TSR Collaboration
Feb 17, 202113 min
TSR contributors may value certain aspects and ranking criteria differently between men and women when constructing our Indoor Top 25...
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.
Not much to report here for Wes Ferguson. The middle distance standout from Nebraska-Kearney recorded a strong time of 1:50 for 800 meters a few weeks back. Since then, he was part of a DMR team that ran 9:57 and recently recorded a time of 1:11.79 for 600 yards.
Truthfully, we've had a difficult time to putting that 600 yard mark into perspective, and even if we did have a good gauge, not enough athletes run that event for us to have a good comparison. Otherwise, Ferguson has been a solid talent who has yet to give us a reason to doubt his fitness.
It shouldn't come as any surprise that Adams State has a new talent rising to the top ranks of this historically loaded roster. The redshirt rookie put together a very solid 3k/mile at the Adams State Open which produced a converted NCAA #6 mark of 4:04. He came back the next week and then ran a true 14:18 for 5000 meters in Kansas.
Younger guys like Sado don't always know how to race against top-tier competition and that inexperience can sometimes be a liability. However, the upside that a younger talent like Sado has is incredibly exciting and we're beginning to see that potential shine through this winter.
Another week, another strong performance from yet another Colorado Mines runner. After earning a converted mark of 8:13 for 3000 meters earlier this season, the Oredigger veteran dropped down in distance to his ideal event, the mile.
A time of 4:15 on his home track was enough to earn an 11-second conversion en route to mark of 4:04. That mark may be ranked a bit lower on the national leaderboard than we're used to seeing, but this is an exceptionally deep year and that doesn't make Workman's resume any less impressive.
The redshirt senior has been a super reliable distance talent over the last few seasons and that doesn't appear to be changing this winter. He fell out of our rankings in our last update, but we were fairly confident that he would return to our Top 25 once he toed the line for the mile.
We've been high on Pierantoni since the cross country season, but the Colorado Christian ace has continued to make major strides on the indoor oval this year. With a strong 8:16 (3k) mark at the beginning of the season and an arguably more impressive (converted) 4:05 mile a few weeks later, Pierantoni was simply building on his already impressive momentum.
Two weeks ago, Pierantoni finally stepped up to the 5000 meters and recorded a time of 14:44 at Colorado Mines. Following altitude and track conversions, he was able to knock off over 40 seconds from his raw time and earn an NCAA #12 mark of 14:02.
Now, for some people, an NCAA #12 mark may not be super exciting in the context of elite D2 talents. However, this year's distance events have been surprisingly deep. In fact, during the 2020 indoor track season, Pierantoni's converted time would have ranked him at NCAA #5 in the men's 5000 meters.
Even so, this Colorado Christian low-stick has been excellent this winter. He's consistent, making improvements and maybe more importantly, showing off promising range between almost every distance event he toes the line for.
Leave it to Queens to introduce someone we’ve never heard of into the NCAA conversation. Their latest product is Jan Lukas Becker. He was the last of the four athletes to dip under the 14:00 barrier at Grand Valley State over the weekend.
Becker ran 13:56 and broke the 14:00 barrier for the first time (like everyone else at that meet) and is now one of nine athletes in D2 to have a sub-14 mark on the NCAA leaderboard. Now the question is, how will this translate to the NCAA meet? Becker has run 8:17 and 4:19 this season suggesting that he’s more of a 5k/10k guy when it comes to the track.
A big concern for Becker is if the championship race goes out tactical. He may not have the leg speed to keep up with the rest of the field if it comes down to a fast last mile. Then again, we don't know a whole lot about the Queens sophomore, so there could certainly be some unknown leg speed that he has since developed.
Scomparin finds himself moving backward just a smidge after he didn’t see the same kind of success in the 5k as he did in the 3k.
After successfully securing an auto mark in the 3000 meters, Scomparin only ran 15:16 in the 5000 meters which isn’t good enough for even a provisional mark despite having the conversion. Even so, this is a similar trend that we've seen with other athletes, not just Scomparin.
