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TSR's 2024 Preseason D1 XC Top 25 Team Rankings (Men): #11 Wake Forest Demon Deacons
- Admin (Garrett Zatlin)
- Aug 22, 2024
- 9 min read
NOTE: Earlier this summer, The Stride Report reached out to nearly every team that was considered for a possible ranking this summer. While we did receive numerous responses and great clarity, we did not get a 100% response rate. On certain occasions, we are referencing TFFRS in order to talk about returners and athletes who are out of eligibility.
In the fall of 2022, the Wake Forest men placed 5th at the NCAA XC Championships. It was a fantastic result which featured three All-Americans and a fourth runner who wasn't too far off from doing the same.
But despite the exciting national meet finish, the Demon Deacons' goal of reaching the podium was never realized. And given that nearly all of their core scorers would be gone after that, it felt like it would be quite some time until the Wake Forest men returned to the upper-echelons of the NCAA cross country hierarchy.
However, sitting in the shadows of their roster were numerous young men who had been part of multiple national-caliber recruiting classes. Wake Forest had collected some of best distance running prep stars in the NCAA and a handful of overseas additions gave this program an unreal amount of upside.
Of course, with youth comes growing pains. We expected that the fall of 2023 would be a rebuilding year for Wake Forest and that they would drift into a non-competitive developmental phase of their roster lifecycle.
And yet, that youth and inexperience didn't seem to matter -- last year's Wake Forest group ran well beyond their years.
No, they were not a perfect squad void of any lineup gaps, but the Demon Deacons finished the season just inside of our top-25 team rankings despite not having their star low-stick for the postseason.
Now, with an extremely valuable year of experience under their belts, and a hopefully-healthy low-stick ready to race for the entire season, this still-young Wake Forest group has a chance to position themselves in 2024 for what could be a monumental fall campaign in 2025.
* * *
The first test of Wake Forest's 2023 cross country season was at the Virginia Invitational. It was held on the same course that would eventually host the NCAA XC Championships.
There, a very young Demon Deacon group -- which featured five freshmen in their top-seven (including redshirts) -- toed the line for what could have been an extremely overwhelming battle.
The most shocking result of the entire meet was seeing true freshman Rocky Hansen upset numerous nationally-ranked individuals en route to a massive 5th place finish. And while we knew that Hansen was a star-caliber recruit out of the high school ranks, running as well as he did was still a shock.
Behind Hansen were Joseph O'Brien (57th), Charlie Sprott (61st) and veteran Luke Tewalt (67th), a sneaky-strong middle-lineup core that offered excellent scoring stability. Sure, they needed to finish higher up if Wake Forest was going to take down a few top-tier teams, but the Demon Deacons still looked fairly complete through four runners.
However, with their final scorer fading to 99th place, the Wake Forest men fell just out of range from teams like Butler, Stanford and Eastern Kentucky. Instead, the Demon Deacons took a still-admirable 11th place finish with three freshmen leading their scoring.
Wake Forest's next outing, the Nuttycombe Invite, largely yielded similar (but still encouraging) results.
Hansen once again produced an outrageously good result, taking 6th place in another top-level invitational and further validating his fitness. Joseph O'Brien (62nd) once again came through with a very strong result while Gavin Ehlers (99th) did a very solid job closing gaps.
From there, Hunter Jones (133rd) and Luke Tewalt (136th) closed out the scoring with respectable efforts, although Charlie Sprott falling to 157th place may have left a small chunk of points on the table.
Even so, Wake Forest walked away with a very commendable 16th place finish, just three points off of Michigan and New Mexico.
Fast forward to the postseason and the Demon Deacons prepared themselves for the ACC XC Championships. The only catch? They would be without their lone low-stick star, Rocky Hansen. The freshman had sustained a late-season injury, effectively sidelining him for the rest of the season.
But despite the brutal scoring loss, the Wake Forest men still (surprisingly) stayed competitive.
