TSR's 2024 Preseason D1 XC Top 50 Individual Rankings: Just Missed & Honorable Mentions (Women)

Admin (Garrett Zatlin)
Jul 24, 2024
11 min read

Updated: Jul 27, 2024

Here we go. Our 2024 men's and women's preseason individual cross country rankings. Let's start with our "Just Missed" and "Honorable Mention" names.

As a reminder, you can find our rankings rubric here. This week will be our D1 rankings while next week will be our D2 and D3 rankings. Let's begin...

JUST MISSED (in no particular order)

Sophie O'Sullivan, Senior, Washington

Despite me being the one to write this section, I actually disagree with Sophie O'Sullivan being listed as a "Just Missed" name. Personally, I was pushing to have her inside of our top-50 rankings, but was ultimately overruled by the group.

Last fall, O'Sullivan showed up to every cross country meet and offered great scoring value, albeit to varying extents. Her 15th place finish at the very competitive Virginia Invite was a pleasant surprise, although a 65th place finish at the Nuttycombe Invitational felt like a fairly tepid result.

Thankfully, her 6th place finish at the PAC-12 XC Championships was a superb low-stick effort. That would eventually lead to the Husky veteran placing a solid, but shrug-inducing, 56th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships.

Sophie O'Sullivan on the starting line for the 1500m prelims at the NCAA Championships // Photo via Andrew LeMay

Of course, O'Sullivan's real bread and butter comes on the track. She did, after all, run 4:02 for 1500 meters in the summer of 2023 and just ran 4:05 for the same distance earlier this month. She also recently posted a 2:00 PR for 800 meters overseas.

I don't know if there is necessarily one glaring flaw on O'Sullivan's resume. Sure, she didn't always fare as well in larger meets compared to smaller meets, but it's not like she ever had a truly poor race last fall. And yes, O'Sullivan did have an injury that she was recovering from earlier this year, but she rallied enough to make it to the 1500-meter finals at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

If someone wanted to rank O'Sullivan in their own top-50 rankings, I certainly wouldn't argue with you. In the meantime, look for the Washington standout to prove us wrong in her first major race of the season.

Keira Moore, Rs. Sophomore, Northern Arizona

The Northern Arizona women were a problem last year. Part of that is because they had fantastic low-stick stars, but the other reason why was because their depth was a nightmare to line up against. Lost in that pile of upper-tier scoring was Keira Moore, a rising redshirt sophomore was who absolutely brilliant during the regular season.

Last year, Moore made a statement by placing 14th at the Virginia Invitational. That was a very strong result, but we wanted to see if she could validate that effort at another large meet like the Nuttycombe Invite. Well, not only did Moore validate her Virginia Invite performance, she exceeded expectations! That's because the Lumberjack redshirt rookie threw down a monster 16th place finish in Madison!

For nearly any team in the country, Moore would be a true low-stick ace capable of leading a national-caliber team. And yes, we're willing to say that based on just two cross country results.

So naturally, you may ask yourself, "Then why is she not ranked?" The biggest issue is that we never saw Moore race after the Nuttycombe Invite. An injury would sideline her for the remainder of the cross country season. In fact, Moore would also miss the entire indoor track season. It wouldn't be until the spring months when we would see her race again.

Thankfully, Moore was able to put together a full season of racing to close out her second year. But truthfully, she wasn't all that close to the level that we saw from her during the 2023 cross country season (although a 16:10 clocking for 5k is respectable).

Moore is more than talented enough to be listed in our rankings. In fact, we nearly put her inside of our top-50 based solely on her two main cross country results from last fall! But the still-rising Aussie needs to prove that she can stay healthy throughout the entirety of a season. Despite being with NAU for two years now, she has only been able to complete one full season of competition.

If the Lumberjacks can get her to the starting line in November, then Moore could end up being the reason why the NAU women win a national team title this fall.

Allie Zealand, Freshman, Liberty

When it comes to men's cross country in the NCAA, it is rare that we see an American true freshman emerge as an All-American. Frankly, it's rare if they emerge as a top-50 finisher.

The women, however, are a slightly different story.

Last fall, Utah's Annastasia Peters was the NCAA's top American true freshman with her 33rd place finish at the national meet. NC State's Leah Stephens was the next-best behind Peters with a 43rd place finish.

The year before that, Natalie Cook claimed top American true freshman honors with her outstanding 7th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships. The year before that, if you're willing to count the 2021 NCAA Winter XC Championships despite it's timeline change, then the top American true freshman was Katelyn Tuohy who placed 24th overall.

In other words, it is far more likely for the women than it is for the men to produce an individual All-American in the athlete's first year out of high school.

That should bode well for Liberty freshman, Allie Zealand, someone who finished her prep career as our TSR #1 recruit.

