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Editorial Disclaimer: Much of the content in this site update has been recycled and slightly altered from last year's 2025 XC Summer Rankings Rubric article. Well, it's about that time of the year, huh? Yes, that's right, our summer preseason cross country rankings are BACK! Believe it or not, NCAA cross country racing is only five-ish weeks out from returning. And with our preseason team rankings taking up a heavy portion of that lead-up time, we thought now would be an appropriate moment to introduce our preseason individual rankings. After all, we can only talk about transfers for so long, right? You, the reader, will almost certainly disagree with certain aspects of our rankings. In fact, I would be shocked if you didn't. That, of course, is what makes this so fun. Even so, we wanted to provide our BOOST subscribers with a broad idea of how our summer cross country rankings are constructed in an effort to create some transparency and understanding. That way, you can at least return to this article and say, "This is probably what they were analyzing," if you don't understand a certain decision we made. Yes, much of the language that you're reading below has been recycled from last summer. However, I have made a few tweaks to offer greater clarity. Here we go... The Schedule Our Preseason NCAA D1 XC Top 50 Individuals will officially begin on July 28th. Our D1 "Just Missed" and "Honorable Mention" names will likely be coming tomorrow, July 27th. Our Preseason NCAA D2 & D3 XC Top 25 Individuals will (likely) be starting the following week via a similar schedule. So don't worry, those are definitely on the way! And yes, we are doing NAIA rankings this year! However, we will only be doing so for teams. Our group of NAIA writers is still relatively small. As such, those preseason rankings will look a bit different compared to our NCAA group. For our NAIA rankings, those lists will have less analysis (although we won't discard the analysis, entirely) in favor of ranking more squads. As for our NCAA cross country team rankings, we're still working on those, but they should be coming out shortly after our individual rankings. Just Missed & Honorable Mention Names I always get a question or two about these sections, so I thought I would quickly add a section in this article offering some explanation. The "Just Missed" group is exactly what it sounds like. These athletes are the first set of individuals who barely missed securing a spot inside of our rankings. They are, in the eyes of The Stride Report, slightly better than the "Honorable Mention" names. Our "Honorable Mentions" section is reserved for athletes who weren't quite our first choices to enter our rankings should a spot open up. However, these athletes still felt too accomplished and/or too talented to not even mention. It should also be noted that, for our preseason rankings (not necessarily during the season), we limit our "Just Missed" group to 10 names and our "Honorable Mention" group to 10 names. Creating Rankings Despite Eligibility Uncertainty Creating these summer rankings has been a major test of the mental fortitude of our entire writing staff at The Stride Report. But frankly, that's been the case every year. Trying to figure out who has cross country eligibility, who doesn't have cross country eligibility, who has cross country eligibility but isn't using it and who is appealing for additional eligibility makes these rankings extremely difficult to craft. That has never been more true following the NCAA's recent rule change regarding eligibility which they announced earlier this summer. We have counted the seasons of used eligibility for all of our listed names via TFRRS. We have searched tirelessly for articles, interviews, social media posts, updated rosters and notes indicating who has eligibility and who does not. We have even messaged some athletes throughout the country and we have emailed a ridiculous number of coaches. In other words, we have done everything in our power to ensure that these rankings are as accurate as humanely possible. On paper, I feel pretty confident about our rankings and I think we have a very good chance of getting every returner (and every departure) correct. However, there is a possibility that someone is actually not returning who we didn't catch. There is also a possibility that someone IS returning and we didn't catch them. But for the most part, I like to think that we did an excellent job of checking for eligibility. Sure, not every coach or athlete got back to us, but all things considered, I'm not sure that we could have done much more. Alright, now let's actually talk about the ranking criteria... The NCAA XC Championships Do Not Entirely Dictate How Successful An Athlete's Season Was Let's suppose that Runner X comes into the 2026 cross country season and absolutely dominates. The athlete easily dusts a handful of elite talents during the regular season, cruises through their conference meet and wins their regional meet with no one close by. Then, all of the sudden, that runner unfortunately has an "off" day at the NCAA XC Championships and falls back to 200th place. Are we really going to say that Runner X wasn't a top-five or top-10 runner that season? Not all examples are as extreme (or as easy) as that. But one performance at the national meet is not going to be the sole driving factor of how someone is ranked. The national meet obviously holds the most weight when it comes to the order of our rankings. And yes, there is something to be said about those who perform well on the big stage. Even so, the cross country season is so much more than just one meet. Consistency is a HUGE Factor That We Consider This ties into the above section, but one great race or one bad race isn't going to drastically alter someone's