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Three Sentences or Less: TSR's 2024 Early Season NAIA XC Top 25 Team Rankings (Men)
- Nolan Ryan
- Sep 15, 2024
- 9 min read
Written by Nolan Ryan, edits & additional commentary via Garrett Zatlin
NOTE: Earlier this summer, The Stride Report reached out to and researched numerous team that were considered for a possible preseason ranking. While we did receive great feedback, we did not get a 100% response rate or perfect clarity. On certain occasions, we are referencing TFFRS in order to talk about returners and athletes who are out of eligibility.
25. Goshen Maple Leafs (IN)
The Maple Leafs had a strong 16th place finish at last year's national meet, putting together arguably their best race of the season. The problem, however, is that they lose four of their top-five runners from the national meet. They will be relying heavily on the return of Mathew Keitany, as well as runners in Jacob Friesen and Anthony Roberts, although seeing Drew Hogan listed as unattached on TFRRS leaves us with a level of uncertainty about this team.
24. Grace Lancers (IN)
The men from Winona Lake had a strong finish to their fall campaign a year ago, but they lost their top-three runners from the national meet. Thankfully, they still have Brandon Kleber who was most likely their top runner anyway and should be in the hunt for an All-American honor in 2024. The Lancers are limited on depth, but having two key names who have broken the 15-minute barrier over 5000 meters (the other being Dimitri Margaritidis) suggests that the Lancers can at least mix it up in the often-great Crossroads League.
23. Spring Arbor Cougars
It's not often that a team which did not qualify for NAIA XC Championships the year before cracks the national rankings the following season. However, Spring Arbor should have high hopes for this fall after Camden Khon ran out of his mind on the track earlier this year, posting a 14:25 (5k) PR. They also add back Dean Reynolds (who was a staple from the 2022 season) and a solid top-three-type guy in Ryan O’Rourke who, as a whole, should keep the Cougars well within the hunt for a spot to the 2024 national meet.
22. Southern Oregon Raiders
The Southern Oregon men did not have the season that they wanted to have in 2023 as thin depth and limited experience held them back last year (and it may continue to be a challenge for them this fall). With that being said, the Raiders do return two highly underrated men in Jalen Griego and Mason Weisgerber who were both outdoor national meet qualifiers. Of course, it's the team's supporting cast that will ultimately determine how high the Raiders can rise in 2024.
21. Olivet Nazarene Tigers
After finishing 23rd at last year's national meet, the Tigers have added highly valuable scoring potency via Brandon Armendarez (who finished 68th at the NAIA XC Championships) from Governors State. They have also added a key rookie in Austin Tice who has run 4:12 (1500) and 15:28 (5k) coming out of high school rankings. Both these guys will add to an already-solid duo in Flynn Prather and David Olmos, leaving us to believe that Olivet Nazarene's ceiling is that of a top-10 squad.
20. Shawnee State Bears
It would be easy to overreact to an early-season loss to Rio Grande, as well as other NAIA comrades, at the IWU Twilight meet earlier this month. However, the Bears still have a ton of depth and great scoring options via Shawn Little (who was an All-American last fall) along with the Lanoy triplets. By pairing freshman Caden Larue alongside Dylan French (who has run 15:28 for 5k), we don't think the Shawnee State men will be falling off too hard from the peak of last year's success.
19. Carroll Saints (MT)
This Montana-based distance squad returns a very respectable top-three in Zack Gacnik, Connor O’Hara and Brycen Gardner who all finished inside the top-150 at the 2023 NAIA XC Championships. Gacnik, who used to run for the University of Colorado, has a good shot of being an All-American this fall after running 14:42 for 5k (converted) this past spring. O’Hara and Gardner have been great support scorers, but it's Daniel Koralewski and a few younger harriers who will dictate how well the Saints fare in larger, nationally competitive fields.
18. St. Francis Fighting Saints (IL)
The Fighting Saints return five guys who have run faster than 15:07 in the 5k and they also bring back a key leader in Mike Reif who has been a very consistent low-stick for them in the past. We won't hold their early-season loss to Governors State in a home 5k against them, but it does seem fair to say that they have some work to do. When healthy and fielding a full squad, they should be a consistently strong team in our rankings moving forward.
17. Rio Grande Red Storm
It is very hard to dismiss what Rio Grande has already done in a short time frame this fall. After knocking off Shawnee State in their first race, the Rio Grande men finished 3rd at the IWU Twilight. With a low-stick in Tyler Jenkins, the promising rise of Daniel Persinger and a solid third scorer in Kasy Science, the Red Storm are building up sneaky-good momentum in just the first-half of September.
16. Aquinas Saints
The Saints, who return their top-five 5k guys from this past spring who all ran under 15:12, did not have the national meet showing that they wanted to last fall after placing 18th overall. That, however, was mostly due to Ben Hardy (who has a 5k PR of 14:29 PR) finishing outside of the top-200. If everyone on this squad is firing on all cylinders, then Aquinas looks like the team to beat in the WHAC this year, especially given how strong they were in the regular season last fall.
15. Lewis-Clark State Warriors
Finishing among the top-20 teams at last year's national meet was solid, but returning 24th place All-American Kobe Wessels and retaining a quietly strong scoring contingent in Carter Gordon, Connor May, and Griffin Parsells leads us to believe that they can improve upon that season finale result in 2024. They had a promising early-season showing at the Clash of the Inland Northwest, but we will feel much more confident about what we're getting out of the Warriors once they make their trip to the Gans Creek Classic.
14. Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes
Damion Jackson and Austin Hess have shown plenty of promise as of late and should be a formidable 1-2 punch for their team this fall. The Coyotes' biggest question, however, is can their three middle distance runners in Julian Avila, Wyatt Johnson, and Ty Davidson cover the gap between them and their top-two scorers? Thankfully, they do add a solid transfer via Austin Schaeffer from Cowley CC who should provide solid depth for this squad in 2024.
13. Embry-Riddle Arizona Eagles
This ERAU squad may have only finished 27th at the NAIA XC Championships last fall, but there have been multiple signs that they were going to make a push for a return to the top-10 where they were a staple in the NAIA for quite some time. Behind Demetris Love Jr., who was a top-10 individual last fall, the Eagles return three guys who have broken 15:00 for 5000 meters on the track. This team isn't perfect, but on paper, they are absolutely better (by a good margin) than what their 2023 cross country national meet showing suggests.
12. Eastern Oregon Mountaineers
Ranking Eastern Oregon at TSR #12 may be actually a touch low, but after losing Hunter Nicholas and seeing Christian Mendoza have a few hiccups this past spring, you can see why we struggled to figure out a good spot for this group. Eastern Oregon has four guys on their roster who have run faster than 15:10 for 5000 meters, so there is good reason to think that they could be even better than this ranking suggests. However, pack-running teams usually need a front-runner to stand out and Justin Ash will, once again, be that guy after thriving as a star low-stick in 2023.
11. Doane Tigers
The Tigers had somewhat of a breakout season last year after finishing 15th at the NAIA XC Championships with two All-Americans in Nelson Ruto and Emmanuel Yego who both return this year. Doane will also have a great supporting cast with 9:04 steeplechaser Thomas Oliver who will be accompanied by two sub-9:20 (3200) rookies in Jayden Wall and Porter Bickley. They will have to further prove themselves as the season continues, but they look like they will be a formidable group of reinforcements.
10. Dordt Defenders
The 2022 cross country national champions were solid last year following their championship run, finishing in the top-10 on the national stage. That being said, it is almost a whole new squad two years later and a lot of new faces mixed with multiple juniors are being asked to step up. They may not have a marquee top-20 guy this fall (which is not to say that they definitely won't have one), but they will lean on a proven All-American from a year ago in Ethan Summerhays.
9. Montreat Cavaliers
From last year's 10th place national meet team, Montreat returns Ethan Stamey (who scored a top-20 finish at the national) as well as two other key scorers. However, the development that makes the Cavaliers such an interesting group is they add Ryan Stade and Darren Klukas (via Tabor College) with Stade being an All-American on the track. This team is not the deepest, but they have the necessary firepower to make some serious noise this fall.
8. Indiana Wesleyan Wildcats
One of the more unpredictable teams in the NAIA are the Indiana Wesleyan men. The Wildcats were the heavy national title favorites throughout last year, but had a disappointing national meet showing, falling short of a podium finish via a 5th place result. With Coach John Foss now retired, coupled with a season opening loss to Taylor, there are a lot of questions on this team that still need to be answered.
7. Taylor Trojans
Taylor has every reason to be a “sleeper” in this year’s podium chase. They have been getting better over the past two years and really looked like they were starting to click this spring. In their first race of the fall months, they beat Indiana Wesleyan men with Joel Mumaw leading the pack. The Trojans have four guys entering the fall months that broke the 15-minute barrier this past spring and look to add some depth with multiple people making a jump in their fitness.
6. College of Idaho Coyotes
The 'Yotes are going to be led this season by two solid runners at the front, but they do lose their top scorer in Butler from a year ago. Hayden Bostrom and Elias Everist went 1-2 in their opener which, on paper, were the top two returners for COI. They will, however, have a lot of work to do to win the historically tough Cascade XC Championships this year, although that's not exactly a hot take.
5. Oklahoma City Stars
OCU, on paper, is going to be very strong if their returners can repeat the season that they had a year ago. That's because if you plug in new addition Evert Silva into last year's national results with a top-five individual result, they finish among the top-six teams. It will be interesting how strong they are at the Gans Creek Classic in a few weeks when they face off against some top-tier NAIA foes.
4. The Master’s Mustangs
There are some question marks surrounding The Master’s men after losing two of their top-three runners from last fall, with one of them being their new coach after graduating in the spring. The Mustangs have been on the podium in the last two cross country seasons and, so far, have raced very well early-on this season. Connor Ybarra and Jack Anderson are going to be one of the strongest 1-2 punches in the NAIA, something that should keep this group in the podium hunt.
3. Saint Mary Spires
After emerging as the national meet runner-up finishers a year ago, the Spires return three of their top-five, each whom were All-Americans. Having Dominick Beine, Ryan Heline and Chris Metz returning, along with a few guys who had huge track seasons in the middle distances, suggests that the Spires are going to be one of the favorites for another top-four national meet result. Adding Aleksander Krikov, who transferred via Salt Lake CC and has ran 14:45 (5k), can only raise this team's ceiling as the rest of the 2024 cross country season unfolds.
2. Cumberland’s (KY) Patriots
The Patriots took the NAIA by storm last fall after not qualifying for the national meet in 2022, but then finishing 3rd in 2023 with five individual All-Americans. Despite some departures, they did add Youssef Asslouj, who has broken 14:00 for 5000 meters, to pair with a roster full of international stars. Their second race of this season featured the absence of a few key names, but inconsequential rust-busters aren't exactly a point of emphasis for us at The Stride Report.
1. Milligan Buffaloes
Until their results show otherwise, the defending national champions haven't given us enough reason to think that they shouldn’t be listed at TSR #1. They do lose two top-10 guys in Jones and Stockley, but have an absolute incredible recruiting class this fall. In their first race, they were missing numerous transfers, so we're still waiting to see what a fully-firing version of Milligan will look like this fall.
