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TSR's 2025 Preseason D1 XC Top 25 Team Rankings (Men): #7 Oregon Ducks
Written by Gavin Struve, edits & additional commentary via 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.
One year after their BIG 10 debut, and two years after not even reaching the NCAA XC Championships, the Oregon men are the conference favorites in 2025.
Led by one of the most well-known and experienced coaches in the sport, Jerry Schumacher, the Ducks have built a quietly experienced roster comprised of top recruits and transfers.
Now, the Ducks seem almost destined for their first top-10 finish at the cross country national meet since 2019. The team's once-promising youngsters are now all grown up and, in recent seasons, have begun to display their raw talent on a consistent basis. The depth of this team has also grown more experienced and, in turn, more reliable.
On paper, this team is seemingly due for a monumental season.
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The Ducks debuted their 2024 varsity squad at the Cowboy Jamboree, a meet that was dominated by two elite teams: Oklahoma State and New Mexico.
There, Oregon had only the fifth-fastest lead scorer at the meet, as redshirt freshman Simeon Birnbaum placed 14th overall. Fellow underclassmen Ben Balazs (17th) and Jeffery Rogers (21st) were also solid while senior Josh Schumacher (23rd) and freshman Tayson Echohawk (24th) shored up the scoring.
Oregon had enough depth and scoring potency to finish ahead of a decent Texas team, but they were still a distant 3rd place behind the Cowboys and the Lobos. That, however, wasn't an issue -- the Cowboy Jamboree could be viewed as a rust-buster by some.
Next came the Ducks' home meet, the Bill Dellinger Invitational. It was a race that played out similarly to their season opener, as Oregon finished distantly behind the winner (BYU posted a perfect score), but narrowly defeated another solid team (Gonzaga).
Elliott Cook made his season debut with a solid 11th-place finish while Echohawk finished a strong 14th place. Birnbaum wasn't quite as impressive as he was in his season opener, this time placing 22nd, while Quincy Norman (25th) and Evan Burke (34th) were the final two scorers.
Fortunately for fans of the Eugene men, the Ducks peaked for the postseason almost perfectly. That started when they tied for 2nd place at the BIG 10 XC Championships. Although they lost the tie-breaker to their biggest rival, Washington, that was a result that the men from Eugene had to be thrilled with.
Birnbaum looked like a true low-stick that day, placing 4th, while Cook complemented that firepower by taking 5th place. Not far behind them, Aiden Smith broke out with an auspicious 9th-place effort, and Echohawk continued to overcome his inexperience with a 17th-place finish. With Evan Dorenkamp stepping up to place 23rd, it felt like every Oregon runner exceeded or matched expectations at the program's first-ever BIG 10 XC Championships.
The Ducks again finished close behind Washington at the West Regional XC Championships, losing by two points. They also defeated former PAC-12 rival Stanford in that setting. Smith continued his low-stick rise, placing 5th, while Birnbaum was close behind in 8th place. Cook (11th) and Norman (16th) furthered Oregon's strong up-front presence, and Balazs (29th) closed out the scoring quickly enough.
Oregon again exceeded expectations through their season finale as Smith cemented his star turn with a truly stunning 29th-place All-American run! Even though Birnbaum didn't save his best result of the season for last, a 74th-place finish at his first cross country national meet was hardly a poor effort. When paired with Smith, he gave the Ducks a nationally competitive 1-2 punch.
Yes, we'll admit, it felt like Cook (118th) left a handful of points on the table, but he still provided valuable middle-lineup scoring. Meanwhile, Dorenkamp (116th) showed his veteran poise by stepping up when it mattered most with his best result of the season (by far). Norman (124th) made sure that the scoring didn't balloon, and Balazs (155th) was there for added insurance beyond the five scorers, giving Oregon one of the more complete lineups outside of the podium teams.
All of that added up to a 14th-place finish in Madison, Wisconsin. That spot put the Ducks two spots ahead of Washington, marking Oregon's best NCAA XC Championship result of the 2020s.