Allie Zealand crosses the finish line at the 2023 Foot Locker XC National Championships // Photo via Andrew LeMay

Zealand was beyond outstanding during her senior year of high school, especially at the end. The Virginia native, who was homeschooled, posted a jaw-dropping 4:30 mile PR at the HOKA Festival of Miles before running an arguably more impressive time of 9:41 for two miles!

Of course, Zealand was plenty productive on the grass as well. Not only did she earn a strong 13th place finish at Nike Cross Nationals, but she also secured a 2nd place finish at the Foot Locker XC National Championships a week after that!

Zealand was already earning top finishes against the nation's very best cross country runners...and then she somehow got even better after that.

I'll admit, I'm not quite as high on this women's incoming freshman class as I have been in prior years, specifically when it comes to cross country. Even so, Zealand has a shot to be an All-American this fall. That, however, will come down to whether or not she can translate and sustain her recent success from the track to the grass.

Brenda Tuwei, Freshman, Alabama

I'm not sure that this write-up requires a ton of detail like I've provided for the above-listed women. I say that simply because this feels like a fairly simple conversation.

We know that Brenda Tuwei is talented. In fact, many of us at The Stride Report believe that she is talented enough to be a top-50 name. We know that because she ran an incredible 10k time of 31:20 on the roads back in 2023.

However, when it has come to racing on the track, Tuwei has not yet produced any results that match her outstanding road racing performance. Sure, her recent marks of 15:51 (5k) and 33:00 (10k) each deserve a nod of respect. Even so, those results, as well as a lack of known cross country performances, makes it challenging to give her a top-50 spot over other women who are more established.

Tuwei probably has the highest ceiling of anyone in our "Just Missed" or "Honorable Mention" sections. We just need to see her fully exhibit that potential before we can rank her.

Makenna Veen, Junior, Michigan State

We really like Makenna Veen. It feels like the Michigan State veteran does all of the small things right and often boasts many of the intangibles that we look for.

Consistency, for instance, has been one of the strongest attributes of this fringe low-stick.

Last fall, Veen earned a "just okay" 37th place finish at the Virginia Invite before going on to the Nuttycombe Invite where she earned a much more encouraging 32nd place finish. Top-five finishes at the BIG 10 XC Championships and the Great Lakes regional meet were eventually followed by a 70th place finish on the national stage.

Makenna Veen competing in the 10k at the 2024 Raleigh Relays // Photo via Noah Burton

Having an athlete as reliable as Veen can often be a huge boost for any program, especially in a sport as volatile and chaotic as cross country. She clearly has a high floor in terms of her baseline performances and she seemed to fare well at a variety of meets.

The main thing holding us back from ranking Veen is that she simply needs to be a little bit better at meets like the Virginia Invite and the NCAA XC Championships. She didn't necessarily race poorly on those stages, but we're still waiting to see if her ceiling extends high enough to the point where we are convincingly saying, "She can be an All-American."

We certainly think that last part is possible. But for now, we'll keep her in the "Just Missed" section of our rankings.

Shannon Flockhart, Senior, Providence

Shannon Flockhart is someone who has been gaining more and more attention as a national-caliber runner as of late. The Providence veteran had a breakout track season this past winter, running a 4:30 mile PR and helping the Friars' DMR to All-American honors. On the outdoor oval, Flockhart was even better, running 4:05.99 for 1500 meters and placing 6th overall at the outdoor national meet.

Flockhart would then venture overseas where she ran 4:04.98 for the metric mile distance, earning a statement win at the Morton Games.

There is no denying that Flockhart is currently in the best shape of her life. She was not only racing at a national-caliber level more consistently, but she also gained far greater control of her fitness. Of course, these are track times and the mile is not often a distance that directly correlates to the 6k distance in cross country.

So...why is she listed here?

Shannon Flockhart wins her 1500m heat at the 2024 NCAA Championships // Photo via Andrew LeMay

Flockhart's history of being clutch in the postseason doesn't exclusively apply to the track. That's because the Providence star has finished as high as 69th place at the NCAA XC Championships...twice. Yes, you're reading that correctly: Shannon Flockhart finished in 69th place at the NCAA XC Championships in both 2023 and 2022.

The UK native also posted decent efforts last fall at the Virginia Invite (36th) and the Nuttycombe Invitational (45th).

When you pair that season-long steadiness with Flockhart's postseason success and a recent leap in fitness, the argument for her to be ranked becomes increasingly harder to ignore. But for now, we'll place her in our "Just Missed" section while we await to see if her recent momentum will push her into the All-American hunt.

Allison Wilson, Senior, Florida

When Allison Wilson transferred from Alabama to Florida last fall, her move was mostly overlooked. That, of course, was because the Gators had landed more established distance stars in Flomena Asekol, Amelia Mazza-Downie and Elise Thorner.

