.png)
TSR's 2024 Preseason D3 XC Top 20 Rankings: #5-1 (Women)
- Conor Daly
- Aug 4, 2024
- 7 min read
Written by Conor Daly, additional edits and commentary via Garrett Zatlin & Gavin Struve
5. Riley Capuano, Junior, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps
It’s impossible to talk about Riley Capuano without talking about her heroic efforts at the 2023 NCAA XC Championships. She was largely responsible for Claremont-Mudd-Scripps’ near-team title win when they came up short by only seven points.
This run we’re talking about was an unthinkable 11th-place finish. And to put that in perspective, we’ll rewind to talk about Capuano’s lead-up to that performance.
Going into the season, the then-sophomore was an important piece to the Athenas’ team efforts. She held new expectations of being a contributor and was doing that job very well in the early going.
In three smaller meets on the west coast, Capuano looked to be a steady third runner for her team. It was much the same at D3 Pre-Nationals where she finished 13th. While that was a fair run, it's still plenty reasonable to suggest that Capuano could have placed as high as 8th on a better day.
The rising star proceeded to finish 3rd at both the SCIAC XC Championships and the West Regional XC Championships, only trailing a pair of star teammates. But we didn’t read into those results all that much as Capuano didn’t really beat any names who impressed us or improved her stock in any noticeable way.
Then, as we mentioned before, Capuano ran out of her mind at the cross country national meet for a storybook ending to her season. She was the clear winner of the day, blowing expectations out of the water and drawing notice from us and the Division Three community more than ever before. Her improvement was substantial, as Capuano completed the course an entire minute faster than she had at Pre-Nationals six weeks prior.
Capuano went on to run 9:48 (3k) at the Boston U. Season Opener. Since then, this young talent hasn’t raced anything over a mile in distance. After having a largely quiet indoor track season, Capuano peaked perfectly this past spring, running 4:26 (1500) and winning silver in the metric mile at the outdoor national meet.
Going forward, we’d like to see Capuano match the form that she displayed at last year’s NCAA Championships. Given her noticeable improvements in the half-mile and the 1500 meters, we feel optimistic that she will be able to do so. Still, this breakout star has some work to do to prove us right on this ranking.
4. Brigid Hanley, Senior, Emory
This former University of Arizona athlete made an immediate mark on Division Three last fall as she led a sneaky-good Emory program. Hanley operated as a reliable low-stick for the Eagles from the very beginning of her first Division Three season.
The veteran’s first true D3 test was in the Paul Short “Brown" Race, where she finished 5th behind two women from UAA rival school NYU. Hanley continued to improve the rest of the season, finishing 3rd in a very competitive UAA XC Championships.
A runner-up performance in the South Regional XC Championships was the perfect setup for an 8th-place finish at the 2023 NCAA XC Championships, which was definitely Hanley’s best run of the season. Her ability to have her best day on the biggest stage gives Hanley the perfect mix of elite fitness and championship poise.
Earlier this year, Hanley ran personal bests of 9:36 (3k), 4:32 (1500) and a 16:48 (5k) that was only a few notches off of her PR. The Eagles' superstar continued the success she had during the cross country season...until Hanley’s season ended unexpectedly at the end of March.
While that absence was a bit worrying, Hanley has proven to be a name who has the capacity to deliver top-end performances throughout the season, something she did during her time in the D1 ranks and has swiftly achieved at Emory as well.
3. Audrey Maclean, Sophomore, Middlebury
There’s no way around it: This rising sophomore was exceptional last fall. In her first season racing the 6k, Audrey Maclean was both fantastic and consistent, a rare combination to find in rookies.
Maclean’s first major test last fall was in the Paul Short “Brown” Race, where she went up against some of the best individual talent in Division Three in addition to other competitors. There, the youngster finished an awesome 7th place, becoming the fourth Division Three woman to cross the line.
To put that effort in perspective, the three women who finished ahead of Maclean ended up being top-15 names at the cross country national meet. And this was still very early on in the season, merely the end of September.
A 3rd-place finish at the Connecticut College Invitational was arguably even better than Maclean's previous outing. That performance backed up the idea that her earlier run was no fluke and that she was a serious individual threat despite her youth.
A pair of runner-up finishes at the NESCAC XC Championships and the East Regional XC Championships were once again on par with our high expectations. In those settings, Maclean finished behind only our then-TSR #2 name and D3 Pre-Nationals champion, Genna Girard.
In the end, a 10th-place run at the NCAA XC Championships was a performance that fittingly capped off an incredible rookie campaign. It was a run that was roughly on par with the rest of her season and was good for the first freshman across the line.
