World Cross was never a priority for top runners. Maybe Pat Porter (who really wasn't a top track runner against the world).
I recall one year Bob Kennedy and Todd Williams placing top 10 at Worlds or very close but at that time US distance depth at 10k was weak. Teamwise the US was weak.
Over the last 7 years we have had depth to medal as a team at World Cross but that won't get the guys fired up to take that trip and recover without a payday.
Back in 1986 we had a team that did just that. Bruce Bickford was ranked number one in the world in 10,000 in 1985. Porter was 4th at IAAF World Cross in 1984. Virgin was still hanging on and he was a World Cross Champ in 1980 and 81. Plus Ed Eyestone who the year before set the American Collegiate 10,000 record. Keith Brantly was making a name winning road races and John Easker and Alan Scharsu were killer cross country runners in college against the stiff foereign competition at the time.
Porter and Bickford at that time had a huge rivalry. The Trials race was a grudge match between the two. But at that time, which is rare, the top US guys got together and got pumped about putting together a team to try to win a World Championship and they ran great to medal.
Totally different era today. The chance of winning is slim but if Rupp, Solinsky, Tegankamp, Derrick, Ritz, Meb, Abdi put a team at Worlds 2010-2012 they wouldn't be confident of going for a win over Kenya but it would have been the greatest US team ever and probably top 3.
The team in 1986 had top runners commit for a chance to win. As a team they were focused on that which was probably the only time it happened. The trip at that time of the year interrupts training and the race itself requires a lot of recovery. These days the value doesn't justify the cost. Which is a shame.