TSR's "If Everything Was Normal" D2 XC Top 10 Teams (Men): #9 Alabama-Huntsville Chargers

We spent a LONG time debating what order we should put the men of Alabama-Huntsville and Lee (Tenn.) in for our preseason rankings.

Last fall, UAH took down the Lee Flames at their conference, regional and national meets. However, the Flames didn't have Christian Noble in those races, a caveat which changes the narrative quite a bit.

At the same time, UAH just down Lee (rather handily) this past weekend. However, one could argue that the men of Lee are better suited for larger invitationals.

But after extensive debate, we opted to give the nod to the team that has come out on top the last four times these two programs have faced off. Is there an argument for Lee to secure our TSR #9 spot? Probably, but sometimes, you just have to respect what the results tell you.

And as of right now, they tell us that UAH is the better team

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Last year's UAH team was admittedly rather quiet, but that doesn't mean that they didn't run well. Their 2019 regular season was highlighted by a very respectable 5th place finish at the Lewis Crossover meet as they finished ahead of numerous national qualifying teams such as Cal State San Marcos, Colorado Christian, Sioux Falls and Walsh.

The Chargers later went on to take down the Lee Flames at both the Gulf South Championships and the South Regional Championships. Heading into the national meet, UAH had put together an underappreciated string of results which made them one of the better teams in the country.

A 19th place finish at the NCAA Championships wasn't what they wanted in their trip to Sacramento, but this was still a squad that, on paper, had a ton of potential and promise coming into 2020.

One very unique aspect of this group is that they don't necessarily have a true front-runner or low-stick, although Jay Day did have his moments as a top scorer for this team.

Instead, this program relied on strong pack-running, depth and consistency.

They didn't have anyone finish inside the top-20 at last year's Lewis Crossover meet, but they did finish 23-29-31-44-46 in a field that consisted of 423 individual athletes. At the South Regional Championships, they finished 4-6-10-13-19.

Now, admittedly, when it came to certain meets like the Gulf South Championships and the NCAA Championships, their top three scorers and final two scorers were sometimes separated by a relatively large gap in the results, but their results were about as expected.

Even so, this is a team with a lot to like and it's hard to ignore the fact that they return nine of their top 10 runners from last year.

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We mentioned the promise that we have seen from Jay Day as a potential low-stick scorer for this team, but Allan Anderson was the Chargers' top scorer at the NCAA Championships last fall, earning a 66th place finish as only a freshman. When paired with Day and given another year of experience, Anderson looks like a potential All-American contender whenever the national meet returns.

Harold LaCroix is another key name to keep in mind as he was a consistent scorer for this team throughout last fall, finishing 33rd at Lewis Crossover, 3rd at the Gulf South Championships, 10th at the South regional meet and then 97th at the NCAA Championships. In other words, he consistently produced and gave this team plenty of stability in the scoring.

The rest of this lineup doesn't necessarily have a set order, but we saw a handful of runners step up throughout the season such as John Bishop and Alex Herbst. They were often flanked by current sophomores Caleb Boys and Alex Ponce, but could be joined by guys like Hunter Nails and Gabe Henneberger later this fall.

They may have lost Benjamin Knox, but his expiration of eligibility isn't expected to be the downfall of this team. This roster is extremely deep and the backend of last year's group was very young. The Chargers have a nice mix of experience and upside, and without any true low-sticks, that means that they still have major room for improvement.

Simply put, there may not be a team in Division II with a higher ceiling than Alabama-Huntsville.

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Admittedly, the need to find a true All-American contender will be pivotal for this group if they want to reach the next tier of competition in large, nationally competitive fields (which likely won't be happening this fall).

Even so, their early-season trouncing of a very good Lee (Tenn.) was a great sign that they'll be as good as we think they can be this fall.