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TSR's 2024 Preseason D2 XC Top 25 Rankings: #10-6 (Men)
- Admin (Garrett Zatlin)
- Aug 3, 2024
- 6 min read
10. Logan Bocovich, Senior, Colorado Mines
Some people may know Logan Bocovich as a Division Three standout rather than a Division Two stalwart. That's because the current Colorado Mines runner previously attended St. Olaf where he found great success at the national D3 level.
Bocovich is a pure aerobic-centric talent who, for the most part, gets better as the racing distance gets longer. You can simply point to his numerous 5k and 10k efforts on the track as evidence. Of course, the current Oredigger low-stick is also a fantastic All-American scorer on the grass.
Last fall, Bocovich earned a strong 7th place finish at the Lewis XC Crossover to kick-off his fall campaign. Of the six men who beat him, only two are returning this fall and one of them is listed near the top of our rankings. From there, Bocovich earned a solid 9th place effort at the RMAC XC Championships before being rested for the national meet. And in his season finale, Bocovich produced an excellent 16th place All-American result, proving that he could make a seamless transition from the D3 to D2 ranks.
On the track, Bocovich wasn't able to earn an All-American honor, but he did get close. But more importantly, the strength-based Colorado Mines standout won the RMAC outdoor 5k title against a great field and ran a 5k PR of 13:49.
Everything that we've seen from Bocovich in recent seasons suggests that he's just as sharp as he ever has been. He's clearly a strength-based runner who seemingly has a super high floor in terms of what he can do on the grass. There is, admittedly, a feeling at TSR that he still has another tier of fitness to reach. But at the very least, this former St. Olaf runner is a consistent, reliable and steady low-stick who offers tremendous scoring value.
9. Tyler Nord, Rs. Sophomore Western Colorado
After redshirting his freshman year of cross country, we were surprised to see Tyler Nord have a huge 2023 season on the indoor oval, placing 3rd at the indoor national meet over 3000 meters. Fast forward to last fall and the expectations were high -- but we didn't quite know how he would fare in his first season of collegiate cross country.
A 15th place finish at last year's Chile Pepper XC Festival (a race which featured the Arkansas men) was hard to gauge, but it was most certainly considered a good performance. Thankfully, a 7th place effort at the RMAC XC Championships validated Nord as a nationally competitive cross country standout.
At the national meet, Nord finished an applause-worthy 15th place overall, proving that he is more than just a dynamic track athlete. Nord would go on to find more success on the track, although not quite to the same level as we saw from him in 2023. But in the grand scheme of things, that may not matter. That's because the Western Colorado ace posted a new 5k PR of 13:46! That was the first time that we saw Nord truly shine in a longer distance event on the track.
There isn't necessarily any glaring weakness on Nord's resume. He's probably a better track runner than he is a cross country runner, but the gap is small. His aerobic fitness has clearly made a leap and he has already proven that he can be fairly consistent throughout the entirety of a season.
We don't know what his ceiling is, but on paper, he seems like a fairly safe name to put at our TSR #9 spot.
8. Sam Wilhelm, Senior, Alabama-Huntsville
When we craft these rankings each year, we predominately look at past performances and the entirety of someone's seasonal resume to determine where they should be listed. And of course, the national meet holds the most weight in our eyes.
But when it comes to Sam Wilhelm, the story is a bit different. And by placing him at TSR #8, we are admitting that this is a bit of a projection rather than a finalized evaluation.
Last fall, Wilhelm was brilliant in his lead up to the national meet. A 15th place finish at the Cowboy Jamboree, which featured top-tier teams such as Oklahoma State and Texas, was a monster performance which caught our attention. And after putting together a pair of wins before cruising through his regional meet, we couldn't help but wonder if Wilhelm's ceiling made him a top-10 talent in Division Two.
Unfortunately, Wilhelm would fade on the national stage, dropping all the way back to a 40th place finish, the final remaining All-American spot. And while many/most cross country runners would be thrilled with an All-American effort, it felt safe to say that the Alabama-Huntsville star was capable of doing so much more.
After a promising indoor track season, Wilhelm truly erupted on the outdoor oval. The Charger ace ran a 5k PR of 13:48 at the Raleigh Relays and then ran an arguably even more impressive 10k PR of 28:43! Oh, and the national stage? Wilhelm had never been better: The UAH star placed 3rd over 10,000 meters and 4th over 5000 meters.
Few men in Division Two hold the same kind of raw strength-based talent that Wilhelm does. He was already a top-25 talent throughout last fall, but you could argue that he has become even better since then. Sure, he may have barely snuck into an All-American spot last year, but we aren't expecting him to cut it nearly as close in 2024.
7. Ryan Hartman, Senior, Augustana (SD)
We could go through Ryan Hartman's resume, detail his performances throughout last fall and then talk about a few of his intangibles. But at the end of the day, the only thing that truly matters is the fact that he is one of the most reliable veterans in Division Two when it comes to postseason performances.
Why? Well, check out the bullet-point list below...
The 2021 NCAA XC Championships: 22nd place.
The 2022 NCAA Indoor Championships: 6th place (DMR).
The 2022 NCAA Outdoor Championships: 8th place (steeple).
The 2022 NCAA XC Championships: 19th place.
The 2023 NCAA XC Championships: 9th place.
The 2024 NCAA Outdoor Championships: 8th place (5k).
As long as Hartman is healthy and racing at 100%, you can largely put him down as an All-American each time he reaches the national stage. That is probably more true now than it ever has been given how experienced and seasoned Hartman is. It also doesn't hurt that he ran a 13:49 (5k) PR this past spring and his entire fall campaign was excellent from start to finish.
We don't know where he'll end this season in our rankings, but we do know that someone who has his postseason reliability should be rewarded at a spot like this when crafting our top-25.
6. Soheil Boufrizi, Senior, Wingate
It's truthfully hard to gauge Soheil Boufrizi who contested only two meaningful meets last fall -- the Lehigh Paul Short Run and the NCAA XC Championships (he also competed at the Southeast regional meet).
At Paul Short, Boufrizi posted a very strong 22nd place finish. And on the national stage, he ended his season with an outstanding 10th place effort. But the former race featured very little national-caliber D2 competition to compare against the Wingate men. And with the Southeast regional meet largely being a workout for the Bulldogs, the national meet is truly the only meet where we have an accurate gauge of how strong some of these names were.
The catch, however, is that Boufrizi, along with his teammates, were flat-out incredible on the track, specifically in the steeplechase. The Wingate veteran posted a monster PR of 8:37 over the barriers and water pits this past spring before earning silver at the national meet behind his teammate, Titouan Le Grix.
We truthfully don't have much to go off of when attempting to rank Boufrizi. But when we evaluate the results that we do have for him, the Wingate star has been flat-out fantastic. And with no reason to doubt his abilities, we're opting to place Boufrizi at our TSR #6 position going into this fall.
