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TSR's 2024 Preseason D3 XC Top 20 Rankings: Just Missed & Honorable Mentions (Men)
- Conor Daly
- Jul 31, 2024
- 10 min read
Written by Conor Daly, edits & additional commentary via Gavin Struve
With the D1 top-50 rankings wrapped up and our D2 top-25 rankings now underway, it's time to set the stage for our D3 top-20 individual rankings (which we will officially begin to release tomorrow).
A smaller number of names for these rankings (compared to D1 and D2) means that these rankings feature an even more select group. In turn, our D3 lists are among our most difficult offseason deliberations. Consider that every Division Three name who we rank is essentially a top-half All-American by our preseason projections.
With that in mind, it should be clear that inclusion among our "Just Missed" or "Honorable Mention" names is an achievement unto itself. These athletes are All-American favorites in their own right.
Stay tuned tomorrow for the athletes who are ranked in our 20 to 16 sections for D3. As a reminder, you can find our rankings rubric here.
JUST MISSED (in no particular order)
Anthony Rodriguez, Senior, Babson
Despite missing out on our top-20 rankings, this now-graduate student is someone with a very high upside. That’s because Anthony Rodriguez had a fall of 2023 regular season that would suggest that he’s one of the nation's top returners, but his postseason suggested otherwise.
Rodriguez looked like one of the top Division Three talents last fall when he won the Dickinson Long-Short Invitational. At a meet held at last year’s cross country national meet course, this Massachusetts talent took down an eventual top-25 finisher at that year’s national meet as well as a strong Carnegie Mellon squad that had three individuals who reside in either our "Just Missed" or "Honorable Mention" categories.
At the Connecticut College Invitational, Rodriguez placed 3rd, finishing only behind two elite names and ahead of an otherwise solid field. Another bronze medal-worthy run, this time at the NEWMAC XC Championships, continued to add to a consistent string of performances for the Beaver star.
At that point, Rodriguez seemed to be a lock for a top-five finish (and to potentially contend for the win) at the East regional meet. Instead, he had a poor day there and finished 15th, missing out on a spot at the NCAA XC Championships.
Simply put, it was a bad day to have a bad day.
While one poor performance over the course of a season shouldn't be devastating, it certainly came at an inopportune time. Missing out on the opportunity to see Rodriguez race against the best in the country is something that we, unfortunately, must factor into our rankings.
Ever since this disappointing season-ending run, however, Rodriguez has reemerged as a very likable name. He’s made some clear improvements on the track, running personal bests of 14:18 (5k) and 29:43 (10k). It’s those 10k capabilities that make us particularly excited about what Rodriguez can do on the grass, especially considering that he placed 12th in that event at the 2024 outdoor national meet.
Charles Namiot, Senior, Williams
Charles Namiot is an example of a classic Williams athlete: a true long distance talent who’s a 10k/5k runner on the track and lives to translate those talents to the grass.
Williams often opens up with some smaller races, although that's not to say that they are not competitive. In his first trio of races of last fall, Namiot was right on the heels of star teammate John Lucey, finishing within 11 seconds of the eventual 6th-place finisher at the cross country national meet in each of those outings.
Unfortunately for Namiot, the gap behind his teammate opened up as the season progressed. A 12th-place finish at Pre-Nationals was still very strong, though, and it suggested that he could be an All-American come November.
The then-junior’s next pair of performances were on the lower end of expectations, not nearly showcasing the upside that we once thought he had in the early going. We’re talking about a 6th-place finish at the NESCAC XC Championships and a 13th-place finish at the Mideast Regional XC Championships.
Namiot’s 52nd-place run on the national stage was probably somewhere between his exceptional first half of the season and solid, but not overly exciting, latter half. Nonetheless, it stands plenty competitive amongst the returning group of men.
While we definitely maintain some concerns as to whether Namiot will be able to execute a more complete cross country season this year, his track resume stands as a focal point. The Ephs' leader has since made an appearance at both track national meets, ran a jaw-dropping 29:13 (10k) and placed 8th over that distance at the outdoor national meet.
It’s this promise that we’ve seen as of late that makes us excited as to what could be in store for Namiot this fall.
Mason Shea, Senior, UW-Eau Claire
Most commonly known for his talents over the barriers and water pits, Mason Shea leveled up on the grass last year. The UW-Eau Claire talent found himself consistently much further up in the pack than ever before, even in tough Wisconsin races that feature much of the top talent in the nation.
A 15th-place finish at the Blugold Invitational and a 28th-place finish at the Augustana Interregional were respectable finishes in competitive Division Three fields, but nothing that garnered significant attention.
