TSR Collaboration
May 6, 202114 min
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.
Groendyk has raced at one meet since our last update, running the 800 meters and appearing to take pacing duties in the 5k at the GVSU Extra Weekend meet.
We don’t know how long Groendyk paced for if that was indeed the case, but we do know that five out of the six Lakers in his section notched provisional marks. So if he was pacing, Groendyk seems to have done a successful job.
However, what we can really look at here is his 800 mark.
The GVSU product ran 1:50 to take 3rd place by fractions of a second. While the mark isn’t an improvement, it does show us that he has at least continued to be very consistent. It’d likely be a huge confidence boost for Groendyk if he broke into that 1:49 barrier before the national meet, but the mid-distance specialist is not in a terrible spot either.
Smith enters our rankings after an impressive outing at the Drake Relays. The sophomore built upon the success of running 3:47 for 1500 meters two weeks earlier and proceeded to do the same in the steeple.
The NW Missouri product ran 8:51 over the barriers and water pits, securing the fourth auto mark of the event this season. It was also a 19-second improvement upon his personal best, which he set at the beginning of April. It was also just the second time he had ever run the steeplechase.
Smith followed that up with a time of 14:14 at the Kansas City Qualifier this past weekend. Things seem to be clicking for this Bearcat standout at the right time. With the championship season right around the corner, we could be looking at one of the better unproven talents in all of D2 this season.
Nicodemus Rotich hasn’t raced since our last update, so there’s not much to add here. However, it’s worth noting that his steeple mark from the start of the season still stands as one of only four to get the auto-bid nod. It’ll be worth keeping an eye on when Rotich resurfaces.
Calahan Warren admittedly hasn’t done anything overly exciting since our last rankings update. If anything, recent results have admittedly raised a bit of a concern.
Warren has competed in two 5k races, one resulting in a comfortable win with a time of 14:36, and the other coming as part of a double where he netted a DNF along with a 9:41 in the steeple. Admittedly, all of this isn't great, but it's also not a reason to hit the panic button.
Warren put up some impressive numbers early-on this spring. That may not seem to matter now as just about everyone has suited up for a race and has garnered top times, but there’s a flip-side to that.
Sometimes things have to get worse before they get better, and Warren’s proven that he has plenty of talent. After all, not all of his marks have been cut from the national picture. His 1500 meter time is still standing firmly in the frame of the national leaderboard.
Assuming he’s not dealing with any major issues and this is just a slump, Warren could be due for a strong bounce back performance. After all, we think his best events are in the middle distances. We imagine he was just working on his base before dropping back down in distance.
Dillon Powell took his first crack at the 10k this season and put together a great performance.
At the Mines Pre-Conference Invite, Powell placed 4th in a converted time of 28:59. That mark comfortably gave the Mines' redshirt frosh an auto-bid for the Big Dance. The real kicker here, however, is the field that he faced.
Sure, Powell finished 4th, but he still put himself ahead of some very noteworthy names such as Charlie Sweeney, Ryder Searle and Josh Pierantoni. Those are some impressive resumes to have crossing the tape behind you.
Regardless of the circumstances, this should only add to Powell’s confidence and his case for being able to challenge top runners on the national stage later this month.
Sweeney hasn’t exactly put up any jaw-dropping efforts this outdoor season, but the reason for that is twofold.
One, the guy has set quite the bar for himself. You have to admit that some of the things Sweeney does would floor you if they were attached to a different name, but his performance can sometimes come off as pedestrian because of just how talented he is.
Two, he’s only raced three times, two of which have come since our last update.
Sweeney placed 5th at the Mines Pre-Conference Invite in a high-caliber field (see: Marcelo Laguera, Josh Pierantoni, Ryder Searle, the Mines men). He may not have won, but he did net a converted auto-bid and showed that he can at least hang with the upper echelon of distance talents, a place he’s already been part of.
A week later, Sweeney took home the RMAC crown in the 10k.
He hasn’t raced a ton this season, but this Western Colorado star has displayed more than enough to justify his belonging at our TSR #20 spot. He has two wins, an auto-qualifying mark and has been able to stay in the mix when facing tougher fields. That’s a hard case to argue against.
