TSR's 2024 D3 XC Top 20 Individual Rankings (Women): 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. Janie Cooper, Junior, NYU (Unranked)

We didn't anticipate Janie Cooper being the top-ranked woman on the preseason TSR #1 team in mid-October. That's where we are, however, after Cooper was NYU's lead scorer (by roughly 30 seconds each time) at two competitive meets.

She placed 19th (and 4th place among D3 women) at the John McNichols Invitational before finishing 10th in the Paul Short Run "White" section. The latter result, against a D3-centric field, stamped Cooper as a clear All-American favorite. NYU will need her to continue to run like it if the Violets hope to return to the podium in 2024.

19. Isabel Olson, Senior, Colorado College (Unranked)

If you were pleasantly surprised by Cooper's effort at the John McNichols Invitational, then you were probably shocked about Isabel Olson's 13th-place finish (runner-up among D3 women) in the same field.

This is someone who has yet to run at an NCAA Championships meet of any kind despite her senior status. That will change soon. Olson went on to finish 4th at her home meet, the Ted Castaneda XC Classic, earlier this month. We didn't put nearly as much stock into that latter result, but it at least cemented the idea that Olson should be a steady scorer for a team that's suddenly a dark horse in the NCAA title picture.

18. Riley Capuano, Junior, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (-13 / 5)

It hasn't exactly been an optimal start to the season for the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women. The podium hopefuls finished 6th in the all-D3 Paul Short Run "White" race, have yet to field star Elle Marsyla and have seen their lead scorer (Riley Capuano) take a somewhat large drop in our rankings.

Of course, it's still a bit too early to be panicking.

Capuano's effort was hardly terrible, as she still finished 15th at Paul Short, beating a few nationally competitive names. She's not in our rankings on the merit of this season alone, but rather because of her elite pedigree as someone who finished 11th at the 2023 NCAA XC Championships and as the national runner-up over 1500 meters earlier this year.

We're not too far removed from Capuano being viewed as one of the singular stars of the Division Three scene. And if we had to guess, her race at Paul Short was an aberration rather than her new norm.

17. Sydney Rankin, Senior, Colorado College (Unranked)

You may be wondering why Sydney Rankin is Colorado College's top-ranked runner after she finished a full 10 seconds behind her above-listed teammate, Isabel Olson, at the John McNichols Invitational.

It's here that we note that Rankin went on to finish ahead of Olson as the runner-up at their home meet two weeks later and is the far more established individual, having finished 43rd at the 2022 NCAA XC Championships.

Olson's emergence was more surprising, paralleling Colorado College's recent rise as a team, but Rankin also produced a low-stick result that was unexpected given that she raced just twice on the grass last fall. We're just slightly more confident that she can replicate that form entering the postseason.

16. Olivia Pisacano, Senior, RPI (Unranked)

The RPI women are very much on the rise, opening the season with a 1-2 sweep at the Purple Valley XC Invite in a one-point loss to Williams and then putting two scorers in the top-eight to finish 4th in the loaded Paul Short Run "White" race.

Olivia Pisacano was the Engineers' second scorer on both occasions and appears to be racing with immense control and understanding of her fitness. The battle-tested senior has a competitive couple of races up next on the docket, with the SUNY Geneseo Mike Woods Invitational and the Liberty League XC Championships over the next few weeks.

15. Riley Buese, Senior, Lewis & Clark (-9 / 6)

Riley Buese has raced early and often this season -- four times since August 31st -- but her latest effort is the one that carries the most weight (although finishing comfortably ahead of George Fox's Ellie Rising and Breanna Schmitt a few weeks ago deserves commendation).

Most recently, Buese placed 6th at D3 Pre-Nationals. She landed behind five women who were ranked behind her, but it wasn't at all a catastrophic result, either. Buese still looked nationally competitive at a high level and was less than nine seconds away from the 3rd-place finisher.

The 2024 NCAA 10k bronze medalist has already been tested more than she was entering the postseason last fall, and we anticipate that should translate into another top-half All-American finish.

