Admin (Garrett Zatlin)
Mar 1, 202110 min
TSR has made the decision to remove any athletes who have not yet competed on the indoor oval this year from our Top 25 rankings.
Was not ranked in our last update.
First number indicates how much the individual has moved in the rankings.
The second number indicates where they were ranked in our last update.
Voelz has truthfully been the better 800 meter runner this winter, posting a pair of 1:47's as well as a 1:48 in his three attempts at the distance. However, Mosvael-Lo just barely edged the Notre Dame star with a time of 1:48 to win the ACC 800 meter title this past weekend. On top of that, Mosavel-Lo has also posted times of 2:22 (1k) and 3:59 (mile) this winter.
The Virginia Tech ace has been a bit more well-rounded and got the ACC victory, but Voelz has the better PR and the consistency in their best event. Both of these men will be in contention for All-American honors on the national stage.
In our last rankings update, we talked about how consistent McLear has been throughout his college career. Sure enough, he took down a field of established middle distance professionals from District Track Club at Camel City to win with a time of 1:49. That mark roughly converts to 1:47 and further solidifies McLear as a legitimate All-American candidate this winter.
Has not raced on an indoor track since our last update.
It's understandable that teammate Aaron Bienenfeld will be getting a lot of attention heading into the national meet, but Alec Sandusky has been a huge breakout star this year and arguably just as good.
He ran 7:53 for 3000 meters earlier this season and then came back a few weeks later to show that his 3k performance wasn't a fluke. The Bearcat junior ran a flat-track converted 13:34 for 5000 meters and now looks like one of the more dangerous 5k/3k names in the NCAA right now.
It's tough to say how he'll do at the national meet, but when you consider that he has had to race against Bienenfeld in two of the fastest performances of his career, I feel like Sandusky will be better prepared for the national stage than other names who are new to this tier of fitness.
The Oklahoma State junior helped the Cowboys bring home a DMR title at the BIG 12 Indoor Championships, but he finished 3rd in the 800 meters, falling behind Jason Gomez and Yusuf Bizimana by a narrow margin in a time of 1:48.88).
That wasn't a bad performance from Diego Castro, but beating either Gomez or Bizimana would have been really encouraging when it comes to our feelings about his chances for postseason success. He still has excellent times in the mile and 800 this season and was at least in the running to win that BIG 12 title.
Overall, we're not going to look too heavily into this bronze-medal performance. Diego Castro is still going to be a threat on the indoor oval and should be able to put his name in the All-American conversation.
Has not raced on an indoor track since our last update.
The Texas rookie from London, England has been an absolute stud so far this winter and after this past weekend, it was time that we stopped ignoring him in these rankings. The Longhorn ace ran 3:57 in the mile earlier this season, but that was during the same weekend when pretty much every top NCAA distance runner decided to post a fast mile.
Since then, Bizimana took to the BIG 12 Indoor Championships and made a statement. He ran an altitude converted 1:48.10 for 800 meters and barely missed taking down Iowa State star Jason Gomez by 0.01 seconds. However, Bizimana did pull off the upset win over Texas Tech ace Takieddine Hedeilli in the mile.
One win over a star talent and a very close 2nd place finish against another middle distance ace, paired with two national qualifying marks, naturally gives Bizimana a top spot in our rankings. This past weekend was too impressive for us to ignore.
It hasn't always been a total shock this season when someone runs 3:55 in the mile. However, seeing BYU freshman Lucas Bons come out of absolutely nowhere and run 3:55 is incredible. He pushed Sam Tanner to the line and although the Washington veteran made the race look easy, that shouldn't take away from the unbelievable breakout performance that we just saw from this BYU rookie.
Apparently, Bons spent two years on the Ivory Coast and has only been training for the past eight months. That is probably the biggest part of this story and it's what makes his time so mind-boggling.
Now, some people may be upset that we only ranked at Bons at TSR #17. However, this result was so wildly unexpected, so I think it's important to temper expectations for now. Bons doesn't have a ton of NCAA experience and his other marks gave us no indication that he was going to run this fast.
I'd like to see how he performs at his next meet (which will likely be the NCAA Championships) before we figure out exactly where he should be ranked.
