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TSR's 2024 Preseason D1 XC Top 25 Team Rankings (Men): #21 Eastern Kentucky Colonels
- Mike McKean
- Aug 12, 2024
- 8 min read
Written by Mike McKean, additional edits & commentary via Garrett Zatlin
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.
268 days.
31st place.
While those numbers may seem random, they certainly mean something to the Eastern Kentucky men. It’s been 268 days since the 2023 NCAA XC Championships. On that November day in Charlottesville, the Colonels finished in last place as a team, settling for 31st overall.
That finish left plenty of us at The Stride Report a good bit surprised. While the start of their 2023 fall campaign didn’t necessarily blow us away, a last-place finish at the national meet was not on our bingo card.
And now, as we prepare to enter the fall of 2024, we can't help but feel just as confident in EKU as we were prior to last year's national meet -- maybe even more so. With numerous returners, valuable experience and a potential high-octane low-stick to lean on, the Colonels revenge tour could lead to plenty of exciting fireworks in the coming months.
* * *
Last fall, the Colonels got off to a solid start with a 10th-place team finish at the Virginia Invitational. Finishing just behind Stanford and above teams like Colorado, Iowa State and Michigan was noteworthy. And while we didn’t see a certified low-stick from EKU, we were thoroughly impressed with the debut of freshman Taha El Raouy.
A 21st-place finish from El Raouy became even more formidable when you recognize that he took the scalps of Austin Vancil, Tom Brady and Perry Mackinnon. Even in a late September meet that seemingly didn't hold much weight, those are big-time names who wound up earning All-American status at the national meet.
Behind El Raouy, we got a considerable idea of what the Colonel’s top-five could be capable of doing as a pack. A collective 23-second time spread between their 2-3-4-5 runners was enough of a positive to build off of.
It wasn’t until a few weeks later that we could truly gauge where EKU stacked up against the top teams in the country. At the Nuttycombe Invite, we saw the Colonels notch an unexciting, albeit respectable, 17th-place finish as a team.
This time around in Madison, it was sophomore Mohammed Jouhari’s turn to be the lead scorer for the Colonels. His 40th-place finish was fairly impressive considering where he finished at the Virginia Invitational (48th). In our eyes, it was clear that Jouhari had taken a big leap for his squad.
While El Raouy had an "off" day and slogged his way to 115th place showing, Ahmed Kadri and Abdelhakim Abouzouhir picked up the slack with very respectable 68th and 72nd place finishes. Keeton Thornsberry then closed out their team scoring with a 145th-place finish.
Despite El Raouy’s substandard day, the Colonels still managed to finish near the likes of quality groups such as Wake Forest and Michigan.
Yes, it's true, this team needed far greater scoring potency moving forward. And while a 17th-place finish was solid, there was still obvious room for improvement. With only 10 points separating them from 14th place (New Mexico), the version of Taha El Raouy that we saw at the Virginia Invitational was sorely missed for the Colonels.
With their last regular season meet in the books, the Colonels turned their focus to the Atlantic Sun Conference XC Championships. Due to the lack of competition in the conference, we saw EKU seize the opportunity to rest multiple runners and employ pack-running tactics. Most notably missing were key scorers from the Nuttycombe Invite such as Mohammed Jouhar and dynamic third man, Abdelhakim Abouzouhir.
That, however, largely didn't matter as the Colonels win their second-straight ASUN team title with a total of just 23 points.
Riding high after their dominant victory at the ASUN XC Championships, the Colonels were poised for their next test at the Southeast Regional XC Championships. The ability to win their conference meet without going all-out was advantageous for the Colonels as their competition spent their conference meet weekend fighting for every position.
While EKU got to rest top runners and coast to a conference title, their competitors in North Carolina, Wake Forest, NC State and Virginia didn’t have that luxury.
In turn, Eastern Kentucky made the most of that well-rested advantage and obtained an automatic qualifying spot with a huge 2nd place team finish, only being bested by North Carolina. We saw the Colonels utilize a pack running strategy once again over the 10-kilometer course as their top-five runners finished with just a 35-second spread.
Besting high-quality ACC teams like NC State, Virginia, and Wake Forest likely gave the Colonels confidence heading into the national meet. Unfortunately, Eastern Kentucky had their worst performance of the season at the NCAA XC Championships...by far.
In fact, it quite literally could not have gotten any worse for them considering that they finished in dead last.
In that season finale, Abouzouhir and El Raouy were the team’s top scorers in Charlottesville, Virginia, but only finished in 109th place and 115th place, respectively. While this was a good day for Abouzouhir considering his performances from last fall, El Raouy’s showing unquestionably left us wanting more. Dworczak, Kipchumba, and Thornsberry turned in even tougher performances to wrap up the scoring as they finished 167th, 223rd and 233rd, respectively.
It also didn't help that both Kadri and Jouhari recorded DNF results at the national meet.
It was plain to see that this was not the day that anyone expected from Eastern Kentucky. And frankly, both them and us knew that they were (and are) capable of so much more.
* * *
As we enter the 2024 cross country season, we see the Colonels bring back an absolute haul of talent. Not to mention the plethora of polished additions who have made their way to Richmond, Kentucky.