But as we reflect on the 2023 cross country season, we find that Allison Wilson was arguably the most underrated transfer pickup in the NCAA last summer. The collegiate veteran more than held her own at the Nuttycombe Invite, posting an impressive 38th place finish. And at the national meet, Wilson once again found success, grabbing 49th place.

Admittedly, Wilson wasn't without imperfections last fall. She faded to 19th place at the SEC XC Championships and settled for a slightly better 14th place result at the South regional meet (although we don't put a ton of stock into the latter result). We also haven't seen Wilson post any head-turning PRs on the track, instead settling for times of 15:58 (5k) and 33:34 (10k).

At the end of the day, those are mainly the reasons why we opted to keep Wilson out of our top-50 rankings...for now.

Regardless, Wilson proved last year that she was one of the more clutch distance runners in the country. In the two biggest meets of the season, Wilson had her best-ever races. And if we were analyzing results from just those two meets, she would almost certainly be ranked.

Frankly, we wouldn't argue with anyone who has her ranked in their preseason top-50.

Savannah Roark, Senior, Syracuse

In the fall of 2022, Savannah Roark was one of the biggest breakout stars that the NCAA had.

The Syracuse ace stunned the nation by initially placing 9th at the loaded Cowboy Jamboree. She would later earn a 31st place finish at the Nuttycombe Invite which mostly validated her earlier effort in Stillwater. After a not-as-great performance at the ACC XC Championships, Roark capped her sophomore campaign with a massive 23rd place All-American finish.

Roark seemingly came into the 2023 season with tons of momentum. She had just broken through to a nationally competitive tier and had run a 10k PR of 32:49 on the outdoor oval. However, the Orange ace was clearly not in top form last fall. Roark placed 41st at the Virginia Invitational and then 63rd at the Nuttycombe Invite. She later ended her season with an 87th place effort at the NCAA XC Championships.

Since then, Roark has seemingly made progress in her fitness, running three PRs in three different events and qualifying for the outdoor national meet in the 10k. Even so, we're now left wondering which version of the Syracuse veteran we will see this fall.

We're willing to bet that Roark will be noticeably better in the fall of 2024 than she was last year. She did, after all, display promising momentum and consistency on the track over the last few months. Of course, trying to figure out exactly how much better she will be is the biggest challenge we have. And for that reason, we've opted to place the cross country All-American in our "Just Missed" section of names...for now.

Siona Chisholm, Junior, Notre Dame

We were exceptionally high on Siona Chisholm going into last fall. The Notre Dame talent was coming off of a freshman year where she placed 7th at the 2022 ACC XC Championships and had qualified for the 2023 outdoor national meet over 5000 meters.

In other words, we thought the classic freshman-to-sophomore leap was inevitable for Chisholm. That, however, was not the case.

Siona Chisholm competing in the 5k at the NCAA Championships // Photo via Andrew LeMay

Chisholm did start off her season on a high note, placing 5th at her home meet, the Joe Piane Invitational. There, she took down six eventual All-Americans. But the rest of Chisholm's season left us wanting more. She was 85th at the Nuttycombe Invite, 13th at the ACC XC Championships and 114th at the NCAA XC Championships.

And based off of those results, you can see why we opted to leave her out of our rankings.

Thankfully, momentum has begun to swing back into Chisholm's favor following an extremely encouraging outdoor track season. This past spring, the Notre Dame talent ran 15:32 for 5000 meters and qualified for the outdoor national meet over that same distance.

We are still holding Siona Chisholm stock despite some of her challenges with consistency. We think her upside is among the best in the nation and it truly wouldn't surprise me if she ended up being a top-30 name in the NCAA this fall.

Bethany Graham, Rs. Junior, Furman

You could make the argument that the best version of Bethany Graham is the most underrated cross country low-stick in the country -- or at least one of them.

This Furman veteran has been so steady and so reliable for the Paladins over the years. She has evolved into a focal name for a distance squad that has become increasingly more competitive in recent years. Graham has also been fantastic at the cross country national meet, boasting a clutch factor that other NCAA standouts can sometimes lack.

The problem, however, is that she was injured throughout the second-half of the 2023 cross country season. And truthfully, her latest efforts on the track haven't been all that great.

But are we really going to ignore someone who is a two-time cross country All-American and a two-time top-30 finisher at the Nuttycombe Invite? The answer to that question is easy: No, we are not going to ignore her.

Trying to balance the nationally competitive pedigree of Graham with her latest challenges isn't an easy thing to do when it comes to crafting rankings. Even so, her history is strong enough to the point where she'll at least remain in our "Just Missed" section while we await for greater clarity this fall.