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TSR's 2026 NCAA Preseason D1 XC Top 50 Rankings: #40-31 (Women)
Written by Jonah Billings, edits & additional commentary via Garrett Zatlin
40. Sadie Engelhardt, Sophomore, NC State
This NC State sophomore is coming off of a very strong first year in the NCAA, one that saw her emerge as a remarkably consistent performer on the grass. It also didn't hurt that she further added to her incredible pedigree over 1500 meters and the mile.
Sadie Engelhardt's time as a high school phenom has given her more high-level race experience than most of her peers at this age, something that truly shined through her poise and consistency as just a rookie. Those are valuable traits that she will likely further refine, especially as she becomes more experienced at the collegiate level.
That being said, Engelhardt has always been a bit better on the track than she has been in cross country.
Make no mistake, her 10th place finish at ACC XC Championships, 18th place finish at the Nuttycombe Invite and 51st place finish at the NCAA XC Championships last fall were certainly nothing to scoff at. In fact, she undeniably beat expectations throughout the 2025 cross country season. However, compared to her bronze medal finish in the mile at the indoor national meet a few months later, it is clear where Engelhardt’s specialty lies.
So, the question for this fall is: How high does her cross country ceiling go?
While the answer to that question remains unclear, there is no doubt that Engelhardt has consistently shown us that she can produce at a very high level, even on her “off” days. She will be a critical part of an NC State squad that has emerged as an early favorite to defend their national title from last year, and she should certainly be a part of All-American conversations from the jump.
39. Elizabeth Khatevi, Junior, Texas A&M-CC
Elizabeth Khatevi is a name that we at The Stride Report will be watching very closely this fall.
After a breakout season last year, in which she was dominant in every race she lined up for until the national meet, the rising Texas A&M-CC junior is perfectly positioned to further establish herself as a national-caliber cross country runner.
There is, admittedly, a bit of an asterisk that must be applied to Khatevi’s near-undefeated 2025 fall campaign. Her victory over Wake Forest’s Angelina Perez (who would go on to earn a 33rd place finish at the national meet) at the Arturo Barrios Invitational was perhaps the only instance where she raced against All-American-level competition before the national meet.
Sure, victories at the Southland Conference XC Championships, the Gans Creek Classic "B" race and the South Central Regional XC Championships are obviously results that demand respect. Even so, those performance don’t exactly jump off the page when we’re trying to piece together what Khatevi's ceiling really is.
To be clear, Khatevi cannot be faulted for beating the fields that she was scheduled for. However, it is doubtful that the 2026 Texas A&M-CC schedule can truly test her legs before November.
That is why it is so tough to say what kind of day Khatevi was having when she just missed out on All-American honors at last year's national meet, placing 46th. Was that performance indicative of her fitness on the day? Or was she capable of more that we just didn’t quite see in Columbia, Missouri?
If the latter is true, then there is always a possibility that Khatevi’s 2026 campaign will yield the only thing that was missing from her near-perfect season last year: a better result in November. Will this year see her take another step forward and better translate her early-season successes to the national stage?
If you’re anything like our Editor-in-Chief Garrett Zatlin, then you certainly think so.
38. Hayley Burns, Senior, Northern Arizona
Hayley Burns had the best day of her collegiate cross country career at last year’s NCAA XC Championships, earning All-American honors with an excellent 32nd place finish. She peaked impressively well off of a season that had an interesting mix of results, placing 13th at the Gans Creek Classic, 27th at the Nuttycombe Invitational and a win at BIG Sky XC Championships.
None of those results were poor -- nearly all of them were quality performances -- but some were certainly better than others.
Despite the nuanced season, Burns was a consistent performer for the Lumberjacks who displayed an impressively high floor throughout. Adding to the intrigue, she reached another level on the track, qualifying for both the indoor and outdoor national meets and becoming an All-American in the mile.
A lot of the analysis that we offered for Sadie Engelhardt holds true for Burns as well. They are both top-tier milers who are consistent performers on the grass and are battle-tested against national-caliber competition.
However, it’s worth noting that we have recently learned that Burns is dealing with an injury right now, leaving her status a bit up in the air. That's largely why she is "only" sitting at TSR #38 in our preseason rankings.
Luckily for her, we're still in the month of July, and if she's healthy enough by October and November, then nobody will be surprised if Burns capitalizes on the momentum from her fantastic 2025-26 academic year.
37. Jenna Hutchins, Rs. Senior, BYU
Over the course of her NCAA career, Jenna Hutchins has established herself as one of the best track runners in the country, recently showcasing promising range from 1500 meters all the way up to 10,000 meters.
The BYU veteran had an excellent spring campaign on the track, setting personal bests between the 1500 meters, mile, 5000 meters and 10,000 meters. Most importantly, her aerobic fitness took another step up as Hutchins dropped highly impressive times of 15:15 (5k) and 32:01 (10k) along the way.
