TSR Collaboration
Mar 20, 202116 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.
Upon first glance, Brianna Robles may have fallen a bit short of expectations at the national meet. However, it is actually pretty hard to find any fault with her 7th place finish in the 5000 meters for a few reasons.
For starters, this is the National Championships we're talking about. The field was loaded and a lot of these women were already ranked ahead of Robles for most of the season anyway. Names like Zoe Baker (Colorado Mines) and Florance Uwajaneza (West Texas A&M) are pretty hard to top, not to mention Lauren Bailey (Indianapolis) taking over and pushing the pace.
Despite that, Robles gathered herself and churned out a very respectable result which leads to reason two: the Adams State product snagged All-American honors in her debut on the big stage. When you consider that this was her first time on the nation's biggest stage, you have to commend Robles for still walking away as an All-American.
Overall, Robles produced solid results on a consistent basis all season long. She didn't let her youth and inexperience get in the way and we think she has a very bright future with the Grizzlies moving forward.
It wasn't a great weekend at the national meet for the redshirt senior. Almasri was a top contender all season long. She was undefeated going into the national meet and had run a handful of impressive converted times on numerous occasions.
However, Almasri truthfully didn't face a ton of competition outside of her own teammates. Truthfully, even her RMAC mile title was largely just a battle between her, teammate Riley McGrath and Black Hills State runner Xiomara Robinson. On paper, that wasn't a super top-heavy field.
Almasri made it out of the prelims with an unconverted personal best of 4:53, but settled for 9th place overall. She was unable to emerge as an All-American in that race, but didn't settle for an 8th place finish in the DMR (which she anchored).
We shouldn't discredit for Almasri accomplished throughout the entirety of this season, but the NCAA Championships was a big validating opportunity and it didn't like we thought it could for her.
Kayce Rypma continued her upward progression trend at the national meet, meaning that she peaked perfectly just like her recent results were suggesting. The GVSU sophomore beat her GLIAC-winning 5k performance by placing 6th at the NCAA Championships, joining teammate Jessica Gockley in receiving All-American honors.
Rypma notched a mark of 16:50, besting names like Brianna Robles (Adams State), Erin Norton (MSU-Denver) and Toni Moore (Lee (TN)) in the process. She also secured some precious points to help the Lakers win the national team title.
She didn't standout throughout the entirety of the season like some of her teammates did, but Rypma was incredibly clutch, peaked perfectly and delivered on the nation's biggest stage.
Minnesota-Duluth junior Haleigh Reindl is no stranger to championship racing, having qualified for both the 2019 indoor and outdoor national meets. Sure enough, that experience culminated in her netting her first All-American honor last weekend.
Reindl ran in the 800 meters, advancing through prelims in a respectable time of 2:11. In the final, the junior ran 2:12 to finish 6th place overall. While it may not be quite the result she wanted, this was only Reindl’s fourth meet all year.
If history repeats itself, we can expect to see Reindl take another crack at a higher finish on the outdoor oval where she may have more time to build momentum and get into a rhythm. Either way, she had a great postseason and was solid throughout the entirety of the winter.
The senior from Walsh saved her best for last in many ways. This was Leppelmeier’s first time at the national meet on the indoor oval and she made sure to capitalize on the opportunity in front of her.
Leppelmeier competed in the 3k, one of the final two events of the meet, and delivered a personal best in the process, clocking a 9:32 to take 7th place overall. She ran with the pack and then cranked it into high gear, with her last lap being her fastest split to secure a scoring spot and an All-American finish.
Of course, this isn’t the end for the Walsh senior as the outdoor season is set to occur. However, Leppelmeier undoubtedly closed this indoor season with an exclamation point. She showed off some encouraging finishing speed and in more tactical races, that can make her a lot more dangerous.
Chrissani May stepped onto the national stage for the first time in her collegiate career and delivered a solid performance across the board. May raced the 800 meters in addition to having an anchor leg duty on Lincoln’s 4x400 relay.
The sophomore was the definition of consistent this winter, running 2:11 in the 800 meter prelim before doing the same in the next day’s final to place 5th overall. May came back less than an hour after the 800 final to anchor her 4x400 to a narrow 5th place finish, splitting 55 seconds with the baton. Two All-American finishes in the span of less than an hour sounds like a successful business trip to us.
It’ll be well worth it to keep an eye on what May does come outdoor season. She just about matched her best performances all indoor season at the national meet and could be poised to have a breakthrough in the early stages of outdoor. She was quietly consistent and was able to take on a heavy workload of races throughout the season.
U-Mary’s Elizabeth Acheson had a successful national debut on the indoor oval. The sophomore contested the 800 meters, taking 4th place overall, capping a season where Acheson earned multiple wins and really could do no wrong.
