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TSR's 2024 Preseason D1 XC Top 25 Team Rankings (Women): #25 Penn State Nittany Lions
- Admin (Garrett Zatlin)
- Aug 8, 2024
- 7 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.
When you think of Penn State as a track and cross country program, you likely associate the Nittany Lions with middle distance excellence. That has, after all, been the team's focal identity for the last few years on both the men's and women's sides.
As we enter the fall of 2024, that reputation remains the same for the men team's in Happy Valley. The women, however, are seemingly drifting in a new direction, a direction that is far more aerobic-centric and therefore more cross country-focused.
After last year's encouraging national qualifying performance, the Penn State women are seemingly primed for a major fall campaign. And this time around, they'll look to show the rest of the country that they aren't just happy to be at the "Big Dance."
This year, they'll want to make a statement.
* * *
The beginning of Penn State's 2023 cross country season was truthfully uneventful. Their first major showing at the Paul Short Invitational resulted in the Nittany Lions settling for shrug-inducing 4th place team effort. They were just six points behind 3rd place Boston U.
In that race, Sophia Toti (16th) showed great promise and the same could be said about Madaline Ullom (21st). Even Florence Caron (34th), the recent Canadian addition, posted a fairly solid result. Hayley Kitching (52nd) and Makenna Krebs (60th) closed out the scoring, but Penn State as a whole simply needed to be better if they were going to compete with the top teams in that field.
It was a similar story at the Nuttycombe Invite, a meet that would truly test the talent and cohesiveness of Penn State's lineup. Unfortunately, the end result wasn't anything spectacular. Ullom (77th) was yet again a sneaky-good name while Kileigh Kane (83rd) was a nice surprise after struggling at Paul Short.
However, after those two, things began to fall apart for the Happy Valley women. Penn State didn't have anyone else in the top-130 of the overall results and their fifth runner was over 40 spots back from their fourth scorer. In the end, a 27th place finish left PSU with another tough showing.
You could argue, however, that the Nittany Lions began to gain some momentum at the BIG 10 XC Championships. While a 4th place team result didn't blow anyone away, it did allow the Pennsylvania-based distance group to take down the likes of Ohio State and Northwestern. The former had great firepower and the latter had success earlier in the season at the Virginia Invitational.
With Ullom, Caron and Kane all cracking the top-15, the Nittany Lions had a stable top-three which offered a ton of valuable scoring. However, backend gaps yet again proved to be main challenge as the team's final two scorers only barely snuck into the top-60.
The Mid-Atlantic Regional XC Championships is where things peaked for PSU. While the region was truthfully having a "down" year, certain programs like Penn, Villanova and West Virginia were still respectable.
On that stage, Penn State had a shockingly good top-four. The aforementioned trio of Ullom, Caron and Kane cracked the top-15 yet again -- and so did Sophia Toti. With freshman Claire Zubey earning a surprisingly strong 28th place effort, the ladies of State College secured themselves an automatic qualifying spot to the NCAA XC Championships!
This is usually the part of the article where we would go in-depth about how a team ran on the national stage. That, however, may not be necessary.
To put it simply, Penn State struggled.
A lot.
The Nittany Lions had no one finish higher than 150th place. In turn, they would finish last.
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At first glance, you may be thinking, "Wow, giving Penn State a spot in these rankings feels pretty generous." And frankly, we don't blame you for thinking that. While this group did have brief moments of promise throughout last fall, they ultimately struggled on the biggest and most competitive stages.
So why did this team snag our TSR #25 position? What is it about Penn State in 2024 that makes them distinctly different (and better) than they were in 2023?
The answer starts with the dynamic duo of Florence Caron and Sophia Toti. Those two women were fairly crucial scorers for PSU last fall, although consistency seemed to be a challenge at times for both runners.
But what we saw from this duo on the track during the spring months was outstanding. In fact, both Caron and Toti looked like two of the absolute best runners in the BIG 10.
This past spring, Caron ran a monster 5k time of 15:32 before running 33:09 (10k) and qualifying for the national meet in that event. She was also the 5k and 10k title winner at the BIG 10 Outdoor Championships. Toti, meanwhile, ran marks of 15:44 (5k) and 32:57 (10k). She didn't qualify for the national meet, but she wasn't too far off from Caron throughout last spring.