ranking for the entire season. Reliability can make runners extremely valuable. Coaches know what they are going to get out of their more consistent athletes and they can have the comfort of knowing that they will likely not perform below a certain standard. Did you perform well in a smaller meet? Did you perform well in a larger meet? Have you defeated top talents on more than one occasion? Have you shown that you can be competitive in multiple race scenarios? Runners in our top-50 (or top-25) don't necessarily need to hit all of that criteria. Even so, it certainly helps when they show time and time again that they can produce strong results regardless of the races that they are in. And yes, consistency applies to poor performances as well (albeit, not in a favorable manner). Progression, Momentum & Peaking Sometimes, it takes a while for certain athletes to get in a groove. Some athletes perform at a much higher level after they get a few races under their legs. Some coaches are experts at ensuring that their team peaks for the postseason. Some athletes are younger and simply become more comfortable with racing at the collegiate level as the season goes on. If an athlete can show an upwards trend in a positive direction, then we are going to take that into consideration. Momentum is a very real thing when it comes distance running. Athletes on a hot streak are often difficult to take down (i.e. Bryce Hoppel on the track in 2019). The Weight of Regular Season Meets & Postseason Meets Each cross country meet needs to be put into context. If we take a look at last year, then you could make the argument that meets like the Nuttycombe Invite and Pre-Nationals were more competitive than most of the conference meets in the country. It would also be unfair to compare the A-10 or the Horizon League to conferences like the ACC or the BIG 10. To be blunt, those first few conferences are not equal to the latter conferences in terms of their competitiveness. The same can be said for regional meets (although there is usually less disparity). This brings me to our next point... Varying Levels of Competition Some teams can't always travel to larger invitationals like Nuttycombe or Pre-Nationals. We completely understand that. However, we are then forced to put things into perspective. There have been multiple instances where athletes have dominated every (relatively small) meet that they have entered, but then get to the national meet and completely blow up. It's one thing to go undefeated and run super fast during the regular season. However, things are going to be extremely different on the national stage when you're facing a stampede of the greatest collegiate runners that the country has to offer. Lack of Emphasis for Regional Championships Speaking of postseason meets, let's chat about the regional cross country meets for a brief moment, shall we? The regional meets are tough to gauge, mainly because a lot of the best teams and individuals in the country don't always put forth their best effort. This is usually in an attempt to preserve themselves for the NCAA XC Championships. On the other hand, some teams and individuals are going all-out to extend their seasons. Those men and women are fighting for the last few national qualifying spots and are hoping that the Kolas system swings in their favor. Generally speaking, we don't look at the regional meets too heavily (especially at the D1 level). In our opinion, those meets are not truly indicative of what the overall cross country season actually looks like as far as competition is concerned. While we certainly take outstanding performances into consideration, it's rare for us to really look at the nine regional meets and have them be a significant part of our rankings. Analyzing Performances on the Track Do performances from the indoor track and outdoor track seasons play a role in our cross country rankings? Yes, most definitely. Do those performances from the oval have a bigger influence on our rankings than actual cross country results? It's not an exact science, but 90% of the time, I would probably say no. We use marks from the track as indicators of someone's improvement or which direction they'll trend. However, in most cases, performances from the cross country season are the main (but not entire) driver behind someone's ranking. That said, there are going to be instances where someone had a decent cross country season, but didn't really break out until the track season started. Some performances are just too good to ignore and for that reason, someone will usually sneak into our rankings thanks to their fast times on the oval. Absences, Down Years & Injury History Runners are human. Not everyone is going to make massive improvements or even match their performances from a year ago. If an athlete had a great 2024 cross country season, but struggled/underwhelmed in 2025, then we'll still consider them for a spot in our rankings. Talent rarely just disappears and injuries are typically to blame for "down" years. That said, not everyone who was great in 2024 will automatically get a spot in our rankings in 2026. Does this athlete have a history of injuries? If so, how significant were those injuries? And how often was this runner injured? How good were they in 2024? Have they raced at all recently? If so, were their performances encouraging? These are the questions we ask ourselves when trying to rank runners that we, a) haven't seen in a while, or b) have been struggling as of late. Freshmen Incoming freshmen often draw plenty of debate. Every year, there are always a couple of high school superstars who enter the collegiate ranks and conjure discussion about whether or not they deserve a preseason ranking. There are two trains of thought on this... College is obviously a wildly different and new experience for almost everyone