If Luca Madeo and Asslouj aren’t in top shape at the Cumberlands, it will be almost impossible to win the title for them.
Whole Cumberlands know that and I am excited to see if these two „long-distance stars“ can lead Cumberland to the title or not…
They have signed two more Moroccans including another 25 year old "FR" so I assume they'll be ok.
Basically just taking the Multnomah sprints roster as well
With the new additions to their sprints and distance groups, Cumberlands looks like they are going to be absolutely unstoppable for years to come! Is there even a point in having nationals anymore?? LETS GO!!!🤟
my top 5 most valuable XC runners in the NAIA 2024 (before the start of the season):
1. Evert Silva (Oklahoma City)
2.Youssef Asslouj (Cumberlands)
3.Joseph Skoog (Bethel)
4. Demetris Love, JR (Embry-Riddle Arizona)
5. Luca Madeo (Cumberlands)
Silva is the clear favorite for the individual title and it would be a small miracle if someone will be faster than him. Asslouj will still be a freshman but is already 23 years old. He is the one who can get closest to Silva and will try to win the title with Cumberlands. With his very good endurance performance and good speed, he will be right up there with the front runners. Joseph Skoog is an outstanding XC runner with very good endurance and mentality. Love, JR. a very underrated runner in my opinion who was also relatively high up in the XC at the Nationals last year. Finally, the youngest on the list, of course I am talking about Luca Madeo, the German. He is an incredible, talented long-distance runner and will definitely want to win the title together with Asslouj and Cumberlands. His mentality was impressive at all of the championships last year and he seems to be loved by the whole team and by coaches Bradley Sowder and James Overholser. He knows he is something special and although he is arrogant, he can be the key to Cumberlands' victory.
They do have the history so you never know but uphill climb for them. Nothing a strong recruiting class doesn't conquer. My guess is that school isn't investing into the program like they use to. It's struggling financially as a university.
Thanks for whatever you just tried to say Luca Madeo.
Just because your coaches like you doesn’t mean you’re gonna be top 5 and idk what you were talking about with the arrogance thing
I am definitely not Madeo XD. I doubt the international idiots at Cumberlands even know there is a website like let's run and certainly not Madeo who generally seems stupid and dumb.
I didn't say they'd all be top 5 at Nationals for sure, I meant how valuable they are in general to the various teams in XC 2024.
MOUNT VERNON, Ohio. – After five memorable years, Ellis Gallion is stepping down as the head coach of the Mount Vernon Nazarene University men’s and women’s track & field programs.
Crossroads is going to look a lot different next year. Veteran coaches retiring and young successful coaches leaving for greener pastures. Will the conference as a whole be less competitive?
I saw ok Instagram that Sowder went on a recruiting trip to Europe/Germany and Morocco. With all these foreigners on the team they might as well hand him the trophy already…
Hi everyone, I have gotten a good look at every conference and would like to share my version of the top 25. I'm sure that my methodology and the original poster's methodology will be different, so it will be interesting to see the differences in our thinking and our rankings. This my third edition of my rankings, (I've redone them once a month starting in late May), so I will include my previous ranking in parentheses. Finally, as teams continue to release rosters on their websites and on tfrrs, these are subject to change dramatically, so don't take these rankings too seriously.
1 (1) Cumberlands- This is their season to lose so far. This team is still relatively unknown and can still add guys to their roster. However, they have an extremely good top 4 with Aslouuj, Shevchecko, Madeo and Loser.
2 (5) Indiana Wesleyan- These guys are returning 4 of their 7 from last years team. Remember, these guys finished 5th last year, so IWU will still be a trophy potential team, even with them underperforming at nationals and having a new coach.
3 (3) Milligan- Milligan loses Jones and Stockley, but add Telford and Hipkiss as grad transfers and return Woodall amongst others. They will have to rely on their depth this year to be competitive for a national title.
4 (2) Saint Mary- Coming off of a 2nd place finish, St Mary returns the bulk of their roster, including 4 all Americans, but lose Emad-Bashir Mohammed. These guys have the potential to make things super competitive come November.
5 (4) The Master's- Coming off of a 4th place finish last year, the Master's will return at least 4 people to their team. They run fast in the regular season, but have placed well the last two years at nationals. Expect more of that this year.
6 (7) Oklahoma City- Tough to place these guys here for now, as the top 6 teams are also really good. However, OKC will add Silva next year while returning everyone else from last year. However, having 0 All-Americans last year is the reason why they are 6.
7 (8) College of Idaho- Returning 5 of their 7 last year, including 2 All-Americans in cross in Butler and Bostrom, as well as Everist, who ran well in track. The rest of their team also had a good track season, and if they run like they did in the post season 2 years ago, this team could very well trophy.
