TSR Collaboration
Jan 13, 20218 min
Click here to see our Just Missed and Honorable Mention names
Since joining the D2 scene in 2019, Arnaud Taki has rapidly climbed up the ranks. Taki qualified for last year’s indoor national meet with a time of 1:50.56 in the 800 meters, narrowly missing a spot among the top-10 national qualifiers.
Taki appeared to be less of an aerobic 800 meter runner last year, not displaying a ton of strength in cross country for West Texas. However, he showed plenty of speed, running 1:12.83 for a 600 yard race, roughly 50 meters short of a full 600 meters.
However, this past fall, Taki flexed some newfound aerobic fitness, taking 4th at the LSC XC Championships. This improvement over 8k could lead to Taki seeing some major gains on the track and, more specifically, in his 800 meters.
Admittedly, it's hard to compare a distance race on the grass to a half-mile race on the track. Still, if this West Texas A&M runner was able to make such a big improvement during cross country, imagine what he'll be able to do when he actually toes the line for his best event...
Ccope was fresh off of his 9th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships when he ran 14:06 (5k) at the Mel Tjeerdsma Classic to set a personal best last year. He later set a new mile personal best in January (running 4:16) and then followed that up with an 8:18 (3k) personal best the next weekend.
The NW Missouri veteran was clearly a threat in the 5k last winter and given the his upwards trajectory heading into the NCAA Indoor Championships, we thought he was a clear All-American favorite. He'll now get another year of training to build upon that success that he saw last winter, potentially making him even more dangerous than he was in 2020.
Ccope was already a legitimate contender in the 5000 meters and could also become a big name to watch in the 3000 meters by the end of the season.
So here’s the deal with these two. They are both very talented runners and were/are an integral part of the Colorado Mines' cross country team. Their teammate, Luc Hagen, is also an integral part of that squad. The same can be said with Kyle Moran and Dylan Ko.
The reason why these two find themselves in consecutive order and just inside our Top 25 is because of their success on the NCAA stage. Workman was the opening leg on the Colorado Mines DMR that finished 3rd at the 2019 NCAA Championships and later became an individual national qualifier for the 2019 outdoor national meet.
As for Mitchem, he has finished 9th in the 3000 meter steeplechase on the national stage and had just finished 20th at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. He looked primed to run well in the 5k/3k double last winter before NCAA's were canceled.
Both of these guys set personal bests in their first races of the 2020 indoor track season. Mitchem ran 14:45 (5k) and with an altitude conversion (14:04), was moved to NCAA #7. Meanwhile, Workman ran a 4:16 mile and received a conversion (4:05) that moved him to NCAA #10 on the list.
This duo capped their seasons with personal bests in the 3000 meters at the Texas Tech Shootout where Mitchem ran 8:14 and Workman ran 8:17. They were consistent all season long and only got better as the season progressed.
In the grand scheme of things, these two never gave us a reason to doubt them and although we are still waiting to see them emerge as All-Americans on the track this winter, we can't discount their overall talent.
Anthony stormed onto the D2 scene during his freshman year after his incredible racing in the prelims to make the 2019 NCAA indoor final in the 800 meters where he finished as an All-American (8th).
Since then, the Queens ace has made some waves, showing incredible consistency and making key improvements in other events that aren't the 800 meters.
Last year, he ran 14:39 for 5000 meters which pairs well with his outdoor 800 meter PR of 1:49. Could this actually mean that his best event isn't the 800 meters, but rather the mile?He’s got the capability to run with the top talents in D2 over the half-mile distance, but his mile time of 4:18 doesn’t line up with the rest of his marks...at least not yet.
It wouldn’t come as a surprise if we were to see Anthony run more mile races this indoor season just like we saw with current teammate Adam Wright last winter. Even so, this junior is already one of the more experienced names in D2. He is incredibly consistent, boasts underrated range and is quietly versatile.
Overall, Anthony's resume is exceptional.
Joshua Chepkesir has proven that he is an elite D2 distance runner. He has won three-straight Peach Belt Conference titles in cross country, the most recent of which came in dominating fashion as he won by 41 seconds. However, Chepkesir had barely raced on the track until last year’s indoor track season which ended abruptly before the NCAA Championships could even be contested.
During the 2020 indoor season, Chepkesir put together quite the resume. He notched a mark of 8:15 for 3000 meters which converted to 8:10, and also ran a personal best of 14:09 (5k). Both times made Chepkesir a two-event national qualifier.
