TSR's 2024 D3 XC Top 20 Individual Rankings (Men): Update #1

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Written by Conor Daly, Kevin Fischer & Gavin Struve

Edits & additional commentary via Gavin Struve & Garrett Zatlin

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NOTE: These rankings are based on how an individual 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). 

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KEY

(Unranked):

Was not ranked in our last update.

(#/#):

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

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

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20. Joey Sullivan, Junior, UW-La Crosse (Unranked)

After a breakout 2023 cross country season that culminated in a 59th-place finish at the national meet, Joey Sullivan only continued to thrive on the track. Running personal bests of 8:49 (steeple) and 14:14 (5k), the junior progressed his fitness, which has translated to big results so far this fall.

At the John McNichols Invitational, Sullivan placed 11th, just steps behind Chasen Hunt of Lynchburg. As UW-La Crosse’s third man across the line, he beat multiple All-Americans and proved to be in strong form. Sullivan’s outing at the Joe Piane Invitational wasn’t quite as encouraging, although it was still a solid run, as he finished as UW-La Crosse’s fifth man (14th place overall).

That stellar first race was enough to push Sullivan into our rankings, and we know that he has the history to suggest that he can sustain that upper end of performance for the remainder of the season.

19. Corey Fairchild, Senior, UW-La Crosse (Unranked)

With a late start to his season in 2023, Corey Fairchild seemingly didn’t have enough time to make UW-La Crosse’s postseason varsity lineup after being part of it in 2022. After qualifying for the 10k at the 2024 outdoor national meet and running well in his first few races this fall, that looks to be a problem of the past. Now, Fairchild will focus his attention on national-level competition.

The fifth-year Eagle was one spot behind teammate Joey Sullivan at the John McNichols Invitational with a strong 12th-place run. He then went on to place 7th at Joe Piane, which is why he gets the nod over Sullivan here. When you couple his history of immense aerobic capabilities with a pair of strong recent results, Fairchild is someone who we have no worries about despite his postseason absence last fall.

18. Charles Namiot, Senior, Williams (Unranked)

Williams always seems to have another star distance talent ready to step up and lead them year after year. The Ephs’ third runner last year, Charles Namiot has been taking on that duty thus far this fall. At this point in the season, he is three-for-three in the win column.

His first and third wins admittedly weren’t over the strongest competition, although his second win at the Purple Valley XC Invite was notable as he fended off a strong RPI contingent.

With 29:13 (10k) credentials, Namiot is someone who was knocking on the door of a ranking as is, and he's handled every test in front of him so far with a greater challenge ahead this weekend: the Connecticut College Invitational.

17. Dan Anderson, Junior, UW-Whitewater (Unranked)

If you want to talk about a guy who has already had a breakout result this season, that conversation can quickly be directed to Dan Anderson. 

With a 30:38 (10k) personal best and a top-80 finish at the 2023 cross country national meet to his name, this junior entered the season as one of the quietly more aerobically developed names and an All-American candidate.

In our eyes, he was looking to have a solid season behind his superstar teammates to help his team’s podium ambitions, but was not considered an individual star. That was, until a week ago when he finished 4th at D3 Pre-Nationals. 

Only finishing behind his teammates and another top-five individual, Anderson took down numerous All-Americans in the process. And when you look at Anderson's overall year-over-year trajectory, you come to the conclusion that this newfound success is likely here to stay. He's long been overshadowed by the Warhawks' leading men, but he now looks like he may be closer to them than he is to the rest of the team.

16. Mohammed Bati, Junior, Augsburg (Unranked)

Outside of a conservative 5k effort, this Augsburg talent has opened up his season with a pair of impressive wins. The first, at the St. Olaf Invitational, was by a margin of over 30 seconds against “Honorable Mention” name Kevin Turlington and 2023 cross country All-American Mason Shea. 