8 (8) Montreat- These guys return the Stameys and add a few transfers from Tabor. This will the most competitive they've been in a few years, and should be a top 10 team throughout the year.
9 (9) Eastern Oregon- EOU loses Nichols and Telford to graduation, but still return 5 of their top 7. They lose some firepower, and despite a bit of a rough track season, EOU will be a top 10 team, with room to possibly move up throughout the year.
10 (10) Taylor- Taylor returns 6 of their top 7 (on paper) and is still a relatively young team. This team will make a huge jump this year due to this, and will be competitive not only this year but next year as well.
11 (NR) Embry-Riddle- New to my list, Embry-Riddle had 4 guys run under 15:00 in track last year, and return Demetrus Love Jr. If the other guys who ran sub 15 can back up those times in cross country, this team will be a fringe top 10 team.
12 (11) Dordt- Loses a couple more guys from their 2021 national championships squad. Dordt will still be competetive though with returnees Vorster and Summerhays, but will need help with their depth to help them reach the top 10 again.
13 (12) Aquinas- Aquinas returns 6 of their 7 guys from last year's lineup (Included Ben Hardy since he has a covid year for cross, but unsure if he is returning), so theoretically, Aquinas should make a bit of a jump from last year's 19th place finish.
14 (13) Shawnee State- Shawnee State loses Aiden Kammler, which is a big loss, but they will have some solid firepower with the Lanoys and Little, but need their 5 to step up next year to lift them towards being a top 10 competitive team.
15 (14) Grace- Returns 5 of their top 7, but lose their 2 and 3 from last year, which is a substantial loss. They should be ranked around where they finished last year at Nationals, but they do have room to place where they did or higher.
16 (15) Spring Arbor- Camden Kohn had a huge track season as a freshman, and should be one of the top individuals at nationals. Spring Arbor needs help from their 3-5 to help increase their depth and make them more competitive as a team.
17 (NR) Rio Grande- Return Tyler Jenkins and add Duncan Kogei. Kogei is a bit of an unknown (could not find his times), but should help Rio Grande become a top 20 team. Depth will be a bit of an issue with this team, keeping them out of the top 15.
18 (16) Doane- As far as I know, Doane returns Nelson Ruto and Emmaneul Yego, and return 3 other guys. Doane finished 15th at nationals last year, but with there are other teams who have better front end depth than Doane, which leaves them at 18.
19 (17) Saint Francis (Ill)- Returns key runner Michael Rief, who will be somewhat of a low stick for USF. However, depth as for other schools, will be an issue. However, most of their returners are young, leaving USF with potential to move up throughout the year.
20 (18) Lewis-Clark State- Loses Brycen Brown from last year's squad, But return 6 guys, including All American Kobe Wessels. LC State tends to run tight as a pack, so they will have a good spread. The key for this team however is to get that pack to run more upfront than last year.
21 (20) Goshen- Mathew Keitany wil be a low stick for Goshen, and Roberts and Hogan will be solid as well. Goshen needs lots of help with their 4-7 though, which leaves them just outside the top 20.
22 (19) Olivet Nazarene- ONU doesn't have a low stick, but their top 3 run tight, which will be helpful. This means that they have some depth issues, but should be sitting right around the 20-25 range throughout the year.
23 (21) Southern Oregon- After last year's disappointment, SOU returns most of their team (on paper). They had an up down track season with one of their top guys from 2 years ago being injured for most of last year (xc and track), but had one of their guys hit the A in the 10K. They need help tremendously with their 4 and 5, which they will probably get with some JUCO transfers.
24 (23) Arizona Christian- New to the national stage this year is Arizona Christian. They add Cannon Angotti via Grand Canyon University, who will be gunning for the individual title, along with some key freshman that if they perform well, they will be in the top 25 in the official rankings. They have major depth issues at the 4-5, but if they can improve that, this team should be at nationals this year.
25 (24) Indiana East- After just missing out of nationals last year, IU East returns everyone in their top 7, and should return everyone AGAIN after this year as well, meaning that IU East is still a super young team. With that being said, IU East should be able to make the jump and compete at the national meet this year, and make the River States a 3 bid conference.
Had to laugh at Arizona Christian. Nope. Grace loses their top 3 Dimitri, Hamlin, Rufenacht. ONU will not be very good and neither will St. Francis. OCU should be right up front. They finished 10th, return everyone and have the beloved Silva.
Had to laugh at Arizona Christian. Nope. Grace loses their top 3 Dimitri, Hamlin, Rufenacht. ONU will not be very good and neither will St. Francis. OCU should be right up front. They finished 10th, return everyone and have the beloved Silva.
