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TSR's 2024 Preseason D2 XC Top 10 Team Rankings (Women): #7 Wingate Bulldogs
- Gavin Struve
- Sep 7, 2024
- 6 min read
Written by 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.
The Wingate men deservedly drew acclaim as the 2023 national team champions last fall, relying on a motley of international recruits and transfers to power them to the top of the podium.
However, the Bulldog men aren't the only top-tier distance contingent in Wingate, North Carolina. That's because the university sports a nationally competitive women's cross country team as well, and the men's team's recent rise bodes well for their counterparts who are also led by Coach Pol Domenech.
Keep in mind, it was the women's team that was Wingate's first to secure a top-five finish at the cross country national meet under Domenech. With their top four scorers returning from a top-10 group in 2023, it's not outlandish to suggest that the Bulldogs could put two teams on the podium in 2024.
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Wingate rode an admirable scoring structure to success last fall. They didn't place anyone in the top-50 at the cross country national meet, but had six top-100 finishers! We'll circle back to their national meet result, but that fact should lend you an idea of how this team operated in 2023.
Their cross country season opened with a top-four sweep, as a quartet of Bulldogs finished within 1.5 seconds of each other at the SAC Preview and four others finished in the top-10.
Wingate ramped up the difficulty in a major way when they returned to competition, competing in the Division One-laden Paul Short "Gold" race. While they were understandably not able to pack their scoring cast as tight as they had in their opener, this still looked like a balanced team.
Mollie Scott, Sira Bo and Ona Alonso all finished in the top-120, and the two backend scorers landed in the top-165 with another Bulldog in the top-170. It was difficult to gauge their 21st-place team finish considering the dearth of other Division Two teams in that race, but it was nice to see this group attack a deep field head-on.
From there, the Bulldogs outclassed their conference competition for a SAC title. They were led by Alonso finishing 3rd behind Catawba's two lead scorers before Burrell, Brooklyn Pierce, Tatjana Mense and Tara Migliaccio swept spots 6-7-8-9 in that order.
Wingate continued their winning ways at the Southeast Regional XC Championships, as Scott, Bo, Alonso and Mense went 2-3-6-7, respectively, and three of their teammates joined them in the top-20.
That hodgepodge of meets against varying levels of competition appeared to be a sufficient ramp-up for the national meet. In the biggest race of the season, the Bulldog women continued their pack-running ways. Alonso, Scott and Bo finished 55th, 57th and 59th, respectively, to lead the way.
With Grace Burrell (82nd) and Brooklyn Pierce (85th) capping the scoring in relatively short order -- Mense was nearby in 92nd place in case any of her teammates faltered -- Wingate did just enough to edge out another high-level regional program (Lee (Tenn.)) by one point and finish 8th at the 2023 NCAA XC Championships.
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Can the Wingate women convert their core of nationally competitive runners into a few All-Americans in 2024? It's certainly possible with four top-85 finishers from the 2023 cross country national meet back for more.
Mollie Scott is perhaps the most likely candidate to reach top-40 status. She was the only Wingate runner listed among the "Honorable Mention" names for our preseason individual rankings, and we may come to regret that (both in underestimating her and her teammates).
Scott has placed top-90 at the past three cross country national meets and was actually at her best in 2022 when she finished 46th. She wasn't great on the track earlier this year, but we know that this Brit is a cross country runner first and foremost.
Ona Alonso enters this season as a fringe top-50 name after leading the team at the 2023 cross country national meet when she was a redshirt freshman. She then ran solid marks of 4:55 (mile) and 9:45 (3k) to raise our estimation of her.
While those are more middle distance-centric marks, Alonso showed enough overall talent in the 2023-24 academic year to be a credible low-stick for a top-10 cross country team.
Then there's Sira Bo, who also finished top-60 at the national meet as a redshirt freshman last fall and showed similar momentum on the oval. She competed in the 3000-meter steeplechase at the 2024 outdoor national meet and ran 17:23 (5k) in the spring.
You could convince us that Scott, Alonso and Bo will finish in any order as the top-half of Wingate's lineup in 2024. All three women appear to be highly reliable names, effectively giving this team a super high floor.
Of course, if the Bulldogs want to reach the podium, then that trio of top scorers will need to elevate their fitness into the All-American range. That's a realistic ask for each of those women, although expecting all three women to do so on the same day is still not at all guaranteed to happen.
But more so than whether or not those three women develop into true stars, it's who comes after them that may define how high this team can rise in the months ahead.
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Grace Burrell is a less flashy name who ended up being nearly as valuable scoring-wise at the 2023 cross country national meet. She ran a slew of PRs early this year, but none of them included the strong 17:16 (5k) mark that she posted in 2023.
Burrell figures to play a critical role in bridging the gap from this team's top three to their fifth scorer. However, after her is where the returnees from this team's postseason lineup stop and where the search for their backend contributors begins.
Brooklyn Pierce, Tatjana Mense and Anna Torres are all gone after finishing in the top-145 at the 2023 cross country national meet. Losing that large of a group of trusty veteran scorers is a painful reality for a team that otherwise may have been favored to match their near-podium finish from 2021.
Thankfully, the rest of this roster isn't devoid of experience on the grass.
Tara Migliaccio will surely be in the mix for a varsity spot after a top-10 finish at the conference meet in her first collegiate cross country season. Another sophomore, Evie Brooks, has more of a middle distance skillset on the track, but placed top-15 at the 2023 SAC XC Championships.
Laila Abouzaid, entering her fourth year of Division Two competition, is a more aerobic-based athlete and posted four consecutive top-20 results last fall. Another option is North Carolina native Amber Scott, who was the Bulldogs' sixth runner at the 2022 NCAA XC Championships, but did not factor into the varsity lineup last fall.
Mia Cabrera comes by way of California Baptist, a strong Division One program, with a solid resume and it feels more likely than not that she makes factors into the top-seven considering Wingate's success with transfers.
If you're a believer in the freshman-to-sophomore leap, then Paula Schönbucher is a name to watch. She arrived by way of Germany with 10:22 (steeple) chops and could be far more ready to contribute with a year of college now under her feet.
Of course, Wingate brought in several more international recruits this year, and we wouldn't put it past the Bulldogs to have an instant-impact freshman emerge.
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It's hard to overstate the significance of having four top-85 finishers from the cross country national meet back in Mollie Scott, Alonso, Bo and Burrell. And while it feels like a bit of a tease that this team returns the top-half of their lineup from that setting, but none of the final three runners, there's enough in the reserves for the Bulldogs to match and improve upon what they achieved in 2023.
Above, we outlined a large cast of candidates for Wingate's final scoring role. It's possible that spot is filled by committee, but one of Migliaccio, Brooks, Abouzaid, Amber Scott, Cabrera and/or Schönbucher probably needs to become a top-150 runner nationally in order for the Bulldogs to reprise their status as a top-10 team.
Given Wingate's recent developmental track record under Coach Pol Domenech, it's more likely than not that happens. Even last year, Mollie Scott was the only returning scorer from the breakout 2021 squad, and she was their fifth runner that year. Now, she's leading a team that could be roughly as good.
The Wingate women have podium potential, but residing in the bottom-half of our top-10 is hardly a bad place to start.