14. Kenzie Seymour, Sophomore, UC Santa Cruz (Unranked)

Kenzie Seymour was the biggest riser among several women who broke out at D3 Pre-Nationals, emerging as the individual runner-up in a strong field after entering the race as a relative unknown.

In losing only to our TSR #1 runner, Seymour defeated three more established women who are ranked ahead of her in this update as well as Buese. That's quite the statement for someone who was a middle-lineup scorer for the team that finished second to last at the 2023 NCAA XC Championships.

We wouldn't have ranked Seymour if we thought that she was a one-race wonder (it's hard to fake fitness), but we're very eager to see what she does next for an encore.

13. Keira Rogan, Freshman, Hamilton (Unranked)

It seems like every year we see at least one true freshman woman come in for her first semester and immediately compete with the best distance runners in the country. We now know that this year's young breakout star appears to be Keira Rogan.

After an eye-catching 6k debut at the University of Rochester's Yellowjacket Invitational where she finished one spot behind Penelope Greene, Rogan placed 7th in the “White” race at the Paul Short Run against a field teeming with top Division Three talents. She has also notched dominant wins at two home meets this year, indicating an ability to run fast no matter what the level of competition is. 

12. Stephanie Ager, Junior, Wesleyan (Unranked)

A national qualifier over 10,000 meters on the track, Stephanie Ager may have had an argument to be ranked in the preseason, but she was ultimately an "Honorable Mention" name. She has since made it clear that we should have held her in a bit higher regard to begin with.

After finishing 2nd behind talented Amherst freshman Flora Biro at the Little Three Invitational, Ager made a statement at her home meet with a win over our TSR #7 runner, Haley Schoenegge. Her top-five finish at D3 Pre-Nationals was another impressive result, enough for her to end up comfortably inside our top-20. 

11. Deyanneira Colon Maldonado, Senior, Aurora (+5 / 16)

Following an excellent season on the track, we knew that Deyanneira Colon Maldonado had a great chance to improve upon her 29th-place finish from last year's cross country national meet. We just weren't sure by how much. 

After taking an expected win at the Gil Dodds Invitational, she went on to face much stiffer competition at D3 Pre-Nationals. She handled the challenge quite well to finish an impressive 4th place overall.

We were confident in Maldonado's abilities heading into this season, and that is true to an even greater extent now. 

10. Kate Sanderson, Junior, MIT (+7 / 17)

MIT is flying high as a team this fall, coming off of a statement win at D3 Pre-Nationals.

As expected, the centerpiece of the run that the Engineers have been on is Kate Sanderson. 

After opening the season in Hanover, New Hampshire with a runner-up finish behind a D1 runner, Sanderson faced off against top Division Three talent at D3 Pre-Nationals. Her 3rd-place finish not only led her team to a dominant victory, but it was also highly impressive from an individual standpoint, and we are beginning to view Sanderson as a top-10 talent in Division Three. That's only fitting for the frontrunner of a team that has shot up our rankings.

9. Brigid Hanley, Senior, Emory (-5 / 4)

We first saw Brigid Hanley this year in the Queen City Invitational, where she finished 2nd in a primarily D1 and D2 field. She didn't toe the line again until the Paul Short Run, where she finished 6th in the “White” race. 

That was a solid result considering that 10 of our current top-20 names were in that field, but it didn't quite match the ambitious preseason expectations that we had for her, especially since she was 30 seconds away from a win.

With that being said, we are still really high on Hanley, even if she doesn't appear at this point to be a serious national title contender. We know that she's a worthy lead scorer for a top-10 team who peaked in the postseason a year ago.

8. Kayla Werner, Junior, Lynchburg (+12 / 20)

Yet another highly ranked woman who competed in the "White" race at the Paul Short Run, Kayla Werner finished 5th in that setting.

That was the first exclusively Division Three field that she has faced off against this fall after holding her own quite well against regional D1 competition. We knew Werner has the consummate raw ability of a top-10 individual, but to actually finish ahead of names like Hanley, Rogan, Pisacano and Cooper had to be a major shot of confidence.

