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TSR's 2024 Preseason D3 XC Top 20 Rankings: Just Missed & Honorable Mentions (Women)
- Gavin Struve
- Jul 31, 2024
- 8 min read
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)
Vivian Kane, Junior, NYU
While Grace Richardson deservedly garnered much of the spotlight on NYU's breakout national meet runner-up squad last year, it was Vivian Kane who was almost as integral as she emerged as a key middle lineup scorer despite her underclassman status.
It also helped that Kane gained NCAA Championship experience as a rookie, placing 11th in the 1500-meter final. Even so, much like we didn't see the Violets' rise coming, Kane did not enter last fall as an expected All-American.
That's exactly what Kane emerged as though. The NYU talent gained momentum throughout the fall and truly announced herself with a 5th-place effort at the Connecticut College Invitational. There, she emerged as NYU's second scorer and took down names like Megan Johnson, Allison Sibold and Paige Phillips (among others).
She then held her own at the UAA XC Championships, placing 6th, cruised through the regional stage and later secured one of the final All-American positions (37th). Kane could have faltered in her NCAA XC Championship debut. Instead, she was an invaluable scorer as her team finished just four points above the final podium squad.
Kane will have a new role this year as she transitions to the back-half of her collegiate career. It's possible that she'll now outshine her team as an individual. A lack of racing since last fall (she competed just twice in 2024 and three times on the track) is the main reason that she resides just outside of our preseason top-20.
Addy Parrott, Senior, Central College
Addy Parrott announced herself as a two-time All-American over the 2023-24 academic year. And in her final collegiate year, she may be ready to make another leap to top-half All-American status.
Parrott's 38th-place cross country All-American finish, which was her first time breaking 22 minutes over 6000 meters, was quite the introduction to national competition. Get this: She almost didn't get there. Parrott failed to advance out of the Midwest Regional XC Championships in both of her first two seasons and "only" placed 17th in that setting last year.
Thankfully, the Central College talent was a little better throughout the fall (racing eight times in total and placing 19th at the Connecticut College Invitational and 7th at the American Rivers Conference XC Championships). However, she was far from an All-American favorite heading into the national meet in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
Parrott was even better on the track, though, running a 3000-meter steeplechase PR in the NCAA Championships prelims and finishing 7th place (an All-American honor) in the final. We expect Parrott to continue to raise her game in 2024-25. And even though she has only had one year racing at a nationally competitive level, this ranking (or lack thereof) may end up looking conservative.
Ellie Meyer, Senior, Wartburg
After falling quite a bit short of living up to their preseason TSR #1 team ranking last season by finishing 14th at the 2023 NCAA XC Championships, the Wartburg women are in a bit of a rebuilding or reloading year. Ellie Meyer will be critical to that transition as the last vestige of the Knights' 2022 podium team (among scorers at least).
Meyer, along with a handful of her teammates, admittedly struggled a bit on the national stage last fall. The Wartburg veteran faltered to 60th place at the cross country national meet after entering the season ranked as our TSR #10 individual. Of course, she was in that preseason position for good reason. Meyer did, after all, place 22nd at the 2022 NCAA XC Championships and was a top-half steeplechase All-American in 2023.
Meyer didn't look like a top-10 runner for really any portion of last fall, but there was still plenty of reason to believe she'd come through as an All-American.
Running 1500-meter and 5k PRs this past spring and coming within one spot of steeplechase All-American honors was a bit reassuring for someone who was Wartburg's third scorer at each of the past two cross country national meets and figures to be their focal star this go around.
We were admittedly a bit too bullish on Meyer and the Knights last fall. With tempered expectations, it seems conceivable that Meyer will produce something closer to her 2022 finish than what we saw from her in 2023.
Lexi Fernandez, Junior, MIT
Even though Lexi Fernandez has historically been at her best on the oval, there's reason to believe that she's in store for a breakthrough on the grass that can take her to the same heights that she reached earlier this year.
Truthfully, Fernandez had one of her worst races of the season at the 2023 NCAA XC Championships. And yet, that feels ludicrous to suggest when she still finished in 48th place there! After all, she was the second scorer for a team that placed 11th.
But after she finishing 4th at the Williams Purple Valley XC Invite, 11th at D3 Pre-Nationals, 8th at the NEWMAC XC Championships and 2nd at the East Regional XC Championships, there was ample evidence to suggest that she should finish 2023 as an All-American.
Nevertheless, Fernandez didn't have to wait long to secure those honors. She did so convincingly by finishing 5th in the mile at the indoor national meet (and 4th in the DMR to boot). She raced more sparingly in the spring.
This Engineer ace will now enter the school year with even higher hopes as a potential low-stick on an already strong team that returns every varsity runner from 2023. Fernandez has given little indication that she can't handle the burden of expectation.
Claire Semerod, Junior, Coast Guard
It was impressive how metronomic Claire Semerod was last fall in the first few months of her sophomore year.