Kyle Moran’s only race since our last update came at the Mines Pre-Conference Invite and he did some pretty great things with this opportunity.
Moran placed runner-up in the 10,000 meters with a converted time of 28:54. While he didn’t get the win, Moran was able to challenge CSU-Pueblo’s Marcelo Laguera right to the end. He also finished ahead of a slew of household names, including teammates Ko and Powell, Western Colorado's Charlie Sweeney and the Colorado Christian duo of Searle and Pierantoni.
The only possible concern we have with this result is how Moran's efforts will translate outside of his home turf. Some converted marks can effectively transition to the national stage, but that's not always the case. Still, Moran is talented enough for that to happen later this month.
Blake Jones hit the outdoor oval swinging and, since our last update, has maintained that reputation of being a top-tier distance talent.
The Illinois-Springfield runner was part of that loaded 5k field at the GVSU Extra Weekend and he did not disappoint. Jones was the 3rd finisher from D2, and the 6th finisher overall, running a massive time of 13:46. That was only Jones’ first 5k this spring.
In that single showing, Jones smashed the 14-minute barrier that barely eluded him during the indoor season and comfortably secured his place in the national picture.
It looks as if Jones put some crucial piece of the puzzle together once the outdoor season began. The progression he’s displayed up and to this point seems to indicate exactly that because he’s absolutely tearing it up this outdoor season up. This 5k is only the latest point on that graph.
Jan Lukas Becker has continued to assert his talent throughout the D2 level since our last update. The Queens (N.C.) product has contested two meets since then and has been quietly impressive during that time.
Becker added two conference titles to his belt after his 5k/steeple double at the South Atlantic Conference Championships. Becker won the steeple in a time of 9:18, a seemingly comfortable effort for him. Becker also fended off Wingate’s Tai Smith in the 5000 meters, winning the conference crown with a mark of 14:26.
The next week, Becker competed in a loaded 5k field at the GVSU Extra Weekend meet, running 13:54 and showing the same gear that he hit during the indoor track season at the NCAA Championships.
Becker already has auto-marks in the 5k and 10k, and a decent provisional mark in the steeple, having cracked the 9:00 barrier. The Queens runner has a lot of flexibility going into the postseason, but it’ll all come down to his event preference. If we had to guess, it seems likely that we’ll see him toe the line on the national stage for something not involving barriers.
Like most 5k/10k runners, CarLee Stimpfel's results embody "quality over quantity". Yes, distance athletes like him are running a ton of laps, but it’s not often that we see most top-ranked talents run a bunch of 5k and 10k races in a single season. That's why Stimpfel has made the most out of his two instances where he has toed the line this season.
That 5k field at the GVSU Extra Weekend meet did wonders for a number of runners and Stimpfel was one of them. Stimpfel was the second-best D2 runner in that field and the 5th place overall finisher in a time of 13:45.
We already knew Stimpfel was a top talent, but between that 5k and his 10k this spring, it seems like he has really broken out in a major way. He is no longer a talented fringe contender, but rather someone who can truly be amongst the best in the nation on a consistent basis.
Jack Mastandrea hasn’t raced since our last update, but that’s all that’s working against him this time around. His 10k mark still stands as the fastest raw time in the NCAA, so keep an eye out for when this senior resurfaces.
Riddle was on a winning streak before our last update and has kept the ball rolling right into this one. His latest win came in the 1500 meters at the Pittsburg State Tune-Up where he ran an excellent mark of 3:44. He beat teammate Gidieon Kimutai by five seconds and took three seconds off of his 1500 PR. This all culminated in his fifth-straight win this outdoor season.
The Missouri Southern product isn’t missing a beat. Even if he were to slip up, the quality of his results have been so good that even an off-day doesn’t seem like it’d phase him. Riddle should be amongst the most confident runners in Division 2 right now given that he has five reasons (read: wins) under his belt.
He drops in our rankings, but only because so many others had such great performances.
The thing with Seb Anthony is that he’s either running fast, winning or both. There haven’t been any occasions where he has failed to deliver one of those outcomes this outdoor season. His latest result? A double victory at the South Atlantic Conference Championships.
Anthony seemingly cut it close with both of his wins in the 1500 and 800, running 3:53 and 1:56 in what were two very tactical races. Those are actually two very encouraging results as this is the same Seb Anthony who has run 1:49 and 3:44 earlier this same season.