Despite his incredibly promising performances, we have yet to see this UNC-Pembroke product compete in any championship races on the track. He’s proven to be a bit of a front-runner, and while that has mostly worked out in his favor on the grass, there’s no guarantee that it will work out for him on the track, especially in the often-tactical 5k.
Adam Wright joined the Queen’s program last year and quickly established himself as one of the nation’s top middle distance runners. He displayed promising versatility as just a rookie, running a 4:12 mile (which converted to 4:09) en route to a national qualifying spot. However, his real specialty proved to be the 800 meters in which he ran 1:50.12, placing him among the top-five D2 national qualifiers in the NCAA.
Wright joins his teammate Seb Anthony in offering a lethal 1-2 punch in the middle distances just like Wammetsberger and Wallis did in 2019. Wright is currently the better runner when it comes to the mile and Anthony the better one over a half-mile. Together, they should become a very well-rounded duo that only gets better as time goes on.
Wait, what? How does a guy who ran a converted 4:03 mile and come back as the NCAA's second-best returner in that event only get ranked at TSR #18?
Allow us to explain...
Hagen is incredibly talented, there's no denying that. However, his overall times in the NCAA rankings have largely relied on conversions (which isn't necessarily his fault) and he didn't show the same versatility that other top D2 talents did last winter. Hagen is a name who has made it to multiple national meets and although he's awesome on the grass, he has admittedly struggled on the track.
Even so, it's important that we don't that this guy ran a converted 4:03 mile. That is not easy to do by any means and Hagen was clearly trending in the right direction heading into the postseason last year. We'll be eager to see what he accomplishes later this season.
Young made the transition to the United States and Division 2 racing rather easily last year after competing for Lancaster University in London. He was 6th at the 2019 PacWest Cross Country Championships and rode that success into the winter where he ran 8:26 (3k) in his first NCAA track race.
Six weeks later, Young ran 4:04 in the mile which was the third-fastest time in the D2 without an altitude conversion (he ranked at NCAA #6 overall). He also anchored his DMR team in a "do-or-die" situation to qualify for the NCAA Championships in a solo effort.
The mile is really Young’s primary race, but his times in the 800 (1:53) and 3k are respectable and they give his resume a great boost over other one-dimensional runners.
Schwartz took the fall of 2019 off from racing and it paid dividends immediately when his 2020 indoor track season started. He ran 14:19 for 5000 meters in his first race of the season and nearly two months later, with no races between, he ran 4:09 in the mile.
However, Schwartz capped off his season with what was likely his best performance, running 8:06 for 3000 meters en route to the GLIAC title. Few D2 athletes had the range and momentum that Schwartz displayed last winter and he was surely going to be a factor when vying for one of those eight All-American spots.
Schwartz is another Grand Valley State runner who has developed incredibly well within the program. Prior to running 14:19, he had never run faster than 14:39. The mile? He never ran faster than 4:17. And the 3000? No faster than 8:42 before he posting a time of 8:11 which came two weeks prior to his 8:06.
If this GVSU veteran catches fire yet again, then he could be a major problem for whoever has to toe the line against him.
Speaking of Grand Valley State runners, we have another ranked Laker in Tanner Chada. While his teammate Schwartz has developed nicely, Chada was someone who made an immediate impact when he first showed up to Grand Rapids. After finishing 10th at the 2019 indoor national meet and then 3rd at the 2019 outdoor national meet in the 5k as a freshman, the sky seemed to be the limit for Chada.
And to be honest, the sky is still the limit for Chada.
The GVSU ace ran 14:12 for 5000 meters last season (two seconds worse than his personal best) and scored new PRs in the mile (4:16) and 3k (8:08). Despite only being a junior, he is incredibly experienced and knows how to race in a championship setting, especially against the more elite D2 distance runners.
Kimutai bounced back from a nightmarish finish to his 2019 cross country season by running an incredible time of 14:03 for 5000 meters and automatically qualifying for the NCAA Indoor Championships. After that, Kimutai proceeded to work on his speed as he toed the line for the mile and the 3000 meters on three separate occasions before his next 5k appearance.
Kimutai is known for his success in the longer distances, so it’s no surprise that the Missouri Southern coaching staff wanted him to focus on the shorter distances last winter in hopes that any speed he developed translated favorably in a tactical championship race.
Although the indoor national meet was cancelled, the Missouri Southern standout did run 8:15 (3k) and 4:10 (mile) on the same weekend (both personal bests). All things considered, those were encouraging marks for someone who is at his best when he's contesting the 5000 meters.
We’ll need to see him run much faster in the 3k as he hasn’t qualified for Nationals in that race before. Once he does, with newfound speed, he can reach the potential that he once teased as just a freshman.