Luke Tewalt (12th) looked like he was beginning to round back into All-American form while Joseph O'Brien (17th) yet again proved to a subtly great second scorer. Charlie Sprott (23rd) also held his own, rebounding from a tough effort at the Nuttycombe Invite.
However, after those three, two fairly noticeable gaps began to form at the latter-end of Wake Forest's scoring group. Hunter Jones (34th) had a decent finish, although there were over 10 spots between him and Sprott. The team's final scorer, Aidan Ross (49th), closed out the team's top-five after a few support pieces had "off" days.
In the end, Wake Forest would finish a modest 6th place overall, 14 points off of Florida State.
After getting out of the Southeast region, the Wake Forest men would eventually close their season at the NCAA XC Championships.
Joseph O'Brien (81st) was great yet again, Charlie Sprott (122nd) had a passable outing, both Luke Tewalt (137th) and Gavin Ehlers (143rd) closed down gaps and Hunter Jones (171st) brought it home. In the end, Wake Forest faded to an unexciting 24th place finish. And while the gaps in their lineup had seemingly been closed, the lack of firepower and more potent scoring ultimately held the Demon Deacons back.
* * *
I have some very good news for fans of Wake Forest.
The good news is that there is zero bad news.
And in NCAA cross country, that's almost unheard of.
Everyone on this team (or at least, in last year's lineup) is returning this fall. Yes, that even includes veteran Luke Tewalt who was an All-American in 2022. That alone is massive for the 2024 hopes of this distance squad.
Simply gaining an extra year of experience and another year to further build one's aerobic base should yield outstanding results for a collective group of high-upside underclassmen. Franky, it would be shocking if this team didn't make a noticeable jump from last year.
Of course, the engine behind Wake Forest's success is Rocky Hansen, the now-former rookie who was flat-out incredible last fall. His performances at the Virginia Invitational and the Nuttycombe Invite were some of the best that we've seen from a true freshman in quite some time.
Let's suppose that Hansen was healthy during the 2023 postseason. Let's also suggest that he placed 20th at the national meet. If that happened, then the Wake Forest men would have made a substantial leap from 24th place to 16th place in their season finale.
That's how impactful someone like Hansen is.
Sure, we'll admit, Hansen getting a late-season injury last fall wasn't ideal. And now, we can't help but wonder how durable someone like himself is. Of course, the rising sophomore had a great outdoor track season this past spring, qualifying for the national meet in the 5k. Outside of his brief unavailability last fall, it's hard not to love the value that he brings to the table.
Speaking of great value, Joseph O'Brien was quietly excellent throughout all of last fall. His reliability and consistency in a variety of settings was outstanding to see, especially for someone so young and so inexperienced.
Having someone who was top-60 at the Virginia Invitational, top-70 at Nuttycombe, top-20 at the ACC XC Championships and top-90 at the NCAA XC Championships as a secondary scorer is huge for a team that needs more firepower and scoring potency. And as long as O'Brien is able to progress while maintaining his steadiness, then that's going to go a long way for Wake Forest this fall.
Trying to figure out the third scorer for this team is tricky, but the man who feels most appropriate to mention in this section is one of the few older guys, Luke Tewalt.
At his very best, Tewalt is extremely dangerous to toe the line against. He has run 3:38 for 1500 meters and 13:43 for 5000 meters. He has also been a two-time All-American, once on the grass and once on the track.
The problem, however, is that the last year of racing was not kind to Tewalt...at all. After a fall campaign that left us wanting more, the Demon Deacon ace only raced three times on the oval, failing to crack the eight-minute barrier and the 14-minute barrier. He has not raced since the Raleigh Relays back in late March.
A lot can happen in seven to eight months. In theory, that should give Tewalt enough time to get healthy (if he wasn't already) and build back the base that made him a star-caliber runner. Sure, that isn't guaranteed to happen, but what if does return to top form? Or at the very least, what if he simply improves upon his efforts from last fall?