This 2023 cross country All-American is doing everything she can this season to indicate that she is ready to make a massive improvement on her 40th-place NCAA XC Championships finish from last fall. 

7. Haley Schoenegge, Sophomore, Vassar (+8 / 15)

After a breakout start to the year over the middle distances, Haley Schoenegge has found that newfound fitness to be quite helpful on the cross country course, as she's performing head and shoulders above her efforts from just a year ago.

After taking home a pair of small wins on her home course, the sophomore was outdone by Stephanie Ager in Wesleyan's home meet. In the Paul Short Run “White” race, Schoenegge bounced back for a 3rd-place finish to best a few top-10 peers.

Even if Schoenegge hasn’t been breaking the tape as often as you would normally expect for a woman ranked this high, that doesn’t diminish her performances thus far. She’s performing very well against a difficult schedule.

6. Hannah Preisser, Junior, Carleton (+1 / 7)

Now a junior, Hannah Preisser has seemingly been one of the top names in Division Three for a lifetime. And this fall looks to be no different. 

Preisser has opened up her season with three wins between the UWRF Rivertown Invitational, the St. Olaf Invitational and the Running of the Cows. In all three of those wins, Preisser’s closest competitor has been teammate Sophie McManus. In the latter two efforts, Preisser has taken care of St. Olaf’s Lauren Walda as well.

While her local competition schedule hasn’t tested her much, this two-time top-15 finisher at the cross country national meet recently ran over 35 seconds faster at the Running of the Cows than she did last year. Although we need to mention the fact that the meet was held three weeks later this year, it seems reasonable to suggest that Preisser is ahead of where she's been in previous years.

5. Jules Bleskoski, Sophomore, RPI (Unranked)

In high school, Jules Bleskoski ran only two outdoor track seasons, never touching an indoor track or a cross country course. With her attention spread across multiple sports, Bleskoski never really committed herself entirely to running.

That all changed when she got to college.

Since then, the rising star has seen immense improvements. She was one of the top freshmen in the country last year, qualifying for the 3k at the indoor national meet and the 5k at the outdoor national meet.

This fall, the sophomore has been on another level. After a win at the Purple Valley XC Invite, Bleskoski went up against some of Division Three’s best in the Paul Short Run “White” race. There, she claimed a season-defining upset win over two top-10 finishers from last year’s cross country national meet, in addition to topping several other track national meet qualifiers.

We’re not quite ready to call Bleskoski a national title contender, but her breakout run redefined what her ceiling can be. 

4. Penelope Greene, Senior, SUNY Geneseo (-3 / 1)

After comfortably winning the Yellowjacket XC Invitational, Penelope Greene toed the line for the Paul Short Run “White” race hoping to solidify her status as the national title favorite given that she's the top returner from the 2023 NCAA XC Championships. However, that vision didn’t become a reality, as Greene fell to 4th place. 

This race was stacked with top-tier names, so finishing less than 10 seconds behind the winner is not overly concerning for a veteran who’s been spectacular time and time again. The result doesn’t necessarily lessen our view of Greene just yet, as still she feels like as much of a favorite for a top-five finish at the national meet as anyone.

It does, however, indicate to us that she has a bit more work to do over the next six weeks if she wants to win NCAA gold than we would have otherwise projected.

3. Audrey Maclean, Sophomore, Middlebury (0 / 3)

Division Three’s 2023 freshman star has flawlessly carried her success into her second year. After winning a small home meet, Audrey Maclean finished 3rd at the Hoffmann Invitational, losing only to two unattached non-NCAA athletes.

It wasn’t until the Paul Short Run “White” race that we saw the Panthers’ ace take on fierce Division Three competition. After six kilometers of racing, Maclean earned individual silver, a very strong early season result. While that didn't tell us anything new about Maclean, it was a nice indicator that her fitness is on (or even ahead of) schedule.

