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TSR's 2024 Preseason D2 XC Top 25 Rankings: #10-6 (Women)
- Admin (Garrett Zatlin)
- Aug 3, 2024
- 5 min read
10. Gianna Bomarito, Junior, Sonoma State
Gianna Bomarito's lead up to last year's D2 cross country national meet was plenty impressive. After winning an early-season rust-buster, the Sonoma State front-runner secured a huge win in the "Maroon" race at the Griak Invitational, easily dominating the field by over 30 seconds. That same field featured multiple top-tier All-Americans including Khot Juac who went on to place 5th at the D2 national meet.
From there, Bomarito took home the win at the CCAA XC Championships. And in retrospect, that win turned out to be one of the better title victories of the entire D2 conference weekend. Last year, the CCAA turned out to be sneaky-good. After earning a 3rd place finish at the West Regional XC Championships, Bomarito ended her season with a strong 19th place All-American finish at the NCAA XC Championships.
Admittedly, Bomarito hasn't put nearly as much investment (from a racing schedule standpoint) on her track performances as she has in her cross country races. She did, however, qualify for the outdoor national meet this past spring in the 10k. Regardless, what we do know about the Sonoma State star is that she has tons of raw talent as well as a ton of upside. She is willing to be more aggressive than most and in many instances, it has worked out for her.
This fall feels like a massive opportunity for Bomarito to capitalize on as the top of the women's D2 rankings seems far less concrete than it usually is. Don't be surprised if she ends being a top-five name later this fall.
9. Kendall Kramer, Senior, Alaska Fairbanks
Kendall Kramer at her best is a very scary distance runner to line up against. The Alaska Fairbanks veteran has been outstanding on the grass throughout her years in Division Two, taking down numerous top-tier names and even placing as high as 8th at the 2022 cross country national meet.
We'll admit, the early going of Kramer's 2023 fall campaign wasn't quite as incredible as we had hoped. 4th place finishes at the WWU Bill Roe Classic and San Francisco State Invitational weren't bad, but they left us wanting more. Thankfully, a huge win at the GNAC XC Championships over multiple women who are still listed in these rankings sparked the momentum that Kramer needed for the postseason.
After winning the West regional title, Kramer settled for a still-strong 23rd place finish at the NCAA XC Championships. It wasn't all that close to her prior 8th place result from the 2022 national meet, but it was still a great result after a somewhat slow start to her season.
This ranking may admittedly be a bit high for someone who was "only" 23rd at last year's national meet. Even so, we know how dangerous Kramer can be when she reaches her ceiling. She's highly experienced, has usually peaked incredibly well for the postseason and has already proven in prior seasons that she's better than what she showed last year.
There are far more reasons to list Kramer as a top-10 name than not. As such, we'll put her at TSR #9 going into the fall months.
8. Precious Robinson, Rs. Senior, Adams State
A long-time veteran of Division Two distance runner, Precious Robinson is back for one more year of collegiate cross country -- and it could be her best yet.
Robinson didn't compete last fall, opting to redshirt instead. She did, however, compete on the track where she found great success, especially on the indoor oval. At the indoor national meet, she ran PRs of 9:31 (3k) and 16:15 (5k), the latter of which gave her an All-American honor.
Of course, we had already seen signs of Robinson being a top-tier name in D2 during prior seasons of competition. The Adams State star ran as fast as 33:54 (10k) in the spring of 2023 and has cracked the top-15 of the NCAA XC Championships TWICE in her career!
There is a ton of talent within Robinson. And even though we haven't seen her race on the grass in nearly two years, we're not all too concerned about that. The Grizzly veteran has mostly remained as a national-caliber name over the last two seasons (although her winter campaign was better than her spring performances) and she is one of the most experienced runners in the entire country.
With multiple instances of delivering top-tier results on the national stage and putting together complete regular seasons, it would have been hard to find a reason not to place Robinson in our top-10.
7. Ava O’Connor, Rs. Junior, Adams State
Through the first-half of Ava O'Connor's collegiate career, we viewed her primarily as a middle distance runner with decent range. But as she further developed her talent, we began to realize that O'Connor was one of the most dynamic distance runners in all of Division Two with an unreal amount of fitness that she can properly utilize across numerous events.
The entirety of O'Connor's 2023 cross country season was excellent. She placed 23rd at the Louisville XC Classic, 6th at the RMAC XC Championships and was then 17th at the NCAA XC Championships. And while those are excellent results which show great consistency, it's O'Connor's brilliant racing in the steeplechase which incentivized us to rank her at this spot.
The dynamic Adams State star ran a jaw-dropping steeplechase time of 9:54 at the Portland Twilight meet prior to the outdoor national meet. And once she reached that stage, O'Connor snagged silver behind juggernaut teammate, Gracie Hyde.
Based on just last year's cross country season alone, O'Connor would already have an argument to be in our top-10. And when you see how far her fitness has come since then, we can't help but wonder if this TSR #7 is actually not good enough for the Irish steeplechaser.
6. Tristian Spence, Rs. Sophomore, Adams State
Last fall was Tristian Spence's first time competing at the collegiate level. After redshirting her entire first year, the then-second year freshman was thrown into the fire of a competitive cross country schedule.
A 49th place result at the Louisville XC Classic was a quietly great result for someone so young and so inexperienced. You could possibly say the same thing regarding her 15th place effort at the RMAC XC Championships. Even so, neither of those results led us to believe that Spence was going to a top-20 All-American -- which is exactly what happened.
A fantastic 16th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships blew away many of us at The Stride Report. It was a brilliant performance, but it also left us wondering if Spence would be able to validate that effort on the oval.
Spoiler: She did.
Spence ran a 9:20 (3k) PR on the indoor oval, earned a 4th place All-American honor in the indoor 5k and dropped a huge 5k PR of 15:58 this past spring!
Sure, Spence may not have proven to be an upper-echelon star throughout most of last fall. Of course, it would be silly to suggest that Spence is the same runner now that she was back then. The newest Adams State low-stick has taken a massive leap up in her fitness and that will almost certainly be reflected in her performances this fall.