The Bearcat star may be venturing to Oregon for graduate school next year, but he is still giving it his all for Cincinnati. After running an outstanding time of 7:50 for 3000 meters earlier in the season, Bienenfeld toed the line at Camel City and held off his rising teammate (Alec Sandusky) en route to a flat-track converted 5k time of 13:33.
This guy just seems so incredibly sharp thjs winter. He was posting wicked fast times on the track this past summer and was consistently making improvements. Bienenfeld has shown that his quick 3k mark wasn't a fluke and his summer success seems to be translating over to the indoor oval remarkably well.
He could very realistically win the 5k national title later this month.
Each and every week, Johnsen continues to impress me. He is now the only collegiate male athlete in the NCAA who has an automatic national qualifying mark in the mile, 3k and 5k after running a time of 7:53 for 3000 meters this past weekend. Amon Kemboi is just a few spots out in the mile from being able to say the same thing.
We like to talk about the range and dynamic talent of some of these athletes, but Johnsen has proven to have the best range out of anyone in the NCAA this year (although Cooper Teare and Cole Hocker could probably run faster in the 5k). The Washington State ace can effectively run in any distance event he wants to and I think that will give him a good opportunity to earn an All-American honor at the indoor national meet.
Truthfully, I'm not too sure how Johnsen will fare at the national meet in a crowded field of top-tier collegiates who have more experience. Still, the newest Washington State star has an ideal balance of mile speed and long distance endurance that other runners can't boast.
It wasn't a terrible weekend for Kemboi, but it would have been nice to see him get a win. He pushed Waleed Suliman to the line in the mile, posting a time of 3:58, but was a few strides short and had to settle for 2nd place.
In the men's 3000 meters, Kemboi was ultimately left in a tough position in the final moments of the race. Although he was able to stay with the finishing speed of Mario Garcia Romo and Eliud Kipsang, he just wasn't in a position where he could effectively swing around those two, especially with their finishing speed requiring so much effort just to stay in contact with them.
Kemboi has wicked fast times and is clearly one of the best distance talents in the nation. However, tactical races haven't always been his strong suit and I think this past weekend showed that. It's not that he doesn't have great finishing speed or that he can't establish/stay with a fast pace, but his positioning in some of these races will likely need to improve.
Gosh, it is hard to dislike the trend that we're seeing from Eliud Kipsang. He split a jaw-dropping time of 3:51 on the anchor leg of Alabama's DMR and then beat Amon Kemboi in the 3000 meters to finish runner-up to Mario Garcia Romo.
This rising SEC talent looks like he's peaking at the right time and that makes him incredibly dangerous. It's important that we don't put too much emphasis on relay splits, but 3:51 split puts him at another level and it further supports the idea that Kipsang is becoming increasingly more comfortable with the mile distance.
The Alabama ace started the season running 4:02 then 3:57 and then 3:56 earlier when it came to the open mile. With a 3:51 split now under his belt, few athletes in the NCAA have more momentum than Kipsang does.
Outstanding job by Waleed Suliman this past weekend. The Ole Miss star had a tough outing at least year's SEC Indoor Championships and hasn't always been great at national meets on the track. He got the job done in the Rebels' DMR, but had a gutsy effort in the mile, pulling away from Amon Kemboi in the final moments of the race where he ran 3:58.
The more important meet will be in Fayetteville two weeks from now, but this was a really nice weekend for the Ole Miss senior who was challenged by a top-ranked name, but was still able to pull out a gritty victory.
Has not raced on an indoor track since our last update.
Has not raced on an indoor track since our last update.
After a strong 3k performance earlier in the season where he ran 7:48, Kiptoo was relatively quiet on the indoor oval, likely because he was putting emphasis on cross country. That was what ultimately caused him to falter in our rankings.
However, a clutch 5k win this past weekend over an accomplished field, which featured Oklahoma State's Isai Rodriguez, was quite impressive. Kiptoo ran 13:42 (5k) at altitude which earned him a big conversion all the way down to 13:31, a time that currently ranks at NCAA #4 on the national leaderboard.