Acheson ran 2:11 to make it through prelims before doing so again in the final to get her 4th place finish. She went out with the pack, floating around the middle in 5th place and held her spot before moving up one more position in the last lap.
This experience will only help Acheson heading into outdoor season. An All-American finish to end the indoor season should leave the U-Mary sophomore with a lot to look forward to, especially since she is still relatively young.
Riley McGrath toed the line on the national stage for the first time, contesting the DMR and the mile for the Mountain Lions. She had a decent amount of running to do in her national debut, but still came out with top finishes.
In the mile prelims, McGrath ran a PR of 4:52 to advance to the final before running in the DMR later in the evening. She ran a bit of a shaky 1200 leg, most likely feeling her PR effort from earlier. However, she got the job done and helped the Mountain Lions earn an All-American finish in the relay. McGrath bounced back and earned an individual All-American finish in the mile the next day, placing 7th overall.
McGrath may not have had the biggest workload of participants at the meet, but she still put quite a lot on her legs. McGrath’s only going to get better going forward and will be a name to watch during outdoor. She was surprisingly consistent this season despite being a sophomore is one of the numerous women who has emerged as a true national contender from that UCCS squad.
In their first times at the national meet on the indoor oval, PJ English and Nicolette Schmidt handled the pressure well. The Augustana (S.D.) duo doubled up on events, with both women contesting the mile and the DMR for the Vikings.
English and Schmidt ran 4:52 and 4:53 in the mile prelims, respectively, to secure spots in the final before doubling back for the DMR. English ran the 1200 leg and split 3:30 to keep the Vikings in the mix early-on. Schmidt received the baton for the mile leg and anchored Augustana to a 4th place finish, splitting 4:51. The next day in the mile final, English notched a 4:57 to place 5th with Schmidt fractions of a second behind her in 6th.
Overall, the Vikings’ dynamic duo clocked in a solid weekend of racing, with both of them nabbing two All-American honors. They’ll be exciting to watch this outdoor season as they’ll likely continue to make a lethal combo for Augustana and will continue to flex the strength they showed at Nationals.
Comastri didn't always look like she was at her best this season. She wasn't running poorly by any means, but she didn't seem to have the same spark that we were used to see from her. That, however, changed at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
The Southern Indiana veteran made a smart move when she knew she was falling off pace to pack up with Zoe Baker and Jessica Gockley to help her through the last 1200 meters. She eventually beat out Gockley for 4th in a new personal best time of 16:27.
In a year where we didn’t think we’d get to see Comastri at the national meet, she made the most of her opportunity. The faster pace absolutely played to her strengths as a competitor and it showed with her having a huge 4th place result.
Ludge knew that the Lakers were going to win the DMR and they accomplished that relatively easily. However, she eventually ran into some resistance when competing in the individual events, potentially feeling the effects of her day one racing during the second day of competition.
Ludge faded in the mile final, finishing 4th overall following a move from Cotter and later took a DNF in the 3000 meter. We admire the effort and guts it took to run four races in two days, it just didn’t work out exactly as she drew it up.
With that being said, she still became an All-American in the mile and won a national title in the DMR, along with a team championship. She was still ranked at NCAA #10 in the 800 meters, NCAA #10 in the mile and NCAA #2 in the 3000 meters. Despite what her national meet performance suggests, Ludge was still a big-time talent this winter.
Like Hannah Roeske’s original plan of focusing solely on the 3000 meters, MacKenna Curtis-Collins came to compete. She did just that, taking 3rd place overall and proving that her rough G-MAC performance from a few weeks ago was just a rare off day.
This gives us further proof as to how far the Malone junior has come. She has simply gotten better since the fall and her tactics are a bit more refined than we may give her credit for. Now, with proof that she can contend nationally, it will be interesting to see how high she can climb this outdoor season and beyond.
Gockley finished as an All-American twice, taking top-eight finishes in both the 3000 meters and the 5000 meters. This was a more realistic double than the mile/3k or mile/5k as both events didn't require prelims and finals qualifying didn't play a role.
That being said, we think her performance from the weekend wasn’t talked about enough mostly due to Grand Valley State having such a talented distance roster. Gockley's experience played to her advantage and the faster pacing in both of those distance races allowed her to rely on her true fitness rather than a finishing kick. That likely helped the strength-based runner earn her two All-American results.
O’Malley had a similar weekend to Zoe Baker in our mind. She came away with a 3rd place finish in the mile, but faltered in the 3000 meters, finishing 9th place to Zoe Baker who took the last All-American position. That latter result was likely due to fatigue and even though the Lakers' made the decision to let Roeske run for her in the DMR, it still proved to be too much.