After a couple of tune-up efforts in September, she placed 10th and was Coast Guard's lead scorer at the Connecticut College Invitational. She then finished 4th at the NEWMAC XC Championships, 5th at the Mideast Regional XC Championships and, ultimately, 43rd at the cross country national meet.
Looking further back, she was similarly strong as a rookie in 2022. Semerod's debut season was highlighted by a 9th-place effort at Connecticut College (a sneaky-good result) and a 79th-place finish at the NCAA XC Championships.
Even though she's been solid, but unspectacular on the track, you largely know what you're going to get out of the Bears' ace. Semerod's year-to-year progression suggests that she's a strong favorite to join teammate Paige Phillips as an All-American in 2024.
Olivia Pisacano, Senior, RPI
At this time last year, most would have been quite pleased with a 54th-place national meet finish from Olivia Pisacano. After all, she had placed 237th at the 2022 NCAA XC Championships and didn't have the benefit of racing with her teammates a year later.
Still, after toppling freshmen sensations Audrey Maclean and Haley Schoenegge for her first collegiate win on the grass, Pisacano went on to finish 6th at D3 Pre-Nationals. She later emerged as the runner-up finisher at the Liberty League XC Championships. All of that suggested that Pisacano was in store for a top-40 finish to her season.
She'll likely get that honor later this year.
Last fall was Pisacano's introduction to quasi-stardom at the D3 level and it was understandable that she didn't race at her optimal level when the stakes were highest. Still, it's not like she faltered on the national stage, either. Rather, she earned a strong finish that was perhaps 20 or so places back from where we thought she would be.
A start to 2024 that featured four track PRs suggests that Pisacano should be able to really break down the door as a senior in 2024.
Rachel Krouse, Senior, UW-Stevens Point
At first blush, Rachel Krouse holds a cross country resume that's not all too different from that of Olivia Pisacano. She finished 55th at the 2023 NCAA XC Championships where she was one spot and just hundredths of a second behind Pisacano, who was also a junior.
Like Pisacano, that effort came after she finished well outside of the top-200 at the 2022 NCAA XC Championships.
The difference, however, is that Krouse had already produced a top-60 finish at a previous cross country national meet when she placed 58th in 2021. She was hardly new to this level of racing entering last fall, given that she competed at both the indoor and outdoor national meets in 2022.
Perhaps because of that, her 2023 NCAA XC Championship finish was more consistent and in line with her regular season than her competitor's. Krouse finished no higher than 5th and no lower than 7th in her four different efforts before the national meet last fall. However, a 6th-place run at the Augustana Interregional hinted that she may be ready to become a first All-American.
Krouse came close to achieving that status this past spring, placing 10th with a 5k PR of 17:00 at the outdoor national meet. That only added to her vast reserves of postseason experience that she can pull from entering her cross country conclusion.
Allison Dell, Senior, Lynchburg
Allison Dell was exceedingly reliable for the Lynchburg Hornets last fall, always running like a high-end scorer on the verge of stardom. She placed 12th with a 6k PR at the SUNY Geneseo Mike Woods Invitational, finished runner-up at the ODAC XC Championships and ended her season by placing 45th at the NCAA XC Championships.
Considering her clear linear progression (188th at the 2021 cross country national meet, 118th in 2022 and 45th last year), I'm not sure how many women, if any, you would pick over Dell to become a first-time All-American in a few months' time.
The fact that she built on her long distance chops in the early months of 2024 only helps Dell's case for further improvement. She placed 13th over 5000 meters at the indoor national meet with a 17:06 PR and then nabbed a couple of 10k victories on the outdoor oval, including a conference title.
Even without a top-flight postseason performance, Dell seemingly stamped herself as a sure thing in 2023-24.
Annika Carlson, Senior, Chapman
Annika Carlson is one of the "Just Missed" names who already has a top-40 finish at a cross country national meet. She finished 39th last fall just one year after placing 39th at the West Regional XC Championships (she was a comparable 38th on the regional stage in 2021).
Carlson's significant rise continued into the new year where she punched her ticket to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 3000-meter steeplechase and ran a PR in the preliminaries after winning a conference title. That reassures us that Carlson's cross country national meet effort was no fluke.
She raced often (eight times) last fall, but didn't give much indication that she was capable of that kind of effort against the best women in the country. Although, a 5th-place finish at the SCIAC XC Championships had to have been a confidence booster. Carlson is very much on our radar entering this academic year and can race with the confidence of someone who has already asserted herself after emerging from relative obscurity.
HONORABLE MENTIONS (in no particular order)
Kate Cochran (NYU)
Aliya Larsen (Carleton)
Sophie Porter (DePauw)
Emily Smeds (Bridgewater (VA))
Katelyn Chadwick (UW-La Crosse)
Liesl Scherrer (Emory)
Lilly Fowler-Conner (SUNY Geneseo)
Hailey Erickson (Calvin)
Lauren Walda (St. Olaf)
Sophie McManus (Carleton)