Mohammed Bati's second win, at the Carleton Running of the Cows, was the run that really caught our eye. Bati once again put 30 seconds between himself and the field, but this time he gapped 14:00 (5k) talent Isaac vanWestrienen (in addition to Turlington again). While it’s possible that vanWestrienen wasn’t giving a full effort, Bati's performance spoke volumes given that it was over 35 seconds faster than his effort on the same course a year ago.

It’s nothing new to say that Bati is talented. The last two years he has looked to be at a high level during the regular season only to struggle in the postseason. In 2022, he finished outside of the top-150 at the cross country national meet. In 2023, he finished 66th at the North Regional XC Championships, a far cry from qualifying for the NCAA XC Championships.

It’s this inconsistency in November that leaves us wary of our friend from Augsburg as we move forward. That tempers his ranking a bit, but he's done more than enough so far this season to be a top-20 name.

15. Anthony Rodriguez, Senior, Babson (Unranked)

We first saw Anthony Rodriguez this season at the rain-plagued UMass Dartmouth XC Invitational, where he finished 12th in a pack of Division One competitors. Without any notable Division Three individuals or top-20 teams in the race, that result was hard to gauge, although it was arguably on the lower end of expectations.

Whatever gray area was left from that performance was erased when Rodriguez finished 6th at D3 Pre-Nationals. After finishing ahead of a pack of likely All-Americans, this multi-time national qualifier looks better than ever.

14. BJ Sorg, Sophomore, North Central (Unranked)

With three races this fall, BJ Sorg has kept busy in the early going. The sophomore first took home a win at the Aurora Spartan Classic, which ended up looking like an intrasquad race for North Central. 

Sorg was tested the following week at the John McNichols Invitational, where he greatly improved his stock by finishing 9th against a top-flight field. A recent 12th-place finish at the Louisville Classic doesn’t tell us anything new, but it was nice to see Sorg document another run in which he was within ten seconds of star teammate Emerald Svienty.

13. Aidan Matthai, Junior, UW-La Crosse (Unranked)

Entering the season, there were some serious arguments to rank Aidan Matthai in our top-20. We ended up just leaving him out, but his performances this season have indicated that he has taken a step forward.

An 8th-place finish against a loaded D3 field at the John McNichols Invitational was a solid day for him. He followed that up two weeks later with arguably an even more impressive top-five finish in the “B” Race at Notre Dame's Joe Piane Invitational, providing part of a dominant team display against a field of mostly Division I programs.

12. Ivan Appleton, Junior, Tufts (-6 / 6)

Has not yet competed this season.

11. Isaiah Hammerand, Sophomore, Wartburg (Unranked)

One of the bigger breakthrough stars of this fall, Isaiah Hammerand was on our radar in August as a key piece on a championship-contending Wartburg team, but certainly not as a top-20 individual talent.

His first action of the season was a promising 6k effort in which he finished 3rd behind his teammate, Tyler Schermerhorn, and Cornell College's Isaac vanWestrienen (both preseason top-15 names). However, Hammerand truly established himself as a star at the John McNichols Invitational, where he defeated several ranked runners to finish 5th. 

A comfortable win at the Dan Huston Invitational, which had little competition outside of his Wartburg teammates, doesn't move the needle all that much. However, it does suggest that Hammerand's momentum is still rolling as we get deeper into the season and further indicates that the Knights may have a new leading man.

10. Peter LaRochelle, Senior, Haverford (+6 / 16)

In his first two efforts of the season, Peter LaRochelle's only loss came in a three-mile race to unattached athlete and Haverford alumnus Ryan Kredell.

His first 8k race of the season was also his first big test against high-level Division Three competition: D3 Pre-Nationals. LaRochelle ultimately passed that test with flying colors. His 5th-place finish was a result that we certainly knew he was capable of in that field, but executing it is a different matter.

This is an athlete who we were confident would take a step forward in fitness this fall after finishing as a back half All-American last year, and he has matched every bit of our expectations. 