2. Faith Duncan, Junior, Wilmington (OH) (+6 / 8)

The outdoor 5k NCAA champion is four-for-four, winning all of her races so far this fall. The first was barely a contest, while the second came over “Honorable Mention” names Paige Anderson and Sophie Porter by 45 seconds at the Franklin College Grizzly XC Invitational.

Next, Faith Duncan notched another margin of victory of over 30 seconds at the All Ohio Intercollegiate XC Classic before she faced her first true test at D3 Pre-Nationals.

In Terre Haute, Duncan faced the kind of competition that she had yet to see up to that point. Still shoulder-to-shoulder with our TSR #14 runner Kenzie Seymour entering the final mile, it was at this point that the junior made her move to pull away and open up a very impressive gap of over 20 seconds. 

Having not lost since April, this professional triathlete has unlocked long distance talents that few, if any, Division Three women can match. She’s on our short list of contenders for a national title in November.

1. Evelyn Battleson-Gunkel, Junior, U. of Chicago (+1 / 2)

This U. of Chicago ace missed D3 Pre-Nationals for what was rumored to be due to a small injury, but that doesn’t take away from her fantastic run at the John McNichols Invitational on the same course. Finishing 4th in that field (and 1st among Division Three competition by over 25 seconds), Battleson-Gunkel was dominant in that early-season run.

Yes, Faith Duncan ran five seconds quicker than Battleson-Gunkel on the same course, but Duncan’s race came two weeks later and in arguably better conditions. Based on those considerations and Battleson-Gunkel’s loaded resume from the past academic year, she stands as our top-ranked D3 woman at this point.

We’ll keep an eye out to see how quickly she is able to rebound from this supposed setback in her next outing, as that could alter her chances at her first NCAA title. For now, she's done enough to move up a spot after our preseason TSR #1 runner was (very slightly) demoted.

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ADDED

Jules Bleskoski (RPI)

Stephanie Ager (Wesleyan)

Keira Rogan (Hamilton)

Kenzie Seymour (UC Santa Cruz)

Olivia Pisacano (RPI)

Sydney Rankin (Colorado College)

Isabel Olson (Colorado College)

Janie Cooper (NYU)

KICKED OFF

Morgan Uhlhorn (NYU)

Lauren Iagnemma (Case Western)

Elle Marsyla (Claremont-Mudd-Scripps)

Elizabeth Csikai (Emory)

Kayla Aalpoel (George Fox)

McKayla Felton (UW-Stout)

Elisabeth Camic (U. of Chicago)

Paige Phillips (Coast Guard)

JUST MISSED (in no particular order)

Morgan Uhlhorn (NYU)

Lauren Iagnemma (Case Western)

Elizabeth Csikai (Emory)

Paige Phillips (Coast Guard)

Sophie McManus (Carleton)

Lexi Fernandez (MIT)

Claire Semerod (Coast Guard)

Allison Dell (Lynchburg)

Flora Biro (Amherst)

Annika Carlson (Chapman)

Alison Mueller-Hickler (Colorado College)

Carter Brotherton (Johns Hopkins)

HONORABLE MENTIONS (in no particular order)

Elle Marsyla (Claremont-Mudd-Scripps)

Kayla Aalpoel (George Fox)

McKayla Felton (UW-Stout)

Elisabeth Camic (U. of Chicago)

Aliya Larsen (Carleton)

Sophie Porter (DePauw)

Liesl Scherrer (Emory)

Lilly Fowler-Conner (SUNY Geneseo)

Lauren Walda (St. Olaf)

Rachel Brennan (Gordon)

Ellie Meyer (Wartburg)

Paige Anderson (Kalamazoo)

Breanna Schmitt (George Fox)

Emma Odle (Augustana (Ill.))

Rachel Krouse (UW-Stevens Point)

Sophie Bull (Calvin)

Jenna Allman (Calvin)

Natalie Tebben (Calvin)

Bea Parr (Middlebury)

Addy Parrott (Central College)

Notes

- N/A