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TSR's 2024 Preseason D1 XC Top 25 Team Rankings (Women): #21 Oklahoma State Cowgirls
- Rachel Hickey
- Aug 12, 2024
- 7 min read
Written by Rachel Hickey, 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.
Oklahoma State has historically been a force on the national stage.
While not quite as dominant as their men’s team, the Cowgirls are riding the high of back-to-back podium team finishes at the NCAA XC Championships. The Stillwater-based women earned a 4th place finish at the 2022 national meet and a 3rd place finish at the 2023 national meet, the latter effort being their highest team finish in program history.
And yet, the fall of 2024 could be the Cowgirls' most challenging season in quite some time. With star-caliber low-sticks such as Taylor Roe and Molly Born now gone, along with a crucial veteran scorer in Gabija Galvydyte now out of eligibility, the core of what made this team so special in 2023 has been almost entirely depleted/erased.
On paper, those losses are crushing. But all hope is not lost for the women of Oklahoma State. With superstar Billah Jepkirui slated to return, the Cowgirls also have a few valuable names who boast national meet experience in Cayden Dawson, Payton Hinkle and Sivan Auerbach.
This is a program that seems to always manage to pull it all together when it matters most. And despite their absolutely brutal departures, recent history has made it challenging to leave them at a spot any worse than TSR #21 in our preseason top-25 team rankings.
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The Cowgirls had just two regular season meets prior to the BIG 12 XC Championships during their 2023 fall campaign, both taking place on their home course in Stillwater. Their first meet of the season, the Cowboy Preview, featured just Dawson from their eventual national meet lineup. The short 3k season opening race was also the first cross country race for Dawson in an Oklahoma State singlet
The second and slightly more important outing on their home course, the Cowboy Jamboree, featured a few more focal lineup members. One of those women was Billah Jepkirui who dominated the individual race en route to leading the Cowgirls to an extremely comfortable win over runner-up Texas (16 points to 52 points). Molly Born, Victoria Lagat, and Dawson completed a 1-2-3-4 sweep for America’s brightest orange in their regular season conclusion.
Of course, despite the convincing victories, it was hard to take away any major insights from those two results. Neither of those meets were viewed as nationally competitive stages and we had yet to see a full version of Oklahoma State's lineup. That, of course, changed when the Cowgirls entered the BIG 12 XC Championships.
That meet, of course, would be Oklahoma State's hardest challenge of the season up-and-to that point. The top-three teams entering the BIG 12 XC Championships were all nationally ranked with BYU then-listed at TSR #5, Oklahoma State at TSR #7 and Iowa State at TSR #11.
Roe posted an impressive season opener by winning the BIG 12 individual title over Jepkirui. But despite the strength of this 1-2 punch, BYU would still reign supreme over the Cowgirls by just four points.
The women in orange still flexed incredible front-running dominance and depth with four runners finishing with individual All-BIG 12 honors. Born took 5th place overall to further bolster Oklahoma State's already lethal low-stick scoring while Galvdyte ended up with the last BIG 12 medal at 15th place. Hinkle rounded out the scoring just behind in 16th place.
Despite settling for team silver, the Cowgirls could still be proud of their effort. They had a ton of overwhelming firepower and their backend scorers were quietly solid as well. From there, the women of Oklahoma State easily controlled the Midwest Regional XC Championships, cruising into their season finale.
Yes, it's true, Oklahoma State season leading up to last year's national meet wasn't necessarily anything super exciting. Their regular season schedule was extremely light, they fell to BYU at their conference meet and the competition at the Midwest regional meet didn't really pose any legitimate threat to the Cowgirls.
And yet, Oklahoma State saved their best for last.
The Cowgirls’ historic run at the 2023 NCAA XC Championships was highlighted by Jepkirui’s outstanding 7th place individual finish. Born and Roe also collected All-American honors in 21st place and 34th place, respectively, with Roe actually falling a touch short of expectations.
However, the real reason why this team earned a spot on the podium was because their scoring was rounded out by Galvydyte in 48th place (an incredibly impressive result for an 800-meter specialist) and Dawson in 100th place.
All of that, in turn, was good enough for 3rd place as a team at Panorama Farms.
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The year is now 2024 and most of the women who made last year's podium run happen are now gone. Simply put, it feels like a changing of a guard and a transition between eras for Oklahoma State.
