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TSR's 2025 Preseason D3 XC Top 10 Team Rankings (Men): #6 Johns Hopkins Blue Jays
Written by Katie Hirsche, edits & additional commentary via Gavin Struve
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 Johns Hopkins men haven’t had the same kind of national-caliber success that their women’s team has enjoyed in recent years. And yet, as we prepare to dive deeper into the 2025 cross country season, the Blue Jay men are inching closer and closer to the podium conversation.
With most of their top varsity runners returning from last fall, and a handful of young distance talents to potentially rally around, there is reason to believe that this team has the upside to be a top-four D3 squad come November.
Yes, we'll admit, the Blue Jays aren't perfect. And yet, at the same time, their lineup structure seemingly has a balance between firepower and depth as well as experience and youth. Naturally, you can see why we're excited to watch this Baltimore-based squad compete on the grass over the next few months.
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The 2024 cross country season started off strong for the Blue Jays when they scored a perfect 15 points at the Salisbury Fall Classic. In fact, they swept the top seven spots and fielded nine of the top 10 finishers. Emmanuel Leblond led the way, followed by Rowan Cassidy (then a junior), Olaf Dietz (then a freshman), Connor Oiler (junior) and graduate student Lucas Rackers for their scoring five.
That, of course, was just a simple rust-buster. The team's next meet, however, was anything but that.
The first truly competitive race for Johns Hopkins last season came at the John McNichols Invitational. There, they finished 4th overall in an absurdly stacked field. They did, however, take down accomplished programs such as Washington U. and NYU.
Leblond enjoyed a 4th-place individual finish with Rackers, Cassidy, Dietz and Oiler crossing the line within 20 seconds of each other. That backend scoring quartet all finished in the top-45 of the results. And while the team could certainly use greater firepower behind Leblond, the lack of a legitimate weak point kept Johns Hopkins among the top teams in the field.
Believe it or not, things only got more competitive for Johns Hopkins as they later took on the Division One-heavy "Gold" race at the Paul Short Run. There, they secured a promising 16th place finish to beat out D3 foes, RPI and Carnegie Mellon. Leblond had a standout race, finishing 28th, while Rackers finished 78th, Cassidy finished 140th, freshman Brady Ott finished 152nd and Oiler finished 178th to round out their top five.
While there were some promising developments, it was truthfully challenging to gauge how the Blue Jays performed. Their level of competition was, after all, dramatically higher than what they were used to facing.
The next time out, the Blue Jays continued their streak of strong racing at the Rowan Interregional Border Battle. There, Leblond made a statement by claiming the individual title by 13 seconds and breaking 24 minutes for the first time. Andrew Myers was next in 12th place while Oiler, Ott and Cassidy went 13-15-17.
Despite the elite performance from Leblond and the mostly flawless backend performance from his supporting cast, the Johns Hopkins men were only able to muster bronze. The Blue Jays finished behind Lynchburg and lost a tie-breaker to Washington & Lee for 2nd place.
The Centennial Conference XC Championships were a breeze for this team as the 'Jays won with only 19 points. The Mid-Atlantic regional meet was much more exciting, although Johns Hopkins fell to Carnegie Mellon by just a single point. Leblond became the second athlete in program history to win the individual regional title, continuing his excellent season.
In the latter race, Rackers continued to show his consistency and strength in placing 3rd, while sophomore Kenny Wanlass placed 8th, Cassidy was 9th and Sean Enright closed out the scoring in 19th. That performance and the Blue Jays’ season overall were more than enough to qualify with an at-large bid for the national meet.
The national meet was excellent for Leblond who claimed a fantastic 6th-place individual finish in a loaded field. Rackers (57th) and Cassidy (94th) moved up very well through the last few kilometers of the race, giving the Blue Jays a fairly complete top three.
However, a critical gap formed back to Ott and Wanlass, as they finished in 173rd and 181st, respectively, with Oiler and Dietz even further back. All four of those men had more upside than what they had shown that day.