On a team that is full of younger guys who boast tons of potential and upside (as well as a lot of volatility), it's the elder Tewalt who feels like the x-factor. He may ultimately be the guy who makes this team a truly cohesive and formidable national power.
* * *
Trying to go through the rest of this team/roster is going to be an exhaustive exercise. That's because the unreal depth and the number of possible lineup combinations seem endless.
Charlie Sprott and Gavin Ehlers are two names who I could probably put in the same bucket as far as scorers are concerned. Truthfully, neither of these men were super consistent last fall, but they did show multiple moments (each) of providing very solid scoring value to Wake Forest.
Sprott's 61st place finish at the Virginia Invitational and Ehlers' 96th place finish at Nuttycombe Invitational are really promising efforts for guys who may be backend scorers this fall. Replicating those kinds of results on a more consistent basis will raise this team's floor by a good bit.
We also can't overlook how well Charlie Sprott ran on the track this past spring, posting a new 10k PR of 28:49. That's an encouraging performance for someone who seemingly has tons of potential.
Hunter Jones and Weber Long weren't quite as strong last year as we thought they could be, but that doesn't mean that they won't improve. Jones, in particular, has a ton of raw talent and borderline elite pedigree. I am convinced that he will be a national-caliber runner one day, I just don't know when.
Long also made a few subtle improvements on his track resume this past winter and spring even if he didn't race much.
There are three incoming recruits who have the potential to enter the Demon Deacons' top-seven later this fall. Those three men are Corey Campbell, Grant Morgenfeld and JoJo Jordon.
The former is mostly a mile specialist from Great Britain, holding personal bests of 3:46 (1500) and 4:04 (mile). However, Campbell has also run 8:00 over 3000 meters. That mark, of course, is the performance that most caught our attention.
Meanwhile, Grant Morgenfeld enters the NCAA with outstanding personal bests of 4:06 (mile), 8:43 (two-miles) and 15:05 (5k XC). He also qualified for the 2023 Foot Locker XC National Championships where he took 21st place. It should also be noted that Morgenfeld qualified for the 2022 version of that same meet and placed 18th.
And then there is, of course, JoJo Jourdon, the most accomplished recruit in this class. Not only is he a 3:59 miler (on the indoor oval) and an 8:40 (two-miles) runner, but he was also the 2023 NXN champion last fall!
You could argue that Jourdon is more of a miler than he is a cross country runner. That, however, largely doesn't matter when you're a naturally talented as he is. The Utah native has flexed tremendous aerobic strength across the board and has been unafraid to test himself against the most elite competition possible.
Is it likely that all three of those men run this fall? No, not really, there's a good chance that two of them are redshirted. But all that Wake Forest really needs is for one of these three names to step up. Because if that happens, then I would struggle to find the argument where the Demon Deacons aren't a top-10 squad.
As for everyone else, there are A TON of guys who were redshirted last year and/or have very few results for us to analyze. I feel strongly that someone who I did not mention in this article will enter Wake Forest's top-seven this fall and stay there.
* * *
Wake Forest's roster is absolutely stacked. This group oozes raw talent and it feels like each of these underclassmen are brimming with an unreal amount of upside. Last year's group showed tremendous maturity as racers despite their youth and now, they are another year older and more experienced.
Truthfully, it's hard to find a legitimate flaw or glaring weakness on this team. Sure, this ranking requires some generous projections, but it's also very possible that this team further exceeds our expectations (again) and cracks the top-10.
Of course, in the grand scheme of things, the 2024 cross country season feels more like a dress rehearsal for what this team may look like in 2025 and 2026. This fall is more to prepare for the inevitable podium and national title runs that will come in the near future.
Make no mistake, the upcoming cross country season isn't meant to be passively brushed aside if you're the Wake Forest men. After all, they might have a legitimate shot at the ACC team title this year (although they may not be favored).
If anything, this upcoming cross country season may be the most important season of all when it comes to positioning the Demon Deacons for a future run at NCAA gold.
