NCAA Top 50 Review & Discussion

By: Garrett Zatlin

Well ladies and gents, the NCAA Top 50 List is finally complete with in depth analysis on each runner. It was surprisingly more effort than I expected it to be and I now have a new-found appreciation for the rankings that Etrain puts up every year. Recently, the blog has experienced some very nice growth after being mentioned on LetsRun and gaining a solid amount of followers on Twitter (@TheRealTrain11). I’ve had a lot of feedback from you guys and have had some excellent debates, which is awesome so keep it coming!

Here is a list of the Top 50 names with links to the article they were mentioned in. Feel free to review and lend your feedback.

50. Graham Crawford, Senior, NC State                           25. Caleb Rhynard, Senior, Michigan St.

49. Jordy Williamsz, Senior, Villanova                             24. Morgan Pearson, Senior, Colorado

48. Wes Gallagher, Senior, Mississippi                            23. Chris Walden, Senior, California

47. Jake Leingang, Junior, Oregon                                    22. MarcScott, Senior, Tulsa

46. Grant Fisher, Freshman, Stanford                              21. Justyn Knight, Sophomore, Syracuse

45. Ryan Walling, Senior, Mississippi                               20. Pierce Murphy, Senior, Colorado

44. Chartt Miller, Junior, Iona                                            19. Joe Rosa, Senior, Stanford

43. Sam Wharton, Junior, Stanford                                   18. Thomas Awad, Senior, Penn

42. Colin Bennie, Sophomore, Syracuse                           17. Ernest Kibet, Senior, Louisville

41. Matthew Schwartzer, Senior, Indiana                         16. Edwin Kibichy, Junior, Louisville

40. Mike O’Dowd, Senior, Iona                                          15. Connor Winter, Senior, Colorado

39. Kyle King, Senior, Virginia                                           14. Martin Hehir, Senior, Syracuse

38. Dan Lennon, Senior, Syracuse                                     13. Erik Peterson, Senior, Butler

37. Brian Barraza, Junior, Houston                                   12. Matt McClintock, Senior, Perdue

36. Brandon Doughty, Senior, Oklahoma                         11. Jim Rosa, Senior, Stanford

35. Sam Parsons, Junior, NC State                                10. Mason Ferlic, Senior, Michigan

34. Jerrell Mock, Sophomore, Colorado St.                       9. SeanMcGorty, Junior, Stanford

33. Amos Bowen, Senior, Wyoming                                    8. Ammar Moussa, Senior, Colorado

32. MJ Erb, Junior, Mississippi                                           7. John Mascari, Senior, Indiana St.

31. Jefferson Abbey, Junior, Colorado St.                          6. Malachy Schrobilgen, Junior, Wisconsin

30. Joel Hubbard, Junior, Syracuse                                    5. Ben Saarel, Junior, Colorado

29. Joe Hardy, Sophomore, Wisconsin                               4. Patrick Tiernan, Junior, Villanova

28. Fabian Clarkson, Senior, Oklahoma St.                       3. Anthony Rotich, Senior, UTEP

27. Craig Nowak, Junior, Oklahoma St.                            2. Futsum Zienasellassie, Senior, N. Arizona
26. Kevin Dooney, Senior, Yale                                           1. Edward Cheserek, Junior, Oregon

                                         
After it was all said and done, I began to reconsider some of my picks. Here are some of the names that I believe could’ve been more accurately placed…

Under-ranked (actual place/more accurate placement)
Jordy Williamsz, Senior, Villanova (49^th/46^th)

Matthew Schwartzer, Senior, Indiana (41^st/36^th)

Amos Bowen, Senior, Wyoming (33^rd/27^th)

Chris Walden, Senior, California (23^rd/20^th)

Marc Scott, Senior, Tulsa (22^nd/18^th)

John Mascari, Senior, Indiana St. (7^th/5^th)

Over-ranked (actual place/more accurate placement)
Chartt Miller, Junior, Iona (44^th/50^th)
Mike O’Dowd, Senior, Iona (40^th/45^th)

Kyle King, Senior, Virginia (39^th/42^nd)

Joel Hubbard, Junior, Syracuse (30^th/33^rd)

Fabian Clarkson, Senior, Oklahoma St. (28^th/34^th)

Pierce Murphy, Senior, Colorado (20^th/22^nd)

Multiple Runners By Team (Team score for number of individuals on list)

5 individuals

1. Colorado (72)

2. Stanford (128)

3. Syracuse (166)

3 individuals

Mississippi (125)

2 individuals

1. Louisville (33)

2. Wisconsin (35)

3. Oregon (48)

4. Villanova (53)

5. Oklahoma St. (55)

6. Colorado St. (65)

7. Iona (84)

8. NC State (85)

On that note, I will leave you all with some questions…

-Who do you think was over or under ranked?

-Which of the four sophomores will have the best year? (Knight, Hardy, Mock, Bennie)

-Who is your favorite to win the Great Lakes region? West region?

-What are your top 10 teams looking like? My top teams list will be up in a couple of weeks…

Discuss away!

-Garrett

P.S. I will begin my PA alumni Top 20 and NCAA Top Teams list within the coming weeks. Stay tuned!