TSR's "If Everything Was Normal" D3 Top 20 XC Rankings: #5-1 (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.

5. Kassie Rosenbum, Senior, Loras

Rosenbum has shown time and time again what she can do on both the track and the grass. She finished 5th at the national meet last fall after a solid, consistent season where she earned a handful of top finishes.

The Loras veteran finished 1st or 2nd at almost every meet leading up to Nationals, with the exception of her 4th place finish at the National Catholic Invitational where she was the top D3 finisher.

She has earned All-American honors twice in cross country and twice during outdoor track, including a clutch performance at the 2019 Outdoor National Championships. She entered the meet seeded at #7 in the 10k and #11 in the 5k, but surprised a lot of people by winning the 10k national title and finishing 6th in the 5k.

The rising senior also has a great deal of range, having run 4:58 in the mile.

Her resume speaks for itself and had the cross country season gone forward, she certainly would have recorded another high finish at the 2020 national meet.

4. Danielle Page, Junior, Tufts

Page had an impressive 2019 cross country season as the leader of a young Tufts team. As just a sophomore, she recorded top three finishes at highly competitive meets such as Connecticut College Invite, the NESCAC Championships and New England Regional Championships.

When facing the biggest names in the country, she held her own with an outstanding 6th place finish at the National Championships.

She followed that up with a big season on the oval, running 9:55 for 3000 meters and a (possibly more impressive) time of 16:51 for 5000 meters. That 5k result was a PR by almost a minute, and proved to be the third-fastest mark in the country last winter behind Parley Hannan and Genny Corcoran.

Despite the transfer of teammate Sabrina Gornisciewicz to Northwestern, Tufts was set to make a significant improvement on their 8th place team finish from last year as four of their top seven were considered freshmen.

There is no doubt that Danielle Page would have been the centerpiece to that exciting young core.

3. Isabel Cardi, Senior, Dickinson

After transferring from Vermont, Cardi has become one of the most successful runners in Division III. She improved massively upon her 76th place finish at Nationals in 2018 to a 3rd place result last fall.

Her consistency throughout the season was almost as impressive as her championship performance as she finished in the top three of every race she toed the line for last year.

During the indoor track season, she ran 9:47 for 3000 meters which was enough for the NCAA #2 spot on the D3 national leaderboard. She also ran 17:16 for 5000 meters at the NYU DIII Invitational at the Armory where she swept the top three spots with her teammates.

Cardi has established herself as a household name in Division III after taking some time to transition from the D1 level. If not for the cancellation of competition due to COVID, there is no doubt that she would have been one of the title contenders in 2020 and a probable top-three finisher in Terre Haute.

2. Kaitlyn Mooney, Senior, Coast Guard

Mooney had some injury problems last fall, but still ended up competing in the postseason. While she certainly wasn’t at 100% in November, she stepped up and did what she had to do for her team, especially with teammate Laurel Felt unable to compete at the New England Regional Championships.

The Coast Guard ace managed to put together enough of a race to qualify for the National Championships as an individual and did enough to earn All-American honors with a 34th place finish.

Mooney was absent from competition during the 2020 indoor track season, but counting her out as a theoretical title contender this fall would have been a mistake. We all know what a healthy Kaitlyn Mooney can do when she's at her best. She has performed consistently for the Bears throughout her career and has garnered some serious accolades that match up with the best (4th place at 2017 NCAA XC Championships, 2018 5k national champion, 8x All-American, personal bests of 9:27 (3k) and 16:23 (5k), etc.).

She’s a tough competitor who knows how to win, and if the 2020 cross country season had been unchanged, Mooney likely would have been Hannan’s primary challenger.

1. Parley Hannan, Junior, Ithaca

There are many reasons why we have picked Hannan for our TSR #1 spot, the main one being that she is better than everyone else. Shocker.

The Ithaca ace was absolutely dominant last fall, taking home wins almost every time she toed the line. She finished off her breakout season by running away from the field at the National Championships to earn a convincing victory.

Hannan kept her momentum going through the indoor track season, going undefeated against D3 competition and running nation-leading personal bests of 4:53 (mile), 9:34 (3k) and 16:05 (5k). She was also the anchor for Ithaca’s DMR which ended the season ranked at NCAA #1 for D3.

Hannan has put together a remarkable streak of results over the past year, not losing an individual race to D3 competition since September of 2019. Right now, there doesn’t seem to be anybody who is on her level, so she certainly would have been the clear title favorite this fall had the season gone on as scheduled.