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TSR's 2024 Preseason D2 XC Top 10 Team Rankings (Women): #10 Western Washington Vikings
- Marissa Kuik
- Sep 4, 2024
- 7 min read
Written by Marissa Kuik and Gavin Struve, edits & additional 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.
From an outsider's perspective, the goal for the Western Washington women last season was to make it back to the cross country national meet for the first time since 2019.
They did that and then some, placing in the top-half (14th) of the team standings on the national stage. And with the return of all but one member of their 2023 varsity lineup, this team appears primed for an even better fall campaign than they had a year ago -- and they should be ready to make a run at a top-10 finish.
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Besides some smaller meets in early September, Western Washington chose to wait a while before truly opening their season, which they did at their home meet, the WWU Bill Roe Classic. At that meet, the 'Vikes mostly competed against conference foes who they would see again later in the season, like Saint Martin’s and Simon Fraser.
The Vikings placed 2nd overall, only finishing behind the University of Victoria (a Canadian school outside of the NCAA system). WWU's squad was led by Ashley Reeck, who finished 8th, followed by Mia Crocker and Ila Davis in 14th and 15th place, respectively. Rounding out the top-five was Marian Ledesma in 19th place and Ella Edens in 22nd.
That was a solid first appearance for this team, showing us that they were ready to ramp up the competition in the weeks ahead. Reeck seemed like a solid lead scorer and the middle portion of the lineup was a bit better than we expected.
WWU got their first true test a few weeks later at the Lewis XC Crossover against some very strong Division Two schools, including Colorado Mines, Lewis and Winona State. Western Washington ended up placing 6th overall, finishing behind Colorado Mines, a "B" team from Grand Valley State, Lewis, Winona State and Colorado Christian.
Reeck led the way in 18th place, yet another strong lead scoring result which gave her team somewhat of an identity. Davis finished 43rd, Ledesma was 46th, Sophie Wright came in 47th and Meaera Nystrom crossed the line in 48th place. That sneaky-good pack-running was what ultimately allowed the Vikings to fend off a handful of underrated teams who were chasing them in the team standings.
Although, somewhat surprisingly, Crocker and Edens were back in 78th and 79th, respectively, finishing outside of the scoring positions.
For the most part, that was a pretty decent overall showing for the Vikings. They had a strong lead talent and a truly complete backend that seemed fairly stable. And yet, at the same time, it seemed as though some members of the team had "off" days and were capable of more.
Western Washington came back strong for the start of the postseason, winning the GNAC XC Championships team title against some of the squads who they raced earlier in the season at their home meet.
Reeck put together an impressive performance on that stage, crossing the line in 4th place, while Davis closed the gap on Reeck, finishing 7th overall. The rest of the scoring five followed not too far behind, comprised of Ledesma (11th), Nystrom (13th), and Wright (14th).
WWU continued to put forth a complete team effort at the West Regional XC Championships, where they grabbed arguably their biggest win of the season (depending on how much emphasis you place on the regional meets) by taking down both Biola and Chico State.
Reeck continued to be a rising low-stick for her team, finishing in 5th place, while Davis continued to show improvement, crossing the line in 11th place. The WWU women closed out their scoring with Nystrom in 14th place (a quietly great result for her), Wright in 24th place and Emma Smith in 26th place.
The regional meet was a prime opportunity for this group to display its pack-running and depth, with different names (like Smith) stepping up when needed.
A 14th-place finish to their season at the NCAA XC Championships definitely offered some positives, like beating a couple of teams WWU had lost to earlier in the season. There was, however, still plenty of room to grow.
Reeck was the lone All-American for the team, coming across the line in 30th place and continuing her perfect peak through the postseason. Davis served as a fringe low-stick as well, finishing 53rd place.
The rest of the top-five were past the 100th-place mark which truthfully did rack up the Vikings' team score a bit. Crocker, Smith and Wright all fit within the top-175 spots in that order. And while not flashy on paper, the lead scoring efforts of Reeck and Davis countered some of Western Washington's inflated backend scoring to help the Vikings post their best postseason finish in years.