Of course, that’s not to take anything away from being an All-American and team champion. A bronze medal in the women's mile, behind one of the best D2 milers in NCAA history, is not a poor performance by any means and truthfully, the fact that she attempted the double shouldn't hinder her ranking.
The GVSU star was still ranked at NCAA #7 in the mile and NCAA #4 in the 3000 meters. She posted super fast times on a consistent basis and took home three wins this season, including a GLIAC title. She may be faltering slightly in our rankings, but that's more based on how other athletes performed.
Let’s be honest, few people viewed Hailey Streff as a top contender in the mile. She came in to the national meet ranked eighth before scratches, but she made it known after the prelims that she was going to be a major threat. She eventually finished runner-up in the mile, patiently working to track Allie Ludge and losing only to Stephanie Cotter.
The theme of the weekend for Streff was coming in 2nd place as she ran the 1200 leg of the DMR and handed off in the runner-up spot before the DMR took 2nd...and she finished 2nd in the mile prelims as well! Talk about consistency.
Overall, the CSU-Pueblo ace used her speed to her advantage and showed advanced tactics that allowed her to take down big names and earn the best finish of her career.
It was a big weekend for Hannah Roeske. After recording a DNF at the GLIAC Championships, she rebounded in a big way at the national meet as she was 150 meters away from claiming the title before she was out-kicked by Celine Ritter.
Not only that, but she held off the fury of challenges from West Texas’ Florance Uwajaneza and Malone’s MacKenna Curtis-Collins to take runner-up honors. It was evident based on her success at the D3 national level that she would be in contention last weekend, but we didn’t think she would be a runner-up.
To top that off, Roeske filled in for Klaudia O’Malley on the Lakers' DMR and helped win them the national title. In the end, Roeske's past national meet experience proved to be a major difference maker. Like we said in our First Thoughts article, she perfectly integrated her 2:14 800 meter speed into a longer distance race that ended up being incredibly fast.
In the grand scheme of things, Roeske showed us that she has all of the tools to be a major national-level threat in any kind of race at the NCAA level.
Baker had quite the Jekyll and Hyde performance in her two races at the NCAA Championships last weekend. She was fresh for the 5000 meters and matched expectations with a 3rd place finish in a super and aggressively paced race. However, that effort likely came back to create some fatigue showed in the 3000 meters as she finished 8th overall -- still an All-American, but out of the main pack.
Yes, we know she ran two new personal bests and took home two All-American honors. Still, we thought she would be able to compete in both races like Florance Uwajaneza and Jessica Gockley were able to. However, that doesn't make her season any less impressive and she still solidified herself as one of the best in the nation with a bronze medal in one of the fastest D2 national meet 5k races ever.
Another one who took it upon herself to help her team in any way possible, Chapko totaled four races over two days at Nationals despite only being a freshman. She was on the national title winning DMR team, running the 800 meter leg in a time of 2:10. She also ran in the 800 meters twice, posting times of 2:11 and 2:08. She later split 57 seconds in the 4x400. Talk about an impressive weekend from the true freshman.
We almost forgot to mention that she was 3rd in the 800 meters and 4th in the 4x400, making her three-for-three in capturing All-American honors.
Needless to say, Chapko performed beyond her years. She continued to get better as the season goes on and based on her recent 800 meter performance, she clearly hasn't even reached her ceiling yet.
Within a winning culture, real champions emerge and for Chapko this is only the beginning.
There was a bit of debate over who should take this spot and Yasmine Hernandez won it in the end. She made her case with the strong performance she put together at Nationals. Hernandez almost seemed to feed off of her own races as she got better with each one.
The middle distance veteran from CSU-Pueblo started things on day one with a 2:11 effort in the 800 meter prelims to advance to the finals. She followed that up by anchoring the Thunderwolves’ DMR team to a runner-up finish later that night, splitting 4:50 on the mile leg.
Hernandez closed things out on day two with a runner-up finish in the 800 meter final. After not dipping under 2:10 all season, she clocked a very impressive time of 2:08, living up to the billing as one of the strongest title contenders. The Thunderwolf standout significantly challenged Cleyet-Merle and took down freshman Taryn Chapko who was on absolute fire coming into this race.
Overall, we liked how Hernandez ended her season and we think her most recent performance perfectly validates her true level of talent and experience.
Indianapolis likely gained a lot of recognition based on the success of Lauren Bailey this year, but Bernice Cleyet-Merle has proven to be just as lethal in her respective event. Like Bailey, she also won her first national title at the NCAA Championships last weekend, taking the 800 meter crown in a time of 2:07 over an established veteran in Yasmine Hernandez and a star up-and-comer in Taryn Chapko.
Winning a national title seemed like it was bound to happen for the Indy senior after she ran a 2:06 last year and was the title favorite going into last year's national meet before it was canceled.
