2016 DI NCAA XC Championships

These Are The Most Improved Athletes In The NCAA

These Are The Most Improved Athletes In The NCAA

These are the most improved NCAA XC athletes in the nation.

Nov 21, 2016 by Dennis Young
These Are The Most Improved Athletes In The NCAA

Women


Oregon, Michigan, and Mississippi State all outperformed their rankings thanks in large part to huge improvements from returners. National champions Oregon had Maggie Schmaedick and Ashley Maton go from outside the top 110 in 2015 to inside the top 60 this year, plus Allie Cash jumped from 31st to 14th. Runner-up Michigan's Jamie Morrissey, Gina Sereno, Jaimie Phelan, and Erin Finn improved a combined 202 places from a year ago. And Mississippi State went from unranked in the Flo50 to 15th in the nation thanks to Ffion Price, Mia Meydrich, Shannon Fair, and Rhianwedd Price improving a combined 197 places from last year.

Washington, on the other hand, showed how hard it is to sustain success at this meet. Their three 2015 returners--Kaylee Flanagan, Katie Knight, and Charlotte Prouse--dropped a combined 164 places this year, with most of that coming from Prouse falling from 78th last year to 208th this year.

Penn State showed the importance of the low stick. Jillian Hunsberger and Elizabeth Chikotas went from outside the top 100 last year to All-Americans this year, and Greta Lindsley improved from 225th to 140th. But season-long Tessa Barrett dropped out, and Penn State finished 18th after being ranked No. 7 coming into the meet.

Note: these tables only cover athletes who made last year's NCAA meet, so runners like Karissa Schweizer who didn't qualify aren't in them.

Complete results

Watch full replays of the 2016 DI NCAA XC Championships: Men's race | Women's race

DIFF 2016 2015 Athlete YR School
149 23 172 Bilo, Peyton SO Cal Poly
122 66 188 Price, Ffion SR Miss State
120 20 140 Piccirillo, Angel SR Villanova
119 123 242 Warner, Ashleigh JR BYU
116 36 152 Hunsberger, Jillian JR Penn State
110 57 167 Tsai, Sara SO Vanderbilt
108 10 118 Taylor, Charlotte SR San Francisco
97 41 138 Heffernan, Annie SO Notre Dame
96 51 147 Strandemo, Madeline JR Minnesota
90 90 180 Morrissey, Jamie JR Michigan
87 15 102 Chikotas, Elizabeth JR Penn State
85 140 225 Lindsley, Greta SO Penn State
79 84 163 Rudawsky, Alyssa JR North Carolina St.
77 126 203 Dybedokken, Aurora JR Oklahoma State
67 83 150 Katz, Danielle SR Stanford
60 13 73 Montgomery, Ashley SR Penn
60 64 124 Schmaedick, Maggie SR Oregon
60 30 90 Sereno, Gina JR Michigan
54 43 97 Morley, Makena SO Colorado
51 61 112 Maton, Ashley SR Oregon
46 68 114 Ilarda, Brianna JR Providence
45 98 143 Melian, Christina SR Stony Brook
45 87 132 Pyzik, Weronika SO San Francisco
44 60 104 McInturff, Hannah JR Utah
44 44 88 Montoya, Maggie SR Baylor
43 197 240 Hutchinson, Nicole SO Villanova
41 114 155 Silva, Yesenia SR BYU
40 178 218 Hetherington, Abbie JR Oklahoma State
40 17 57 Kemp, Erika SR North Carolina St.
39 136 175 Burda, Bella SO Villanova
35 65 100 Phelan, Jaimie JR Michigan
34 25 59 Koon, Rachel SO North Carolina St.
34 88 122 Sughroue, Molly JR Oklahoma State
30 132 162 Meydrich, Mia JR Miss State
28 85 113 Cleirigh Buttner, Siofra JR Villanova
27 186 213 Fair, Shannon SO Miss State
27 22 49 Jones, Dani SO Colorado
25 35 60 Smith, Courtney JR Harvard
23 62 85 Burkard, Elena SR San Francisco
22 55 77 Paladino, Millie JR Providence
18 32 50 Price, Rhianwedd SR Miss State
17 14 31 Cash, Alli JR Oregon
17 2 19 Finn, Erin SR Michigan
16 59 75 Johnson, Carolina SO UCLA
14 101 115 Child, Ellie SR Weber State
13 220 233 Schulte, Tatjana SO San Francisco
5 5 10 Lokedi, Sharon SO Kansas
4 170 174 Jensen, Alice SO BYU
3 6 9 Peloquin, Brenna SO Boise State
3 3 6 Rohrer, Anna SO Notre Dame
2 215 217 Reina, Valerie SR Arkansas
-7 115 108 Frazier, Ryen SO North Carolina St.
-10 26 16 Benner, Kaitlyn JR Colorado
-10 80 70 Edwards, Kaela SR Oklahoma State
-12 210 198 Fisher, Katie JR Villanova
-12 103 91 Schmelzle, Hope SR Northern Illinois
-13 28 15 Thackery, Calli SR New Mexico
-14 19 5 Wright, Alice JR New Mexico
-16 150 134 Flanagan, Kaylee SR Washington
-17 223 206 Guay, Evelyne SO Iowa State
-18 113 95 Knight, Katie JR Washington
-23 204 181 Kocjancic, Julie SR Penn State
-23 117 94 Moye, Megan SR North Carolina St.
-27 67 40 Fraser, Vanessa JR Stanford
-28 49 21 Wiersma, Alexis SR Michigan State
-37 138 101 Lembo, Katie JR Providence
-38 131 93 Sorensen, Shaelyn SO Wisconsin
-40 86 46 Reiter, Sarah SR Eastern Washington
-40 143 103 Ward, Regan SR Arkansas
-44 69 25 Rome, Regan JR William and Mary
-51 130 79 Jackson, Shelby SR Michigan State
-52 211 159 Gilfillan, Darby JR Colorado St.
-52 203 151 Hooker, Erin JR Iowa State
-53 149 96 DaDamio, Rachel SO Notre Dame
-70 118 48 Clark, Devin SO Arkansas
-74 94 20 Collins, Sarah SR Providence
-113 234 121 Boyert, Anna SR Oklahoma State
-122 133 11 Clark, Erin SR Colorado
-126 207 81 Fluehr, Kathryn SR New Mexico
-130 208 78 Prouse, Charlotte SO Washington
-148 190 42 Rotich, Perez SR Iowa State
-154 228 74 Tambet, Heleene SR San Francisco

