TSR's 2024 D3 XC Top 10 Team Rankings (Men): Update #3

TSR Collaboration
Nov 11, 2024
6 min read

Written by Kevin Fischer, Conor Daly & Gavin Struve

Edits & additional commentary via Gavin Struve and Garrett Zatlin

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.

10. St. Olaf Oles (0 / 10)

St. Olaf didn't surprise us in any way to lead to a change in their ranking, but that doesn't mean that they didn't impress. The Oles swept spots 2-3-4-5 behind Mohammed Bati at the MIAC XC Championships, easily winning the conference team title.

We already knew that St. Olaf could triumph over lesser competition after they won a couple of smaller in-state meets. However, their latest effort still complemented the runner-up result that they produced against a stronger field one meet prior at the Connecticut College Invitational.

We should also use this space to shout out St. Olaf's two All-American candidates, Kevin Turlington and Andrew Skemp (who aren't quite in our top-20 individual rankings). Those two men have continued to steadily impress by earning conference silver and bronze, respectively, one meet after producing top-10 finishes at Connecticut College.

9. RPI Engineers (0 / 9)

Similar to St. Olaf, RPI cruised to a conference title earlier this month after finishing runner-up in a more competitive field on October 19th. In the Engineers' case, their 2nd-place finish came at the SUNY Geneseo Mike Woods Invitational, and they got back to their winning ways at the Liberty League XC Championships.

The Engineers also swept spots 2-3-4-5, placing seven men in the top-10. And while he has still yet to win a conference title on the grass, it was reassuring to see Vince Simonetti looking more and more like the low-stick star that we expected him to be.

Following a slow start to the season, Simonetti he has won the Mike Woods Invitational and finished as the Liberty League runner-up, providing a valuable low-stick presence to lead a sneaky-deep group.

8. George Fox Bruins (-1 / 7)

We didn't love the prospect of moving George Fox down in our rankings after they, like so many others among our top-10 teams, recently won a conference title.

The slight demotion is due to another team's success rather than any shortcomings revealed by the Bruins. They predictably won the Northwest Conference XC Championships by a comfortable margin.

Austin Gappa continues to look like the low-stick star that the since-graduated Peter Weiss was for this team last year. It's also reassuring to see Alex Mills, a key scorer in 2023, continue to emerge from a slow start to the season. He placed 3rd to finish as the second Bruin to cross the line at their conference meet.

7. UW-Whitewater Warhawks (-1 / 6)

We know that this team hates nothing more than losing to their in-state rival UW-La Crosse, but that was inevitable at this year’s WIAC XC Championships.

Christian Patzka (2nd) and Gunner Schlender (3rd) were their elite selves in bringing critical scoring value to a team performance that otherwise wasn’t all that encouraging.

Dan Anderson (9th) was solid, but hasn’t had the season that his 4th-place finish at D3 Pre-Nationals indicated he could. With UW-Whitewater’s final two scorers in 21st and 29th place, there’s only so much that Patzka and Schlender could do to boost the team score against quality competition.

As we expected entering the fall months, the backend of this lineup is the defining factor which dictates how well this team performs in the postseason. That being said, the Warhawks still deserve this ranking given that they finished where we expected them to in a very solid conference. We feel great about them through two runners compared to other teams and they're still plenty good through three.

6. NYU Violets (+2 / 8)

The NYU men have quietly put together a really impressive season so far, only losing to teams currently ranked ahead of them. Most recently, the Violets took home their first UAA title in over a decade over Carnegie Mellon, 34 points to 50 points.

Yes, that performance was strong, but it’s how their overall lineup structure is developing that is even more promising for the Violets. Ryan Tobin is in the conversation for a top-half All-American finish, while the Violets’ second, third and fourth runners feel like the backbone of this lineup.

On any given day, this team’s second man could be either Evan Sherman, Liam Hagerty or Jeffrey Chen. That trio finishes right with each other in every race, oftentimes within five seconds. Not only have these men been very consistent, but they also each hold All-American upside on the perfect day.

With an improving and serviceable fifth man, there’s little to dislike about NYU's lineup. However, help past these names is often a minute away, leaving room for this lineup to crumble if just one of their scorers has a bad day or is unable to race.

Considering that hasn’t occurred in any of their four races thus far, we’re becoming more at ease with that risk.

5. North Central Cardinals (0 / 5)

Arguably the most predictable result of conference meet weekend was seeing North Central make quick work of the CCIW field to win their 50th consecutive league title (yes, you read that right).

Emerald Svienty took home the individual win, while Matthew Jett and BJ Sorg followed in 2nd and 3rd place, respectively. It was particularly promising to see Jett look to be in top form after he missed the Cardinals’ previous meet, rumored to be due to sickness.

The Cardinals then placed 9-10-11-12-13, a group all within 10 seconds of each other. That depth through eight runners is great, but we worry about whether North Central will be able to put forth a potent enough fourth and fifth runner in a deeper field to give them a shot at the podium.

4. SUNY Geneseo Knights (0 / 4)

It was a simple formality for the SUNY Geneseo men to win their first-ever Empire 8 Conference title after joining the league this year. The Knights put seven runners in the top-nine to record a near-perfect score.

It’s no surprise to see SUNY Geneseo field a lineup with plenty of depth, but it’s been particularly encouraging to see the Knights find firepower to replace the scoring value lost by the graduation of long-time star Nick Andrews.

That has come thanks to Empire 8 individual champion Ryan Hagan and Charlie Wilson, the latter being the runner-up finisher at both the Paul Short Run “White" race and his conference meet. This team continues to flash its podium prerequisites.

3. Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens (0 / 3)

Adam Sage of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps took the individual title at the SCIAC XC Championships by two-tenths of a second, beating Cameron Hatler for a second consecutive race. But after that, it was all Pomona-Pitzer.

Hatler, Quinn White, and Jack Stein secured the next three spots, and the Sagehens put a total of five men in the top-eight and seven in the top-11.

This was enough for a convincing conference win for the heavy favorites, but they face a much tougher test at the upcoming West Regional XC Championships. There, they'll battle a George Fox team that will be gunning for an upset against the defending national champions.

2. Wartburg Knights (0 / 2)

Despite racing without Tyler Schermerhorn, Wartburg still posted a perfect score at the American Rivers Conference XC Championships. Their dominance was to be expected given that the next best team in the field, Loras, is likely on the bubble for a national meet berth.

With that said, there isn't all that much to take away from the Knights' latest performance. One development to watch is whether Schermerhorn returns to action for the regional and national stages.

Wartburg has enough depth that the impact from his absence wouldn't be too disastrous. However, if they are aiming to knock off UW-La Crosse for a national title, then they will need every bit of help that they can get.

1. UW-La Crosse Eagles (0 / 1)

The Eagles continued their dominant campaign by putting five men in the top-eight at the WIAC XC Championships. Some top teams notched lower scores at their conference meets because of a lack of quality competition, but that couldn’t be further from the truth in this case.

UW-La Crosse continues to thrash high-quality teams, beating our TSR #7 team, UW-Whitewater by over 30 points. That run was headlined by Grant Matthai taking the individual conference title over Christian Patzka and Gunner Schlender in what could likely be described as an upset.

The Eagles are further bolstering their case as strong national title favorites as we get deeper into the season. They will be hoping that the end result bears that out after being relegated to national runner-up standing by one single point last year.