9. Chasen Hunt, Junior, Lynchburg (-1 / 8)

It feels a bit unfair to say that Chasen Hunt has performed below our expectations, especially since he is coming off of a victory in the Paul Short “White” race, but that's more of an indicator of how high we were on him entering the season. 

His 10th-place finish at the John McNichols Invitational, while solid, saw him fall to several men who were ranked below him in the preseason, which merited a drop in the rankings. That Paul Short win two weeks later was a nice bounce-back in which he mostly made up the ground that he lost and did enough to stay within our top-10. 

In terms of talent, we certainly still feel that Hunt is capable of beating some of the names who finished ahead of him at John McNichols. Fortunately, he has several weeks to continue gaining momentum.

8. Isaac vanWestrienen, Junior, Cornell College (+7 / 15)

Our preseason ranking of Isaac vanWestrienen required some projection in terms of how his breakthroughs on the track would translate to cross country. Still, we had confidence that he was a top-20 talent a year after finishing 65th at the cross country national meet. He has not only met, but exceeded that projection so far. 

vanWestrienen's best performance of the season came at the John McNichols Invitational, where he finished 3rd behind two top-five-ranked individuals.

He followed that up with a distant 2nd-place finish behind Mohammed Bati at Carleton’s Running of the Cows, but that doesn't concern us much. Now that vanWestrienen has put down an elite cross country performance, the questions that we were asking in August have largely been resolved. And his raw talent as a 14:09 (5k) talent should shine through.

7. Emerald Svienty, Senior, North Central (-5 / 2)

We'll admit, we expected Emerald Svienty to slightly look more dominant in the early portion of this season after placing 3rd at least year's cross country national meet and running 13:57 (5k) as well as 29:06 (10k) in the time since.

That being said, Svienty still finished 7th at the John McNichols Invite, out-running a quintet of ranked distance runners before emerging as the top D3 finisher (ahead of a top-10-ranked teammate) and eighth-fastest runner overall at the Louisville Classic.

The Cardinals' lead scorer hasn't exactly looked like a national title threat, but Svienty has largely provided everything North Central has needed from their focal star with the most important meets of the season still ahead.

6. Emmanuel Leblond, Junior, Johns Hopkins (+3 / 9)

Emmanuel Leblond has followed a similar competition schedule to that of Emerald Svienty, sweeping his opening meet alongside his teammates, placing high up in the John McNichols Invitational and then competing against Division One individuals earlier this month.

The difference, and the reason why Leblond gets the bump above Svienty, is that he finished higher at the John McNichols Invitational (4th). Placing 28th in the Paul Short Run "Gold" race and leaving that meet as the fastest D3 man present only bolstered his case to move up in our top-10.

Leblond is a two-time cross country All-American who now looks more than ready to crack the top-20 at the NCAA XC Championships for the first time.

5. Cameron Hatler, Senior, Pomona-Pitzer (+2 / 7)

Entering this season, we held Cameron Hatler and the Pomona-Pitzer men in high regard.

After all, the Sagehens are the defending national champions, and Hatler (a top-25 All-American) is their top returning scorer and someone who has gotten better every year. In placing team and individual at preseason TSR #7, it seems we may have underestimated both by a bit.

Hatler (3rd place) recently led the charge at D3 Pre-Nationals, losing only to our TSR #1 and TSR #2 individuals as the Sagehens won the team title over UW-Whitewater in a small upset. Pomona-Pitzer put two men (who have since transferred to D1 schools) in the top-10 at last year's cross country national meet, and it's possible that Hatler outdoes both of them in 2024.

4. Grant Matthai, Junior, UW-La Crosse (+7 / 11)

The past 25 days have been an illustration of what a best-case scenario looks like for Grant Matthai and the UW-Whitewater men. He's emerged as a capable lead scorer for our TSR #1 team, who didn't enter this fall with any cross country All-Americans.

Matthai put himself in contention for the win at the loaded John McNichols Invitational, ultimately finishing runner-up behind the man ranked immediately above him, but he still helped his Eagles to a comfortable team win over our TSR #2 squad.