Now, admittedly, we have only seen flashes of that ability in cross country, in part because availability has been a big issue for the BYU star in past fall campaigns. In fact, the only time that she put together a full season was back in 2023, when a promising few months culminated in a disappointing 176th-place showing at NCAA XC Championships.
The 2024 cross country season saw Hutchins' performances begin to fall apart at BIG 12 XC Championships where she finished 36th in her final race of the year. And despite being entered at last year’s NCAA XC Championships, which would have been her first race of the fall months, she did not make an appearance.
With this track record, where we rank Hutchins going into her final collegiate season isn’t representative of where we could see her ending up if she stays healthy. Despite all of her past struggles on the grass, the BYU senior has a lot going for her this fall. She’s highly experienced, has one of the highest floors of anyone in this group (at least on the track) and is coming off of an 8th-place All-American showing over 10,000 meters at NCAA Outdoor Championships.
If Hutchins can simply get to the starting line consistently this fall, while remaining in top form, then it’s hard to doubt the type of season that she could have at her best.
36. Mercy Kinyanjui, Junior, West Virginia
This rising West Virginia junior has shown us that she is capable of beating some big names in her first two NCAA cross country seasons.
Last fall, the former Toledo runner picked up an excellent 17th place finish at the Nuttycombe Invitational over a few other athletes on this list (such as Hayley Burns and Sadie Engelhardt). She also locked down an impressive 8th place effort at the highly competitive BIG 12 XC Championships, beating BYU's Taylor Lovell and Oklahoma State’s Maureen Rutoh in the process.
Both of those performances suggested that Kinyanjui could be an All-American in Columbia, Missouri. That, however, didn't quite happen as she took 45th place at the NCAA XC Championships. She also finished in 62nd place at the 2024 national meet while running for her previous school, Toledo.
Thankfully, this Mountaineer star kept the ball rolling on the oval.
This past spring, Kinyanjui secured 8th place All-American honors in the 3000-meter steeplechase at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. She also posted a big 5000-meter PR of 15:29 at the Bryan Clay Invitational.
Kinyanjui has been remarkably consistent against strong competition (regardless of the discipline) over the course of her career. That, in our eyes, signals a pretty high floor while also presenting some very interesting upside.
The question for her, then, is this: Can she make a jump at the national meet?
Placing 62nd and then 45th are certainly very solid showings. However, it’s not hard to believe that she’s capable of a bit more. Just based on the caliber of athlete who she found herself beating at multiple points last fall, Kinyanjui should be able to compete for top-30 at the national meet on her best day.
Regardless, even if she just continues to make incremental progress this year, snagging an All-American spot would not be at all surprising.
35. Rylee Blade, Sophomore, Florida State
Rylee Blade’s freshman year in the NCAA was a tale of two runners.
The first was the cross country version of Blade, who seemingly struggled to find her footing last fall, particularly late in the season. Finishes of 66th at the ACC XC Championships and 120th at the NCAA XC Championships support that notion. The second was track version of Blade, someone who was an ACC champion and an All-American, both over 10,000 meters.
That transformation was remarkable to watch. But at the same time, the stark contrast in Blade's performances makes her head-scratchingly difficult to rank as we approach the 2026 cross country season.
How much stock can one put in Blade’s newfound strength that made her one of the best 10k runners in the country last spring? It’s obviously worth quite a bit; there aren’t many runners in All-American conversations who finished outside the top-100 at last year’s NCAA XC Championships.
Yet, outside of her time as a high school megastar, we just haven’t seen anything which indicates that Blade can be on that level in cross country so far.
The good news is that Blade is still young, improving and clearly equipped with a high ceiling coming into this fall. She’ll need to prove that she has the strength to carry her track prowess to the grass, but if she does, the only question is: how high can she go?
34. Monica Wanjiku, Sophomore, Missouri
Monica Wanjiku capped off an impressive debut cross country season last fall with an All-American performance at the NCAA XC Championship, placing 35th. Not only that, but she looked consistently competitive in high-level races throughout the season, finishing 11th at the Gans Creek Classic, 9th at Pre-Nationals and 6th at the SEC XC Championships.
Sure, some of those results are better than others. Her performance at Pre-Nationals, in particular, led to her being upset by a few names who we expected her to defeat. Even so, a return to the top-40 at this year's national meet is well within Wanjiku’s wheelhouse this fall.
While the Missouri sophomore has run some very competitive marks in her two collegiate track seasons thus far, we haven’t quite seen her cross country success translate to the winter and spring months.
Postseason racing has presented a particular challenge for the Missouri ace, as Wanjiku has yet to qualify for an NCAA Championship on the track. At the West Regional Championships this past spring, she placed 15th over 10,000 meters before falling to 28th place over 5000 meters. In our eyes, those results came up short of what we would expect from a runner with Wanjiku’s resume (she holds personal bests of 15:23 over 5k and 32:21 over 10k).