Normally, we may have some concerns about Maclean's elite success coming over a small sample size and whether she may be too young and inexperienced to be relied upon to produce something similar in 2024. Yet she was so consistent throughout last fall, and in the months after, that we feel confident about placing her at TSR #3.
On the track, Maclean continued to be a national-level name, particularly in the steeplechase. The Panthers' rising star placed 6th over the barriers and water pits at the outdoor national meet against a top-heavy field.
Personal bests of 9:54 (3k) and 16:52 (5k) add more positive indicators for Maclean’s upcoming season, especially for someone who is simply at her best on the grass.
2. Evelyn Battleson-Gunkel, Junior, U. of Chicago
The rise of Evelyn Battleson-Gunkel over the past year has been one of the more exciting developments to watch. Entering the fall 2023 season, Battleson-Gunkel was known more so for her abilities in the mile and had only completed one collegiate cross country race.
She had the potential to be very good on the grass, but that potential wasn’t guaranteed to become a reality. It didn’t take long for her promise to come to fruition. In her first two races, Battleson-Gunkel traded wins with superstar teammate Maddie Kelly, very good company to be in.
While that was encouraging, this newfound star had not yet been tested in a larger and more competitive race. Battleson-Gunkel silenced any doubts and showed us that she was able to race at the same caliber, if not higher, when she won the Augustana Interregional. There, she took down everyone in a very strong Wartburg program as well as UW-Eau Claire’s Carolyn Shult among many of the other top stars that the Midwest has to offer.
It didn’t take long before we became accustomed to seeing Battleson-Gunkel mixing it up with the best the nation had to offer. A silver medal against a loaded field at the UAA XC Championships and a bronze medal run at the Midwest Regional XC Championships were no longer shocking to us despite the remarkable names she took down.
Ultimately, Battleson-Gunkel’s 13th-place finish at the 2023 NCAA XC Championships ended up being on the lower end of expectations but was still highly impressive for someone in their first full collegiate cross country season.
Since the fall, Battleson-Gunkel has developed into a name who's not afraid to attack the longest events available. The Maroon star was a double bronze medalist at the indoor national meet. Unfortunately, she was unable to finish either the 5k or the 10k at the outdoor national meet due to heat exhaustion, but she still enters this season with terrifying personal bests of 16:27 (5k) and 34:25 (10k).
The Maroons' frontrunner emulates Fiona Smith and Ethan Gregg-like tactics as someone who isn’t afraid to set a hot pace and dare her competition to follow her. It’s seemingly her only plan and it usually works out.
It doesn’t hurt, either, that the two athletes who we just compared her to were both cross country national champions in 2023, so there’s no reason to think that Battleson-Gunkel can't join them.
1. Penelope Greene, Senior, SUNY Geneseo
When searching for a woman worthy of our top honors, we didn’t find anyone with Fiona Smith's or Kassie Parker's level of credentials who were head-and-shoulders above their competition in years past.
But we did find someone plenty deserving of our TSR #1 spot. When we looked through Penelope Greene’s 2023 cross country resume, it was just too strong to ignore.
Last fall, Greene was more than up for her first test at Paul Short where she placed 47th in the “Gold” race. While that placement in and of itself doesn’t mean all that much to us, it was the fastest time of the day among Division Three talents.
The New York native then backed up that performance with a narrow win at her team’s loaded SUNY Geneseo Mike Woods Invitational. Greene ultimately edged out Johns Hopkins star Sara Stephenson, but even outside of her, the race was one of the better Division Three fields assembled during the regular season.
A pair of wins at the SUNYAC XC Championships and the Niagara Regional XC Championships created a nice three-win streak for Greene entering the NCAA XC Championships, although both of those postseason meets lacked the names who could challenge Greene and turned out to look more like intra-squad time trials.
This easier racing schedule seemingly left Greene fresher for the national meet, where she earned bronze. When you consider that Fiona Smith was more or less untouchable that day, Greene beat everyone she could have except for one other (national runner-up Natalie Bitetti).
Overall, it’s hard to find fault in her fall campaign. No, she wasn’t tested in every race, but every time that she was tested, this SUNY Geneseo star thrived.
Greene continued her success on the track, racking up three All-American honors between the indoor 5k and the infamous 5k/10k double on the outdoor oval. That kind of high success rate at a national level is a must for someone we consider for our TSR #1 placement.
This New York-based long distance specialist enters this season with personal bests of 16:32 (5k) and 35:24 (10k) And while those raw marks alone may not be representative of the woman ranked in our top spot, they’re noticeable improvements over her PRs from a year ago and serve as an indication that she's improved to the point of looking like the top runner in Division Three entering this fall.