transitioning out of high school. In a lot of instances, it takes time for these incoming freshmen to get adjusted to their college workload and new environment. They also don't (usually) have the same lengthy experience of racing at this level whereas other collegians are simply more proven against NCAA competition. On the other hand, some high school athletes have set all-time marks which indicate that they will be superstars in the future. Sometimes, historically great talents need to be recognized as such before they even toe the line for an NCAA race. Our TSR writers who are responsible for constructing our women's rankings may also view how we rank freshmen differently from our men's team (and vice versa). We don't often crowd our rankings with freshmen, but there are certainly instances where a couple of true freshmen will make appearances inside our lists... High-Upside Talents If you are a consistent TSR reader, then you may have seen a lot of words/phrases like "upside" or "high ceiling" in our articles when we talk about certain athletes. What this means is that there is greater room for growth and improvement for one athlete in comparison to another. Freshmen, naturally, have greater upside than most collegiate athletes. They hold plenty of NCAA eligibility and should (in theory) only get better once they are exposed to higher-level training and stronger competition. Unsurprisingly, a runner's upside will eventually plateau in the latter portion of their careers. But if an elder distance talent is only recently beginning to find their true potential, then we would consider them to have some "untapped" upside. It's a similar story for a junior athlete who has been on a non-stop streak of growth since first coming into the NCAA. While this aspect may seem wildly subjective (and it is), it still holds a level of validity that should be considered as we craft our top-50 and top-25 lists. International Athletes Athletes who are coming into the NCAA from overseas / another country are truthfully difficult to rank. It's tough to know what their competition was like prior to joining the NCAA and no one is 100% sure how they'll handle the rigors of a competitive cross country season. There are also a lot of instances where we can't confirm rumored marks from the track. That said, some athletes have track times that are just too good to ignore or have championship experience and finishes that we believe make them game-changers for the upcoming fall. Now, admittedly, we simply don't know about each and every international athlete who is coming into the NCAA. We've done our best to track all of the recent moves and transfers that have taken place this offseason, but it's boarderline impossible to know about all of them. Plus, there are still a handful of foreign athletes who are expected to join the NCAA for this fall, but have yet to do so (or they have yet to be announced). Even so, we'll continue to evaluate every name that we can in order to ensure that our research is extensive and exhaustive. Difference of Opinions We have a variety of different groups overseeing each of our rankings. We have a D1 group, a D2 group, a D3 group, an NAIA group and a small squad combing through high school results. Obviously, not everyone is going to agree on a ranking. Some writers will want to place a greater emphasis on championship performances while others will want to rely on consistency. Others will place a significant amount of importance on injuries and absences while others will think it's not a big deal. Oftentimes, we debate about an athlete's potential versus what the athlete has actually done. The debates are endless, but my point is clear: Just because we have this ranking rubric doesn't mean that everyone is going to place the same amount of weight on each category. That, however, is what makes these rankings so much fun.

Earlier today, USC announced that they have hired Sean Brosnan as the program's next distance coach. The move comes after Brenda Martinez, the Trojans' former distance coach, stepped away from the program in mid-July. Brosnan was originally hired by UCLA in the summer of 2022 to lead the Bruins' distance program. However, a year later, Brosnan and UCLA parted ways following allegations of recruiting violations. Allegations of impermissible recruiting efforts were lodged at Brosnan after the former UCLA distance coach had landed multiple top-level distance talents (Mia Barnett, Samantha McDonnell and Dalia Frias) in quick succession. A year later, the NCAA and UCLA announced that they had come to "agreed upon sanctions" for the alleged recruiting violations. Brosnan has repeatedly and vehemently denied the claims. Sean Brosnan's attorney, Scott Tompsett, released the following statement to The Stride Report in the summer of 2024, saying... "This statement is to confirm that the agreement announced today between the NCAA and UCLA was made without Mr. Brosnan’s involvement or consent. Mr. Brosnan has cooperated with the NCAA investigation, and we will vigorously defend any allegation that he committed NCAA violations." Prior to joining the UCLA men and women in the summer of 2022, Brosnan coached at Newbury Park High School. During his time there, the Panthers assembled one of the greatest boy's high school cross country teams ever. The girl's team also emerged as one of the more nationally competitive distance programs in the nation. Names such as Nico Young, Leo Young, Lex Young, Colin Sahlman, Aaron Sahlman, Fiona Hawkins and Sam McDonnell are all former prep stars who developed under Brosnan at Newbury Park. USC does not sponsor a men's cross country team. Last fall, the Trojan women struggled on the grass, placing last at the BIG 10 XC Championships (out of 18 teams) as well as second-to-last at the West Regional XC Championships (out of 39 teams).

