TSR's "If Everything Was Normal" D2 XC Top 10 Teams (Women): #9 Hillsdale Chargers

The second team in our D2 women's rankings are the Chargers from Hillsdale College. They finished the 2019 season as the 11th place team at the NCAA Championships and were just 20 points back from a top-10 result.

However, despite that 11th place result, we actually think that this team could have earned an even better finish in Sacramento if a couple of performances went as expected.

Even so, this team is returning six of their top seven runners from the NCAA meet last season. They have the right personnel to make some serious noise (whenever they return to competition) as well as plenty of experience.

If you're looking for an underrated team, keep an eye out for the Hillsdale women.

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Some notable team performances from these women include an 11th place finish at Joe Piane in the Gold race, a 1st place result at the G-MAC Championships and a 4th place finish at the Midwest Regionals Championships, just a single point behind Walsh.

Maryssa Depies finishing 122nd at last year's NCA Championships wasn't ideal and we think she could have given this team a major boost in the team scoring if she was at her best in Sacramento. Her 43rd place finish in the Joe Piane Gold race, along with a 3rd place result at the G-MAC Championships, suggests that she could have been well within the top-100 at the national meet last year.

Depies was typically very consistent during her freshman and sophomore seasons and we believe it’s a safe bet for her to replicate that consistency (and progression) this fall.

Christina Sawyer also didn't have a great race at the NCAA meet despite strong performances throughout last season at Joe Piane (52nd), the G-MAC Championships (17th) and the Midwest Regional Championships (28th). Sawyer holds personal bests of 17:15 in the 5000 meters and 9:54 in the 3000 meters which suggests that she is far better than her 168th finish at the NCAA Championships.

We then come to Sophia Maeda who is Hillsdale's top returner from the 2019 NCAA meet where she finished a very respectable 73rd place overall.

Maeda was up and down throughout the 2019 cross country season and that is shown by her placing 106th at Joe Piane, 6th at the G-MAC Championships and then 52nd at the Midwest Regional Championships. It was truthfully a bit of a surprise that she was the top runner for the Chargers at the national meet, but it also tells us that she probably has a ton of untapped potential.

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The last three runners of this team consisted of two freshmen and a sophomore. Another year in a collegiate system already tells us that they'll be better, which is huge for someone like Gwynne Riley, a current sophomore who finished 88th at the NCAA Championships last fall.

Claire McNally and Meg Scheske were underclassmen last year and were able gain some valuable championship experience as well. McNally put together a respectable cross country season and went on to run 17:35 for 5000 meters on the indoor track -- a nice result for someone who may only be the team's fourth or fifth scorer this year.

The same can be said for Scheske who ran a new personal best of 17:58 for 5000 meters this past winter after a decent, but quiet cross country season. Now in her second year of collegiate competition, she should be able to use her experience to her benefit.

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The loss of 2018 All-American Arena Lewis is tough as she was a key veteran responsible for a lot of crucial scoring on this tea last fall. Even so, this group has a lot of options and we saw some promising progression from a few ladies over the past year.

The fact that they also could've been significantly better than their 11th place finish from the National Championships last year is also encouraging and tells us that this group should be able to emulate the success they had last fall.

The tail-end of this lineup is still to be determined, but Hillsdale has had a strong program for the past few years. Expect to see them challenge some competitive programs whenever they return to competition.