I agree with your takes on Grace and Oklahoma City, but I have very different opinions on the rest of this.
I wouldn't have Arizona Christian necessarily this high, but I wouldn't laugh at them as a rate-able team. They obviously have Angoti, but also have some guys returning who have run 14:46 (Nicholas Valle) and 14:57 (Brandon Ericson) in a 5k. They haven't done much to reflect those times on grass and don't have much depth, however.
ONU is bringing in one of the best freshman recruits in the nation in Austin Tice (4:12 high school miler) and Brandon Armendarez who finished in the top 70 at cross country nationals last year. On top of that they had a freshman run 15:00 in the 5k, who was nowhere near that level of a runner during cross country.
St. Francis had a lot of their young guys break out late in the track season. Tyler Anderson ran 14:41 as a freshman and could be right up with Reif if he builds on that success. Scott Crabb and Jack Wright ran 15:07 and 15:04 in the 5k as well. They might not have much depth but that's a very solid top four.
Hi everyone, I have gotten a good look at every conference and would like to share my version of the top 25. I'm sure that my methodology and the original poster's methodology will be different, so it will be interesting to see the differences in our thinking and our rankings. This my third edition of my rankings, (I've redone them once a month starting in late May), so I will include my previous ranking in parentheses. Finally, as teams continue to release rosters on their websites and on tfrrs, these are subject to change dramatically, so don't take these rankings too seriously.
1 (1) Cumberlands- This is their season to lose so far. This team is still relatively unknown and can still add guys to their roster. However, they have an extremely good top 4 with Aslouuj, Shevchecko, Madeo and Loser.
2 (5) Indiana Wesleyan- These guys are returning 4 of their 7 from last years team. Remember, these guys finished 5th last year, so IWU will still be a trophy potential team, even with them underperforming at nationals and having a new coach.
3 (3) Milligan- Milligan loses Jones and Stockley, but add Telford and Hipkiss as grad transfers and return Woodall amongst others. They will have to rely on their depth this year to be competitive for a national title.
4 (2) Saint Mary- Coming off of a 2nd place finish, St Mary returns the bulk of their roster, including 4 all Americans, but lose Emad-Bashir Mohammed. These guys have the potential to make things super competitive come November.
5 (4) The Master's- Coming off of a 4th place finish last year, the Master's will return at least 4 people to their team. They run fast in the regular season, but have placed well the last two years at nationals. Expect more of that this year.
6 (7) Oklahoma City- Tough to place these guys here for now, as the top 6 teams are also really good. However, OKC will add Silva next year while returning everyone else from last year. However, having 0 All-Americans last year is the reason why they are 6.
7 (8) College of Idaho- Returning 5 of their 7 last year, including 2 All-Americans in cross in Butler and Bostrom, as well as Everist, who ran well in track. The rest of their team also had a good track season, and if they run like they did in the post season 2 years ago, this team could very well trophy.
8 (8) Montreat- These guys return the Stameys and add a few transfers from Tabor. This will the most competitive they've been in a few years, and should be a top 10 team throughout the year.
9 (9) Eastern Oregon- EOU loses Nichols and Telford to graduation, but still return 5 of their top 7. They lose some firepower, and despite a bit of a rough track season, EOU will be a top 10 team, with room to possibly move up throughout the year.
10 (10) Taylor- Taylor returns 6 of their top 7 (on paper) and is still a relatively young team. This team will make a huge jump this year due to this, and will be competitive not only this year but next year as well.
11 (NR) Embry-Riddle- New to my list, Embry-Riddle had 4 guys run under 15:00 in track last year, and return Demetrus Love Jr. If the other guys who ran sub 15 can back up those times in cross country, this team will be a fringe top 10 team.
12 (11) Dordt- Loses a couple more guys from their 2021 national championships squad. Dordt will still be competetive though with returnees Vorster and Summerhays, but will need help with their depth to help them reach the top 10 again.
13 (12) Aquinas- Aquinas returns 6 of their 7 guys from last year's lineup (Included Ben Hardy since he has a covid year for cross, but unsure if he is returning), so theoretically, Aquinas should make a bit of a jump from last year's 19th place finish.
14 (13) Shawnee State- Shawnee State loses Aiden Kammler, which is a big loss, but they will have some solid firepower with the Lanoys and Little, but need their 5 to step up next year to lift them towards being a top 10 competitive team.
15 (14) Grace- Returns 5 of their top 7, but lose their 2 and 3 from last year, which is a substantial loss. They should be ranked around where they finished last year at Nationals, but they do have room to place where they did or higher.