Earlier today, Wake Forest announced that they have retained and promoted distance coach Brandon Hazouri to lead their women's distance program. The promotion comes after Ashley Bastron, the Demon Deacons' former women's distance coach, chose to step away from coaching. Hazouri made headlines earlier this month when it was announced that he had been hired as Ole Miss' next head distance coach. He was expected to replace Adam Smith who had been hired as William & Mary's Director of Cross Country and Track & Field back in early July. Ole Miss posted about Hazouri's hiring across their social media platforms, although those posts have since been deleted. Hazouri will now unexpectedly adopt a women's distance program that made tremendous progress under Bastron, both in terms of recruiting and development. Last fall, the Wake Forest women qualified for the NCAA XC Championships, their first time doing so since 2006. They ended their season with a 21st place finish in Missouri. Angelina Perez competing at the NCAA XC Championships // Photo via Andrew LeMay This fall, the Demon Deacon women are seemingly primed for even greater success. Individual cross country All-American Angelina Perez is set to return, as will 10,000-meter national qualifier, Brooke Wilson. With breakout track runner Elizabeth Whaley also coming back, and a slew of talented women still developing, the expectations for the ladies of Winston-Salem will be plenty high in the coming months. Ole Miss will now shift their attention to a new hire as they aim to find a replacement for a coaching role that they once believed they had filled. One source informed The Stride Report that names such as Aaron Kindt (formerly Auburn) and Brock Moreaux (currently South Carolina) were previously considered as candidates for the job, although it's unclear how much interest (if any) remains.

Written by Aimee Morganti, edits & additional commentary via Garrett Zatlin BYU's Carter Cutting has signed a "Name, Image & Likeness" (NIL) deal with Hoka. The Cougars' middle distance superstar joins New Mexico’s Pamela Kosgei as part of Hoka’s current NIL roster among collegians. Cutting made his mark on the collegiate scene this past year after he secured the men's mile title at the 2026 NCAA Indoor Championships. The BYU standout made a decisive move with two laps to go, out-kicking the field to earn gold in what could be argued as an upset. During his time in Provo, Cutting has earned four All-American accolades on his collegiate resume ahead of his senior year. His first All-American finish was at the 2025 NCAA Indoor Championships where he earned a 5th place finish in the DMR. Cutting's second All-American finish was a 6th place effort in the DMR at the 2026 national indoor meet before earning his third All-American honor the next day in the mile (a race which he won). Recently, he concluded his junior season with an 8th place finish over 1500 meters at the 2026 NCAA Outdoor Championships. On other major stages, Cutting was the runner-up finisher over 1500 meters at the 2024 U20 USA Championships. Internationally, he represented the United States of America at the 2024 U20 World Championships in Peru. Cutting earned a 5th place finish over 1500 meters at that meet.

Production via Wyatt Barnsley On this week’s episode of The Stride Report Podcast, Garrett is joined by TSR summer interns Angelina Napoleon and Jonah Billings for a special episode centered around the upcoming cross country season! Angelina reflects on her breakout collegiate career as well as the upcoming fall campaign before offering some of the toughest Division One men’s XC runners to rank in the preseason. Later, Jonah discusses Western Washington’s outlook for the 2026 Division Two season before helping Garrett tackle some of the most difficult names to place in the Division One women’s XC preseason rankings. It’s a fun mix of athlete insight, preseason debate and behind-the-scenes ranking discussions as cross country season draws closer. Be sure to listen, subscribe and review! (2:04) Angelina Napoleon Reflects on Last Year & Talks About Upcoming XC Season (18:51) Hardest D1 Men’s Names to Rank With Angelina Napoleon (46:20) Jonah Billings Talks About 2026 D2 Fall Outlook for Western Washington (57:21) Hardest D1 Women’s Names to Rank With Jonah Billings You can listen to that episode (and others) on our PODCASTS page! You can also find the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Soundcloud. If you like it, be sure to leave us a rating and a review! Note: If you're having issues loading the episode on the site via mobile, try refreshing the episode page. We will look into this issue for future episodes.

