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TSR's 2024 Preseason D1 XC Top 25 Team Rankings (Women): #6 Georgetown Hoyas
- Admin (Garrett Zatlin)
- Aug 28, 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.
From my perspective, it felt like the Georgetown women were consistently disrespected when the podium conversation arose. And believe it or not, given recent developments in another series of rankings, it still feels like they're being disrespected.
By a lot!
The Hoyas' 2023 group was fantastic throughout the regular season, taking down numerous nationally competitive teams and thriving on larger stages. Sure, their national meet effort was truthfully poor, but that collective performance was almost certainly a fluke more than anything else.
Believe it or not, we think that this year's team has the chance to be even better than they were last fall. Their focal low-stick stars are returning, this time with more experience. They've also added a handful of talented (and potentially underrated) transfers to their team who seemingly fill out this lineup maybe even better than last year's group.
And with arguably more firepower on the Hoyas' roster, we see this team remaining in the hunt to return to the podium.
* * *
The Virginia Invitational would be Georgetown's first stop of their 2023 cross country campaign. There, they would face a myriad of upper-echelon distance programs who were looking to make early-season statements.
Chloe Scrimgeour (2nd) led the way with a monster performance, proving to the country that she wasn't just a low-stick, but arguably one of the best lead scorers in the NCAA. That huge breakout race was later complemented by another breakout performer from Melissa Riggins who took 13th place! For someone who was viewed primarily as a middle distance runner, that result was shocking as it gave the Hoyas's a second low-stick.
Veteran Chloe Gonzalez (39th) more than held her own, offer great scoring stability. Not far behind her was Kelsey Swenson (43rd), a graduate transfer from Idaho. Her ability to plug a crucial scoring was already proving to be incredibly valuable in her first major race with Georgetown.
Unfortunately, the Hoyas' fifth scorer faded quite a bit, dropping all the way back to 107th place. That backend gap sent the Hoyas' team score in a sharp rise, leaving them with 204 points and a 5th place finish.
Even so, regardless of the gap, the Georgetown women could still take great pride in knowing that they easily outperformed expectations. After all, they did all of that without multi-time All-American, Maggie Donahue.
The Nuttycombe Invitational would be Georgetown's next test. This race, however, was all about validating their highly promising effort at the Virginia Invitational.
The Georgetown women were absolutely brilliant in Madison, Wisconsin. Scrimgeour (7th) proved that she is, in fact, an elite long distance collegiate talent. Riggins (15th), meanwhile, showed that not only was she a low-stick, but a true national-caliber low-stick.
Behind the Hoyas' potent firepower were two excellent support scorers in Maggie Donahue (54th) and Chloe Gonzalez (61st). Their roles were to stabilize the scoring in the middle portion of this lineup, erase gaps and raise the team's floor -- and they did all of that.
With Kelsey Swenson (74th) closing out the scoring, the Georgetown women secured 3rd place at the Nuttycome Invite. And in doing so, they had sent a message to the rest of the NCAA that they would be in the hunt for the podium.
The BIG East XC Championships wouldn't exactly be a meet that the Hoyas' could cruise through as the Providence women, despite some struggles, had enough talent to make things interesting.
Even so, the complete scoring collection of Georgetown's lineup was simply too much for the Providence women to handle. The ladies of Washington, DC put five in the top-10 and three in the top-six to pull away for a win that, in retrospect, was way more convincing that we thought it would be.
After cruising through the Mid-Atlantic Regional XC Championships, the ladies of Georgetown toed the line for the cross country national meet. There, they would aim to secure a spot on the podium.
That, however, didn't happen.
The Georgetown women picked a bad day to have their worst team race of the season. Scrimgeour (8th) was exceptional and Donahue (55th) delivered the same valuable scoring stability that she had offered all season long. You could also argue that Kelsey Swenson (105th) had a very solid day in her own right.
