2021 D1 Outdoor Top 25 Rankings (Men): Update #2

These rankings do take some indoor track performances from this past winter into account. However, the introduction of events like the 10k and the steeplechase, as well as the return of certain seniors who have not raced in over a year, has forced us to reshuffle our rankings and leave out some highly accomplished distance talents.

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.

I love the consistency that we've seen from Adams. In fact, I would argue that he is probably the most consistent 1500 meter runner in the nation right now. He ran 3:38 back in early March (unattached), ran 3:38 once again at the Joe Walker Invitational and then ran 3:37 last weekend at the EKU Rick Erdmann Twilight meet (which resulted in a win).

Sure, maybe it would've been nice to see him earn a higher finish at Joe Walker, but being able to run that fast on such a consistent basis is not something that I think a lot of the nation's top 1500 runners could do.

Has not raced since our last update.

Not a whole lot to talk about here. His 1:46.99 from earlier in the season still ranks him as one of the nation's better 800 meter runners even a few weeks after he posted that mark. We feel like that means something in a year where so many events are so deep and so top-heavy. His recent 1500 meter effort resulted in an unexciting 3:57, but this is someone who is clearly better at the half-mile distance and we think he'll continue to be a factor on the national stage.

The Villanova veteran continues to do some incredible things. His 3:39 from earlier in the season was an excellent start, but seeing him run 3:37 for 1500 meters at the Joe Walker Invitational, where he finished 3rd overall behind only the Ole Miss trio, is quite the feat.

Comber is a juggernaught distance talent when he's healthy and it looks like he's in the best shape of his life right now. That's crazy to think about when you consider how strong he already was during the winter and spring seasons of 2019.

He was great on the grass and he's been just as good on the oval. Hicks has been a tank at the 5k and 10k distances so far this season. The Stanford ace took down a very underrated field at the Stanford Invitational, including an aggressive pace-pusher in Alex Masai, in the 10,000 meters. In that race, he took home the win with a mark of 28:25.

Then, this past weekend, Hicks threw down an outstanding mark of 13:34 for 5000 meters, taking down teammates Alek Parsons and Callum Bolger who didn't make things any easier for Hicks with their sub-13:40 efforts.

Would we like to see Hicks in a more tactical, speed-based affair? Yes, that would be preferable, but right now he can do no wrong and we don't see him slipping up anytime soon.

Has not raced since our last update.

It's wildly exciting to see Ratcliffe back at full strength. When he's healthy, this Tar Heel star is truly one of the best in the nation and we've seen exactly that so far this spring. He ran 3:39 for 1500 meters a few weeks ago which was good enough to take down teammate Brandon Tubby and Wake Forest standout Zach Facioni. Both of those men also ran 3:39.

Then, Ratcliffe came back the next week to run 13:36 for 5000 meters. Yes, he did lose to Facioni and Robert Brandt, but it was still an excellent performance which showed off Ratcliffe's unique balance of speed and endurance.

We're not quite sure what he'll pursue at the regional meet, but Ratcliffe is making improvements on his indoor performances and seems to be continuously building on that momentum.

We have been saying for a while now that Facioni was a better 5k runner than 1500 meter runner. His recent 13:35 effort, where he narrowly took down Georgetown star Robert Brandt, is wildly impressive. The Demon Deacon ace even took home the win over Thomas Ratcliffe.

That was a huge victory for Facioni, one that has to give him confidence that he can contend with the major distance stars in the NCAA in a year that is supposed to be absurdly fast. With his 3:39 speed from the week prior, Facioni seems to have all of the necessary tools to be an All-American. He just seems like a different runner this year.

The nation's top steeplechase returner from the 2019 outdoor track season, both from the national meet and based on time, earned a really encouraging win at the Joe Walker Invitational with a mark of 8:51. That time may not be all that close to his personal best of 8:27, but it was a nice rust-buster performance where he was able to take down NCAA bronze medalist Kigen Chemadi.

Sure, he'll certainly need to run faster in the future to be considered as the steeplechase title favorite we know him as, but this was a good start to his season and we're not going to look too much into his performance.

Has not raced since our last update.

Has not raced since our last update.