He again looked very strong in leading UW-La Crosse to another victory, this time in the Joe Piane "Gold" race (which is the meet's second-best), by placing 3rd and cracking 24 minutes for the first time.

Whether he carries this high-level consistency into the postseason is another thing, but Matthai has taken the star potential that he flashed last year and built upon it in a tangible and translatable way.

3. Nathan Tassey, Junior, Roger Williams (+2 / 5)

Nathan Tassey has raced just once over 8000 meters this fall, but his lone all-out effort was impressive enough to put him in the mix for "best of the rest" status behind our TSR #1 juggernaut.

He caught Grant Matthai late in the race during the John McNichols Invitational, securing the overall win. That was the kind of effort we needed to see to know that we hadn't overestimated Tassey even after a 22nd-place finish at the 2023 NCAA XC Championships and a top-half All-American result over 5000 meters in the spring.

After all, he only sprang onto the scene over the past 13 months and doesn't get challenged as often as others in this range of our rankings considering that there's nobody close to him fitness-wise on his team.

2. Gunner Schlender, Senior, UW-Whitewater (+1 / 3)

You could make a case to place Gunner Schlender at TSR #1 (or perhaps even TSR #3) given that he beat he has beaten our top-ranked runner twice this season.

The catch is that Schlender and Christian Patzka are teammates, so it's hard to know if they're really racing to blows at this juncture of the season.

Schlender is oft-overshadowed by Patzka, but has a star resume all his own as a three-time cross country All-American. And in winning D3 Pre-Nationals and beating five ranked runners (including Hatler) in his latest outing, he appears to be the best he's ever been.

1. Christian Patzka, Senior, UW-Whitewater (0 / 1)

Even after opening the season with a pair of runner-up results that mimicked his silver medals from the past two NCAA XC Championships, we still think that Christian Patzka should be heavily favored to win an NCAA title on the grass for the first time. He is, after all, a five-time national champion on the track.

He's also coming off an injury, so to finish runner-up at D3 Pre-Nationals suggests that Patkza is already close to the form he'll need to show in order to triumph over a national field next month.

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ADDED

Isaiah Hammerand (Wartburg)

Aidan Matthai (UW-La Crosse)

BJ Sorg (North Central)

Anthony Rodriguez (Babson)

Mohammed Bati (Augsburg)

Dan Anderson (UW-Whitewater)

Charles Namiot (Williams)

Corey Fairchild (UW-La Crosse)

Joey Sullivan (UW-La Crosse)

KICKED OFF

Vince Simonetti (RPI)

Tyler Schermerhorn (Wartburg)

Cullen Capuano (Washington U.)

Nicholas Lyndaker (St. Lawrence)

Jacob Green (Wartburg)

Dylan May (Southern Virginia)

Nikhil DeNatale (Williams)

Adam Loenser (UW-La Crosse)

Calvin Boone (St. Scholastica)

JUST MISSED (in no particular order)

Tyler Schermerhorn (Wartburg)

Cullen Capuano (Washington U.)

Nicholas Lyndaker (St. Lawrence)

Jacob Green (Wartburg)

Adam Loenser (UW-La Crosse)

Drew Donahue (Middlebury)

Mason Shea (UW-Eau Claire)

Matthew Coyle (Carnegie Mellon)

Alex Hillyard (SUNY Geneseo)

Charlie Wilson (SUNY Geneseo)

HONORABLE MENTIONS (in no particular order)

Vince Simonetti (RPI)

Ziggy Goddard (Middlebury)

Ryan Podnar (Carnegie Mellon)

Ryan Russell (Union (NY))

Ryan Tobin (NYU)

Kevin Turlington (St. Olaf)

Will Shuflit (Colorado College)

Jayden Zywicki (UW-La Crosse)

Conor Kolka (Wittenberg)

Austin Gappa (George Fox)

Connor Havens (Manchester)

Notes

- N/A