Let’s start with Taha El Raouy and Mohammed Jouhari, two runners who traded off as being the top runner for the Colonels throughout last year.
El Raouy has the talent and capability to be a viable low-stick this year for EKU as his firepower was on display during multiple meets throughout the fall. Despite some notably bad performances at Nuttycombe and the NCAA XC Championships, his 21st place finish at the Virginia Invitational has to be taken into account.
Let’s not forget to mention that this past spring, he posted a massive 13:36 (5k) PR while winning his section of the Stanford Invitational. On paper, that kind of result should translate well to the grass where, on a perfect day, he can legitimately be an All-American. That, in turn, should quite obviously make this team better than they were last fall.
We then come to Jouhari who had a bit of a quiet start to his 2023 fall campaign with his 48th-place finish at the Virginia Invitational. However, he made noise with an underrated 40th-place finish at Nuttycombe.
Yes, we'll admit, Jouhari's DNF result at last year’s national meet hurt the Colonels and Jouhari likely still has a sour taste in his mouth from it. We’ll look for him to improve upon last fall’s results, especially after his 28:29 (10k) PR on the oval this past spring. And even if he doesn't improve, it's plenty possible that this EKU ace could at least replicate his Nuttycombe performance on a more consistent basis this fall.
Both Jouhari and Raouy have produced strong finishes on the grass, but the most likely option to be EKU's star low-stick in 2024 comes from someone who has no notable Division One cross country experience.
We are, of course, referring to our TSR #38 runner, Justine Kipkoech.
Kipkoech was previously enrolled at the College of the Sequoias in California, but will be joining the Colonels for the upcoming cross country season. Of course, you naturally may wonder why we think a 25-year-old with no prior/known experience on the grass would be the most likely low-stick for EKU.
But rest assured, you won’t have second thoughts after you hear (see?) his times on the oval.
Kipkoech has produced jaw-dropping times of 3:32.93 (1500) and 7:38.19 (3k) on the track. On top of that comes an 8:13 mark for two miles and a 13:22 result for 5000 meters on the roads, according to World Athletics.
Even with these incredible marks, a lack of experience in cross country makes it hard to tell how he’ll fare on the grass over the 10k distance. In the meantime, his sheer raw talent alone is enough for us to rank him as a preseason All-American.
In fact, we may even be underrating him at that spot.
* * *
If the addition of Kipkoech isn’t enough to excite you, let’s raise you a few more exciting additions to the EKU squad.
I am, of course, talking about the additions of German Vega, Tomas Vega and Mario Priego. Those names may not be familiar to most, but their personal bests are sure to raise eyebrows.
German and Tomas Vega hail from New Mexico Junior College. Tomas Vega earned the honor of being 2023 NJCAA XC Championship runner-up and the 2023 NJCAA half-marathon champion. The latter title came with a personal best of 1:03:58. His brother German Vega achieved quite a bit of success at the NJCAA level as well, boasting personal bests of 1:04:11 (half-marathon) and 14:01 (5k).
Lastly, Mario Priego comes to the Colonels after earning a very promising 19th-place finish at the 2023 U23 European XC Championships. On top of that, he holds personal bests of 13:50 (5k) and 29:16 (10k).
If you didn’t know by now, Eastern Kentucky is spoiled with talent across the board for this upcoming fall season. We await to see how these additions adjust to Division One collegiate racing, but if they can find their rhythm and transition smoothly, then this team is going to be lethal come November.
As we move into the key returners who can add to EKU’s depth this fall, we’d be remiss to not mention the development that we saw from Ahmed Kadri last season. His DNF at the national meet aside, there were numerous things to be fond of in his 2023 fall campaign.
A 51st place finish and 68th place finish at the Virginia Invitational and Nuttycombe Invite proved that he was a vital component to EKU’s top-five. When you include a first-team all-conference performance at the ASUN XC Championships, it’s clear to see that Kadri has great scoring value and promising talent on the grass.
We can also look at the expected progression of steeplechase specialists such as Keeton Thornsberry and Kristian Imroth. Both men spent the majority of their 2023 fall campaign out of scoring range for the Colonels. However, we saw both of them steadily improve as the season went on.
Turning in second-team and third-team all-conference performances at the ASUN XC Championships was a huge step for Thornsberry and Imroth. We have to believe that they’re capable of much more, especially after Imroth turned in a massive 8:35 steeplechase personal best this past spring.
Following a spring campaign where both men recorded personal bests in the steeplechase, a big improvement in cross country is due if they can translate that success from the oval.
* * *
It’s clear to see that the Colonels will have plenty of competition when it comes to their top-seven. Depth is certainly not something that they’ll be lacking as we enter the 2024 fall cross country season.
With top returners and highly touted additions coming in, it's hard to imagine the Eastern Kentucky men having as poor of a race as they did at last year's national meet.
As Cory Erdmann enters his seventh year at the helm for the Colonels, he possesses arguably his most talented squad yet. While there are plenty of questions surrounding how the new additions will adjust to the D1 collegiate racing scene, the EKU men bring back multiple top returners from last year’s group and that’s impossible to ignore.
Make no mistake about it, this team is not finishing last at the national meet this year. If they can hit on the talent they’ve acquired during the summer, we could even see them blow this TSR #21 preseason ranking out of the water.
