TSR's 2024 D3 XC Top 20 Individual Rankings (Women): Update #2

TSR Collaboration
Oct 29, 2024
8 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 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).

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.

20. Kate Sanderson, Junior, MIT (-10 / 10)

The MIT star takes a tumble in our rankings after what we’re simply going to label as an "off" day. Kate Sanderson's 27th-place finish at the Connecticut College Invitational was nowhere near the top-five finish that she was capable of at her best.

At this point, we don’t really worry about Sanderson since she’s a multi-time national meet qualifier on the track and a 2023 cross country All-American who already has two very strong races in the books this season.

19. Haley Schoenegge, Sophomore, Vassar (-12 / 7)

In our last update, we weren’t concerned that Haley Schoenegge hadn’t broken the tape at the Wesleyan XC Invitational or the Paul Short Run “White” race. She simply was outdone by other talents in our top-20 rankings.

However, her 4th-place finish at the Connecticut College Invitational left us wishing she had defeated some of the women in front of her for her sake. Don’t get us wrong, this sophomore is still an elite cross country talent who beat some very good names in that performance. Yet, her incredible 1500-meter success from the spring isn’t carrying over to the 6k as quickly as we had hoped.

18. Janie Cooper, Junior, NYU (+2 / 20)

Amidst some availability struggles from the NYU camp, Janie Cooper has been a bright spot for the Violets. At the Connecticut College Invitational, Cooper lead the race in the early going before chasing after Middlebury’s Audrey Maclean for the second half.

When it was all said and done, NYU’s frontrunner kept Maclean within 20 seconds while finishing as the runner-up safely ahead of top-10 finishers from D3 Pre-Nationals and the Paul Short Run “White” race.

Cooper has been a steady pulse throughout this fall, even in loaded fields like the Paul Short Run and the John McNichols Invitational. Her consistency is admirable and she’s more battle-tested than many of the women in this range of our rankings.

17. Sydney Rankin, Senior, Colorado College (0 / 17)

After having a rough 2023-24 academic year, Sydney Rankin wasn’t on our radar entering this fall. That changed very quickly when she emerged as the third Division Three woman across the finish line at the John McNichols Invitational.

After a small, low-stakes home meet, Rankin validated her early season success with a 4th-place finish at the Augustana Interregional Invitational. That effort in a loaded Midwest field was just the confidence booster Rankin needed entering championship season.

Rankin is a fast-rising individual on a fast-rising team. What’s not to like about that?

16. Paige Anderson, Senior, Kalamazoo (Unranked)

This senior is the first Kalamazoo athlete in recent memory to break into our rankings. After a 90th-place finish at the 2023 cross country national meet, Paige Anderson has made immense progress in her fitness.

What makes that jump all the more impressive?

She’s done it without a track program, although Kalamazoo will be reinstating their indoor and outdoor track & field programs next academic year!

Anderson’s great progress over the last year has been evident in all three of her races this season. The Kalamazoo talent was runner-up at the Franklin College Grizzly XC Invitational, behind only our TSR #1 runner, while her 8th-place run at D3 Pre-Nationals was equally impressive.

However, it was Anderson’s recent runner-up finish at the Augustana Interregional Invitational that stands out as the best performance of her career.

At this point, it’s clear that Anderson’s success this season is no fluke, and she’s here to stay. We’ll look for her to secure her first win of the season against a strong Calvin duo at the MIAA XC Championships this weekend.

15. Olivia Pisacano, Senior, RPI (+1 / 16)

Part of RPI’s deadly leading duo, Olivia Pisacano has strung together a nice trio of results this season. After fantastic runs at the Purple Valley XC Invite and the Paul Short Run “White” race, the senior continued her season of top-10 finishes with a bronze medal-worthy run at the SUNY Geneseo Mike Woods Invitational.

Yes, that was a distant 3rd-place performance, but considering the women ahead of her are simply in another tier, it was still one more step in the right direction.

14. Riley Buese, Senior, Lewis & Clark (+1 / 15)

At the Lewis & Clark Invite, the superstar from the host school took home her second win of the season. Unfortunately, the meet didn’t attract any competitors remotely close in ability to Riley Buese, as she crossed the line well over a minute before anyone else.

After a slightly underwhelming 6th-place finish earlier in the season at D3 Pre-Nationals, it was nice to see that Buese is healthy. Couple her solid recent form with a strong history of earning All-American honors and it’s easy to see why we remain very high on her.

13. Stephanie Ager, Junior, Wesleyan (-1 / 12)

Has not competed since our last rankings update.

12. Deyanneira Colon Maldonado, Senior, Aurora (-1 / 11)

A 3rd-place finish at the Augustana Interregional Invitational aligned pretty cleanly with what we expected from Deyanneira Colon Maldonado after she placed 4th in another nationally competitive race, D3 Pre-Nationals, earlier this month.

She lost to one previously unranked runner in Paige Anderson (who's since been added to our rankings), but she also beat a ranked name in Sydney Rankin, among others.

We didn't learn a whole lot about Maldonado, but it's nice to see her increase her level of regular season competition and thrive while doing so after becoming a first-time All-American last fall.