Men


Three of the top ten men in the nation, Georgetown's Scott Carpenter, Mississippi's MJ Erb, and BYU's Nico Montanez, weren't even in the top 140 at nationals last year. Carpenter and Erb are talented track studs---their steeplechase PRs are 8:40 and 8:34, respectively---but Montanez is one of the most improved athletes in the nation. His 30:02 10K time on Saturday at nationals is just six seconds slower than his 10K track PR, and his second-half 5K split of 14:44 is only six seconds slower than his 5K track PR.

Erb's Mississippi squad was 30th last year and 4th this year, with mostly the same guys. Erb, Robert Domanic, and Craig Engels improved a combined 352 places from 2015. As their coach Ryan Vanhoy said, they ran this year like they were capable of running last year.

It was a rollercoaster of a day for Arkansas Alex George (went from 176th to 15th) took a big jump forward in the meet. But Frankline Tonui (went from 40th to 112th) and Austen Dalquist (went from 89th to 196th) took two of the biggest steps backward in the meet, and the Razorbacks finished fifth overall.

Points for consistency to Washington's Fred Huxham, who has now finished exactly 100th at NCAA XC two years in a row.

Complete results

Watch full replays of the 2016 DI NCAA XC Championships: Men's race | Women's race

DIFF 2016 2015 Athlete YR School
228 10 238 Carpenter, Scott SR Georgetown
181 6 187 Erb, MJ SR Mississippi
167 14 181 Edman, Ferdinand SR UCLA
166 41 207 Wharton, Sam JR Stanford
161 15 176 George, Alex JR Arkansas
158 61 219 Collins, Josh SO Southern Utah
145 86 231 Keelan, Jack JR Stanford
137 9 146 Montanez, Nicolas SR BYU
124 42 166 Demarest, Brent SO Virginia
124 101 225 Harper, Jonathan JR BYU
123 31 154 Raymond, Nicholas SR Eastern Michigan
118 53 171 Herriott, Zach SR Virginia
116 93 209 Motschmann, Johannes JR Iona
114 108 222 Visokay, Adam SR Syracuse
112 76 188 Roderique, Adam JR Tulsa
107 57 164 Guillorel, Arse'ne JR Samford
105 26 131 Kipkoech, Lawrence SO Campbell
101 55 156 Domanic, Robert SR Mississippi
87 159 246 Dobos, Isaac SO Tulsa
80 113 193 Tadesse, Nathan SO Washington St.
71 82 153 Mulenga, Harry SR Florida State
71 133 204 Soter, Nick SR Michigan State
70 52 122 Diaz, Jonah SR UCLA
70 90 160 Engels, Craig SR Mississippi
70 125 195 Perrin, Zach JR Colorado
65 36 101 Thompson, Joshua SR Oklahoma State
60 83 143 Lara, Frank JR Furman
59 43 102 Kosgei, Antibahs SR Alabama
57 128 185 Aouani, Iliass SO Syracuse
56 172 228 Hendrickson, Connor JR Texas