When the redshirt freshman gets to the NCAA meet, will he have the capacity to run faster per mile than he has in his collegiate career? We'll have to wait and see, but gosh, it's hard to discount how impressive his past 3k performance was...
Hood takes a minor step back in our rankings this time around due to others simply running faster than he has this season. The Thunderwolf ace has quite the legacy to live up as the last time a CSU-Pueblo athlete didn’t win the 800 meters was in 2017 (thank Thomas Staines for that).
Hood finally got to sea level this past weekend and while he didn't run poorly, a time of 1:52 also didn't jump off the board. That wasn’t good enough for an improvement on the NCAA leaderboard, but his converted mark of 1:50 still has him in the top-half of athletes expected to be at the NCAA Championships.
Can Hood finally showcase his speed at the RMAC Championships when they head to South Dakota? Or will we need to wait until he toes the line in Alabama to truly show off his peak fitness?
Anthony saw a short hiatus away from our Top 25 rankings, but it comes as no surprise that he finds himself back in a top spot. The junior, at the time, had run the NCAA #1 mark in the 800 meters with a mark of 1:50, but by the time our rankings have come out, he now sits at NCAA #5.
That was a strong result, but we're still waiting on Anthony to return to the form we saw from him when he was a freshman when he went under the 1:50 barrier.
The competition is truthfully not as fierce this year as it was when he first came onto the scene and this could be the best time for him to put together his best performances. With his hard front-running style, he’ll need to be able to dip back under 1:50 or he’ll find himself on the outside looking in when it comes to the top podium spots.
Groendyk finds his way into our rankings after setting a personal best in the 800 meters, running 1:50.40. He’s currently sitting at NCAA #4 after the weekend. Groendyk was also part of the DMR team that ran 9:39 following his personal best.
The best news about his recent performance is that it tells us that the Laker junior is ready to run in a championship setting. Or at least we think he is.
A decision will have to be made for Groendyk as the 800 and DMR are separated by less than an hour on day one. Can his legs respond well enough with that little time? Unfortunately, we won’t know until entries come out which decision they’ll ultimately decide to go with.
Taki finished 6th in a loaded 800 meter race which also saw his teammate go under the 1:49 barrier and five men in total go under the 1:50 mark. Taki didn't break 1:50, even with the minor altitude conversion, but it was good to see him run a strong time and gain valuable experience against a high-caliber field.
Taki is nearly on the same schedule as he was at this time last year (his previous personal best was set at the same meet in 2020) which could mean big things for the West Texas A&M athlete. Now, we didn’t get to see how Taki would have finished the 2020 year, but it’s likely that a new personal best would have been set due to the championship atmosphere.
Taki was also part of the DMR team that ran in Alamosa which currently has the NCAA #8 time. Barring any setbacks, we should see Taki in two events at the NCAA Championships.
Zeru is another athlete who is quietly climbing our rankings. The UCCS product has raced at home every time thus far in 2021 and the results have been promising.
He’s posted the NCAA #10 fastest time in the 5k (a converted 14:01) while also holding the NCAA #12 time in the 3k (a converted 8:06). Both of his marks prior to the conversion are personal bests for the junior and that’s really the only thing holding him back.
Zeru has not run truly run as fast like the rest of the men ranked in front of him when you ignore conversions. Every race of Zeru’s career has mostly been somewhere that is higher than sea level. It leaves us wondering how he will handle the pace at the national meet if someone gets aggressive with the pacing.
Even so, the recent performances that we've seen from the Mountain Lion junior have been impressive and he's clearly trending in the right direction. In fact, we would argue that he's been even better than he was during his already-great cross country season.
We'll be eager to see how he handles top-tier competition in the postseason.
Has not raced since our last update.
Stack got the short end of the stick with his ranking as there were so many fast times over the past two weeks, so it was inevitable that some athletes who have run well were going to move backward in our rankings.
Stack ran 14:03 and snuck under the automatic qualifying mark for the 5k. It’ll mark the third time that Stack has qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 5k (four if you count last year) and he’s still looking to finish on top.
