I 100% agree that Peppard and Domitrovich will fit prominently into JCU's team this year, but they are already included in the above analysis. Their best 5k times are a 14:36 and 14:44. and while I can see the argument that they didn't run as fast as they could have since they focused on the steeple, I would also caution that steeple success does not always equate to 8k xc dominance. For one, its longer and at 3k, there are just as many 1500 guys who race up as 5k guys who race down. With both the JCU runners, they ran a lot more 1500 races than 5k's, and neither attempted a 10k. Thats not definitive proof, but they may not be longer distance type guys. Either way, when you look at Collett (came in 80th in XC), Patzka (didn't race XC) ,Dolan (came in 46th), and Sixth place Riley (didn't even make it out of regions), it easy to discount steeple success at the XC level. Thats not to say that Steeplers can't kill it on the grass. Kirkpatrick was 10th at XC nats for instance. But you need to take it all with a grain of salt. This year's XC season is shaping up to be one of the most competitive on record. When you look at the 5k in outdoor nats, it took a 14:17 to crack the top 20. Top 40 was a 14:30! The 10k was even more daunting. The 40th time was a 30:20. There were past years where that would have been top 8! D3 is getting much faster and there are at least 3 sub 9 3200 recruits coming in. Williams even has a 9:01 HS steepler on its incoming roster (By comparison, Domoitrovich was only an 8:58), and unfortunately, I don't think either of them is going to be in the top 15.
If I had to guess, I think it will take a sub 14:15 effort to crack the top 15 this year, and anyone with AA hopes will probably need to be sub 14:30. There are always surprises, but I would be shocked if Pomona doesn't put at least 6 in the top 40, and Williams at least 4. Peppard and Domitrovich might very well be sub 14:30 guys, and they might even have the endurance for the extra 3k, you would know that better than I, but top 15 in XC this year, would require some serious improvement from both.