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Marian Ledesma (due to graduation) is the only departure from this team. It's not ideal to lose an NCAA veteran who holds ample experience on the national stage, but it's also true that Ledesma wasn't a scorer at the national meet last fall and was better over 800 meters than on the grass.
With the rest of the scoring lineup returning, there's ample room for improvement. For some of these women, last year was the first time that they had raced at a national meet. None had done so on the grass!
Believe it or not, that was the case for Ashley Reeck. Of course, you wouldn't have known it with how well she closed out last fall. She carried her momentum through the 2023-24 academic year, running 10:34 over the barriers and water pits and qualifying for the 3000-meter steeplechase at the outdoor national meet.
Ila Davis joined her in that event at the NCAA Outdoor Championships and was even better than Reeck, placing 8th to earn an All-American honor. She had never raced at a cross country national meet before 2023 either, but it wasn't her first rodeo competing in the steeplechase through the postseason -- and that prior experience had to help her last fall.
Davis' wicked fast 10:11 (steeple) mark from this past spring suggests that the Vikings may have two All-Americans this season. And if that happens, then this TSR #10 preseason is more than justified.
At any rate, Reeck and Davis will be the two low-stick leaders for this team this fall. In fact, they'll likely be better than they were last year, especially if Davis is going to continue her progression. Of course, they aren't the only contributors who are coming off of great track seasons.
Sophie Wright ran 2:11 over 800 meters and 4:32 in the metric mile, showing off some incredible range and massive improvements in the middle distance events. As is sometimes the case with the steeplechase, success in those events doesn't always directly translate to cross country prowess.
Even so, that certainly doesn't hurt Wright's stock entering 2023.
After serving as the team's fifth scorer in 2023, Wright hardly needs to be a third star for this team. She just needs to help close out the scoring faster than WWU did last year if they seek to improve (and race at their peak level more consistently). We expect her to progress with more experience and improved fitness a year later.
Mia Crocker and Emma Smith ran PRs over the more conventional long distance events, something that bodes well for their cases of improving as back-half scorers. Sure, neither of those women were necessarily game-changing scorers, but they were subtly consistent last fall and boast a fairly high floor. Thanks to these two women, we don't expect Western Washington to have too many poor outings in 2024.
Of course, the above five names who we've outlined aren't necessarily guaranteed to maintain their scoring spots. That's a good conundrum for Coach Ben Stensland to have.
Ella Edens was the top freshman finisher at the GNAC XC Championships last year, placing 15th, and she proceeded to run 17:35 (5k) earlier this year. She didn't race at the cross country national meet, but we'd hardly be surprised if Edens emerged as a top-five runner for a top-10 team.
In fact, her upside and potential as a scorer is a big reason why we opted to push this group outside of our "Just Missed" section and into our TSR #10 spot.
Meaera Nystrom, a former transfer from Division One Northeastern, went on to run 17:25 (5k) in March and won the GNAC 10k title less than two months later. She was the Vikings' seventh runner at the national meet last fall (placing 193rd), but it feels fairly obvious that she was much better than that last fall. You don't crack the top-50 at the Lewis XC Crossover and the top-15 of the West regional meet by accident.
A slew of underclassmen also ran sub-18:00 over 5000 meters for WWU this past spring. It's plenty possible that we see one of them make the varsity squad this fall.
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We're just as impressed by the underrated depth of this team as we are by their two lead scorers (Reeck and Davis). The back-half of the Vikings' lineup was interchangeable throughout much of 2023, and we expect them to continue to push and elevate each other in the months to come. The better the backend scorers fare in closing the gap, the better this team will be.
It's unfair to expect everyone to improve, even if they appear set to on paper. Progression from most of the lineup's individual components should be enough for Western Washington to achieve a top-10 team finish.
With almost everyone returning and noticeable improvements on the track from some of their key athletes, it feels like there is nowhere to go but up from an already strong 14th-place postseason finish for WWU.