This year, it’s going to be tougher than ever for him to try and win an NCAA title. After he opened up Western Colorado's DMR, there were thoughts that he could potentially be part of that relay, but the 5k still seems too appealing for a guy of his caliber. He’ll likely be aiming to run a fast 3k as he’s on the outside-looking-in right now.
Powell makes his way up our rankings as the redshirt freshman who now has two automatic qualifying marks for the NCAA meet.
On the heels of his stellar 3k, Powell ran 14:42 at Steinhauer Fieldhouse which then gained a conversion all the way down to 14:01. He will surely be racing both the 5k/3k at the NCAA meet and any other year that isn't as crazy as this, we’d be talking about the next up-and-coming distance star.
The one big thing holding Powell back is his experience. Given that he redshirted the year prior, Powell does not have much racing experience outside of the 2020 cross country season. The uncertainty of his racing ability makes him a tricky one to figure out at the national meet, but as long as he’s there, he’s got a shot at being an All-American. And frankly, that’s all that matters.
Welcome to the rankings, CarLee Stimpfel.
After coming so close for so long, Stimpfel has finally cracked our Top 25. In one of the more shocking performances from the weekend, the Saginaw Valley sophomore out-kicked Tanner Chada on his way to an outstanding 13:51 in the 5k.
That was a 40-second personal best.
Yes, you read that right. Stimpfel has emphatically thrown his name into the hat and entered the All-American conversation. A fast 3k would do wonders in terms of making us feel more confident about his fitness, but this time is wildly impressive and is the massive breakthrough performance that we knew he was capable of having for so long.
We mentioned Riddle briefly when talking about athletes who were going to potentially double at the NCAA meet. After his performance at the Ichabod Invite over the weekend, it feels like a near lock that Riddle will run the DMR and the individual mile.
His most recent time of 4:01 (mile) is the sixth-best time ever in D2 history on a 200 meter track. Riddle has quietly become one of the best milers in D2 history and no one is seemingly talking about it (likely due to the unreal fast times across the board on the men’s side).
If Noble decides to scratch out of the mile, Riddle and Luke Julian could still give D2 fans a thrilling battle for the national title. In fact, even if Noble contests the race, someone like Riddle could realistically give him a challenge.
The last time Rugenerwa broke the 1:50 barrier for 800 meters was back in 2019 on the outdoor track. On the indoor track, he had never run faster than 1:52...until this season.
Whatever has clicked for Rugenerwa, let’s hope that it continues as he has vaulted himself to the top spot on the NCAA leaderboard after running an incredible 1:48.48 (converts to 1:48.17).
The only time Rugenerwa ran at an NCAA meet was in 2019 where he finished 14th. There’s unfinished business for him, and it seems like 2021 might be the coming-out party given how wildly impressive his most recent effort was. He took down some talented D1 names and gave a top talent like Diego Castro a run for his money.
Mbuta has looked to regain the form that we had been accustomed to see from him in the three years prior at Grand Valley State. The only reason he slides three spots is that others have simply put together better overall resumes this season...for now.
The senior just ran 1:49.03 (just a few tenths of a second off of his PR) and then came back the next day to run the 1200 meter leg of the Laker’s jaw-dropping 9:39 mark in the DMR. The fitness is clearly coming back for Mbuta and the rest of the middle distance world should be on alert. In fact, he may be the most dangerous when peaking in the postseason.
That 1:49 suggests that he’s much faster than the 4:09 that he ran earlier this season. The only concern for Mbuta at the moment is whether or not he can post a time to get back into the NCAA picture as he currently sits at NCAA #27 on the national leaderboard.
It’s tough to say that Sweeney deserves to move back four spots this time around. Sweeney debuted in the 5k over the weekend and certainly didn’t disappoint. After running 13:45 on an outdoor track in December, Sweeney broke 14:00 for the first time during the indoor season and in a Mountaineer jersey.
His teammate, Taylor Stack, was near him step for step as they switched leadership duties every two laps on their way to automatic marks in the 5k. Sweeney finished at 13:59 and that currently ranks him at NCAA #9.