With top-tier times in both the 3k and 5k now on his 2021 indoor resume, Kiptoo now seems to have the necessary credentials to be a top-10 name once again. Plus, with BYU supposedly going all-in for the cross country national meet and forgoing the indoor national meet, Kiptoo may be the favorite for the 5k national title this winter.
That, of course, depends on whether or not he even runs at the indoor national meet later this month.
Very clutch win for the Iowa State star who continues to validate himself as one of the nation's premier talents. He won the men's 800 meters in a time of 1:48.48, just barely edging out Yusuf Bizimana by 0.01 seconds. He also took down Juan Diego Castro who ran 1:48.88 to finish 3rd.
Yes, this was a narrow victory, but a win is a win. Plus, he took down two men who are currently listed in these rankings. Time and time again, Gomez has proven that he is legit and depending on who runs what at the NCAA Indoor Championships, this redshirt sophomore may have a chance at taking home the individual title in the half-mile distance.
A respectable weekend from Takieddine Hedeilli gave him a BIG 12 title in the men's 1000 meters (with a time of 2:23) and he later finished runner-up to Texas ace Yusuf Bizimana in a somewhat tactical mile, running a time of 4:06.
It's hard to gauge as to whether or not this was a good weekend for Hedeilli. It would have been better to see him take home two wins or race Jason Gomez in the 800 meters, but trying to balance four races under your legs is not easy and he still took home one conference victory.
The Ole Miss breakout star has continued his success, this time earning wins over two standout talents. The redshirt sophomore threw down a blistering final 400 meters to win the men's 3k at the SEC Indoor Championships, pulling away from Eliud Kipsang and Amon Kemboi.
That was a very impressive tactical, speed-based win which required Garcia Romo to take down some of the better runners in the country. It also doesn't hurt that he recorded a 3:54 split on Ole Miss' DMR. That makes it hard to not give him a bump up in our rankings as he can seemingly do no wrong.
Has not raced on an indoor track since our last update.
There aren't many guys who can make running 3:55 look easy. That, of course, is exactly what this New Zealander did. We knew that Tanner was going to go after a fast mile time this season, so it wasn't much of a surprise when he ran 3:55. However, there's something about seeing him run 3:55 with a smile on his face like it was a walk in the park that really made me realize how dangerous he could be.
The Oregon men are certainly at a crazy high level of fitness right now, but Tanner looks like he could be a serious problem on the national stage.
Has not raced on an indoor track since our last update.
Has not raced on an indoor track since our last update.
Has not raced on an indoor track since our last update.
Lucas Bons (BYU)
Alec Sandusky (Cincinnati)
Yusuf Bizimana (Texas)
Bashir Mosavel-Lo (Virginia Tech)
Samuel Voelz (Notre Dame)
George Kusche (Nebraska)
Baylor Franklin (Ole Miss)
Cooper Williams (Indiana)
Everett Smulders (Ole Miss)
Gilbert Boit (Arkansas)
Luis Peralta (Oregon)
Ahmed Jaziri (Eastern Kentucky)
Davis Bove (LSU)
Cameron Ponder (Furman)
Antonio Lopez Segura (Virginia Tech)
Andrew Kent (Georgia Tech)
Alec Sandusky (Cincinnati)
Brandon Tubby (North Carolina)
Brandon Miller (Texas A&M)
Duncan Hamilton (Montana State)
Ben Veatch (Indiana)
George Kusche (Nebraska)
Baylor Franklin (Ole Miss)
Adriaan Wildschutt (Florida State)
Gilbert Boit (Arkansas)
Cooper Williams (Indiana)
Shea Foster (Southeastern Louisiana)
Morgan Beadlescomb (Michigan State)
Alec Basten (Minnesota)
Matt Young (Arkansas)
Jacob McLeod (Arkansas)
Brandon Tubby (North Carolina)
Baldvin Magnusson (Eastern Michigan)
Ben Nibbelink (Virginia Tech)
Ben Fleming (Virginia Tech)
Andrew Jordan (Washington)
Kieran Taylor (Arkansas)
Marco Vilca (Texas Tech)
Zach Stallings (Washington State)
Tom Dodd (Michigan)
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