Shea’s next two outings -- 10th place at the WIAC XC Championships and 15th at the North Regional XC Championships -- were a step up from his earlier efforts. They served as an indication that he was in shape to have his best cross country run to date, but not quite by the wide margin that we saw a week later.
A 39th-place finish at the NCAA XC Championships was an effort that elevated Shea to another level. And what makes it particularly impressive is that the hilly nature of the national meet course tended to favor long distance athletes, instead of more speed-based talents like Shea.
Shea failed to run a personal best in his main event, the 3000-meter steeplechase, this track season which may suggest that he didn't progress at first glance. We’re not too worried about that, however, as he placed 6th in that event at a historically top-heavy NCAA Championship.
Now returning for a fifth year, Shea will further his ambitions and press for an even higher All-American finish.
Colin McLaughlin, Senior, Carnegie Mellon
There’s no way around it: Colin McLaughlin is exceedingly talented.
In his rookie year, he placed 53rd at the 2021 NCAA XC Championships and was the fourth true freshman across the line. The next year, he was on track for an even better performance before having an unfortunate "off" day at the "Big Dance."
Come time for the 2023 cross country season, McLaughlin seemed due up for a breakthrough. He had just run 3:47 for 1500 meters and had been a finalist in that event at the outdoor national meet.
While the Tartan’s front-runner didn’t deliver on our hopes for a breakthrough season per se, he was still solid each time out. A 94th-place finish in the Paul Short “Gold” race and 8th-place finish at the SUNY Geneseo Mike Woods Invitational were definitely upper-echelon runs that were largely on par with expectations for a talent like McLaughlin.
All in all, a 47th-place finish at the 2023 NCAA XC Championships seemed to be representative of his season as a whole. But when you consider that effort was a mere six places higher than his freshman-year capper, it left us asking if McLaughlin would be able to reach the kind of success that his younger self projected to be capable of.
So what gives us the confidence that McLaughlin is ready for that next level on the grass?
To answer that, we would point to his indoor track campaign. The Pittsburgh talent looked incredible, running 8:10 over 3000 meters on two separate occasions. The second time was a run that earned him a 3rd-place finish at the indoor national meet. That performance was wildly impressive and suggests that McLaughlin can be competitive at the highest level against aerobic-centric stars.
Yes, the 3k seems to be McLaughlin’s ideal distance, which still leaves us questioning whether he will be able to be nearly as effective in a race that requires a different skillset.
History suggests he certainly has the potential to. We’ll keep an eye on him to see if that comes to fruition.
Sam Llaneza, Rs. Senior, Lynchburg
While many middle distance stars maintain the reputation as athletes who are unable to be nationally competitive over 8k, this is not the case with Sam Llaneza. Coming off of a spectacular year, this seven-time individual All-American on the track seems poised to add his first honor on the cross country course.
Last fall, Llaneza was an integral part of one of Lynchburg’s best cross country seasons ever. He began to solidify his role as Lynchburg’s third runner at Paul Short, where he placed 97th in the "Gold" race. Llaneza crossed the line with the fourth runners of Carnegie Mellon and UW-La Crosse, a solid starting point.
While Paul Short is a great race, it’s not necessarily overly indicative of the Division Three scene since it is filled with D1 and D2 powerhouses. That’s why Llaneza’s 11th-place run at the SUNY Geneseo Mike Woods Invitational was even more encouraging to see. It was a strong performance against athletes from top-10 teams.
Llaneza’s following two races, at the ODAC XC Championships and the South Regional XC Championships, didn’t really tell us much new about his talent. But in retrospect, it was all building towards the best cross country race of his life at the 2023 NCAA XC Championships. There, Llaneza placed 42nd, flipping the script on many of the men who beat him at the aforementioned Paul Short and SUNY Geneseo Mike Woods Invitational races.
It’s this ability to perform at the largest stage in the sport that is very encouraging for Llaneza this coming fall. Running his best at NCAA Championships is not something that Llaneza only does in cross country, either. The Hornet ace looked to be at his best at both the indoor and outdoor national meets on the track where he placed 4th over the half-mile at the former and won the metric mile title at the latter.
With team ambitions on the line and a very solid year all around, Llaneza is a name who's hard not to like entering this fall.
Ryan Champa, Senior, John Carroll
A former teammate of D3 megastar Alex Phillip, Ryan Champa oftentimes has flown under the radar. That’s because he doesn’t showcase overly flashy performances on the cross country course or the track. Instead, it’s some consistently sneaky-good results over the past few years that put him in the hunt for a top-20 spot in our preseason rankings.