It’s clear that Sweeney is in shape, especially after anchoring the Western Colorado DMR to a win in Alamosa where he split 4:19 (at altitude). It’s unclear what the plan might be for him at NCAA's, but his best shot of national success is likely in the 5k or 3k. He has, after all, produced times that would make him a title contender in most years.
These two are nearly on the same level which makes it tough to rank them. After another weekend of staying home in Golden, Colorado, Moran and Ko have since recorded converted marks of 13:46 and 13:53 for 5000 meters.
Ko takes a four-spot setback in our rankings while Moran stands pat. The only reason we don’t have them higher than they are currently is because the three athletes all have marks that don’t need conversion. And that’s nothing against the Colorado Mines duo, it’s simply preferred to see times that don't need to be adjusted.
That being said, these two didn’t need to do anything more to solidify themselves as contenders, but their recent performances have told us that they’ll be ready for any kind of race that plays out on the national stage.
Julian isn’t grouped with his teammates Ko and Moran largely because he won’t attempting the 5k at the indoor national meet. After running 4:10 on his home track and seeing a monster conversion into the 3:58 realm, it’s hard to argue that Julian wouldn’t be the title favorite alongside Noble and maybe Riddle when lining up against others for eight laps of fury.
Now, Julian finds himself sitting at TSR #4 for another ranking update because the three athletes who are in front of him have dropped some marks that are unheralded for D2 athletes.
The key stat here, however, is that Julian has run 3:42 for 1500 meters. Converting that to the mile, we are looking at someone who conceivably has the ability to run sub-4:00. Conversions are tough to gauge, but Julian has raw, unconverted mark that says he could actually do it and that his latest mile performance is the real deal.
These two deserve every bit of praise they get. Admittedly, we had questions about their fitness at the beginning of the winter months following their solid, but unexciting season openers. Since that early weekend in January, it’s been nothing but fast times from these two.
They have soared above expectations and they completely blew us away over the last two weeks. Harding recently ran 7:53 (3k) and 13:55 (5k) while Chada recently ran 7:56 (3k) and 13:52 (5k). This Lakers duo are currently ranked within the top-six in the mile, 3k and the 5k. They are both legitimate threats in whichever event they choose to declare for. In fact, one could argue that they are legitimate title threats to Noble in the 3000 meters.
Something worth noting is that this might be Grand Valley State's best chance at winning an NCAA team title on the indoor oval given some of the performances that we've seen from others within their program. Harding and Chada could choose to tackle all three distance events or opt for two races to compete with fresher legs.
Whatever they choose, they’ll likely be near the top when it’s all over.
Noble hasn’t raced since he set the NCAA record in the 3k. His next effort will be at Camel City Elite where he'll make an effort to run under the four minute barrier on one of (if not the) fastest 200 meter flat-tracks in the country.
Butare Rugenerwa (West Texas A&M)
CarLee Stimpfel (Saginaw Valley State)
Arnaud Taki (West Texas A&M)
Jonathan Groendyk (Grand Valley State)
Seb Anthony (Queens (N.C.))
Jan Lukas Becker (Queens (N.C.))
Ahmed Sado (Adams State)
Vincent Workman (Colorado Mines)
Adam Wright (Queens (N.C.))
Enael Woldemichael (Grand Valley State)
Titus Winders (Southern Indiana)
Caleb Futter (Grand Valley State)
Blake Jones (Ilinois-Springfield)
Nate Beamer (Western Washington)
Ezra Mutai (American International)
Carson Bix (Adams State)
Blake Jones (Ilinois-Springfield)
Adam Wright (Queens (N.C.))
Tony Torres (Colorado Mesa)
James Young (Academy of Art)
Mason Strader (Pittsburg State)
Carson Bix (Adams State)
Caleb Futter (Grand Valley State)
Nicholas Skinner (Colorado Christian)
Dayton Brown (Saginaw Valley State)
Alec Kary (Augustana (S.D.)