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TSR's 2026 Preseason D3 XC Top 10 Team Rankings (Men): #3 SUNY Geneseo Knights
Written by Katie Hirsche, edits & additional commentary via Gavin Struve
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.
Let's just get the bad news out of the way, first: Superstar ace Ryan Hagan isn’t returning to SUNY Geneseo, instead transferring to the Division One level and joining the Virginia Tech men.
So how is it that the Knights ranked so high entering the fall of 2026?
Well, a mix of All-American returners being paired with fairly solid depth, as well as a knack for peaking in the postseason, could mean a return to the podium for the SUNY Geneseo men come November.
In our eyes, this team has one of the best 1-2 punches in Division Three this fall. And, with enough continuity from last year's NCAA XC Championship runner-up squad, the Knights shouldn't fall off much even after losing their legendary lead scorer.
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Last fall, the Knights opened their season in earnest with the full varsity squad at the Harry F. Anderson Invitational, dominating the race with 28 points.
On that stage, Hagan and Emerson Comer finished together to go 1-2 while Collin Brown placed 5th, and the depth behind them sealed the deal with Michael Taranto placing 11th. Connor Hitt, Ian Zehnder and Thomas Blake went 14-15-16, respectively.
Of course, far greater challenges lied ahead for this Division Three power, and that was plenty evident when they traveled to Lehigh University.
The SUNY Geneseo men took on the hyper-competitive “Gold” Race at the Paul Short Run, finishing behind Johns Hopkins as the second-best Division Three team in that section. There, Hagan placed 22nd to emerge as a lethal low-stick, while Comer ran well for 98th place. Brown (129th) and Taranto (196th) made the top-200 of very competitive field, while Hitt closed out the scoring somewhat efficiently in 206th place.
Overall, it was a respectable outing for the SUNY Geneseo men. Even so, it was difficult to gauge just how good this group was given that their competition was largely made up of non-Division Three teams.
The Knights again finished behind Johns Hopkins at the Connecticut College Invitational, as well as Tufts. Hagan was the runner-up behind eventual NCAA champion, Emmanuel Leblond, and Comer was in great form to place 5th place, offeringh a secondary low-stick.
However, the biggest development was that Pierce Young made his season debut in a big way, finishing in 16th place. Not only that, but Brown (31st) bridged the gap between the top-three and Hitt, who finished back in 79th place in what was a bit of an "off" day for him.
Sure, that scoring fall-off wasn’t great, but the Knights managed to reduce the damage at the end of the day and place 3rd in a highly competitive setting.
The Empire 8 XC Championships brought an easy win with very little to analyze. Then, at the Niagara regional meet, the Knights put their entire top-seven in the top-25, including four in the top-seven, to dominate the field. That result gave them an automatic bid to the 2025 cross country national meet where they were simply outstanding.
Despite the Niagara regional meet being cold and the national meet being hot, the Knights didn’t miss a step when it really mattered as they saved far their best finish (by far) for last.
The Knights upset the ultra-deep Wartburg men by one point to finish as the runner-up squad at the NCAA XC Championship. Hagan had an outstanding race to take 4th place while Comer (15th) and Young (29th) joined him as potent All-Americans.
However, maybe more importantly, Anson Butler had the race of his career to place 41st out of nowhere, while Brown (76th) was one of the best fifth scorers at the national meet.
At the end of the day, while other teams had trouble and fell back in the heat, SUNY Geneseo reduced scoring gaps and had athletes produce the best races of their lives to earn team silver on the nation's biggest stage.
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Yes, we can recognize that Ryan Hagan doesn’t return to the team this fall. Not only that, but Anson Butler graduated. Even so, in the eyes of The Stride Report, the Knights are still, on paper, very much a top-three team in Division Three.
Emerson Comer not only was a top-half cross country All-American last fall, but he also placed 8th over 5000 meters at the 2026 indoor national meet and 8th in the 3000-meter steeplechase at the 2026 outdoor national meet. He also would have made the 10,000-meter field at the outdoor national meet via his 29:53 (10k) PR, but chose to defer that event.
Comer is expected to be one of the most potent low-sticks in D3 this season. He came in at TSR #4 in our preseason individual rankings and now has tons of experience under his legs. Truthfully, it's hard to dislike any aspect of his resume.
We then come to Pierce Young (TSR #7), who was a national champion in the DMR and qualified for the 5000 meters at both the indoor and outdoor national meets earlier this year, running as fast as 14:08 (5k). He placed 7th, one spot ahead of Comer, at the outdoor national meet in the 3000-meter steeplechase.
Put simply, Comer and Young are two highly experienced stars. And, maybe more importantly, they are more-than-accustomed to battling against the nation's biggest names, making for a dangerous 1-2 punch for the Knights.
We then come to Collin Brown who wasn't as successful as those men on the track. However, after running PRs of 14:43 (5k) and 30:20 (10k) earlier this year, it's not out of the question to think he could give the Knights a third All-American even with Hagan and Butler gone.
Remember, Brown was a quietly awesome middle-lineup scorer who often came through in major fields. If he was already a top-80 national meet finisher last fall, then what can he do in 2026 as a noticeably stronger runner?
Thomas Blake, 183rd at the 2025 cross country national meet, improved his 5k PR to a similar 14:42 this past spring. He seems to be in line for a clear step up on the cross country course, which the Knights will need given that they have depth questions despite returning five varsity runners.
Connor Hitt came fairly close to national qualification over 1500 meters with a 3:50 PR this past spring. He again slots in as a projected backend scorer. Mike Taranto finished ahead of both Hitt and Blake at the Paul Short Run last fall, but ended his season shortly after that. After finishing as the Empire 8 Conference runner-up over 10,000 meters this spring, he should be a varsity mainstay.
We should also note that SUNY Geneseo fielded their sub-varsity runners in a six-kilometer rust-buster on September 4th. After finishing runner-up in that opener, Jake Gaudette -- 4:20 (mile) and 9:22 (3200) PRs -- looks the most likely among the freshmen to push for a varsity spot.
We're also not ruling out junior Ethan Becker, who ran 14:50 (5k) the last time we saw him, or James Tette, the reigning Empire 8 Conference cross country runner-up who also has a sub-15:00 (5k) PR.
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We’re clearly very high on the Knights coming into this season, and for good reason. Comer and Young are among the best 1-2 punches in Division Three. Having two top-10 runners in the nation could make it feel like SUNY Geneseo only has to score three-to-four runners at most meets.
The key will be those backend scorers delivering in a big way. Brown, Blake, Hitt and Taranto all have valuable varsity experience, but the latter three men need to take a leap in order to close the gap and keep SUNY Geneseo in podium contention.
However, if you only walk away with one piece of analysis from this article, it's that Coach Dan Moore and his staff have often turned "good" teams into "great" teams. The Knights are no strangers when it comes to peaking for the postseason and the supporting cast of SUNY Geneseo is almost always better than we usually expect them to be.
They have the pieces, on paper, to make some major noise with a number of sub-15:00 guys on their roster. Now, we just need to see them all fall into place.