After only racing just once during the 2023 track season, Champa was not a name who we had circled as someone due to have a huge year on the grass. And for a while, the beginning of his season was not overly exciting, to be frank. A 46th-place finish at D3 Pre-Nationals was a nice result as a depth piece for his John Carroll team, but not much more.
However, things looked a bit more promising by the time the championship season came around. A bronze medal at the OAC XC Championships was fairly encouraging, and it was the same story with a 10th-place finish at the Great Lakes Regional XC Championships.
Still, neither of those performances hinted in the slightest that Champa was about to produce a mind-boggling 37th-place finish at the NCAA XC Championships. That performance was on a whole new level compared to what we saw out of Champa the rest of the season. We are, after all, talking about a guy who was 46th at Pre-Nationals.
While that may seem like a fluke, it was the third year in a row that Champa put forth a seemingly unthinkable effort on the biggest stage. During both his freshman and sophomore years, Champa had a seemingly ordinary regular season, only to place 60th at the national meet as a freshman and 49th as a sophomore. That’s some incredible consistency in a race that tends to be so variable even for the most experienced runners.
The range we have Champa occupying still requires some optimistic thinking. However, there are multiple signs that make us feel good about him.
Since the cross country season, Champa has remained healthy and has continued to post PRs across multiple events. No, a 30:18 (10k) may not scream “elite talent” nowadays, but it’s still very respectable. If he did what he did last fall after only running a single race on the track, it seems that Champa has the potential to reach much greater heights this year.
Matthew Coyle, Senior, Carnegie Mellon
One of the leaders for the team-oriented Tartans will have some lofty goals for himself this fall. Matthew Coyle displayed admirable consistency throughout the past academic year which makes us optimistic that he will be able to achieve his individual aspirations.
That consistency bore itself out last fall as Coyle did not miss a beat. Some of his highlights included finishing 3rd at the Dickinson Long-Short Invitational, 9th at the SUNY Geneseo Mike Woods Invitational and 60th at the cross country national meet.
To try to find a performance that is worse than the rest is truthfully an exercise in splitting hairs. It would have to be a 6th place finish at the Mid-Atlantic Regional XC Championships, but we’re not going to put much stock into that considering that Carnegie Mellon took home five of the top-six spots, so there wasn’t really any need for Coyle to run the race of his life.
While Coyle’s 5k PR of 14:27 is solid, it’s what he’s shown us over 10,000 meters that excites us to see what he can do on the grass. Perhaps we should have mentioned earlier that he enters 2024 with 29:47 (10k) chops. And he’s put those aerobic abilities to good use, too, considering the Tartans' low-stick just months ago finished 16th in the 25-lapper at the outdoor national meet. That should translate quite well for him over the coming months.
Aidan Matthai, Junior, UW-La Crosse
This rising junior is one that has earned his “Just Missed” credentials largely due to his performances on the track that we feel are destined to carry over to the cross country course.
Many of Aidan Matthai’s performances on the grass last fall were seemingly not all-out efforts, which makes a few flukes in the races he did fully commit to a bit more noticeable.
Matthai’s first true race was at Paul Short, where he had a poor day, finishing 251st in the "Gold" race, roughly 40 seconds behind the Eagles’ sixth scorer. We saw another underwhelming performance from him at the WIAC XC Championships where a 24th-place finish left the talented youngster outside of the Eagle’s top-seven.
It was not until the regional stage that Matthai looked like a different runner, placing 10th in a very competitive North region. A 76th-place finish the following week at the cross country national meet was fine, but by no means overly impressive considering his level of talent.
Since then, Matthai has elevated his stock greatly by dropping some very impressive marks on the indoor oval. Running times of 8:06 (converted 3k) and 14:05 (5k), Matthai elevated himself to one of the premier distance talents in the country, regardless of his sophomore standing.
Unfortunately, Matthai’s outdoor track season didn’t go as well. Missing most of the season due to an injury, he still managed to run a respectable 30:30 (10k), but he wasn't nearly the same caliber of star as in his indoor campaign.
In order to find more success on the grass, Matthai will need to become a consistent name, both in availability and racing results. Until then, we can’t justify a top-20 ranking.
HONORABLE MENTIONS (in no particular order)
Joey Sullivan (UW-La Crosse)
Sam Schmitz (Wartburg)
Ziggy Goddard (Middlebury)
Ryan Tobin (NYU)
BJ Sorg (North Central)
Ryan Podnar (Carnegie Mellon)
Mohammed Bati (Augsburg)
Kevin Turlington (St. Olaf)
Alex Hillyard (SUNY Geneseo)
Jack Kinzer (Wartburg)
