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TSR's 2024 Preseason D2 XC Top 10 Team Rankings (Men): #2 West Texas A&M Buffaloes
- Marissa Kuik
- Sep 12, 2024
- 7 min read
Written by Marissa Kuik, edits & additional commentary via Gavin Struve & 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.
The men of West Texas A&M experienced grand success on multiple levels at last year’s cross country national meet. They finished on the podium by placing 4th as a team, and William Amponsah ran away with the individual national title.
Entering the 2024 cross country season, the Buffaloes look ready to improve on that 4th-place finish. Four members of last year's scoring lineup return, and all of those men are coming off impressive track seasons. The 'Buffs have as much upside as virtually any team in the country heading into this fall, and this ranking reflects that.
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West Texas A&M opened up their 2023 season in two low-key settings in Texas: the Big Country Festival and the Texas Tech Open. Both meets led to similar results: the Buffaloes winning and being led by newcomer William Amponsah.
In their season opener, the West Texas A&M men swept the top-six places, flexing some early-season dominance. Then, in Lubbock, the 'Buffs beat a few Division One teams.
After those smaller meets, the Buffaloes went on to the Live in Lou XC Classic, where they raced in the "Gold" division. They ultimately finished 4th overall, behind Adams State, Grand Valley State, and a very respectable Purdue team.
Amponsah continued his winning ways and was followed by a balanced effort with Enrico Oddone in 21st place, Aziz Mohammed finishing in 42nd place, Louis Moreau placing 44th, and Harry Louradour rounding out the scoring in 56th place.
While that meet exposed some gaps between the Buffaloes’ lead scorers and the back-half of the lineup, they had to feel good about finishing behind only the Boilermakers and two D2 powerhouses while beating several squads that finished in the top-half of the team standings at the 2023 cross country national meet.
At the Lone Star XC Championships, West Texas A&M ran confidently, led by Amponsah winning the conference title and the men sweeping spots 1-2-3-4-5-6. Their perfect score showed their dominance relative to the rest of the conference.
Their first true test following the trip to the Live in Lou XC Classic was the South Central Regional XC Championships, where they faced a slew of RMAC programs that are among the best in all of Division Two.
The Buffaloes rose to the occasion, placing 3rd overall. As you may have guessed, Amponsah won the race, but the surprise finish was Louradour stepping up and placing 8th overall, effectively validating his prior top-half All-American honor from the year before.
With Oddone (16th), Mohammed (21st) and Moreau (24th) all holding their own, the scoring spread was much better than it was in Louisville. Achieving that in such a competitive environment while moving up to a longer distance signaled that West Texas A&M was peaking at the perfect time.
Sure enough, the 'Buffs maxed out their potential at the 2023 NCAA XC Championships, finishing in 4th place and beating both Adams State and Grand Valley State after losing to them earlier in the season.
As the capper to an undefeated season, Amponsah won the individual national title. Then came the rest of the pack with Louradour finishing 20th, Mohammed finishing 30th, and Moreau crossing the line in 37th. That gave West Texas A&M four All-Americans and their best display of firepower (without question) that season.
Oddone ending up 85th overall hurt their score a little bit, but he was still the seventh-best fifth scorer in the field, a result that deserved a nod of respect. All told, the Buffaloes showed up when it mattered most to wrap up a historic season.
Now, it looks like they are on track for perhaps an even more historic campaign.
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Louis Moreau is the only departure from last year's scoring lineup, but he's still with the 'Buffs as a graduate assistant coach. Jay Hall (last year's seventh runner) is also gone.
Moreau's absence from the top-five will undoubtedly hurt. He was a dependable veteran who twice placed top-60 at the cross country national meet. For a team that was fairly top-heavy, having one less stability piece isn't exactly ideal. That theoretically opens for the door for the Buffaloes to be more volatile in 2024.
Fortunately, the Buffaloes are bringing someone in who can more than make up for Moreau's now-departed middle-lineup presence.