11. Kenzie Seymour, Sophomore, UC Santa Cruz (+3 / 14)

Kenzie Seymour's standout result is still her runner-up finish at D3 Pre-Nationals. Since then, she fared quite well against Division One competition from the BIG West, WCC and the Mountain West at the Santa Clara Bronco Invitational where she finished 14th.

That performance doesn't change our perception of Seymour significantly, but it's nice to see her carry over her momentum in an even deeper field, seemingly replicate the firepower that she showed and run what was also a small personal best for what it's worth.

10. Keira Rogan, Freshman, Hamilton (+3 / 13)

As a rookie, Keira Rogan has thrived in races both big and small. She's held her own against some of the top women in the country -- everyone she lost to this season is a ranked individual and only one of them is outside of the top-10 -- while winning her last two races by roughly two minutes over 6k and one minute over 4k.

Five races is a decent sample size, and Rogan has beaten several women who are All-American favorites. It's possible that freshman inexperience catches up and we're overrating her a bit, but it feels like her ceiling is even a few spots above this ranking.

9. Brigid Hanley, Senior, Emory (0 / 9)

Brigid Hanley did what was more or less expected of her in her last outing, winning the Upstate Invite over mid-major Division One competition. Her 17:18 mark over 5000 meters on the grass is no joke. That would be a respectable 5k time on the track.

Of course, seeing Hanley win that race comfortably was no shock considering that she's a former Power Five runner.

As we enter the postseason, we're hoping to see Hanley's fellow top-half All-American teammate, Elizabeth Csikai, round into form and begin finishing closer to her as a running mate.

Csikai didn't compete until the South Regional XC Championships last fall, so there's hope that her best still lies ahead. Her replicating the form that she showed late in 2023 should push Hanley and Emory to even greater heights.

8. Kayla Werner, Junior, Lynchburg (0 / 8)

Has not competed since our last rankings update.

7. Isabel Olson, Senior, Colorado College (+12 / 19)

An early-season statement at the John McNichols Invitational put Isabel Olson on our radar. She was quiet for a little bit after that, though, largely due to limited competition at the Ted Castaneda Classic outside of her own teammates.

She came alive at the Augustana Interregional Invitational, beating multiple other ranked women on her way to taking the overall win and thus flying up our rankings.

If there was any thought or consideration that what she did in September couldn't be replicated, that sentiment has since been eviscerated. The sky is the limit at this point for Isabel Olson.

6. Hannah Preisser, Junior, Carleton (0 / 6)

A 3rd-place finish at Linfield’s George Oja Invitational ended Hannah Preisser’s undefeated run this fall. It remains true that she has not faced any real top-tier Division Three talent, but this field, while not the deepest, had some strong Division One talent at the top.

The only collegian who Preisser lost to was Sage Brooks of Oregon State, who has run 16:06 over 5000 meters on the track.

Preisser will not face any of our current top-20 names head-to-head on the conference or regional stages, so it may be hard to gauge just how great she is until the cross country national meet.

5. Jules Bleskoski, Sophomore, RPI (0 / 5)

Even with a loss to Penelope Greene at the SUNY Geneseo Mike Woods Invitational, Jules Bleskoski holds onto her top-five ranking.

If anything, that result gives us more belief in her consistency. After producing what was the race of her life thus far at the Paul Short Run, Bleskoski came reasonably close to replicating that performance two weeks later.

As Bleskoski continues to string together strong results, we see her name belonging more and more in conversations regarding the best distance talents in Division Three.

4. Evelyn Battleson-Gunkel, Junior, U. of Chicago (-3 / 1)

Has not competed since our last rankings update.

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

Taking into account how high our expectations were for Penelope Greene this season, her 4th-place finish in the Paul Short Run “White” race felt a little bit underwhelming.

She got back on the right foot at the SUNY Geneseo Mike Woods Invitational, taking the win over a field that most notably included our TSR #5 runner, Jules Bleskoski, who had beaten her at the Paul Short Run.

This was enough to slide Greene back into our top-three and restore some confidence that she can take a serious stab at the NCAA title in what should be a fairly wide-open individual race at the cross country national meet.

2. Audrey Maclean, Sophomore, Middlebury (+1 / 3)

Despite facing multiple other top-20 talents, Audrey Maclean put together a clinic at the Connecticut College Invitational, running away from the field to take a 16-second win.

After immediately emerging as a true freshman star last fall, her progression into this season has been exactly what we expected from her. There's no doubt at this point that she is a serious national title contender.

1. Faith Duncan, Junior, Wilmington (OH) (+1 / 2)

After taking home a statement win at D3 Pre-Nationals, Faith Duncan faced a substantially lower level of competition at the Jenna Strong Fall Classic, and she would have been excused for taking it a little easier knowing that she had the individual win in the bag.

Instead, she put her foot on the gas to win by almost two minutes in a time of 16:42 over the five-kilometer course. Normally, we don't put much stock into times during the cross country season, but that's a mark that would have been impressive on the track, and Duncan ran it as a solo effort.

The 2024 outdoor 5000-meter national champion is establishing herself more and more as the favorite to add a cross country title to her resume.