Yes, the Cowgirls do return Billah Jepkirui who was beyond brilliant over the last year. At the very least, she'll be a top-10 name this fall and once again emerge as one of the best possible scorers that the NCAA can offer. Cayden Dawson is also returning from last year's scoring five. She's a lot better than some people may realize, especially when you consider that last fall was her first-ever cross country season.
However, the departures of Roe, Born and Galvydyte hurt…a lot.
Expecting this year's Oklahoma State team to match last year's success feels unrealistic. The loss of firepower on this team is rarely ever replaced in a single offseason and for as good as the Cowgirls have been historically, reputation can only carry a team so far.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that all hope is lost for the women hailing from Stillwater. After all, it’s nothing the program has not overcome before. The Cowgirls' 2023 team, for instance, lost four of their top-six women from their 2022 squad and still managed to produce their best team finish in program history.
So...who will step up for the Cowgirls in 2024?
Sivan Auerbach does return, at least according to their team’s roster. Admittedly, Auerbach "only" finished in 106th place at the 2023 NCAA XC Championships. So unless she improves drastically this fall, we're not expecting this Israeli veteran to provide the same kind of firepower that this squad desperately needs.
And yet, when paired with Jepkirui and Dawson, two top-100 national meet finishers, the Cowgirls at least have a strong enough core to rally around. Sure, it would be great if Auerbach evolved into an All-American contender, but simply replicating last year's national meet performance on a more consistent basis would provide Oklahoma State with great scoring value as well.
Joining Dawson and Auerbach are Payton Hinkle and Lilly Lavier, the former of whom is returning with national meet experience. Hinkle also placed 16th at the BIG 12 XC Championships last fall and ran 9:18 (3k) in the winter.
We then come to Victoria Lagat, an athlete who has also demonstrated flashes of top-end potential in her few outings for the Cowgirls. However, her availability has been limited, only racing once last fall at the Cowboy Jamboree and taking 3rd behind only Jepkirui and Born.
After a quiet pair of fall and winter campaigns, Lagat posted an impressive 15:48 (5k) PR on the outdoor oval and placed 6th in that event at the Big 12 Outdoor Championships. Assuming she continues to build on this momentum from the spring, Lagat could be the missing piece of Oklahoma State’s puzzle who catapults them past this ranking.
In terms of other roster numbers, the Cowgirls have no shortage of options.
What about former top-tier recruits, Lauren Ping and Grace Ping? How about mile specialist Cameron McConnell? What about middle distance runner and veteran Kaylie Politza?
The list truly goes on and on. There are plenty of names on this roster who could rise to the occasion and emerge as impactful names. Of course, the biggest question is, how quickly can they do so? Many of these women are more middle distance based and there's not a ton of cross country history on their resumes.
Thankfully for Oklahoma State, the Cowgirls did secure a potentially crucial transfer in Josephine Wanjiku, formerly of Kansas State.
Wanjiku boasts freshman year PRs of 9:23 (3k), 16:24 (5k) and 35:45 (10k). With some development under Coach Dave Smith, Wanjiku should be able to provide the Cowgirls with a consistent top-five scorer. Of course, as we saw last fall, there is still going to be some work to do in order for this now-former Wildcat to be an impact name who alters this lineup (for the better) in a significant manner.
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With only three incoming freshmen reported on their roster, Oklahoma State will rely on veteran experience and developing returners to piece together the holes in this squad. And while it may not be their prettiest season ever, there are still multiple ways for Coach Dave Smith to craft a lineup that could actually exceed this ranking.
There’s no doubt that the Cowgirls will find a way to make it to the national meet this fall. They do, after all, reside in the Midwest region which truthfully lacks depth compared to other regions. That, of course, is not to say that it will be easy for what is left of the 2023 team.
It is highly unlikely that the scoring Roe, Born and Galvdyte will be fully replaced by simple development. Jepkirui has proven that she is up to the challenge already, but these are team rankings, after all, and she cannot carry the torch alone.
A slew of women have the potential to step up and make this team a nationally competitive group, but the main question is, who exactly will those women be?
It admittedly feels like a 50/50 flip of a coin as to whether or not this team shocks the nation with another top-10 team finish or falls out of the national standings, altogether. But after proving that they can reload after devastating roster losses in the past, we would bet on this team to at least remain in the national discourse of top cross country teams come November.
