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TSR's 2025 Preseason D2 XC Top 10 Team Rankings (Women): #6 Cedarville Yellow Jackets
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.
We'll admit, the Cedarville women took a small step back last year.
However, in 2025, we think that will change. In fact, we the Yellow Jackets will actually take a step forward, even beyond the top-10 national meet finish that they achieved in 2023!
This is a team that returns all five scorers from their 2024 NCAA XC Championship lineup. Of course, just as important as depth is firepower, something that the Yellow Jackets needed of. Thankfully, they should have it, mostly thanks to internal development.
Sure, this group may fly under the radar against a regular season schedule that features about as much D1 and D3 opposition as D2, but make no mistake: Cedarville has one of the most balanced lineups and highest floors among Division Two women's teams this fall.
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Cedarville opened the 2024 season with a dominant win at the All Ohio Intercollegiate XC Classic. Corinne Lynch gave the 'Jackets an up-front scoring presence as the individual runner-up (behind only D3 megastar Faith Duncan), and Emily Walsh (5th) and Abby Drosdak (6th) were among six total Cedarville women in the top 15.
On paper, it was hard not to be incredibly encouraged by that collective effort.
It was, however, tough to gauge Cedarville's next result, which came at the Lehigh Paul Short Run "Gold" Race. There, the Yellow Jackets finished 32nd out of 42 teams. The catch? All but one of the squads they beat was a D1 team. The exception was Tampa, a solid D2 program.
In Pennsylvania, Lynch more than held her own, placing 62nd, and Drosdak, a sophomore, posted a promising 115th-place performance. Walsh finished 173rd while everyone else was in the back-half of what was almost a 400-person field.
Lynch carried her momentum to the UAH Chargers XC Invitational, which was arguably Cedarville's first true test against competition that was comparable to them. At that meet, she won the meet's individual title over All-Americans Della Molina and Iresh Molina, a huge development as far as low-sticks are concerned. There did, however, continue to be a gap back to the rest of the lineup, with Walsh (17th) finishing 50 seconds behind Lynch.
Fortunately for the 'Jackets, in a meet that didn't feature Drosdak, freshman Alyson Enns (22nd) stepped up. Aubrey Hayes (née Harrington) (28th) and Hannah Hartenburg (33rd) were also solid. Even so, all of that amounted to a distant 3rd-place finish behind Pittsburg State and Chico State.
Cedarville's struggles continued at the G-MAC XC Championships, as this time Lynch (7th) faltered slightly. Emily Walsh's strong day in 3rd place more or less made up for that as she and Lynch effectively switched positions, and Hayes (9th) again provided strong middle-lineup scoring. Enns finishing 14th was nothing to scoff at for her first conference meet, and fellow freshman Helen Rhymer finished 19th.
None of those results were too bad on their own, but the Walsh Cavaliers had a slightly more compact scoring lineup and better backend scoring. That, in turn gave them a two-point edge in the conference title race over Cedarville.
The Yellow Jackets then got the better of the Cavaliers at the Midwest Regional XC Championships, finishing a distant 3rd behind Grand Valley State and Lewis.
The 'Jackets arguably closed the season with their best result, placing 16th at the 2024 NCAA XC Championships. Walsh (42nd) was as good as we could have realistically expected, nearly earning All-American status. Lynch (51st) didn't have her greatest day ever, but it was hard to be upset with her finishing in the top fifth of the field.
There was a gap back to Hayes, but she held her own in 112th place, while Enns (131st) was respectable at her first NCAA Championship of any kind. Hartenburg made for five Cedarville scorers in the top 150, while Drosdak and Rhymer joined them in the top 180.
While it wasn't as strong as 2023, Cedarville's 2024 cross country season was not a disaster by any means. The Yellow Jackets developed two low-sticks in Lynch and Walsh, introduced multiple freshmen to high-leverage competition and put together a promising result at the cross country national meet despite Lynch and Drosdak not looking quite as strong as they had earlier in the season.
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Abby Drosdak is the lone departure from Cedarville's 2024 varsity lineup. That's not necessarily an easy loss to make up for given that she was the Yellow Jackets' second scorer in their first two meets last year after finishing in the top 100 at the 2023 NCAA XC Championships as a freshman.
Because Drosdak was not a scorer on the national stage last season, however, the 'Jackets won't have to make up for her postseason presence.
Plus, Cedarville has an addition that should make up for Drosdak's absence. That's because we've been informed that Savannah Golding (née Ackley) is back for her senior season after redshirting last fall due to injury. The last time we saw Golding competing on a cross country course, she was an All-American in 2023.
She also placed 41st at the 2022 cross country national meet! Golding didn't necessarily look like her best self upon returning to competition on the track earlier this year, but she's proven to have an exceptionally high baseline for success during the fall months.
Emily Walsh was similarly reliable last year, and then she became a 1500-meter All-American this past May. If she nearly cracked All-American status in her first cross country national meet appearance, what might Walsh be capable of now that she's produced palpable success on the postseason stage?
For as solid as Golding and Walsh should be, Corinne Lynch is who we expect to be the Yellow Jackets' lead scorer in 2025. She was a "Just Missed" name right outside of our preseason top-25 individual rankings while Golding and Walsh were honorable mentions.
Lynch's floor looks roughly as high as Golding's and Walsh's, given that she's finished in the top 75 at the past two cross country national meets, but her ceiling means the Yellow Jackets should go as she does. In the regular season last year, Lynch looked like a clear All-American candidate.
There's plenty of reason to think that she'll achieve that status at her third NCAA XC Championship appearance, including the fact that she lowered her 5k PR to 16:58 in the winter.
Aubrey Hayes became a linchpin in the middle of the lineup last year, and she could certainly fill a similar role as a senior this season. Ditto for Hannah Hartenburg, who finished in the top 150 at her first cross country national meet.
On the other end of the age spectrum, rising sophomores Alyson Enns and Helen Rhymer were respectable as rookies, so they're also positioned as strong scoring options.
Enns' sister, Audrianna Enns, is also returning for her senior season after competing at the cross country national meet in both 2022 and 2023 and placing 25th at the 2024 G-MAC XC Championships.
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It's unclear if Cedarville has the variety of focal star who will provide a near-zero scoring footprint at every meet, but the Yellow Jackets do have three veritable low-sticks in Lynch, Walsh and Golding. They also have proven middle lineup and backend scoring options between Hayes, Hartenburg, Alyson Enns and Rhymer.
There are virtually no questions in this team's lineup. There's enough firepower, depth, balance and continuity to potentially even push for a podium placement if everything goes right. There's also enough scoring insurance between the six varsity returnees and Golding, in our eyes, to all but ensure a top-10 team finish at the 2025 NCAA XC Championships.