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In 2025, Oregon returns two scorers from last year's squad (which is not to be mistaken with two runners). That might not sound all too promising, but those two returners were also Oregon's top two finishers from the 2024 cross country national meet. Plus, the Ducks have added a handful of instant-impact transfers!
Elliott Cook, Evan Dorenkamp and Quincy Norman were all relatively high-floor veterans who closed their Oregon careers on a high note. Their backend reliability will be missed, but there's reason to think that Oregon can fill their scoring roles while improving the squad's frontend firepower as well.
Despite the fact that he's expected to be the Ducks' lead scorer, Aiden Smith is arguably also their x-factor. That's because his 2024 NCAA XC Championship result came out of nowhere. His conference and regional meet efforts suggested that a national meet finish in the top-50 range was possible, but few could have expected Smith to be a top-30 All-American.
Personal bests of 7:55 (3k) and 28:21 (10k) this year were auspicious signs that he could replicate his finish to 2024, as was his runner-up result in the 10k at the BIG 10 Outdoor Championships. We exercised a bit of caution in setting our expectations for Smith after his meteoric rise, placing him at TSR #31 in our preseason individual rankings.
While Smith has seemingly proven himself as a low-stick star, it's no guarantee that he'll be better this November than he was last. In fact, it may be Simeon Birnbaum who is the Ducks' leading man in 2025.
The South Dakota native also found his way into our preseason individual rankings (TSR #41) after his strong 2024 cross country season and breakout 2025 track campaigns. Birnbaum looked like the guy who was regarded as arguably the best recruit in the Class of 2023, recently running times of 3:52 (mile) and 13:31 (5k) and earning All-American honors over 1500 meters.
While he came to Oregon best known for his middle distance prowess, Birnbaum placed top six at both NXN and the Champs Sports XC National Championships (better known as the Foot Locker XC NationalChampionships) as a high school senior in 2022.
If he puts it all together like he seemingly did in the spring, then Birnbaum has clear All-American potential on the cross country course. We shouldn't forget how consistent he was as a redshirt freshman a year ago.
Ben Balazs is also back from Oregon's 2024 varsity lineup after a breakout 2025 outdoor track season of his own.
The fast-rising Duck standout ran times of 3:38 (1500) and 8:22 (steeple), placing 7th in the latter event at the outdoor national meet. His steeplechase PR signifies elite raw fitness, and we already saw Balazs comport himself well in his sophomore cross country season.
In our estimation, Balazs' baseline is probably that of a top-100 runner in the country this fall.
Oregon's fourth and final returner from their 2024 lineup is Tayson Echohawk, who was part of the Ducks' star-studded 2023 recruiting class. After redshirting in 2023-24, Echohawk was quite solid throughout last fall, especially after placing 17th at the BIG 10 XC Championships. He ran 3:58 (mile) and 7:55 (3k) this past winter, showing enviable firepower and progression.
Sure, we may not know what Echohawk's ceiling is, but he doesn't necessarily need to do anything special. If he can consistently replicate his performance at the BIG 10 XC Championships, then he'll give the Ducks critical scoring stability. That, in theory, should raise the floor of this team by quite a bit in 2025.
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One of the keys to Oregon continuing their rise may be another Class of 2023 signee: Connor Burns.
The heralded recruit from Missouri, who once held a 13:37 (5k) PR coming into college, looked fit in the first few months of 2025. This past winter, Burns won the BIG 10 indoor 5k title in a time of 13:39 a couple of weeks after running 7:48 (3k).
That was a major development for someone who had only competed in four collegiate races (two on the grass) before 2025. Burns has always been at his best on the track, and there's a chance that his range (which included sub-4:00 mile chops as a prep star) doesn't extend beyond 5000 meters.
Even so, if Schumacher can unearth more of the talent that made Burns the one-time high school 5k record holder and a BIG 10 indoor champion, then he could definitely be a scorer for this squad in 2025.
Although, truthfully, anything the Ducks get out of Burns on the grass may be an added bonus. That's because they have a handful of established transfer options to add to their lineup.