56 29 85 Maton, Matthew SO Oregon
55 169 224 Del Rosso, Austin SO Tulsa
52 109 161 Brandt, Robert SO California
50 63 113 Whelan, John SR Washington St.
42 72 114 Preisner, Benjamin JR Tulsa
39 177 216 Corcoran, Garrett JR California
38 145 183 Teigen, Chandler SO Washington St.
36 115 151 Levora, Sam JR Washington St.
35 191 226 Rogers, Alex SO Texas
33 8 41 Kibichiy, Edwin SR Louisville
30 168 198 Wright, Matt JR Southern Utah
27 27 54 Hardt, Sherod SR Michigan State
27 91 118 Mulherin, Stephen SR Portland
27 30 57 Williams, Michael JR Washington St.
21 13 34 Traynor, Luke SR Tulsa
16 164 180 Alvarado, Christian SO Georgetown
16 20 36 Reichow, Joel SR South Dakota St.
14 44 58 Clements, Kieran SR Iona
13 34 47 Hubbard, Joel SR Syracuse
12 5 17 Fisher, Grant SO Stanford
12 232 244 Moore, Nate SR Texas
12 51 63 Parsons, George SR North Carolina St.
10 21 31 Saarel, Ben SR Colorado
6 180 186 Knevelbaard, Kasey SO Southern Utah
6 62 68 Tobin, Sean JR Mississippi
4 19 23 Bruce, Jack JR Arkansas
2 2 4 Knight, Justyn JR Syracuse
1 1 2 Tiernan, Patrick SR Villanova
0 100 100 Huxham, Fred JR Washington
-2 3 1 Cheserek, Edward SR Oregon
-3 171 168 Austin, Chandler SO Boise State
-3 202 199 Ruiz, Clark JR Michigan State
-6 251 245 Kiprono, Evans SR UTEP
-7 117 110 Dee, Liam SO Iona
-7 33 26 Dressel, John SO Colorado
-9 17 8 Bennie, Colin JR Syracuse
-9 73 64 Sweatt, Garrett SR Stanford
-10 49 39 Germano, Philo JR Syracuse
-12 68 56 Anderson, Tanner SO Oregon
-15 105 90 Rotich, Erick SO Eastern Kentucky
-15 163 148 Smith, Myles JR UCLA
-17 24 7 McGorty, Sean SR Stanford
-18 111 93 Vennard, Michael JR Boise State
-21 64 43 Miller, Chartt JR Iona
-22 60 38 Clevenger, Michael SR Georgetown
-25 235 210 Robertson, Mark JR Mississippi
-27 138 111 Boit, Cosmas SR UTEP
-27 56 29 Lafond, Dylan SR Illinois
-29 137 108 Kosgei, Antony SO UTEP
-34 78 44 Thomson, Jacob JR Kentucky
-35 54 19 Mock, Jerrell JR Colorado St.
-44 236 192 Cheruiyot, Daniel JR UTEP
-45 197 152 Allen, Brandon JR Iona
-46 204 158 Lederhouse, Michael SR Georgetown
-58 205 147 Blankenbaker, Dylan SR Oklahoma
-67 87 20 Kirui, Gilbert JR Iona
-72 112 40 Tonui, Frankline SR Arkansas
-94 199 105 Lawson, John JR California
-105 151 46 Neuman, Travis JR Oregon
-107 196 89 Dalquist, Austen JR Arkansas
-111 122 11 Koech, Jonah SO UTEP
-116 129 13 Abbey, Jefferson SR Colorado St.
-122 242 120 Park, Rhys JR Boise State
-126 181 55 Weaverling, Chase JR Virginia
-134 207 73 Tuck, Nicholas SR Penn
-139 189 50 Leingang, Jake SR Oregon