.png)
UPDATED XC Top 50 Individuals: Week 4 (9/25)
- Admin (Garrett Zatlin)
- Sep 25, 2017
- 6 min read
KEY
(Wasn’t Ranked): Was not ranked the week before.
(#/#):
First number indicates how much the individual has moved in the rankings. A plus (with green) means they have improved in the rankings. A minus (with red) means they have regressed in the rankings. Colors may not show on mobile.
The second number indicates where they were ranked the week before.
50. Jeff Thies, Rs. Senior, Portland (-2 / 48)
49. Clark Ruiz, Rs. Senior, Michigan State (Wasn't Ranked)
After an unexciting 6th place finish at the Spartan Invite, Ruiz came up big at Roy Griak. Ruiz led his team with a 4th place finish overall to defeat some very solid and underrated names. He showed a lot of promise this past spring after running an impressive personal best of 28:52 in the 10k. He is clearly building on that fitness and it is showing in the results.
48. Andrew Ronoh, Junior, Arkansas (-2 / 46)
47. Jacob Burcham, Rs. Senior, Oklahoma (-2 / 45)
46. Andy Trouard, Rs. Senior, Northern Arizona (-2 / 44)
45. Garrett Reynolds, Sophomore, UCLA (Wasn't Ranked)
After Brandt was dropped by Mock with a little under a mile to go, Reynolds slowly began to make up ground and caught his teammate in the final straightaway to steal 2nd overall. After a tremendous freshman track season, Reynolds has established himself as another potential low-stick who can contend with some of the best in the nation. Expect to see more impressive finishes from him throughout the rest of this season.
44. Emmanuel Rotich, Junior, Tulane (-1 / 43)
43. Gabe Arias-Sheridan, Senior, St. Mary's (Cal) (-1 / 42)
42. Arsene Guillorel, Senior, Samford (-1 / 41)
41. Mike Tate, Rs. Senior, Southern Utah (-1 / 40)
40. Miguel Bautista, Senior, Texas Tech (-1 / 39)
39. Amon Kemboi, Rs. Freshman, Campbell (Wasn't Ranked)
Kemboi may not have been ranked, but it's no surprise to see that he's doing so well. The redshirt freshman came across the line with teammate Lawrence Kipkoech to take the individual title at Panorama Farms. It was an impressive debut and a solid indicator of what's to come from him as the season progresses.
38. Euan Makepeace, Rs. Sophomore, Butler (0 / 38)
37. Jacob Thomson, Rs. Senior, Kentucky (0 / 37)
36. Ben Flanagan, Rs. Senior, Michigan (-1 / 35)
35. Robert Brandt, Junior, UCLA (+1 / 36)
Despite Brandt finishing 3rd overall and one spot behind his teammate, the UCLA junior had a very strong performance and gave Mock a tough time through the first four miles. Brandt will obviously need to work on his strength in the final moments of the race, but Mock is a tough competitor who will make even the best runners struggle. This race was entertaining because Brandt didn't stand down from the challenge and because of that I'm at least going to give him a one place improvement in our rankings.
34. Brent Demarest, Rs. Junior, Virginia (-4 / 30)
It was a respectable season opener for Demarest who finished 4th overall at Panorama Farms. Still, I was looking for him to contend a bit more with Kemboi and Kipkoech. With that in mind, it's only the first race of the season and this was by no means a bad race. I am eager to see how he handles a bigger field though...
33. Brian Barraza, Rs. Senior, Houston (+1 / 34)
Barraza made a strong statement in his first race of the season at the Texas A&M Invite. The Houston fifth year out-classed Texas A&M's Alex Riba to take home the win. I'll be excited to see how he performs at Pre-Nats.
32. Conor Lundy, Sophomore, Princeton (+1 / 33)
31. Thomas Pollard, Rs. Sophomore, Iowa State (+1 / 32)
30. Aaron Baumgarten, Rs. Senior, Michigan (+1 / 31)
29. Michael Williams, Senior, Washington State (0 / 29)
28. Philo Germano, Rs. Senior, Syracuse (0 / 28)
It wasn't anything special, but Germano got the job done by finishing alongside his teammates in 4th place overall at the Coast-to-Coast Battle at Beantown. It seems like Syracuse was focusing on their pack-running so it may not be fair to say that this was an all-out effort.
27. Cory Glines, Rs. Senior, Northern Arizona (0 / 27)
26. Jonah Koech, Junior, UTEP (0 / 26)
25. Chartt Miller, Rs. Senior, Iona (0 / 25)
24. Gilbert Kirui, Senior, Iona (0 / 24)
23. Gilbert Kigen, Junior, Alabama (0 / 23)
22. Vincent Kiprop, Junior, Alabama (0 / 22)
21. Sean Tobin, Senior, Mississippi (0 / 21)
20. Yusuke Uchikoshi, Senior, Boise State (0 / 20)
19. Rory Linkletter, Junior, BYU (0 / 19)
18. Alfred Chelanga, Junior, Alabama (0 / 18)
17. Matthew Maton, Junior, Oregon (0 / 17)
16. John Dressel, Junior, Colorado (0 / 16)
15. Joe Klecker, Rs. Sophomore, Colorado (0 / 15)
14. Tyler Day, Junior, Northern Arizona (0 / 14)
13. Jack Bruce, Senior, Arkansas (0 / 13)
12. Jacob Choge, Sophomore, Middle Tennessee State (0 / 12)
11. Hassan Abdi, Senior, Oklahoma State (0 / 11)
10. Lawrence Kipkoech, Rs. Junior, Campbell (0 / 10)
Kipkoech was runner-up to teammate Amon Kemboi at Panorama Farms this past weekend. The Campbell redshirt junior did his job and crossed the line with Kemboi to give the Camels a lethal 1-2 punch. The results may say that Kipkoech lost, but if you look at the times, it seems pretty clear that Kemboi and Kipkoech crossed the line together. Overall, it was a great opener for one of the best runners in the nation.
