TSR's "If Everything Was Normal" D2 XC Top 10 Teams (Women): #4 Augustana (S.D.) Vikings

Rarely does a team finish 6th at the NCAA Championships without having at least one of their runners finish as an All-American. But interestingly enough, that was exactly the case for the Vikings during the 2019 cross country season.

This year's group was expected to return every runner from their 2019 team which took home gold at both Roy Griak and the Central Regional Championships.

Rather than having a one defined low-stick out front to lead the group, the Vikings functioned by committee. Early in the year, Claire Boersma led the Augustana women, specifically at Roy Griak and the Northern Sun Championships. However, turning it on during the championship season was Nicolette Schmidt as she led the way at the Central Regional Championships and the NCAA Championships.

Either way, Augustana has a very young team that is only going to get better as time goes on.

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Between Boersma and Schmidt, this team has two interchangeable low-sticks who are at least capable of finishing as All-Americans on the right day. However, let's not let the talent of those two women overshadow Cait Savey who is arguably just as good. She placed 5th at Roy Griak and 53rd at the NCAA Championships. Her performance at the Lewis Crossover meet wasn't great, but for the most part, she was a consistent top scorer for this team.

We then come to the Rairdon sisters, Rachel and Rebekah. These two have been instrumental in elevating this program to a top 10 finish nationally after the Vikings didn't even qualify for Nationals as a team in 2016. Rebekah was the 61st place finisher at the NCAA Championships last fall while Rachel was 68th. The duo also placed 7th and 8th at the Central Regional Championships after finishing 12th and 13th in the Roy Griak Maroon race.

In other words, Rachel and Rebekah are very consistent and provide clutch scoring stability. These two are the reasons why it will be hard for any team to upset the Vikings.

Providing additional depth is the dual threat of Haylee Waterfall and Patty Jo English.

English had a particularly quiet (but solid) freshman campaign. Although she was the team's sixth woman all year long, she earned second-team Northern Sun honors and had the best race of her season after placing 72nd at NCAA's. She may go unnoticed across the country, but she should be on everyone’s radar as someone who can contribute mightily in the future.

As for Waterfall, she was very similar to Savey as she consistently posted strong results throughout last year with the exception of the Lewis Crossover. Placing 10th at Roy Griak (Maroon race) and 78th at the NCAA Championships were the highlights of her season.

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The Vikings boast a team full of promising young talent which has consistently produced better than most teams, no matter how big or small the stage is.

Led by Schimdt, Boersma, Savey and a handful of others, one could argue that no team in the country displays better depth and pack-running than the ladies from Augustana. That should help them avoid any upsets or excessive scoring in larger invitationals.

This team will need a couple of All-Americans at the national meet (whenever that is) in order to truly compete with the D2 powerhouses. Even so, they have all of the necessary talent to battle with some of the nation's best teams.