I don’t understand why anyone is surprised by programs not filling full squads. It’s indoor track season not XC. The only programs that care about XC are the ones that put all their scholarships into XC. The way the NCAA is set up you have to choose between either XC or Track.
NAU, BYU, and Colorado have designed their programs to compete for XC national championships. They get smoked though at National track championships because of it though. Just forget about these track schools and focus on the competition between the XC schools. All that matters this “XC Championship” is who takes home the team title because individual place is all watered down.