In other words, we know what his true talent is like.
This past weekend was just a tactical affair that Anthony handled comfortably as shown by the outcome(s). The next time Anthony hits the outdoor oval, expect him to continue delivering excellence.
Remember when there were some people who were concerned about Woldemichael when he returned to competition during the indoor track season? Yeah, us too. That, however, has all been put to bed.
After his spectacular debut in the 10k, Woldemichael toed the line with some of the best D2 distance talents in the 5000 meters and came away with a new personal best of 13:47, good enough for 7th place (!) in the race hosted by Grand Valley State. His time would normally send him flying up our rankings, but given the finishers ahead of him, it seems fitting to find him here at our TSR #12 spot.
One thing we know for certain is that Woldemichael has raced well in big competitions. Will that continue to be true when the NCAA Championships roll around? We might get a small preview of that as the GLIAC Championships are this coming weekend.
If there is one knock that we harped on when it came to Rugenerwa, it was that he was fairly one-dimensional, not showing much outside of the 800 meters.
However, his movement backwards in this week's rankings is a more of a testament to the performances that we've seen from other athletes over the last two weeks, but that hasn’t stopped us from being impressed with the junior.
Rugenerwa ran 3:46 for 1500 meters at the GVSU Extra Weekend meet, finally showing off strength and stamina that we didn't know was previously there. Prior to that, he had never run faster than 3:56. A 10-second personal best is exactly what is needed heading into championship season.
Rugenerwa’s stock in the 800 meters has increased and it now feels like two men are going to be racing for the half-mile title when they meet in late May.
Welcome back, Mr. Bracken.
After a slow start to his season, we saw the Saint Leo athlete come through in a big way this past weekend. At the North Florida Invite, he took advantage of a hot pace from Athanas Kioko and followed as the runner-up finisher in a new personal best of 3:41, a three-second improvement from the 2019 season.
That’s a good enough time to be considered as a serious contender for the NCAA title. With a month to go until the NCAA meet, it will be interesting to see how much more fit he can get, especially with James Young looking boarderline untouchable right.
With that new 1500 PR, it’s only a matter of time before he’s under the 1:50 barrier for 800 meters. If that happens, then we might be talking about one of the best 800/1500 athletes in all of Division 2.
Stack earned every bit of his movement up our rankings. At the RMAC Championships, Stack found himself in the fast section of the 1500 where he finished with a nice personal best, running 3:48 at altitude. That’s an auto mark of 3:43 after conversion. He ultimately finished 2nd in the event behind Tony Torres in a final 100 meter sprint.
But what really caught our attention was what Stack did on day two of the meet. Stack ran hard form the gun and wasn’t contested as he soloed an 8:54 in the steeplechase. That’s good enough for an 8:42 conversion and the NCAA #2 time on the leaderboard.
Say what you will about altitude, but from the looks of it Stack is a threat to take home the title in his favorite event. Noble will obviously be the favorite, but Stack is displaying a mix of speed, endurance and steeplechase prowess that very few men in the NCAA are able to match.
We have a slight drop for Torres in this update despite a successful weekend at the RMAC Championships. The RMAC indoor mile champion claimed the outdoor title and solidified himself as the best miler in the conference. He held off Taylor Stack and Luke Julian by virtue of a lean and by two-tenths of a second.
Torres followed that up shortly after with a 5th place finish in the 800 meters. The day prior, he set a new personal best in the event, running a converted mark of 1:50.60. It’s good to see Torres continue to impress in other events as the season has gone on.
We'll be interested to see if Torres gets out to sea level before he laces up for the NCAA Championships.
I will admit, it feels odd not moving Chada up our rankings after his impressive 13:47 effort on his home track this past weekend. It was the first time we saw him (and his teammates) since they ran their very outstanding 10k marks earlier in the season.
Chada’s time is listed at NCAA #6 on the national leaderboard and it's the fifth-fastest raw time this season. Like we mentioned about his teammate, Enael Woldemichael, we’ve seen Chada perform well in big races from his first season in a Lakers uniform, so it's not surprising to see him continue to have massive success.