That would be Kenyan freshman Dennis Cheruiyot. He comes in with an eyebrow-raising personal best of 63:15 in the half-marathon, in which he split a 28:26 (10k). That split time would have given him the NCAA #2 mark over 10,000 meters this past spring behind only....yes, you guessed it, William Amponsah.
We will have to see how Cheruiyot transitions to running on the grass (and to the NCAA as a whole) before we laud him as an immediate top-five talent, nationally. Even so, this late addition appears to have the same kind of raw potential and drive for greatness that Amponsah displayed as a first-year superstar last year.
He's the element that raises West Texas A&M's ceiling to that of a top-half podium team.
But what if we told you that Cheruiyot is not the only instant-impact addition that West Texas A&M brought in this fall? That's because the 'Buffs also added Matthys Bourse to their roster, a Charleston (WV) transfer who placed 75th at the 2023 NCAA XC Championships.
Bourse figures to be a critical backend lineup piece for the Buffaloes, assuming he can replicate (or even improve upon) the form that he showed while training in West Virginia last year. His presence will offer great insurance for a team that has a few question marks about what they will get out of certain individuals this fall.
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As mentioned above, most of this team's returning scorers had impressive track seasons earlier this year. William Amponsah won the 10k national title and finished 2nd in the 5k at the outdoor national meet after running personal best times of 28:00 (10k) and 13:40 (5k). He was also a two-time All-American at the indoor national meet.
His strength really lies in the distance events, so cross country definitely plays to Amponsah’s endurance. He will be heavily favored to defend his individual cross country national title once again as he leads the Buffaloes.
Harry Louradour gives the 'Buffs another top-half All-American returnee. He saw further breakthroughs on the track this past spring, running a massive PR of 28:37 (10k) as well as a 13:57 (5k). He placed 10th in the 10k at the 2024 outdoor national meet and is situated at TSR #14 in our preseason individual rankings.
Sure, some of Louradour's races last fall were better than others. Even so, this is someone who has consistently peaked for the postseason, earning two top-half finishes at the NCAA XC Championships over the last two years. And given his recent improvements, we have no reason to think that he can't do it again.
Mohammed stunned the Division Two world not only by becoming a cross country All-American last year, but more so by winning the 1500-meter national title at the 2024 outdoor national meet.
While he entered that latter meet viewed as more of a half-miler (with a PR of 1:48), he took down some marquee names to win his first NCAA title (and give this team two individual national champions). After showing last year that he can excel over 10,000 meters on the grass, a boost in fitness and confidence on the track should have Mohammed as primed as ever to help lead this team.
With such impressive improvements from those three returners alone, this season is shaping up to be a bright one for the West Texas A&M men. However, the strength of the squad does not stop there.
Adrian Legarreta comes into this new cross country season with PRs of 14:20 (5k) and 29:43 (10k). His improvement over the latter distance signals that he could be a backend scorer for this team if needed. He was West Texas A&M's sixth runner at the 2023 cross country national meet, placing a respectable 114th, but his latest marks signal that he could, at the very least, be a top-90 talent this fall.
Enrico Oddone also returns after placing 85th at the 2023 NCAA XC Championships and looking more impressive on the track. He ran 13:57 over 5000 meters and competed in that event at the outdoor national meet.
On paper, he should be battling it out with Bourse for the fifth scorer role. And truthfully, we think Oddone was better than what he showed at last year's national meet (even if it was still a respectable result). Having that kind of optionality and security is a boon for the 'Buffs.
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On top of so much individual talent, the range of this group stands out. With aerobic-centric studs and more middle distance-based stars, the diversity of talent found on this roster is flat-out impressive.
Even before we knew that they added Cheruiyot, West Texas A&M looked poised to make a return to the podium. They have six men who finished top-115 at the national meet last fall, and Cheruiyot isn't one of them.
Coach Zach Daniel's team won't fly under the radar this year, nor will any of its individuals after Amponsah won NCAA gold and Cheruiyot enters the team with even more impressive marks.
A run at our TSR #1 spot will be quite difficult given all that the defending champions return, but West Texas A&M's elite depth of talent and firepower makes them feel like a near podium lock and a favorite for their first-ever national runner-up finish.