With her performance this year, Cleyet-Merle gets the Hollywood ending after all. While we could try and do a bunch of fancy analysis, the fact of the matter is that she was simply better than her competition, plain and simple.
Uwajaneza toed the line for three races at the NCAA Championships and came away with two new personal bests, as well as two All-American finishes in the 3000 meter and 5000 meters. The DMR didn’t go as planned, but that didn’t stop her from executing in her individual events.
In a fast-paced 5k, she hung onto Lauren Bailey for as long as possible before she eventually took home the silver medal in an outstanding time 16:10. Then, in the 3k, she kicked just a hair too late as she would’ve taken 2nd place had the track been 10 meters longer. Instead, Uwajaneza settled for 4th place and walked away from the national meet with two more top-eight finishes to her name.
Overall, both the 5k and 3k races played out in her favor. The West Texas A&M star is a long distance standout who doesn't really have much exposure to the middle distance races like the 800 meters or the mile. An all-out effort where she could rely on her aerobic ability was the ideal race situation for her and that was plenty evident in the results.
Surprise, surprise. Cotter emerged from the shadows to win another national title in the mile. Despite some initial concerns about her lack of racing this season, we knew that as long as she was healthy, the Adams State junior was going to be the one to beat. Her recent marks were still strong, she had experience on her side and she just wasn't going to lose a tactical race. In fact, the odds looked even greater for her when Celine Ritter scratched the mile to focus solely on the 3000 meters.
Cotter looked solid in her prelims, running stride for stride with Grand Valley State’s Allie Ludge. She looked even better in the finals, surging with 200 meters to go to zoom past the field. You could tell that she was fresh as opposed to most of the rest of the field which featured numerous instances of women doubling back from the DMR the night before.
One of Ireland’s best is going to go down as one of the greatest D2 milers in NCAA history and I don't think there are a lot of people who would argue that. Tactically, she may be the best ever.
Lauren Bailey was another runner who looked like they had a really good shot to come away from the NCAA Championships with a gold medal and she did just that, running 16:03 for 5000 meters and setting a new meet record in the process. After 3600 meters, she finally dropped West Texas A&M’s Florence Uwajaneza and continued to churn out 38/39 second laps until the finish.
In a top-heavy field that featured numerous women who are likely better when the pace is faster, it was wildly impressive to see Bailey drop the field by simply out-muscling them (aerobically speaking).
She later doubled back with a 5th place finish in the highly-contested 3000 meters which also required a hard effort. The Indy senior was looking like she might run away with the 3k national title as well, but just didn't respond when the four-person pack made their move in the latter stages of the race.
You could tell that she might have been feeling the effects of that 5k a bit when the moves were being made and that she just didn't have the same closing speed as a few of the other ladies in the pack.
Either way, Bailey can say that she’s a national champion. She was wildly impressive all season long and made both distance races honest, forcing the field to put forth their best efforts.
I’m sure Coach Caleb Morgan feels a lot better now that Ritter won the 3k national title as she could’ve tried to double in the mile, an event where she has the nation's fastest time. Of course, the Flames decided that Ritters' best chance at a national title was in the 3000 meters and that was absolutely the case.
In what was a very smart race by Ritter, she let Lauren Bailey take the lead up to the last 800 meters. In the final half-mile, the lead changed hands several times until it was between Grand Valley State’s Hannah Roeske, Malone’s Mackenna Curtis-Collins, West Texas A&M’s Florence Uwajaneza and Ritter. Eventually, the Lee veteran finally broke away from the pack with 150 meters to go and never looked back, perfectly using her mile speed to take the win.
In the end, Ritter gave us no reason to leave her out of our TSR #1 spot. She was the D2 leader in both the mile and the 3k, broke a collegiate record and took home a national title in a fast-paced 3k featuring many of the best talents in the country.
What else could we really ask for?
Jennifer Comastri (Southern Indiana)
Kayce Rypma (Grand Valley State)
Alexa Leppelmeier (Walsh)
Kelly-Ann Beckford (Lincoln (Mo.))
Olivia Brian (Grand Valley State)
Erin Norton (MSU-Denver)
Delanie Dykes (NW Missouri)
Kelly Ann-Beckford (Lincoln (Mo.))
Molly Maksin (Colorado Mines)
Lyndsey Amthor (Grand Valley State)
Maryssa Depies (Hillsdale)
Erin Norton (MSU-Denver)
Olivia Brian (Grand Valley State)
Justine Glass (Montevallo)
Chloe Flora (Lee (Tenn.))
Taylor Hestekin (U-Mary)
Toni Moore (Lee (Tenn.))
Serenity Andrus (Alabama-Huntsville)