Evan Bishop joined the Oregon men ahead of the 2024-25 academic year, but has yet to don the Ducks' green and yellow on the cross country course. The sixth-year senior is a three-time cross country national meet participant who ran several PRs on the track earlier this year, including times of 7:50 (3k) and 13:38 (5k) marks. Do those efforts suggest that he's in store for his best-ever cross country campaign?
Bishop has only cracked the top-100 at the NCAA XC Championships once, placing 83rd in 2022, but he placed 4th at the 2023 BIG 10 XC Championships. That kind of performances reflects his upside and his familiarity with the conference.
However, maybe the most exciting addition to this team may be Michael Mireles.
The UCLA transfer was the BIG 10 XC Championship runner-up last fall. Not only would he have been the Ducks' top scorer in that setting, but he also would have assumed that role at the Bill Dellinger Invitational, where he placed 6th overall as the top finisher outside of the BYU men.
Even on his "off" day, ending his season with a 21st-place run at the 2024 West Regional XC Championships, Mireles would have been a scorer for the Ducks. His phenomenal fall campaign didn't seem to be a one-off either, as he ran 13:37 (5k) earlier this year.
Mireles' addition seemingly gives the Ducks a critical middle-lineup piece behind Birnbaum and Smith, and he appears to have low-stick upside on his best day. We should also mention that Mireles finished as a "Just Missed" name right outside of our preseason top-50 individual rankings.
Another under-the-radar transfer, Abdel Laadjel is complementary to Mireles in that he's a three-season threat, although he's more proven on the track while Mireles has been better on the grass. The difference, however, is that Laadjel has NCAA XC Championship experience, placing 106th in that setting in 2023.
The Irishman has thrived since joining the Ducks, running 13:29 (5k) and 28:29 (10k) and coming close to reaching the outdoor national meet in the latter event.
Sergio Del Barrio, who has an 8:39 PR in the 3000-meter steeplechase, is another track star. He hasn't run a cross country race for the Ducks yet since entering the NCAA in 2023, but he came close to his PR in running 8:42 for a bronze-medal steeplechase finish at the 2025 BIG 10 Outdoor Championships.
If anything, Del Barrio appears to be close to as fit as he's ever been. That isn't nothing for someone who faced quite the transition of training and racing in the United States after growing up in Spain.
Among other returners, Jeffery Rogers hasn't run many cross country races in his first three years in Eugene. However, he flexed some firepower after running 3:40 (1500) and 7:55 (3k) in 2025.
Then there's Anthony FastHorse, who ran 4:04 (1600), 8:45 (3200) and 14:35 (5k) as a prep star in 2024. He was strong in one unattached race as a Duck, running 23:44 at the Bill Dellinger Invitational to place 26th just behind Birnbaum.
The Ducks' lone known addition in their 2025 recruiting class is Juan Gonzalez. While Oregon's athletes haven't typically made a major impact in their initial season, Gonzalez has an almost-unmatched aerobic engine as a top-10 recruit.
The newest Duck rookie ran marks of 4:03 (1600) and 8:44 (3200) en route to rewriting the Nebraska high school records that Seth Hirsch (formerly of the University of Wisconsin and Colorado University) set roughly a decade ago.
Gonzalez also won the 2025 Brooks PR Invitational title in the two-mile, placed 13th at NXN in 2024, and, perhaps most impressively, was the runner-up finisher at the 2024 Foot Locker XC National Championships.
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For a historic program that has admittedly underwhelmed in recent years, last fall was a major step in the right direction. That was the kind of progression that was seemingly promised when Schumacher took over ahead of 2022-23.
Schumacher's squad will be out to prove that last year's promising postseason run was the start of something more for a program that missed two of the last five cross country national meets (including during the pandemic-affected 2020-21 academic year).
This team arguably has two All-American favorites in Smith and Birnbaum as well as plenty of likely lineup mainstays with Mireles, Laadjel, Bishop, Balazs and Echohawk. They also boast ample ancillary depth and upside between Burns, Gonzalez, Del Barrio, FastHorse and Rogers.
Oregon hasn’t finished top-10 at the NCAA XC Championships or top two in its conference (not counting last year's tie) this decade. The Ducks last achieved both feats in 2019.
Of course, as you can tell, we can expect both of those things to change in 2025.
