delivered on All-American expectations. Zofia Dudek (66th) wasn't an All-American, but she was still a valuable scorer.

However, the biggest reason why the Stanford women ultimately placed 6th at the NCAA XC Championships is because Stewart came through with a huge 58th place finish. The woman who was once the biggest question mark in this lineup turned out to be (arguably) the biggest reason why the Cardinal placed 6th on Saturday.

Sure, Julia Flynn (119th) was a bit further back, but given some of the gaps that plagued this lineup earlier in the season, that was a result that Stanford was probably more than happy to take.

5. Providence Friars (+3 / 8)

Going into Saturday, we figured that the Providence women could be a podium team, although we didn't think that they were favored to do so. And yet, against the odds, Providence scored a huge 3rd place podium finish, a result they were thrilled about.

Shannon Flockhart (24th) saved the best cross country race of her career for the perfect moment and you could argue the same about Kimberley May (10th). With Alex Millard (20th) producing a huge result of her own, the top-three of the Friars' lineup was the best in the field (by a single point over West Virginia).

And yet, despite those three women running so well, it was Laura Mooney (58th) who truly put the stamp on a brilliant team result. Her result gave this team a ton of overwhelming firepower and it also made up for the scoring drop-off to their fifth runner (who placed 128th, a still-solid effort).

We're opting to place Providence at TSR #5 to end the season. Earlier this fall, they fell to Georgetown (three times), Washington and Utah. And while those are all strong programs, none of those teams finished higher than 9th at the national meet.

Regardless, the Friars should be thrilled with their performance.

4. Oregon Ducks (-1 / 3)

Coach Shalane Flangan was refreshingly candid with her evaluation of Oregon's team performance on Saturday. Simply put, they were disappointed with a 5th place finish. If they weren't going to compete for the win, then the idea of landing on the podium (which they missed by four points) seemed highly probable.

Through three runners, Oregon was right on par with expectations. In fact, they even exceeded expectations! Silan Ayyildiz (13th) and Maddy Elmore (25th) were outstanding as projected, but Anika Thompson (32nd) had an unreal race to give her team a third lethal low-stick.

Klaudia Kazimierska (100th) and Ali Ince (104th) didn't have poor performances. However, they needed to finish just a little further up in order for Oregon to reach the podium.

Finding an appropriate spot for the Ducks in our rankings after the season they had is admittedly tough. Oregon didn't field their top lineup until the BIG 10 XC Championships and when they did, they were dominant. We think a TSR #4 ranking is fairly reasonable compared to the other teams who were considered for this spot.

3. Northern Arizona Lumberjacks (-1 / 2)

Admittedly, I thought that the Northern Arizona women were capable of a stronger result than 4th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships. In fact, I even picked them to secure the win!

Ali Upshaw (22nd) and Elise Stearns (36th) were both plenty strong, but NAU needed far more potent firepower if they were going to finish any higher than 4th. The rest of the Lumberjacks didn't run poorly -- Keira Moore (60th), Maggi Congdon (71st), Alex Carlson (81st), Nikita Moore (95th) and Karrie Baloga (97th) all held their own -- but we felt like those women were capable of being at least 10 to 20 spots better (each).

Regardless, NAU still put forth a strong run which mostly aligned with how their season went. Going into the national meet, the only teams who they lost to were BYU and Washington. Other than that, they seemed like a good fit for our TSR #3 spot.

2. West Virginia Mountaineers (+3 / 5)

The West Virginia women entered the national meet as favorites for the podium. That was a sentence that I didn't think we would be typing in late November.

Even so, the Mountaineers were terrific leading up to the NCAA XC Championships. They earned a tremendous 4th place finish at Pre-Nationals and then secured a comfortable runner-up effort at the BIG 12 XC Championships behind BYU.

The challenge, however, is that this team had zero margin for error. If just one of the women in their top-five slipped up, then the Mountaineers were going to tumble down the standings. That, however, didn't happen. Instead, WVU saved their best race of the season for Madison, Wisconsin.

Ceili McCabe (6th) and Joy Naukot (17th) were unsurprisingly awesome. However, Sarah Tait (34th) had a monumental run. Her unexpected All-American performance was complemented by fantastic supporting efforts from Emily Bryce (69th) and Madison Trippett (89th). All of that led to West Virginia landing in 2nd place at the NCAA XC Championships, settling within reaching distance of the BYU women.

We knew West Virginia had a few strong pieces going into this fall, but the Tait-Bryce-Trippett scoring trio is biggest reason why this group found so much success on Saturday.

1. BYU Cougars (0 / 1)

We're not necessarily surprised that the BYU women won the national title on Saturday. They were, after all, the favorites in the eyes of many. However, the Cougars didn't have Jenna Hutchins, an All-American candidate, for the national meet. For most teams in BYU's position, that would be tricky to manage.

Of course, the Cougars aren't like "most teams". The combination of Lexy Halladay-Lowry (14th), Riley Chamberlain (31st), Carmen Alder (39th), Taylor Rohatinsky (43rd) and Carlee Hansen (65th) all seemingly peaked for the postseason.

Going into the national meet, we questioned what the backend of BYU's lineup would look like without Hutchins. We also wondered if all of those women would be able to run well on the same day.

But now that the dust has settled, we've learned not to doubt Coach Diljeet Taylor and the BYU women.