TSR's 2024 D2 "Way Too Early" NCAA XC Preview (Women's Teams)

Admin (Garrett Zatlin)
Jul 9, 2024
8 min read

Updated: Jul 21, 2024

There's no need for a fancy introduction (or letting you know what my coffee order is) today. You came here to find out what we can expect from the Division Two women's cross country squads later this fall. Let's not waste any more time and jump right into it...

NOTE: Any analysis offered in this article is not meant to be an indication of where an athlete or team will or will not be ranked in our preseason lists as new information is constantly flowing in. Any eligibility mentioned below is based off of TFRRS and any feedback that coaches have been able to offer us. We also could not get to ALL nationally relevant teams in this article. Just because a team was not mentioned does not necessarily mean that they are less relevant than other teams which were highlighted.

Ah, yes. The age-old question of women's Division Two cross country.

Adams State or Grand Valley State?

Last year, it was the Lakers who proved to be the better team. They overwhelmed the Grizzlies with a barrage of low-stick scorers at the national meet and they never really gave Adams State an opening to contend for gold.

But in 2024, that narrative may be flipped. According to TFRRS, the GVSU women lose not one, not two, not three, but FOUR of their women from last year's national meet lineup. That includes their entire top-three who all finished inside the top-14 at the NCAA XC Championships.

Yes, it's true, the Adams State women do lose their most crucial scorer in Brianna Robles, someone who has largely been a lock for a top-five finish at almost every national meet she's been to. However, everyone else from that runner-up national meet team is set to return.

According to TFRRS, those returners include All-Americans such as Tristian Spence, Ava O'Connor, Morgan Hykes and Emily Schoellkopf. Not only that, but Elena Carey and Vienna Lahner, two huge breakout names from this past spring, will also be available to race. Maggie McClesky was already great, but she got even better on the oval and is set to return.

Oh, and Precious Robinson? She's coming back, too. Same with 2022 cross country All-American Fiona Hawkins as well as key support veteran, Reina Paredes.

Simply put, Adams State is going to have an army of star-caliber women. In fact, they could potentially assemble a lineup that may have (in a best-case scenario), seven individual All-Americans in November. And believe it or not, that is not the first time that I've said that about the Grizzly women.

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Make no mistake, the Lakers will still be great and should at least put up a fight as long as their top women deliver and their other names progress. But Lauren Kiley and Allie Arnsman are the team's sole All-American returners and Abby VanderKooi "only" placed 67th at last year's national meet (although she's almost certainly better than what that result showed).

We're still waiting to see which new recruits and transfers Coach Jerry Baltes will be able to add to his women's roster this fall. Last year, the Lakers' head coach landed Ana Tucker, a star from the Division Three level. Without her, Grand Valley State goes from winning the national title by 27 points to just three points.

We also shouldn't forget that Taryn Chapko still has eligibility. And while some may say that she's an 800-meter runner, it's important to remember that the Laker veteran placed 14th at the 2021 edition of the NCAA XC Championships.

With women like Madison Ebright and Maria Mitchell both showing promise in their own right, it would still be surprising if this squad didn't return to the podium in November.

Speaking of teams that also lose a large handful of high-octane scorers, I'll be interested to see how the Colorado Mines women fare this fall. I'm a big fan of Holly Moser and Jenna Ramsey-Rutledge as the team's top duo. However, losing key impact names such as Molly Maksin, Clare Peters and Riley McGrath (all according to TFRRS) leaves multiple gaps for Coach Chris Siemers to address.

Thankfully, Margaux Basart was excellent this past spring in the steeplechase. She will almost certainly evolve into a legitimate All-American threat. Let's also not forget about Grace Strongman! She was a cross country All-American in the fall of 2022. When she's firing on all cylinders, she is significantly better than last year's national meet performance.

When you begin to highlight each of those pieces, you can convince me that the Orediggers will be threats for the podium yet again in 2024. Part of that is because of their returning personnel, but the other part of it is simply because I trust Coach Chris Siemers to make it happen.

However, the team who I would want to see the least if I was Adams State, GVSU and/or Colorado Mines is Western Colorado.

Why? Allow me to explain.

The Mountaineer women return EVERYONE from their podium squad, including top-13 finishers, Allison Beasley and Leah Taylor. Throw in fellow All-American returnee Peyton Weiss, veteran Gretchen Slattum and a slew of former freshmen with experience, and you have a roster brimming with upside.

Admittedly, it will still take a lot if Western Colorado is going to legitimately threaten Adams State later this fall. That would mostly require Lauren Wilson and Slattum to take fairly substantial jumps in their overall. And while I do believe that both women have the potential to be All-Americans, it's likely going to take five women in the top-30 at the national meet to make things interesting against the Grizzlies.

Regardless, I see nothing but positives when it comes to the women from Gunnison, Colorado. Last year's team was extremely young, especially at the backend of their lineup. A year of development and a prior taste of the national meet can lead to significant improvements in the coming months.

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I'll admit, I'm really sure how to feel about the new few teams who just missed the podium last year. Winona State, for instance, is losing both Lindsey Cunningham and Kaylee Beyer, a duo who heavily carried the Warriors throughout last fall.

