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TSR's 2024 Preseason D3 XC Top 10 Team Rankings (Men): #4 UW-Whitewater Warhawks
- Conor Daly
- Sep 10, 2024
- 7 min read
Written by Conor Daly, 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.
Those who are familiar with the Division Three scene are plenty familiar with UW-Whitewater superstars Christian Patzka and Gunner Schlender. They’ve both been among the best in the nation for years now and each holds countless All-American credentials across numerous events on the track and the cross country course.
What’s awesome for UW-Whitewater (and terrifying for everyone else), is that both of these men are returning this fall for a fifth year of competition. In turn, the Warhawks' retention of both stars absolutely changes the trajectory of this team in 2024.
The problem with many teams who have a standout individual (or two) is that they aren’t able to fill out an entire lineup to really give their team a shot at high-level success. But that’s not necessarily the case with this program, which has several strong options who put their team in position to have one of their best, if not their best, cross country national meet finishes ever.
The other 60% of their scoring lineup is far from perfect. Significant improvements need to be made from last year’s team, which struggled in larger fields in particular. Even so, there have definitely been signs that those improvements are possible this season…
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In the fall of 2023, this Wisconsin-based team began the season with a trio of competitions that didn’t really test them. In each, the Warhawks put all of their scorers in the top-10 to easily fend off any challengers.
That smooth sailing didn’t last for long, however, as UW-Whitewater’s final four races came against some of the best competition that Division Three has to offer.
At the Augustana Interregional Invitational, established veterans such as Christian Patzka and Gunner Schlender were as phenomenal as expected. The former took home the gold while the latter took home the bronze. Craig Hundley was very strong as well, placing 14th. That would turn out to be one of the more underrated scoring efforts of the entire meet.
The duo of Dan Anderson and Justin Krause closed out the scoring by placing 33rd and 39th, respectively. The team scored pretty well, settling for a runner-up finish behind a North Central squad that had superior depth, but ahead of a strong Wartburg group. With their sixth and seventh runners finishing outside the top-50, the Warhawks had little, if any, room for error over the coming weeks.
Their next test was the WIAC XC Championships, where they battled in-state rival UW-La Crosse. Patzka claimed his third win in a row, but this victory was much more significant than his previous ones last season because it came over Ethan Gregg (who was arguably the national title favorite at that time).
Schlender finished toward the lower end of expectations with a 5th-place result, but his performance was still far from poor. The trio of Anderson, Hundley and Chris Allen were solid as well, placing 9th, 12th and 15th, respectively.
It was also encouraging to see UW-Whitewater’s sixth and seventh men in the top-20 at their conference meet, seemingly a sign of some newfound insurance for a team whose backend contributors were fairly variable.
The aforementioned UW-La Crosse men got the better of this group on the day, but considering that UW-La Crosse was on fire in the postseason, a 2nd-place team finish was on par with the capabilities of the Warhawks.
The UW-Whitewater men then faced off against much of the same WIAC competition, this time in a field of 34 teams, at the North Regional XC Championships. Patzka once again got the better of the field (including Gregg) for a big-time win. Schlender truthfully didn’t look all that great in 9th place, but was closely followed by sophomore Dan Anderson in 13th and Justin Krause in 17th.
Finding a fifth scorer in a larger field proved to be a challenge for the Warhawks. Nick Hardin finished in 30th place, which was enough to hold UW-Whitewater afloat for another runner-up finish. That outing was one that the group likely didn't feel particularly great about.
It was a less complete team performance, and the larger field quickly exposed some of the back-end gaps that this team had.
In an even larger and more competitive field at the NCAA XC Championships, these back-end struggles were exposed further. Up front, Patzka earned the silver medal behind Gregg. And while that may have been disappointing on the individual level, it wasn’t significant to the team score (in that it was still an excellent finish that wouldn't have had a bearing on the team results if he was one spot higher).
Seeing Schlender bounce back from his two preceding postseason races to place 11th was very encouraging and an altogether awesome run from him.