16 (15) Spring Arbor- Camden Kohn had a huge track season as a freshman, and should be one of the top individuals at nationals. Spring Arbor needs help from their 3-5 to help increase their depth and make them more competitive as a team.
17 (NR) Rio Grande- Return Tyler Jenkins and add Duncan Kogei. Kogei is a bit of an unknown (could not find his times), but should help Rio Grande become a top 20 team. Depth will be a bit of an issue with this team, keeping them out of the top 15.
18 (16) Doane- As far as I know, Doane returns Nelson Ruto and Emmaneul Yego, and return 3 other guys. Doane finished 15th at nationals last year, but with there are other teams who have better front end depth than Doane, which leaves them at 18.
19 (17) Saint Francis (Ill)- Returns key runner Michael Rief, who will be somewhat of a low stick for USF. However, depth as for other schools, will be an issue. However, most of their returners are young, leaving USF with potential to move up throughout the year.
20 (18) Lewis-Clark State- Loses Brycen Brown from last year's squad, But return 6 guys, including All American Kobe Wessels. LC State tends to run tight as a pack, so they will have a good spread. The key for this team however is to get that pack to run more upfront than last year.
21 (20) Goshen- Mathew Keitany wil be a low stick for Goshen, and Roberts and Hogan will be solid as well. Goshen needs lots of help with their 4-7 though, which leaves them just outside the top 20.
22 (19) Olivet Nazarene- ONU doesn't have a low stick, but their top 3 run tight, which will be helpful. This means that they have some depth issues, but should be sitting right around the 20-25 range throughout the year.
23 (21) Southern Oregon- After last year's disappointment, SOU returns most of their team (on paper). They had an up down track season with one of their top guys from 2 years ago being injured for most of last year (xc and track), but had one of their guys hit the A in the 10K. They need help tremendously with their 4 and 5, which they will probably get with some JUCO transfers.
24 (23) Arizona Christian- New to the national stage this year is Arizona Christian. They add Cannon Angotti via Grand Canyon University, who will be gunning for the individual title, along with some key freshman that if they perform well, they will be in the top 25 in the official rankings. They have major depth issues at the 4-5, but if they can improve that, this team should be at nationals this year.
25 (24) Indiana East- After just missing out of nationals last year, IU East returns everyone in their top 7, and should return everyone AGAIN after this year as well, meaning that IU East is still a super young team. With that being said, IU East should be able to make the jump and compete at the national meet this year, and make the River States a 3 bid conference.
Honorable Mentions(in no particular order)
Carroll
Concordia (Neb)
UC Merced
Kansas Wesleyan
Cornerstone
A few major changes I'd make...
Grace-Like someone else already pointed out, Grace probably needs to be further back. They do not return everyone who you think they do. On top of that some of the returners that they do have are actually coming off of very weak track seasons.
Oklahoma City-I have a really tight group of teams 2-7, so I don't blame you for having them 6th, but I think that OKC is probably closer to the top of that group at this point. They have the ultimate low stick and just an absurd amount of depth.
Indiana East-Outside of a really good Great Lakes Challenge, Indiana East did not look like a team I would've included in my rankings last year. They had a really tough track season outside of Mylan Nocton. The best times in each event for them excluding Nocton were 1:57, 4:03, 14:45, and 32:44. All of those honorable mention teams are at least slightly better than IU East.
Carroll-They were 20th a year ago and only lose James Normandeau. I think Gacnik is about to have a breakout season for them as well.
I'm waiting on more teams to post rosters to get everything finalized, but I have my men's side of the rankings about figured out. Every couple of days I have been getting some new information about new recruits as well, so I think we'll be waiting a bit until teams are ready to post rosters.
I'm almost done with my women's rankings as well. I still have a few more conferences left to evaluate, and just like the men's side I want to wait and see some of the final rosters.
I'm expecting to finish and start posting my rankings in late July/early August on Instagram.
I appreciate some of the feedback you had on this. It's hard to follow every team in the NAIA, especially with not knowing each and every person each school is bringing, along with who is returning, especially with those who still have covid eligibility. I mostly went off of who had eligibility on the tfrrs website unless I knew otherwise.
I must admit that having Arizona Christian at 24 right now may be too high, but having a low stick at the national meet is huge points wise, and having two guys running sub 15 should help them a lot. I also want to correct that they don't have any incoming freshman that will impact the team, but instead is those two sub 15 5K guys.
I also appreciate the info about Grace, Aquinas, ONU, and St Francis from other people.
Once again, I want to reiterate that it is July, and only a few schools actually have their full roster on their websites. These rankings will change quite a bit once we learn more about the schools as the season approaches.