Alright, let's iron out the details on this one. As some of you probably know, Eastern Kentucky's Ahmed Jaziri just ran 8:23 for the 3000 meter steeplechase this past weekend...or so we thought.

Apparently, the starting line for the steeplechase on EKU's track was placed in the wrong spot, meaning that the race was actually short and the results were therefore invalid. The exact distance of how short the race was isn't quite clear yet, but we've heard anywhere from 40 meters to 83 meters short.

While it is a crazy (and unfortunate) scenario, I do think we have to recognize just how impressive some of these performances were even if we were to tack on somewhere along the lines of 10 seconds, give or take two seconds. I don't have an actual conversion for that, so just work with me here.

In that case, we're looking at Jaziri running somewhere along the lines of 8:33 for this distance, a mark that aligns with his actual personal best of 8:35. Is this an entirely fair approach towards giving Jaziri a ranking? Maybe not, but his steeplechase success is well documented and he was very strong on the indoor oval. For now, a TSR #14 ranking seems appropriate.

In Grijalva’s outdoor debut, he showed us that still has elite foot-speed as he ran 3:39 in the 1500 meters to easily beat all of his fellow NAU teammates at the Jim Click Shootout. While the Lumberjack ace will likely focus on the 5k come the NCAA Championships, this is a great sign that he already has the top-end speed coming off of his winter cross country season. Once he runs a quick 5k, expect to see Grijalva further up in our rankings. He only falls in our rankings as many athletes have already run 3:39 or faster this spring.

Has not raced since our last update.

Wow. This duo was incredible at the Joe Walker Invitational. Yes, we're a bit embarrassed that we left Suliman out of our rankings in our first update, but hey, we're human.

Either way, seeing Suliman posted a MONSTER time of 3:36 for 1500 meters at the Joe Walker Invitational, taking down a very elite field of milers in the process. It's not necessarily a surprise that we saw Suliman post a fast regular season time -- he's been known to do that throughout his entire collegiate career.

However, even this performance was notably better than anything we've seen from him in the past. It was such a raw display of fitness and he was able to take down a field that will likely have multiple All-Americans come June.

Suliman also ran 1:47 for 800 meters this past weekend, but when you run 3:36 for 1500 meters, that kind of mark seems plenty reasonable.

As for Mario Garcia Romo, a lot of the same things can be said about his 3:37 result and runner-up finish. We knew how strong he was this past winter, so it's not exactly a surprise that he posted a super fast time and took down top names. However, we did think that the 5k would be the best distance for him, but after his recent performance, we don't know how he could pursue anything else than the 1500 meters.

Has not raced since our last update.

The rising RedHawk star has only raced only once since our last rankings update, but his victory at the Joe Walker Invitational in a time of 1:46 really solidified him as the top challenger to Charlie Hunter in the 800 meters this year.

Since his NCAA performance, where he finished just behind the Duck in a time of 1:45, McLear has looked every bit like the title challenger that we expected him to be. While he hasn’t bettered his 1:45 mark that he ran at the indoor national meet, it would not be surprising to see him earn a new PR in the next few weeks. He perfectly navigated the field at the Joe Walker Invitational, so we know that his tactics are just as sound as they were on the indoor oval.

Brandt is on a hot streak right now that few men in the NCAA have ever been on. So far this season, he has run 28:23 (10k), 3:38 (1500) and 13:35 (5k) in his last three races, showing remarkable range for someone we view as more of a 10k runner coming into this season. We should also mention that he ran 27:39 for 10,000 meters back in December.

The newest Hoya has clearly gone up a level and looks like he now has developed the top-end speed to go along with his fantastic endurance. It was a bit of a surprise to see him lose to Zach Facioni in the 5k at the Virginia Challenge, but the Demon Deacon ace has also been very strong this year.

Overall, Brandt looks like a top contender in both the 10k and the 5k this year. His newfound 1500 speed is wildly encouraging and he just seems like an unstoppable force right now.

Kipsang makes the biggest jump in our rankings after his fantastic weekend double on his home track, running outstanding times of 3:36 and 1:47.

His 1500 performance was noteworthy as he won the race by 10 seconds and really validated his 3:51 DMR split from the indoor track season. The Crimson Tide runner looks like one of the few 1500 runners in the country with the top-end ability to challenge the Oregon guys. And, after his 1:47 mark, it looks like he has the speed to go head-to-head with anyone in the country in the last 400 meters of a tactical race.