And for what it’s worth, Chada’s biggest success of his career came on the outdoor track as a freshman. After some learning curves this past indoor track season, Chada seems poised to find success on the national stage once again at the end of this month.
Ko moves his way up our rankings by virtue of having the NCAA #3 time in the 10k and the NCAA #5 time in the 5k. Altitude conversions have their issues and the marks are usually taken with a grain of salt, but that’s not really the case here with Ko.
Ko ran 30:06 on his home track to take 3rd, and after conversion, saw his time as one of four total athletes now under the 29:00 barrier. We’ve seen Ko run fast before and it’s not out of the realm of possibilities that Ko is actually in that good of shape.
That 10k mark is a 36-second personal best and came on the heels of running 14:15 at altitude. It’s safe to say that Ko really is as strong as those conversions suggest he is. We think he will be ready to roll when the time is right.
We haven’t seen Mbuta finish a race since his 1500 personal best of 3:45 at Eastern Kentucky. He most recent result was a DNF in the 5000 meters where he seemed to have been a pacer. The GLIAC Championships are this week and that should be the end of racing for Mbuta before the NCAA Championships.
Laguera was another RMAC athlete who had an impressive weekend at the conference meet. But before we start there, let’s talk about Laguera’s 10k performance.
At the Mines Pre-Conference Invite, Laguera took down a talented field of top athletes, running 29:59. After conversion, that mark sits as the NCAA #1 time on the national leaderboard and 11 seconds under the 29:00 barrier.
Six days later, Laguera ran 3:49 in the preliminaries of the RMAC Championships, setting a new personal best. He later went on to finish 4th in that same event. The altitude conversion takes that time down to 3:44 and gives him his third top-10 mark this season.
We’ll see if he decides to try and run a faster 5k prior to the NCAA Championships in order to get a better gauge on his fitness level. Either way, he looks primed to do something special and his recent 1500 effort leaves us to believe that he can run in pretty much any race scenario at the NCAA Championships.
Harding was part of that fast 5k field which took place in Allendale, Michigan this past weekend. His three-spot bump is mainly because he came out on top in that race and currently has a two-second gap over the rest of the field.
His 13:43 personal best is yet another extremely impressive time from the Grand Valley athlete and it begs the question, is he the title favorite in both the 5k and the 10k at this point? He’s got the fastest 5k in all of D2 this season and his 10k time is the second-fastest raw time so far this spring.
Depending on how you feel about the rest of the field, it’s not crazy to say that he can win double gold roughly three weeks from now.
There’s not a whole lot to say about Young after his conference weekend. He took home victories in both the 1500 and 5000 with minimal effort. He’s still the title favorite in the 1500 and we wouldn’t be surprised to see him run a faster time in the 5000 meters with an attempt to double.
Noble had his only blemish of the last five months at the Gulf South Outdoor Championships when he took 2nd to Evan Del Rio in the 5000 meters. Outside of that, it was a rather successful weekend for the Flames senior. He ran a personal best of 3:46 in the 1500, winning by a cool five seconds.
He also ran 8:53 in the steeple en route to a three-second victory over teammate Thomas Kelton. There’s not much to talk about here except that Noble has seemingly gone under the radar this outdoor season after lighting the track up during indoors.
We probably haven’t seen the best of Noble just yet, but when we do, we will probably be talking about the best runner in D2 this season.
Reece Smith (NW Missouri)
Dillon Powell (Colorado Mines)
Kyle Moran (Colorado Mines)
CarLee Stimpfel (Saginaw Valley)
Shane Bracken (Tampa)
Shane Cohen (Tampa)
Tai Smith (Wingate)
Gidieon Kimutai (Missouri Southern)
Aaron Ahl (Simon Fraser)
Carson Bix (Adams State)
Luke Julian (Colorado Mines)
Caleb Futter (Grand Valley State)
Carson Bix (Adams State)
Nadir Yusuf (MSU Moorhead)
Shane Cohen (Tampa)
Jason Weitzel (Concord)
Elliot Slade (Academy of Art)
James Dunne (Adams State)
Ben Nagel (U-Indy)
Jonathan Specht (Wester Colorado)
Josh Pierantoni (Colorado Christian)
Titus Winders (Southern Indiana)