Strangely, that actually gives us a little bit of comfort regarding her cross country abilities. After all, she didn't really have a hiccup during her complete 2025 cross country season after struggling towards the end of her track campaign. Until we see her track inconsistency bleed over to her racing on the grass, there’s no reason to believe that she doesn’t belong in the All-American conversation this fall.
Besides, we have to give her the benefit of the doubt when you consider everything that she’s done in her relatively short career thus far. At the end of the day, Wanjiku is a returning All-American and sub-15:30 (5k) runner regardless of her occasional inconsistencies on the track. She may not be perfectly poised to make a massive jump this season on paper, but ranking her outside the top-40 would be disrespectful at best.
33. Paityn Noe, Rs. Junior, Arkansas
We are putting Paityn Noe at TSR #33 in our preseason rankings while fully recognizing that it’s going to be very, very difficult for anyone to predict what kind of season she is going to have this fall (if any).
This rising Arkansas junior brings absolutely tremendous upside to the table, finishing 7th at the 2024 NCAA XC Championships and boasting incredible personal bests of 15:11 (5k) and 31:36 (10k) on the track. She’s also a four-time All-American and a two-time SEC champion on the oval.
The undeniable truth is that, when healthy and available, Noe is one of the single-best distance runners in the NCAA.
The catch? “When healthy and available” has historically been a challenge for the Razorback star.
Noe hasn’t raced in over a year now, and her status coming into the fall is a massive question mark. The last time she competed, the Arkansas star took 4th place (10k) and 6th place (5k) at the 2025 NCAA Outdoor Championships, leaving just another reminder of how good she is when she makes it to the starting line.
Time will tell if Noe will be back to her old ways this season, but for now, we just don’t know. However, if she can put together a full, consistent cross country campaign like she did in 2024, then her ceiling is dramatically higher than what our TSR #33 ranking suggests.
A 7th place finish at a cross country national meet represents an upside that is impossible to discount fully. And as long as Noe is listed on an active NCAA roster, she’ll have our attention.
But for now, we will eagerly await her return to the grass.
32. Taylor Lovell, Junior, BYU
Taylor Lovell took a big step forward this past spring, winning her first national title at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 3000-meter steeplechase.
This Cougar ace been one of the nation’s most consistently competitive steeplechasers throughout her career, placing 9th at both the 2024 and 2025 outdoor national meets. Could winning an NCAA title in 2026 mean that the BYU veteran has unlocked something that she didn’t previously have in past years?
That, of course, isn't to say that she has been "bad" in cross country before this point. Lovell did, after all, place 55th at the 2025 NCAA XC Championships and was 88th the year before that. However, her ceiling on the grass remains a bit of a question mark, as it’s difficult to find an instance of her really competing with athletes in that All-American tier.
And yet, despite that, seeing her success on the outdoor oval this past spring was so unbelievably impressive -- and not just in the steeplechase. At the Stanford Invite, Lovell clocked an outstanding time of 15:15 for 5000 meters to secure a marquee victory over New Mexico’s Marion Jepngetich (who would go on to win the national title in that event) and Hayley Burns of Northern Arizona.
As with any steeplechaser, the debate over whether she will be able to translate her success from the barriers to the grass is one that’s impossible to settle until she’s actually out there. Regardless, it’s a safe bet that Lovell is bringing a level of strength, consistency and experience into this fall that makes her first cross country All-American showing possible, if not probable.
31. Carmen Cernjul, Freshman, Northern Arizona
The Carmen Cernjul question is not by any means a matter of speed or talent.
The Swedish distance star and newly minted Northern Arizona signee owns massively impressive personal bests of 15:06 for 5000 meters and 4:07 for 1500 meters, the latter of which was run just a few weeks ago. She’s got blistering track times, European U20 medals and her own Wikipedia page.
I mean, come on now.
No, the question here is whether Cernjul’s impressive resume up-and-to this point will translate to elite performances on NCAA cross country courses. Collegiate cross country is unlike anything else in the running world, and top-shelf performances on the track in Europe don’t always indicate that an athlete will be a lock for top-half All-American come November.
Even so, how can you bet against a 15:06 (5k) runner?
That mark would have put Cernjul at NCAA #3 this past spring above the likes of Joy Naukot (12th at the 2025 XC Championships), Judy Chepkoech (16th at the 2025 XC Championships) and Isca Chelangat (7th at the 2025 XC Championships).
If Cernjul can make her transition to the NCAA as seamless as possible, then who is to say that she can’t be in that top-20 tier herself? On paper, her ceiling is hard to put a lid on. But until we actually see her toe the line and translate that success, we're putting the newest Lumberjack ace at TSR #31 in our rankings.