On paper, it's hard to not like what Kipsang has recently accomplished.

Has not raced since our last update.

Has not raced since our last update.

Hunter attempted the 5k this past weekend at the West Coast Classic, but did not finish.

Have not raced since our last update.

Waleed Suliman (Ole Miss)

Ahmed Jaziri (Eastern Kentucky)

Zach Facioni (Wake Forest)

Thomas Ratcliffe (North Carolina)

Charles Hicks (Stanford)

Casey Comber (Villanova)

Isaiah Jewett (USC)

Ryan Adams (Furman)

Devin Dixon (Texas A&M)

Sean Dolan (Villanova)

Vincent Kiprop (Alabama)

Sam Tanner (Washington)

James West (Oregon)

Takieddine Hedeilli (Texas Tech)

Brandon Garnica (BYU)

Kigen Chemadi (Middle Tennessee State)

Parker Stokes (Georgetown)

Takieddine Hedeilli (Texas Tech)

Sam Tanner (Washington)

Jackson Mestler (Oregon)

Ky Robinson (Stanford)

Sean Dolan (Villanova)

Jesse Hamlin (Butler)

Athanas Kioko (Campbell)

Vincent Kiprop (Alabama)

Devin Dixon (Texas A&M)

Yusuf Bizimana (Texas)

Colton Johnsen (Washington State)

Aaron Bienenfeld (Cincinnati)

Adriaan Wildschutt (Florida State)

Morgan Beadlescomb (Michigan State)

Jonathan Davis (Illinois)

Brandon Miller (Texas A&M)

Timothy Doyle (North Florida)

Amon Kemboi (Arkansas)

Jason Gomez (Iowa State)

Reed Brown (Oregon)

Clayson Shumway (BYU)

Nico Young (Northern Arizona)

Abdi Nur (Northern Arizona)

Samuel Voelz (Notre Dame)

Gilbert Boit (Arkansas)

Kameron Jones (Clemson)

Luke Meade (Arkansas)

John Dressel (Colorado)

Isai Rodriguez (Oklahoma State)

Kasey Knevelbaard (Florida State)

Patrick Dever (Tulsa)

Alex Masai (Hofstra)

Kyle Mau (Indiana)

Alex Ostberg (North Carolina)

Adam Fogg (Drake)

Brandon Tubby (North Carolina)

Alek Parsons (Stanford)

Callum Bolger (Stanford)

Jack Antsey (Illinois State)

George Kusche (Nebraska)

David Too (Iowa State)

Fitsum Seyoum (Virginia Tech)

Pedro Garcia-Palencia (Eastern Kentucky)

Kenneth Rooks (BYU)

Alec Basten (Minnesota)

Euan Makepeace (Butler)

Simon Bedard (Butler)

Jack Salisbury (Georgetown)

Tom Dodd (Michigan)

Eric Brown (Auburn)

Lucas Bons (BYU)

Nathan Mylenek (Iowa)

Talem Franco (BYU)

Luis Peralta (Oregon)

Davis Bove (LSU)

Cade Bethmann (Ole Miss)

Michael Rhoads (Air Force)

Shea Foster (SE Louisiana)

Jacob McLeod (Arkansas)

Duncan Hamilton (Montana State)

Cameron Ponder (Furman)

Baldvin Magnusson (Eastern Michigan)

Ben Veatch (Indiana)

Juan Diego Castro (Oklahoma State)

Alec Sandusky (Cincinnati)

Bashir Mosavel-Lo (Virginia Tech)

Kieran Taylor (Arkansas)

Ackeen Colley (Western Illinois)

Cooper Williams (Indiana)

Adam Swanson (Eastern Illinois)
 Roshon Roomes (Iowa State)

Mick Stanovsek (Washington)

Carlton Orange (Texas A&M)

Karl Winter (Pepperdine)

- We're not quite sure what Sam Tanner's plans will be for this outdoor track season. With the Olympics coming up, the Australian star may be placing his emphasis entirely on that, although that's still unclear. For that reason, we removed him from our rankings, but he could easily jump back into our Top 25 once he returns to collegiate competition.