However, with Melissa Riggins producing a brutal DNF result (apparently due to an illness), no other Hoyas cracked the top-140. And with the team's final scorer finishing outside of the top-200, Georgetown had to settle for a disappointing 18th place finish.
* * *
Despite Georgetown's unfortunate end to their 2023 fall campaign, it's hard to look at the personnel on their 2024 roster and think that they won't be just as good (if not better) than last year.
Of course, it's probably best to first address their departures, two of which should not be taken lightly. The Hoyas are losing a highly valuable scoring veteran in Maggie Donahue as well as a quietly excellent support scorer in Kelsey Swenson.
We'll admit, Donahue's 2023 fall campaign wasn't quite as strong as it had been in previous seasons where she was a multi-time All-American. Even so, she provided outstanding scoring stability for a team that leaned so heavily on their top-two women. Donahue was the glue that bridged the two ends of Georgetown's scoring group.
Swenson, meanwhile, was quietly great as well. Her addition to this team gave the Hoyas' a complete top-five void of any major gaps. She held her own in a variety of fields and was super consistent throughout last fall. Her loss should not be taken lightly.
The team also lost Mary Hennelly, an occasional backend contributor.
Alright, now for the good news.
The Hoya women are still stacked to the brim with talent, maybe more so than they were last year. With their two low-stick stars returning, another low-stick being added and plenty of accomplished support scorers entering the program, Georgetown could be just as dangerous as they were last year, if not more so.
We all know how great Chloe Scrimgeour is. She's been on absolute fire over the last year and she has been one of the single-most reliable distance stars in the country, especially on the national stage.
There truthfully isn't much more to say about her. We feel pretty confident that she's going to give her team three to seven points each time she toes the line -- and that's huge.
Melissa Riggins, meanwhile, is set to return after a 2023-24 year where she was outstanding. Yes, her DNF result at the cross country national meet wasn't great, but the rest of her results would make her a coveted low-stick for plenty of other top-ranked teams.
Placing 13th at the Virginia Invitational, 15th at the Nuttycombe Invite and 3rd at the BIG East XC Championships was incredible for someone who is known for her 800-meter and mile prowess.
On the oval, Riggins validated her aerobic fitness by running 8:52 over 3000 meters. She also ran times of 4:07 (1500) and 4:29 (mile), earning 4th place All-American honors in both of those events.
There is no reason to believe that Riggins won't be the same low-stick ace in 2024 that she was in 2023. She has kept her fitness at an incredibly high level and there are plenty of data points to suggest that the NCAA XC Championships was just an unlucky outlier.
* * *
Chloe Gonzalez is a veteran returner who took a nice step up last fall. She was part of Georgetown's core scoring five, placing 39th at the Virginia Invitational, 61st at the Nuttycombe Invitational and 6th at the BIG East XC Championships.
If Gonzalez ends up as the team's fourth scorer again, then that will be totally fine. At the very least, she'll bring tremendous stability to a team that already has plenty of low-stick scoring potency.
Outside of the national meet, she was very consistent throughout last fall. A fairly respectable 2022 fall campaign (in addition to her 2023 season) gives us confidence that she'll replicate her great performances once more in 2024.
While Gonzalez is great, the Hoyas certainly needed more scoring help if they were going to be ranked at this spot. Thankfully, Coach Mitchell Baker did an outstanding job this summer collecting quietly-great names from the transfer portal. And with these new additions, the Georgetown women feel like a team that is arguably even more complete and balanced than they were last year.
One of those newcomers is Lucy Jenks, an excellent veteran talent who has strong credentials and the potential to be an All-American.
The former Stanford runner enters the 2024 cross country season listed at TSR #39 in our preseason individual cross country rankings. She boasts a 15:33 (5k) PR and has been a four-time top-100 finisher at the NCAA XC Championships with her best placement being 49th in the fall of 2021.
Jenks' fitness and talent is at an all-time high right now and her 2023 fall campaign suggests that she is probably a slight favorite to be an All-American this fall. If that's the case, then the Georgetown women now have three legitimate top-40 threats at this year's national meet.