For the second year in a row, the Blue Jays ultimately finished 14th at the NCAA XC Championships.
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We'll admit, the loss of veteran Lucas Rackers is significant. He was a crucial and stable second scorer for this team at almost every meet last fall. Of course, those behind him have taken big steps up in their fitness, and there are two highly promising freshmen coming in.
However, before we get to those names, we have to mention the return of Matthew Kelly. He redshirted last fall, but was 152nd at the 2023 cross country national meet and has a 14:39 (5k) PR. He could certainly be a huge factor this fall, and he has already competed this season, leading the Blue Jays in their season opener while Leblond, Ott and Oiler sat out.
The Blue Jays also welcome two blue-chip freshmen who have run sub-9:00 for 3200 meters: Caleb Tenney (8:55) from Maryland and Cedar Nichols-Barnhart (8:57) from North Carolina. The latter has big-meet experience from the RunningLane track and cross country national meets, breaking 15:00 (5k) in the latter.
If those two rookies can keep up with the transition from 5k to 8k this fall, then they could be freshman scorers like Ott was last year. And truthfully, the chances of that seem plenty strong given that the Blue Jays have two high-upside rookies to choose from.
In fact, the potential raw talent of those youngsters is ultimately why we felt more comfortable putting this team at TSR #6 rather than TSR #8 or TSR #9.
Leblond will once again be Johns Hopkins' low-stick leading man. He broke his streak of relatively poor track national meet performances this past spring, finishing as the runner-up in the 5k at the indoor national meet and 3rd over the same distance at the outdoor national meet.
However, most importantly, the three-time cross country All-American gives his team a strong and consistent front-runner on the grass. He's listed at TSR #5 in our preseason individual rankings and can't be counted out from competing for the individual NCAA crown.
Brady Ott ran his way to qualifying for the mile at the indoor national meet last winter. Just as importantly for the coming months, he ran 14:27 (5k) earlier this year, a mark that bodes well for the potential for a freshman-to-sophomore leap. He has a much higher ceiling than his 173rd-place finish at the 2024 NCAA XC Championships suggested.
Rowan Cassidy ran 8:23 in the 3k this past winter, coming just a few seconds off of qualifying for the indoor national meet. For the most part, he had a strong 2024-25 academic year overall. He finished 82nd at the 2023 cross country national meet for his first of two top-100 NCAA XC Championship finishes and can be a low-stick alongside Leblond on his best day.
Olaf Dietz was a constant presence in the scoring five last fall until the national meet (where he finished seventh on the team). The only catch, however, is that he hasn’t competed since then, so we’re not sure what his status is going into his sophomore season.
Connor Oiler didn’t run to his potential at the 2024 cross country national meet, but showed his upside on the track in running 8:15 (3k) and 8:56 (steeple), reaching the outdoor national meet in the latter event. His upside is sneaky-good and he could be ultimately be the biggest x-factor for this team in 2025.
There are also a handful of reinforcements who could make contributions for Johns Hopkins this fall.
Andrew Myers is better on the grass, but had a solid year on the track. Nash Minor ran 14:43 over 5k on the track and could break into the varsity lineup this fall. Kenny Wanlass has only completed two races since November and is another question mark, albeit one with a high ceiling.
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Unlike other teams listed in our rankings, the Johns Hopkins men do not suffer from a lack of potential scorers on their roster. In fact, it's more than likely than not that we’ll see a rejuvenated, highly competitive men's team coming out of Baltimore, Maryland this fall.
We expect Leblond to lead, of course, but he's not necessarily the main key for the Blue Jays' success this fall. Instead, it’s closing the gaps between scorers. Thankfully for Johns Hopkins, they have enough depth and continuity for that to happen.
As we mentioned in our intro, the Blue Jays have a few question marks. And yet, at the same time, they have tons of potential this year with ample talent surrounding a focal star. They should be in store for a finish much higher than the 14th-place perch that they've occupied at each of the past two cross country national meets.