On paper, those credentials suggest that both Caron and Toti can be high-octane low-stick scorers for their team in 2024. And if that happens, then the complexion of this lineup (compared to last year) changes dramatically...in a good way.
It's also important not to overlook how impactful Madaline Ullom was on multiple occasions throughout last fall. While some people may view her as a miler, this is someone who acted as a lead scorer for the Nittany Lions at nearly every meet last fall! Ullom finishing in 6th place at the BIG 10 XC Championships is a result that you would expect to see from an established long distance low-stick.
There's a world where Ullom joins both Caron and Toti this fall to form a "Big Three" of sorts. And if that happens, then the core of this team will be significantly better than what we saw from them in 2023.
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In case it wasn't already obvious, we're very high on the potential scoring impact that Caron, Toti and Ullom could/will offer this fall. Of course, you need five runners to post a team score in cross country. And as we saw last year, this team struggled mightily with backend support.
Unfortunately, that challenge won't get any easier for this group in 2024. That's because veterans Kileigh Kane and Makenna Krebs are out of cross country eligibility.
Rising sophomore Claire Zubey had a few encouraging moments last fall. A 77th place finish at Paul Short was decent for a rookie and a 28th place result at the Mid-Atlantic Regional XC Championships was fairly clutch.
Returning veteran Hayley Kitching was one of the backend pieces who needed to finish higher up last fall. Even so, it's hard to ask a half-miler as talented as herself to also have great aerobic strength on very different terrain. The fact that she was even scoring at times last fall is commendable.
And how about Hannah Boyle? The current sophomore didn't race at all last year (at least not to our knowledge), but she was an outstanding national-caliber recruit in high school. She could be a major x-factor going into this fall.
Let's also not forget about Laura Roderick, an Aussie distance talent who has run 9:26 (3k) and 16:16 (5k). She's not necessarily expected to be a low-stick, but for a team that needs more stable scoring and better depth, Roderick is a very strong addition.
And yet, despite the seemingly respectable reinforcements that Penn State has, none of them have the potential to be as important as Faith DeMars could be.
When she's at her best, DeMars is a borderline low-stick for this Nittany Lion squad. She has run an eyebrow-raising 5k time of 15:44 and her steeplechase success is also notable, having run a personal best of 9:59 in the event. She also qualified for the 2023 outdoor national meet over 5000 meters.
Unfortunately, DeMars struggled last fall after not racing at Paul Short or Nuttycombe. Her two postseason races at the regional and national levels did not end well. DeMars went on to have a fairly modest winter campaign and the same could be said for her spring efforts. She then ended her outdoor track season after the Penn Relays.
Regardless of what happens with DeMars this fall, we believe that Penn State can be a much better team than they were last year. In fact, based on everything we've seen, we don't know why they wouldn't be.
However, it's DeMars who could truly elevate Penn State to a spot in our rankings that far exceeds our TSR #25 position. On paper, she has the potential to be just as impactful as Caron, Toti and Ullom.
And if that happens, then this isn't a top-25 team -- they're a top-15 team.
* * *
We'll admit, Penn State isn't necessarily a perfect squad. We have struggled to piece together what the latter-half of their lineup will look like. We don't quite know what to expect from Faith DeMars this fall. We are also projecting that track stars such as Florence Caron and Sophia Toti will seamlessly translate their fitness to the grass (and that's not necessarily a guarantee).
And yet, it's the tantalizing upside and the exciting possibilities of what this team could be that makes them impossible to ignore. Penn State may have three lead scorers this fall, their backend features youngsters with tons of upside and DeMars could give this group a fairly substantial boost.
We're opting to place Penn State at TSR #25. That feels like a fair spot for the Nittany Lions as we acknowledge their seemingly-high ceiling, but also recognize the fact that their support scorers still need to close a handful of gaps.
So who knows? After this season, Penn State's nickname, "Happy Valley," may be perfectly appropriate following the performances that we see from this team in October and November.