9. Jonathan Green, Rs. Senior, Georgetown (0 / 9)
8. Dillon Maggard, Senior, Utah State (0 / 8)
7. Colin Bennie, Senior, Syracuse (0 / 7)
Bennie was the top finisher in Syracuse's pack-running effort when he placed 3rd overall. As I mentioned with Germano, there's not a whole lot to analyze here. We'll get a better idea of what this team is capable of at Wisconsin.
6. Jerrell Mock, Rs. Senior, Colorado State (0 / 6)
Mock put together an impressive win at Roy Griak after essentially leading wire-to-wire and dropping UCLA's Robert Brandt with one mile to go. Although the performance was a dominating one, this was pretty much expected out of Mock who finished 2nd at Roy Griak in 2015 and later took 1st in 2016. This course has been awfully kind to him throughout his collegiate racing career.
5. Matthew Baxter, Rs. Senior, Northern Arizona (0 / 5)
4. Alex George, Senior, Arkansas (0 / 4)
3. Morgan McDonald, Senior, Wisconsin (0 / 3)
2. Grant Fisher, Junior, Stanford (0 / 2)
1. Justyn Knight, Senior, Syracuse (0 / 1)
We didn't see Justyn Knight this weekend at the Battle in Beantown, but that was expected for a guy who was still racing in early August. Look for Knight to make this debut at the Wisconsin Invite in a few weeks.
ADDED
#49 Clark Ruiz (Michigan State)
#45 Garrett Reynolds (UCLA)
#39 Amon Kemboi (Campbell)
DROPPED
Ryan Robinson (Michigan State) (Formerly #50)
Cerake Geberkidane (Oklahoma State) (Formerly #49)
Evan Stifel (Ohio State) (Formerly #47)
JUST MISS (in no order)
James Quattlebaum (Clemson)
Meshack Kipruto (Campbell)
Evan Stifel (Ohio State)
Iliass Aouani (Syracuse)
Thomas Ratcliffe (Stanford)
Andrew Marston (Villanova)
Lachlan Cook (Virginia)
Colby Gilbert (Washington)
Cole Rockhold (Colorado State)
Michael Ward (Bradley)
Chase Weaverling (Virginia)
Zach Perrin (Colorado)
Jonathan Harper (BYU)
Grant Fischer (Colorado State)
WHO TO WATCH (in no order)
Tom Nobles (Charlotte)
Kigen Chemadi (MTSU)
Peter Lomong (NAU)
Jesse Reiser (Illinois)
Jonathan Davis (Illinois)
Festus Lagat (Iowa State)
Ethan Gonzales (Colorado)
Eduardo Herrera (Colorado)
Cameron Griffith (Arkansas)
Frank Lara (Furman)
Michael Vennard (Boise State)
Kasey Knevelbaard (Southern Utah)
Ben Young (Kentucky)
Colin Abert (Penn State)
Cornelius Kapel (UTEP)
Ryan Thomas (Columbia)
Sean Torpy (Miami, OH)
Trent Powell (Colorado State)
Clayson Shumway (BYU)
SURPRISE OF THE WEEK
James Quattlebaum (Clemson): If there was a ranking for the 51st individual, Quattlebaum would most definitely be in that spot. We knew this kid had talent, but placing 3rd overall at Panorama Farms far exceeded my expectations. This guy has taken his fitness to a new level and I am eagerly hoping that he has another performance like that later in the season. I will wait to see how some of the performances play out next week before I determine if he deserves a spot in our Top 50.
RUNNER OF THE WEEK
Jerrell Mock (Colorado State): As I mentioned in the rankings above, his win was impressive, but it didn't come as a surprise for most. Jerrell Mock is truly that good and I firmly believe in his ranking at #6. Hopefully he can hang with the top pack at Wisconsin in a few weeks.
NOTES
- Illinois' Jesse Reiser and Jonathan Davis gave the Fighting Illini' a nice 1-2 punch at the Battle in Beantown. Those two looked awfully strong and could be the low-sticks that Illinois needs to be competitive this year. That said, I'd like to see how they perform in a larger field against competition that is going 100% all-out before I place them in our Top 50.
- Meshack Kipruto finished 4th overall at Panorama Farms. In our Predictions & Previews article, I mentioned that Campbell could potentially find another foreign distance star to help boost their program. Kipruto looks like he might be that guy...
- Tom Nobles and Mihret Coulter of Charlotte both had nice performances at Panorama Farms by placing 6th and 8th respectively. Nobles strikes me a potential candidate to qualify for NCAA's this fall.
- Michigan State's Ruiz, Benoit, and Beadlescomb placed 4th, 5th, and 6th at Roy Griak. If they can have another repeat performance like that, I won't hesitate to place them in our Top 50 (if I deem that there is enough room). Of course, accomplishing a repeat performance like that will be much more difficult at a larger invitational like Wisconsin.