Earlier today, the NCAA Division One Men's & Women's Track and Field and Cross Country Oversight Committee announced that they have voted to eliminate altitude conversions, as well as track-size conversions, as it pertains to qualifying for the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships, as well as the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships (and it's respective regional meets). The elimination of these conversions will go into effect at the start of the upcoming academic calendar year. The Oversight Committee offered the following explanation as the rationale behind their decision... "In discussions about conversions, the committee expressed concerns that the current system has shortcomings, can at times be used in ways that create unintended advantages in the qualification process, and may ultimately have a negative impact on the sport. After discussion and review of feedback and proposals they have received, they voted to eliminate both altitude conversions for indoor and outdoor track and field, along with track size conversions for indoor track and field effective for the 2026-27 academic year." "As it relates to altitude conversions, the committee noted that 1) altitude impacts every individual differently, yet a uniform standard conversion is being applied, 2) conversions are not applied for other conditions such as heat, humidity, etc., and 3) nowhere else in any other level of the sport are altitude conversions being used." "When it comes to track size and indexing conversions for indoor track and field the committee noted 1) every track is different yet uniform conversions are applied based on the track type, 2) there is no true science being applied, 3) there is now more access to 200m banked tracks than ever, 4) every track impacts individuals differently based on their biomechanics, and 5) again, like altitude conversions, no other level of the sport is using track size/indexing conversions." Per sources, the elimination of altitude conversions and track-size conversions (as they relate to national qualifying) is a decision that had been growing momentum as a possibility in recent months. It also has significant consequences. Many of the NCAA's most established distance running powers are programs that reside at high altitude. Teams such as Northern Arizona, BYU, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado State, Montana State, Wyoming, Colorado State and many more will no longer gain the benefits of racing on their home track or venturing to nearby Mountain region-based invitationals to earn conversions en route to national qualifying marks. For perspective, during the 2026 indoor track season, there were five individual men and three men's distance medley relays that qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships in the distance events (800m and up) by virtue of a conversion. For the women, during that same season, there were four individual national qualifiers in the distance events (Jane Hedengren would have qualified for the mile with a sea level time, regardless, and still chose the 5k/3k double) as well as one distance medley relay.

Written by Aimee Morganti, edits & additional commentary via Garrett Zatlin Earlier this month, Robert Morris University announced the return of its' Division One men’s outdoor track and field program. The reintroduction of their men's team will officially begin at the start of the upcoming academic calendar year (with competition taking place in the spring of 2027). It has been 12 years since men’s outdoor track and field was last sponsored by Robert Morris University. The returning track and field program is set to compete in the Horizon League Championships under Director of Cross Country and Track & Field, Bryan Delsite. It should also be noted that RMU's men's cross country program was reintroduced by the university in 2020, the same year that Delsite was introduced as the Director. The Colonials' lead distance coach, Juris Silenieks, has been with the program since the fall of 2022 following the departure of former distance coach, Billy Caldwell (who is now at Richmond). Regarding the decision to bring back men's outdoor track and field, Coach Bryan Delsite stated the following in a university press release... “The return of men’s track and field is a tremendous moment for our university, our alumni and the entire track and field community. We’re incredibly excited to once again provide opportunities for young men to compete, grow and represent RMU with pride.” At the 2025 Horizon League XC Championships, the men’s cross country program took 8th place in the team standings. They were led by senior Tyler Paszkowski who finished in 13th place as an individual. Robert Morris men competing at the Horizon League XC Championships // Photo via RMU Athletics Over the last few years, the Colonials have consistently found themselves finishing between 13th place to 18th place at the Mid-Atlantic Regional XC Championships. In 2025, the men’s cross country team took 16th place out of 28 teams at their regional meet. The Horizon League includes schools such as Cleveland State, Northern Illinois (non-football), Detroit Mercy, Northern Kentucky, Green Bay, Wright State, Youngstown State, Purdue Fort Wayne, Milwaukee, Indiana University-Indianapolis and Oakland.