West Texas A&M proved to be sneaky-good in 2023, but losing an elite low-stick in Eleonora Curtabbi (as well as a few backend support pieces) is a tough blow. In order to make up for Curtabbi's lost scoring, the Buffaloes will need to find another low-stick by either, a) recruiting or going into the transfer portal, or b) have their returners collectively make enough progress where the departure of a low-stick is nullified.

And if I was a betting man, I'd say it's most likely going to be the former.

The Augustana women are a bit more interesting. This is a team that surpassed our expectations by quite a bit throughout last fall. They won the "Maroon" race at the Griak Invitational and later earned a huge 7th place overall at the NCAA XC Championships.

Aubrey Surage was outstanding for the Vikings last fall. She was a true breakout name who led her team in the biggest moments. In the grand scheme of things, she was arguably even more than valuable than her 34th place All-American finish would lead you to believe.

But what truly impressed me about this team last year was their depth, more specifically their incredible pack-running!

At last year's national meet, the Vikings quartet of Ashley Overgaauw, Ana McCabe, Amanda Overgaauw and Ella Bakken went 68-71-72-73 in the overall results. With Augustana closing out their scoring so quickly and so effectively, they proved to be one of the more complete teams in Division Two.

Now, admittedly, this team isn't perfect. They still need more low-stick help next to Surage if they're going to contend for the podium. They also need to find someone who can replace the reliable scoring value of Ana McCabe if she is actually gone. Even so, if Coach Tracy Hellman was able to develop this team as effectively as he did last year, then what do we think he can do when they really only need to fill one scoring gap?

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Alright, so...how on Earth do we evaluate this Wingate team?

Just like their men's team, it was hard to get a gauge of exactly how good the Bulldogs were last fall going into the national meet. This wasn't to say that they didn't have good results, but their best competition wasn't always from the Division Two level and when they did reach the postseason, they rolled right through their conference and regional meets.

But then the ladies from Wingate threw down a fantastic 8th place team finish last fall at the NCAA XC Championships. In fact, they reached that spot in a similar way that Augustana did: by having great depth.

Per TFRRS, Wingate loses only their sixth runner from the 2023 national meet. They return their entire top-five, all of whom cracked the top-90 at the NCAA XC Championships last fall. The catch, however, is that the low-stick firepower on this team simply must be better.

Yes, Wingate did have three women in the top-60 at the national meet (Ona Alonso, Mollie Scott and Sira Bo), but their top finisher placed 55th overall.

On paper, Wingate is a very safe team. They have tons of depth, they seemingly pack-run very well and their once-young squad now has a good bit of experience under their belts. I would be surprised if they faded outside of the top-10 of our rankings in 2024, but their ceiling will be determined by which women are able to make substantial leaps into All-American territory.

As I wander through last year's major results, I find myself struggling to find a sleeper team. The Cedarville women lost their most important scorer from last fall, Lee (Tenn.) lost their top-three ladies from the national meet and UC-Colorado Springs doesn't feel like a sleeper team knowing that they still have Anna Fauske and Kate Hedlund.

However, I think you could talk me into CSU-Pueblo being my early-season bandwagon squad. The ThunderWolves return everyone from a national meet lineup that placed 11th. Helen Braybrook was their lone All-American, but Margot Thomas-Gatel was great on the track and I would be surprised if she didn't become an All-American in 2024.

While their national meet performance was very solid, I was actually more encouraged by what I saw from this group at the RMAC XC Championships last year.

There, the ladies from Pueblo, Colorado finished 4th place overall to defeat Colorado Springs (albeit, due to a Kate Hedlund fall). With all five of their scorers within the top-40, there is still room for this team to make substantial improvements in their fitness and have that actually be reflected in their team score.

Editor's Note: Following the publication of this article, The Stride Report learned that Susanna Bruennig is not expected to return to Biola this fall.

And speaking of teams with a ton of returners and great upside, the Biola women have the chance to be incredible this fall. I legitimately believe that if everything breaks their way, they could be a fringe contender for the podium.

So...why is that?

Susanne Bruennig is a returning All-American who was only a freshman last year and Bethany Mapes was only five spots out from that same honor. Britta Holmberg and Lynette Ruiz were outstanding support scorers for this team at the Lewis XC Crossover. Not only that, but everyone from last year's national meet lineup returns!

The core of this group will now be upperclassmen and prior national meet experience should allow the Eagles to far surpass their 17th place team finish at last year's NCAA XC Championships.

I don't wan't to keep rambling as we're now approaching the natural closing point of this article. But just like my last few "way too early" previews, I did want to throw together some rapid-fire thoughts and takes...

The Chico State women are led by a fantastic twin duo in Iresh Molina and Della Molina. This team is capable of potentially scaring the top-six this fall, but they must get greater support scoring and close down on some fairly substantial gaps.

The Lewis women surprised us last year after seeing them place 3rd at the Lewis XC Crossover. And despite what TFRRS says, key middle-lineup scorers such as Anna Kozak and Caroline Pacer-Ryan are returning! They are also adding Sarah May to their team, a transfer Grand Valley State. There is potential for the Lady Flyers to deliver on the goals that they likely had last year.

Catawba has a few very solid pieces. They need some refinement, but they could be a pretty solid team this year. This could be a true breakout year for Madison Clay.

The U-Mary women are going to be one of the older and more experienced teams at this year's national meet. In theory, that should make them a fairly safe team to bet on as their scoring shouldn't fluctuate as much as a few other squads will.