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TSR's 2026 Preseason D2 XC Top 10 Team Rankings (Women): #1 Wingate Bulldogs
Written by Gavin Struve, edits & additional commentary via Garrett Zatlin
NOTE #1: 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.
NOTE #2: The Stride Report is aware that a number of meets have already taken place during the 2026 cross country season. However, The Stride Report believes that these early-season races (often called "rust-busters") hold little-to-no importance on a team's national standing due to the limited competition and the lack of top names being entered at these meets.
With the best freshman class in the country from last year returning, along with multiple other All-American candidates, the Wingate women are set up as well as ever before to earn their first NCAA cross country team title in program history.
At the very least, they may be favored for their first top-half podium finish.
They've been steadily building toward this moment, and now, after returning every scorer from the 3rd place team at the 2025 NCAA XC Championships, they're poised to return to improve upon that performance.
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Our discussion of Wingate's 2025 season begins with the Wingate Bulldog Stampede, a simple rust-buster that was just five kilometers and didn't feature the full varsity squad. Why are we highlighting this meet? It's where the Bulldogs' vaunted freshmen started their collegiate careers.
Abigail Bester, Kiara Bester and Karlijn Mesman placed 4th, 5th and 6th, respectively. That meet, in which Wingate finished runner-up behind conference rival Catawba, was just a small sample of what the rookies could do.
Kiara and Abigail switched places in the Paul Short Run "Gold" race, finishing 96th and 97th, respectively, behind junior teammate Firdaouss Hriche (51st). Imane Jourji (113th) and Ona Alonso (119th) closed out Wingate's scoring relatively quickly, leading to a 16th place finish in a field that was admittedly tough to gauge without any Division Two opposition for Wingate.
Nonetheless, it was promising that the Bester twins factored into the scoring lineup so highly and that their teammates followed so closely behind them. Hriche's finish was quite promising, too.
With Abigail and Kiara finishing as the conference champion and runner-up, respectively, Wingate exacted revenge on Catawba at the South Atlantic Conference XC Championships. Hriche (5th), Sira Bo (7th) and Riya Keshaw (10th) closed out the scoring lineup relatively quickly.
Wingate won the Southeast Regional XC Championships over runner-up Catawba by an even larger margin. This time, Evie Brooks re-entered the scoring lineup in a major way, leading the squad with her 3rd place finish. Jourji (4th) and Mesman (5th) were close behind, and with Bo (7th), Alonso (10th) and Keshaw (13th) all delivering, you could hardly tell that the Bester twins and Hriche were sitting the meet out.
Of course, they returned for the NCAA XC Championships and made their impact felt. Abigail (18th) and Kiara (19th) were the top true freshmen in the field, both emerging as top-half All-Americans. They gave an invaluable up-front presence to a team that was clearly very deep, but had questions about firepower after not being challenged by any fellow powerhouse D2 programs earlier in the season.
Arguably as impressively, Brooks finished just five seconds behind them to place 25th after a slow start to the season. Mesman placing 36th was perhaps the most surprising outcome on the squad given how little we knew about the Dutch rookie at the time.
Hriche (46th) rounded out the scoring lineup, coming oh-so close to All-American honors once again after placing 47th at the 2024 cross country national meet. Jourji (98th) and Alonso (100th) also fared pretty well, but having all five scorers in the top-50 is what secured the Bulldogs' 3rd place podium finish ahead of perennial power Adams State.
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For as good as the Bester twins were last fall, they were arguably even better on the track. Abigail ran 9:23 (3k) and 16:18 (5k) right away in December and reached the indoor national meet in both events. She later ran 35:22 (10k) on the outdoor oval and placed 13th over 5000 meters at the outdoor national meet, her best-ever finish on the national stage.
Kiara was just as impressive as her twin -- running 4:51 (mile), 9:22 (3k) and 16:20 (5k) -- before ending her year before February.
Abigail and Kiara Bester are ranked TSR #8 and TSR #12, respectively, and Evie Brooks (TSR #13) is close behind. Brooks had a dream pair of 2026 track seasons, placing 4th in both the mile and 1500-meter finals at the indoor and outdoor national meets, respectively, while also qualifying for the 3000 meters at the indoor national meet and the 5000 meters at the outdoor national meet.
She developed into a cross country star last fall and has now only improved her overall fitness and comfort racing on the national stage.
Karlijn Mesman makes for four Wingate women ranked in the top-20 of our preseason individual rankings. She too was just as, if not more, effective on the track as she was on the grass.
Mesman ran 9:39 (3k) and 35:25 (10k) before reaching the outdoor national meet in the 3000-meter steeplechase. Those are highly promising times for someone who is projected to be a middle-lineup scorer this fall.
We're just now getting to Firdaouss Hriche, who started last season as Wingate's lead scorer. She didn't quite reach the steeplechase heights this spring that she did in 2025, but she still nearly reached the outdoor national meet and is due for her first All-American honor. She's a stable veteran who can secure the middle and/or back half of the scoring lineup.
But what if we told you that Hriche may not be a scorer, even if she improves? Wingate didn't necessarily need reinforcements, but Coach Pol Domenech added a pair of transfers from other strong Division Two programs for scoring insurance.
Jacqueline Sanchez hasn't competed since last fall, but she holds a 16:46 (5k) PR and placed 68th at the 2025 NCAA XC Championships. The two-time cross country national meet qualifier is another high-floor veteran who simultaneously raises the Bulldogs' floor and their ceiling.
Marie Garret is yet another strong candidate to be a first-time All-American. We actually haven't seen her race often on the cross country course, but her ability and versatility on the track suggest that she has star upside on the grass, too. She placed 9th in the mile at the 2026 NCAA Indoor Championships and 6th in the steeplechase at the 2026 NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Imane Jourji is slightly more of a known quantity, having raced at the 2025 cross country national meet. However, she was quietly almost as effective on the track as her more well-known teammates. The Moroccan JUCO transfer ran 9:46 (3k), 16:46 (5k) and 35:48 (10k) earlier this year.
Riya Keshaw has placed 13th at the Southeast Regional XC Championships each of the past two years. She's not as accomplished on the track as the aforementioned women, but she's a sub-5:00 miler with a 9:52 (3k) PR.
Guillemette Vincent is the newcomer with the best chance of breaking up that incredible group of returners. The French freshman ran 10:28 over the barriers and water pits as a 17-year-old this summer (which would've gotten her into the D2 outdoor national meet. Marks of 4:34 (1500) and 9:42 (3k) prove that she's no one-trick pony.
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Three of the women who we've mentioned won't make Wingate's varsity lineup. Let that sink in.
The Bulldogs only lost Ona Alonso (their seventh runner at the national meet) from last year's final varsity lineup. Steeplechase star Sira Bo has also graduated, but she didn't race at the 2025 cross country national meet. This squad has youth-based upside via the Bester twins, Mesman and Jourji, veteran stability in Brooks, Hriche, Sanchez and Keshaw, and high-upside track stars with great potential on the grass (Vincent and Garret).
Wingate has more answers than anybody else. Assuming that Kiara Bester is healthy after missing a few months on the track, the Bulldogs also have the up-front scoring potency to rival essentially anyone. All of that has Wingate as our preseason favorite to win the NCAA team title.
