His track times are pretty unimpressive for D1:
https://xc.tfrrs.org/athletes/4118771.html
His 29:45 is an outlier, actually. He's got a lot of mediocre 5Ks in there. And, two other 10Ks around 31.
A 14:30s 5K guy isn't typically a D1 XC AA. Most of those guys are sub 14:00.
Again, maybe he's better at XC and could have been an AA. Who knows. I would NOT bet large sums of $ on him, that's for sure.
I think it is you that's giving him too much credit. I'm calling it like I see it.