TSR's "If Everything Was Normal" D2 XC Top 10 Teams (Men): #8 Augusta Jaguars

Relative newbies on the national scene in comparison to D2 juggernauts like Adams State and Grand Valley State, the Jaguars from Augusta, Georgia have made it to the NCAA Championships for three years straight now.

Coming out of the Peach Belt conference, they have been able to join the ranks of fellow Southeast regional teams such as Queens (N.C.) and Mount Olive on a list of up and coming squads that are playing an increasingly larger role on national scene.

After a incredibly positive ending to their 2019 cross country season, the Jags look like they'll continue to be a problem for their Division II foes whenever they return to competition.

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Back from their historic 9th place finish at last year's national meet are six out of their seven runners. That fact alone is why we have this team ranked at TSR #8.

Jacob Poston, the top finisher for the Jaguars throughout last fall, came just eight spots away from being an All-American last year. The brother duo of Chase and Chandler Kennedy occupied the second and third spots on the team while Hunter Kimball and Kai Brickey normally rounded out the scoring. Hans Troyer is the final returner who boasts extensive varsity experience.

With so many returners who now have championship experience and the confidence of running well on the national stage, the Jags have to be looking at another historic year whenever they next toe the line.

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While some may have been surprised to see Augusta at last year's national meet, those that followed the team from the beginning of the season likely were not.

At the Queen City Invite, Augusta brought home the hardware, beating Southeast regional rivals Flagler and Anderson in the process.

About a month later, competing against Flagler and UNC Pembroke at the Peach Belt Conference meet, the Jags finished 3-5-6-7-8-9-10, locking down another victory with a nice up front scorer and an overwhelming pack that followed shortly after.

Another victory under their belt likely gave them the avalanching confidence that they needed heading into the regional and national meets where the distance was bumped up to 10,000 meters.

At the Southeast Regional Championships, the depth of Queens (N.C.) proved to be the difference maker as Augusta fell just short of the regional title, 43 to 47. However, when you consider how strong the Royals had proven to be, this was a very encouraging result which truthfully validated initial suspicions that the Jaguars could be competitive on the national stage.

Sure enough, when the dust settled in Sacramento and the team scores were tallied, they ended up in 9th place overall, crowding the top-100 with finishes of 48-58-77-86 while their fifth scorer finished in 126th place.

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Jacob Poston led this group all year long, starting with his 2nd place finish at the Queen City Invite. Losing at the line to eventual All-American Mathew Chesum of Benedict, he rebounded a month later at his conference meet where he finished 3rd to the UNC Pembroke duo of Joshua Chepkesir and Silus Kipkoech.

We feel confident that Poston can be an All-American runner. In larger fields, any improvements he makes can still have a significant impact in the team scoring, a rarity for top runners on highly-ranked teams. However, just replicating his consistency from last fall will help this team remain at the top of Division II.

As for the Kennedy brothers, they were consistent scorers for this Augusta team throughout last fall. Starting at the Peach Belt Championships where Chase finished a mere spot ahead of Chandler, they took 5th and 6th, respectively. At the Southeast regional meet, Chase posted another top five finish by finishing 4th overall. Not too far behind his brother was Chandler who finished in 7th with a time of 31:31 for 10,000 meters.

Having experience and veteran consistency in the middle portion of this lineup should not be overlooked. They'll need to make improvements, but the Kennedy brothers offer reliability at the second and third scoring spots of this varsity lineup, an aspect is often overlooked in terms of importance.

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We then come to Hunter Kimball, Kai Brickey and Hans Troyer who all return for the Jags to provide some much needed depth behind the likes of Poston and the Kennedy's.

Kimball, Brickey and Troyer’s first race as a unit occurred at the Queen City Invite where they all finished in the top-10 to lead Augusta to victory for the first time. Outdoing their Queen City performance at the Peach Belt Championship, the trio once again finished in the top-10. Their top 10 performances helped Augusta claim their first conference title since 2017.

These three will be the X-factors when competition returns as they will look to minimize their top-five time spread. Admittedly, they do need someone to step up and fill the scoring hole left behind by Jacob Burgamy.

We also can't ignore the addition of freshman Mikias Mekonen. He ran 15:31 for 5000 meters during his time in high school and has had plenty of success on the grass. The rookie could be a key name to watch as he gives this team even more depth.

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With plenty of returners, Augusta had a strong chance at challenging for a Southeast crown this season as they were likely looking to win their regional title for the first time in school history. Admittedly, their regular season competition during 2019 wasn't incredibly strong, so we only have one true race to gauge (the NCAA Championships) when it comes to this year's preseason rankings.

Even so, this team hasn't given us a reason to doubt them and everything we've seen from them says that they'll continue to be a nationally competitive program.

It's easy to get distracted by the titans of the distance running scene such as Adams State, Grand Valley State and a few others. However, Augusta could very easily be David in a division full of Goliaths.