That is huge from a scoring perspective.
Fiona Max is a graduate transfer from Princeton who, at her best, is a super valuable name. Admittedly, Max's top form was seen in her freshman year back in the fall of 2021. That year, she finished runner-up at the Ivy League XC Championships, was 6th at the Mid-Atlantic Regional XC Championships and then 84th at the NCAA XC Championships.
Since then, Max has continued to be a respectable name, consistently cracking the top-20 at the Mid-Atlantic Regional XC Championships. And if that's her floor, then that's a good thing for a team like Georgetown. At this point, they just need reliable depth.
Charlotte Tomkinson is a graduate transfer from Duke. And while she is mainly a middle distance runner, her resume actually hold surprisingly solid cross country finishes.
Last fall, the now-former Blue Devil placed 62nd at the Virginia Invitational and 98th at the Nuttycombe Invite. She redshirted the fall of 2022, but her 2021 cross country season featured a 16th place finish at the ACC XC Championships and a 25th place result at Pre-Nationals.
Sure, I'll admit, Tomkinson isn't necessarily the most consistent cross country runner ever, but...who cares?
Georgetown is getting a middle distance stud who fits the program's historical skillset while still offering better-than-expected scoring value on the grass. And with so many other women available to act as reliable backend pieces, having someone who can quietly surprise you as a scorer is simply an added bonus.
There was also one other name who was actually a late addition to this crop of newcomers. That would be Olivia Morganti, a runner from Penn.
Morganti previously committed to attend Colorado as a graduate transfer, but changed her destination after the coaching shake up in Boulder earlier this year. Now, Georgetown is benefitting from that.
The incoming Hoya has quietly great times of 4:18 (1500), 9:12 (3k), 16:06 (5k) and 9:57 (steeple). Not only that, but she was a two-time outdoor national meet qualifier in the steeplechase! Morganti also qualified for last year's cross country national meet as an individual, but faded a bit to 144th place due to rumored illness.
Landing someone like Morganti could be the reason why Georgetown ends up on the podium. She will likely establish a presence somewhere inside of the Hoyas' top-seven and her ceiling could lead to her being the team's fourth scorer. And at the very least, she adds to the already-extensive depth of this 2024 roster.
We finally come to Almi Nerurkar, an incoming distance standout from the United Kingdom who undoubtedly feels like the biggest x-factor on this team.
Nerukar has run times of 9:16 (3k), 16:00 (5k) and 32:43 (10k roads). But more importantly, she finished 3rd place overall at the 2024 British University XC Championships (BUCS). That race isn't anywhere close to the level that the NCAA XC Championships are at, but it is still an excellent result that deserves to be applauded.
We truthfully have no idea what to expect from Neruakar. We're pretty confident that she'll be in this lineup and it's more likely than not that she'll make a few appearances as a scorer. However, her latest series of results have been very encouraging, so much so that we can't help but wonder if she'll have a greater scoring impact than we initially suspect.
Other key names to monitor are incoming freshman Charlotte Bell (a 4:35 miler) and rising sophomore Barrett Justema (10:23 steeplechaser).
* * *
This isn't just a good team, it's a great team.
Georgetown could absolutely be on the podium come November and it wouldn't surprise any of us at The Stride Report. Coach Mitchell Baker has been able to develop two legitimate distance stars and was then smart enough to bring in a large handful of talented additions to capitalize on the opportunity in front of him.
And yes, I have to make a confession...I may be a bit biased towards Georgetown.
Maybe it's because I've lived 10 minutes away from the university for the last couple of years.
Maybe it's because it was the first area that I took my parents to when they came to visit me in DC for the first time.
Maybe it's because I have an Allen Iverson Georgetown jersey hanging somewhere in my closet.
But when I sat down with my writers and we began to craft these rankings, it wasn't me who moved Georgetown up to our TSR #6 spot. Instead, it was our three other writers who happened to be even higher on the Hoyas than I was.