Anderson (78th) was one of the better sophomores in the field and offered sneaky-good stability. However, UW-Whitewater’s fourth and fifth scorers limited just how well this team could place. Allen crossed the line in 131st place while Hundley finished 163rd. A 10th-place team finish was a strong result for the program, but it was somewhat underwhelming for a team with two superstars.
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As we mentioned earlier, the Patzka-Schlender duo offers a phenomenal core to build a team around.
We could talk about Christian Patzka’s accomplishments at length, but we’ll keep it short. He’s been the cross country national meet runner-up over the last two years. On the track, he’s an 8:38 steeplechaser, has run under 14:00 (5k) on six occasions and is a five-time national champion.
All signs point to the fact that he’s due for a national title on the grass. That’s why he enters the season as our clear TSR #1 individual.
Gunner Schlender complements Patzka very nicely, following closely in his teammate’s shadow. He’s always been an aerobic beast who is best in the longer distances. Schlender is a three-time top-30 finisher at the NCAA XC Championships, showing some applause-worthy consistency on the sport’s biggest stage.
The veteran also holds devastating personal bests of 14:00 (5k) and 29:05 (10k). While neither of those marks was run this year, there are still signs that Schlender is improving, like a top-half All-American finish via an 8:10 (3k) PR at the 2024 indoor national meet.
Even if we don’t get the best version of Schlender this fall, he’s still safely a top-20 name. His mix of upside and consistency earned him a TSR #3 spot in our preseason individual rankings.
Rising junior Dan Anderson is another long distance-oriented name who has already had success as an underclassman. He was a steady pulse throughout last fall that brought stability to the UW-Whitewater lineup. He continued to progress on the track, running 14:26 (5k) and 30:38 (10k).
When it comes to a third scorer, Anderson is one of the better (and reliable) middle-lineup options out there. He brings plenty of underrated stability to the table.
There’s also Chris Allen, someone who’s at his best on the grass. He was the Warhawks' fourth runner at the 2023 cross country national meet and has had two years of experience running in UW-Whitewater’s varsity lineup. As a steady backend name for them last season, he will likely need to make a jump in order for UW-Whitewater to live up to their ranking.
Most notably with a 14:46 (5k) performance, Allen did PR last track season in every (flat) event from the 1500 meters to the 10k, which could be our sign that he’s in for a big fall.
For those keeping count at home, that’s the entire top-four returning!
Past Allen, though, it gets a bit more unclear as to what the rest of the lineup will look like come November. That's because Craig Hundley, Justin Krause and Nick Hardin have all departed. And for a team that had a small margin for error last fall, that's hardly ideal.
Even so, it's encouraging to see that four more returning men on the roster hold sub-15:00 (5k) personal bests. There’s Tucker Johnson and Conner Murphy, who both ran 14:47 as underclassmen at the UW-Platteville Invitational last spring.
There’s also Alex Metko and Brandon Gang, who are just under the 15:00 barrier, although the latter focuses his efforts on the steeplechase during the outdoor track season, holding a respectable 9:17 personal best for that event.
Together, this backend quartet just needs to do enough to close out their team's scoring relatively quickly. They don't need to be superstars, but they do need to collectively be reliable enough for UW-Whitewater to capitalize on their elite 1-2 punch.
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It’s no secret that the firepower on this team will be immense and likely unmatched by any other team in 2024. UW-Whitewater should be well ahead of their opponents through their first two runners, and we feel strongly about Anderson as someone who could be a third All-American this season if all goes right.
But as exciting as that trio is, it’s the team’s final two scorers who will determine how far the Warhawks will be able to go. Yes, Chris Allen should be good, but what is his ceiling?
It’s hard to point to one single athlete to fill that fifth spot, but when there are at least four men fighting for that position, it feels likely that one of them will break through. And even if none were to completely level up, at least this team will be able to toe the line knowing that they just need one of their backend varsity contributors to hit on any given day.
While there are definitely uncertainties as to how the backend of this lineup will fare, especially in larger fields, there are enough options for Coach Jeff Miller to make us feel good about the likelihood of seeing a much-improved UW-Whitewater team relative to their 10th-place 2023 national meet finish.
