TSR's "If Everything Was Normal" D2 Top 25 XC Rankings: #25-21 (Women)

As mentioned in our rankings rubric article, we are aware that certain conferences and universities will not be competing this fall due to ongoing concerns surrounding COVID-19. However, for the sake of content, we have constructed these rankings as if a regular cross country season will happen.

25. Claire Boersma, Senior, Augustana (S.D.)

The 2019 cross country season was a good one for the Augustana runner as she put together a handful of great performances. However, she also showed some inconsistency as well.

Boersma had an excellent 2nd place finish at Roy Griak and then quietly finished in 15th place at the Lewis Crossover. She rebounded at the NSIC Championships where she placed 3rd, but after finishing 10th in the Central region, she ended her season with a 65th place finish at Nationals.

Despite a few hiccups, Boersma still had a strong 2019 cross country season where she showed glimpses of her peak fitness on multiple occasions (specifically at Roy Griak). Her indoor season was a bit uneventful, but her proven endurance and extensive championship experience on the grass has us believing that she is a Top 25 runner in a year where everything is normal.

24. Nicolette Schmidt, Junior, Augustana (S.D.)

Nicolette Schmidt placed 43rd at NCAA’s last fall to improve upon her 75th place finish from the year prior. It was a solid and encouraging result, but one that definitely could have been better when looking at her performances throughout the year.

Schmidt displayed outstanding consistency last year, rarely faltering and always producing no matter how big or small the stage was. Not only did she finish 11th at Roy Griak, but she was also 10th place at the Lewis Crossover meet. A 3rd place finish at the Central Regional Championships led to her finishing just three spots out from All-American honors at the national meet.

The Augustana low-stick also boasts personal bests of 9:57 (3k) and 17:17 (5k) on the track which are worth mentioning as it shows that she's trending in the right direction.

23. Madison Goen, Rs. Senior, Grand Valley State

Goen likely didn’t have the finish that she was hoping for at the 2019 National Championships, ending her season in 74th place in Sacramento, California.

After a slow and uneventful start to the season, Goen began to find a rhythm as she finished 7th at the Lewis Crossover meet and then followed that up with a 4th place finish at the GLIAC Championships. When you tack on a 9th place finish at the Midwest Regional Championships, it's easy to see why we have her ranked.

Although she did finish in 74th place at the 2019 national meet, we feel confident that that was just a fluke. After all, this is the same woman who finished as an All-American in 26th place at the 2018 national meet.

Although a season isn't happening, we were willing to bet that Goen was going to be a top-tier talent once again this fall.

22. Angelina Ronquillo, Rs. Junior, Cal State East Bay

Ronquillo capped off her 2019 cross country season with the best race of her life, finishing 30th at the National Championships.

Leading up to that point, she had finished 9th at the Southern Stampede meet while leading her team to a strong 2nd place result. She later recorded a very encouraging runner-up result at CCAA Championships and then finished 10th at the West Regional Championships before taking down six women ahead of her from that meet at the NCAA Championships.

Ronquillo showed a lot of promise throughout last fall and we were encouraged by her ability to improve as the season went on. She rarely had a bad race, but still has additional room for growth as some performances were clearly better than others.

Regardless, the Cal State East Bay ace is a great name for our XC Top 25.

21. Ashley Corcoran, Junior, Southern New Hampshire

Corcoran came out of nowhere last season to place 26th at the NCAA Championships in what was easily the best performance of her career. She has improved quite a bit over the last few years and that was evident at meets other than the National Championships.

The SNHU ace came away with a runner-up performance at the Northeast-10 Conference Championships last fall and replicated that finish at the East Regional Championships as well. She has also run 9:45 for 3000 meters on the track.

Admittedly, there were moments throughout last fall where we thought she could have been a bit better (Leigh Paul Short Brown race and the NEICAAA Championships), but those weren't necessarily bad performances either.

Overall, we really liked the improvement that we saw from Corcoran last year and we thought she would have been a great name moving forward if the season were to happen.