qlasseter
Dec 9, 20195 min
Updated: Dec 20, 2019
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TSR contributors may value certain aspects and ranking criteria differently between men and women when constructing our Indoor Top 25...
These lists were written prior to the weekend of December 6-7th. Times from that weekend are not included in the reasoning.
Most recently, Urtusuastegui added another All-American trophy to his name at the NCAA XC National Championships, finishing 25th overall. This strong performance and his 7th place finish in the steeplechase at the national meet last spring, catapults Urtusuastegui into our Just Missed list.
The reason Urtusuastegui barely missed out on our Top 25 was due to failing to qualify for Nationals last winter. This is no big deal as he owns strong PR’s of 8:43 in the 3000 meters and 14:32 in the 5000. After an impressive cross country season and with strong times, this could be Urtusuastegui’s year to qualify for the indoor national meet.
MSU-Moorhead’s star runner Nadir Yusuf proved his legitimacy recently at the NCAA XC National Championships, placing 14th overall. Throughout the years, Yusuf has improved tremendously, bringing his PR’s to 8:35 in the 3000 meters, 14:44 in the 5000 meters, and 29:58 in the 10k.
The longer the distance, the better Yusuf gets. This feels like the year that he'll qualify for Nationals in the 5000 and have a legitimate shot to be an All-American.
Bix was the standout performer that everyone was talking about at the National Championships just a few weeks ago after his surprising 10th place finish. That breakthrough outing helps him land a spot on our Just Missed list.
Bix holds times on the track (from his two years at El Camino College) of 1:56 for 800 meters and 3:54 over 1500 meters. However, what should set him apart (and what puts him on this list) is his 14:32 5000 meter time from the 2018 season.
Although Bix hasn’t raced on the track thus far at Adams State, he has proven to be the real deal and is expected to translate his cross country success to the indoor oval.
Kirui is one of the most interesting characters on our Just Missed list as he failed to qualify for the Indoor National Championships last year. However, Kirui made up for that just a couple of months later when he got the chance to prove himself at the Outdoor National Championships and did so impressively by placing 3rd in the steeplechase.
Kirui is an established veteran runner with tons of experience. His PR’s of 8:29 in the 3000 and 14:18 in the 5000 will lift him to further success this indoor season, but he'll need to actually qualify for NCAA's before he gets a spot in our Indoor Top 25.
After missing both the 2019 spring track season and 2019 cross country season, we are unsure if Klemz is choosing to redshirt this winter. As a result, this has left us placing him on the “Just Missed” portion of these rankings.
If Klemz were to run this season, he would instantly be one of the top contenders in the 5k this upcoming season. He’s run 14:11 over that distance and it came at the NCAA meet last indoor season. He was 10th in the 3k and has run 8:17 over that distance as well.
Until we see him race, we can’t feature him in the Top 25.
Smith will be looking for postseason success during the indoor track season this year after multiple appearances at the Outdoor National Championships in the 5000 meters. Last spring, Smith set new PR’s in the 1500 (3:58), steeplechase (9:13), 5000 (14:08), and 10,000 (29:58) all in one season. He is on an upward trend is expected to make waves this winter.
One of the Mountaineers' top performers last year is set to return after helping their DMR team secure an All-American finish along with his national appearance in the mile. Husch then showed off his range in the 5000 meters, placing 12th overall at the Outdoor National Championships.
Husch also brings in impressive times of 8:21 in the 3000 meters and 14:12 in the 5000 meters. With his experience and big improvements across the board, Husch will be someone to keep an eye on.
Campion was one of the top upstart freshmen from a year ago. He placed 5th in the mile and ran a personal best of 4:07 earlier on in the year. He also brings an impressive 1:52 800 meter time and 3000 meter time of 8:27. Not bad range for such a young talent.
He has the foot speed to hang with others late in races and another year in the AIU program suggests that his strength level will be up to par as well. Expect Campion to be a name to be talked about come March.
We had a hard time leaving Warren off of our Top 25 list after strong showings during both the indoor and outdoor seasons last year. He was the first one out of being an All-American when he finished 9th at the indoor national meet last year. He was a double qualifier during outdoors, but missed the final in both the 800 and 1500.
Warren just had arguably the best cross country season of his career, finishing 18th at the South Regional Championships and should build upon that success this indoor season.
Partee missed the finals last year, but left with an 11th place finish in the 800 meters. He ran 1:51 during that indoor season and then lowered it to 1:50 late in the outdoor season which helped him get to the NCAA meet.
If he continues to trend upwards the same way this year, he could make a strong push towards being an All-American for the first time in his career.
Although not racing last year during the indoor track season, Chesum made a statement during the spring at the SIAC Championships, winning the 1500 (3:58), steeplechase (9:43), 5000 (15:30), and 10,000 (32:30).
Yes, all four events.
All of those marks were new personal bests with the exception of the 5000 meters. This translated to Chesum most recently placing 39th for an All-American finish at Nationals this past fall. With major performances and improvement, Chesum will be searching for big success as he enters the first indoor track season of his career.
Mitchem was one of the toughest names to leave out of the Top 25. His ability to steeple is clearly one of the best in the country given his PR of 8:56. However, that doesn't help him during the indoor season. He has some lackluster marks during his 2019 indoor campaign, but he has very clearly improved since then.
Mitchem is extremely talented and 2020 is likely the year he will break out.
Talbott has established himself as one of Saginaw Valley’s top runners after running 8:28 in the 3000, 14:24 in the 5000, and 29:35 in the 10k. Talbott didn’t make an appearance at the National Championships last winter, but did during outdoors in the 5000 meters. If Talbott can translate his cross country success (27th at NCAA’s) and outdoor track accolades from last year to indoors, he should have a very strong next few months.
Along with Talbott, Dayton Brown has also proven to be one of Saginaw Valley’s other top runners, having an All-American performance (32nd) with his teammate at Nationals just a couple of weeks ago. Having not run indoor or outdoor track during his career, Brown will build off of his cross country success in order to have the same accolades this upcoming winter.
This is the third Cardinal that we have on the Honorable Mentions list this year. Stimpfel falls into this in large part because he didn't have the strongest indoor season last year, but that shouldn't take away from how good he's likely going to be. That success should come sooner rather than later given his performances this past cross country season.