2021 Raleigh Relays Preview

Despite the fact that cross country somehow just ended a week ago, the outdoor track season is already upon us. Athletes will be looking to carry their fitness from the dual indoor and cross country seasons onto the outdoor oval, particularly because the individual regional qualifying fields have been condensed from 48 to 32 athletes for this year.

With that in mind, this year's Raleigh Relays may become a pivotal meet in the young season, particularly for the distance events. Here to preview this loaded meet are Sam Ivanecky and John Cusick to highlight the big-name competitors from D1 and D2 who will be taking to the track this weekend...

Sam: With the first big meet of the season already here, things are heating up quickly. John, which event stood out to you the most when looking at the entries for the Raleigh Relays?

John: I can’t believe we’ve already reached the Raleigh Relays weekend in the track season. As for the event that stood out the most, I’d have to say the 5000 meters on both sides. There are lots of big-time names that we just saw race in Stillwater. It’ll be interesting to see how their primed fitness from the grass translates to the track almost immediately.

Sam: Looking at the men’s 5k field, it looks like Notre Dame is coming in full-force. They're bring Andrew Alexander, Josh Methner, Dylan Jacobs, Jake Renfree AND Yared Nuguse to the meet. Not to mention, there’s some D2 guy named Christian Noble who I’ve heard is pretty good…as the D2 expert, how do you think Noble stacks up in this race?

John: It’s going to be interesting to see where Noble fits within the field. I think he runs faster than he did during the indoor season, which is crazy to say since he has already run 13:37, but I’m not sure I see him winning a race with such high-caliber athletes in it, at least not yet.

Sam: I checked the D1 5k cut-off time for the #32-ranked runners in the East region and West region back in 2019. Those marks were 14:01 and 13:51, respectively. I imagine all of the Notre Dame men will be chasing a sub-14:00 time and Noble should also be right there. Outside of the national meet, hasn’t actually had real competition in a 5k and this is his first time racing D1 competition in a while, so this should be a good benchmark. Do you see anyone else making a big statement in this race?

John: I think that the natural answer would be someone from Notre Dame having a big race. Why? Because outside of Alexander, none of them have run a 5k in their career prior to this weekend.

However, I think the next expected answer is Campbell's Athanas Kioko. He’s coming off of personal bests during the indoor season where he ran 8:04 in the 3k and 4:02 (flat-track) in the mile. He’s already run 3:45 for 1500 meters and the question begging itself to be answered is if Kioko will run faster than his personal best of 13:48 (5k) and I believe that answer is yes.

Who do you see making a big statement?

Sam: Outside of Kioko, I have my eyes on the trio of Isaac Green, Andrew Kent and Josh Yeager. Green has a personal best of 13:47 from this past winter and although he didn’t have a great performance at the cross country national meet, he showed off some outstanding consistency throughout the winter months and gave us reason to believe that he's super fit.

Georgia Tech's Andrew Kent was an indoor national qualifier in the 5k this past winter which took place all of two weeks ago and I imagine he’d like to make similar noise on the outdoor oval. He has a ton of momentum and likely wants to avenge an average at the NCAA Indoor Championships.

As for Yeager, he is a dark horse candidate who I have a bit of extended knowledge on given that he now runs for South Dakota State. The former Drake runner raced unattached this past indoor season, but ran 4:03 for the mile and 7:58 for 3k (in a Chewbacca cut-off no less) and I think he could be someone to sneak under 14:00.

John: Another name to note who has at least made me curious is Sean Torpy of Miami (Ohio). He spent the indoor season racing the 800 meters and never stepped above the mile, whether it was the open mile or on the anchor leg of a DMR. He has a personal best of 14:01, but that came two years ago on this same weekend. If he does indeed race, it will be interesting to see where he finishes.

Sam: Torpy's entry in this race surprised me a bit given what he’s been racing, but maybe there’s a method to his madness…How many guys do you think run sub-14:00 on Thursday?

John: That is a great question. I think realistically between 10 to 12 runners total. Given how fast everything has been with the extra training due to COVID, that number could be much higher when it’s all over. How about you?

Sam: My guess is around 16. This field is loaded and COVID has certainly spurned breakout seasons across the board. Jumping over to the women, who’s on your watch-list in that race?

John: Two names who jump off the page to me are Sami Corman of Georgetown and Nicole Fegans of Georgia Tech. Starting with Corman, she was the BIG East champion during the winter cross country season. She didn’t look the same at the NCAA XC Championship just 10 days later, but I think she'll reverse course after this weekend.

As for Fegans, I think we will see her massive breakout year continue into the outdoor season. She ran 16:06 in late January (a 10-second overall PR) and set another personal best in the mile. She finished 10th in the 5k at the NCAA Indoor Championships and came back three days later to finish 12th at the NCAA XC Championship. She has been super consistent as of late and probably peaked better than most of the top contenders in the nation this year. I think you’ll see her strength carry her to another top time this weekend.

Sam: I like both of those names. Corman’s teammate, Maggie Donahue, should also be an exciting name. She had a huge cross country season and just finished 32nd at the NCAA XC Championships. Along with Donahue, both Lindsey Stallworth and Katie Wasserman are intriguing names.

Stallworth, like Donahue, really burst onto the scene this past fall and finished 38th at the NCAA XC Championships. On the other hand, Wasserman has not raced since 2020 when she was at Columbia. She was a bubble qualifier in the mile last year prior to cancellation of the indoor national meet and could be an intriguing name to follow now that she's had over a year to completely shift her focus to outdoor track.

On the D2 side of things, how fast do you see Celine Ritter running on Friday?

John: Much faster than her personal best of 17:36 if I’m being honest with you. I’m surprised it’s taken her this long to run a 5k after she broke the D2 collegiate 3k record. I think it’s safe to say that her time will be sub-16:35. However,I’m going to err on the side of caution here and not much predict anything faster as I’ve projected some really fast times before and, well, they haven't always worked out.

Sam: It’s worth noting that the #32-ranked times for the D1 regions in 2019 were both sub-16:10, so I imagine that many women will be shooting for that 16:00 this weekend. I wouldn’t be shocked if Ritter was in the 16:10 to 16:20 ballpark, assuming the weather holds.

John: That’s definitely not out of the question. As we move forward with entries, which 1500 meter athletes have you the most intrigued?

Sam: Sticking with the women, I’m really curious to see Toldeo's Petronela Simiuc return to action. She has run 4:17 for 1500 meters and 4:34 for the mile, but has not raced since the 2020 indoor season. I expect her to be in the mix of top women this spring and this should be a good chance to showcase where her fitness is at after 12+ months away. Who catches your eye looking at the entry list?

John: I’m definitely intrigued by Katelyn Tuohy. The freshman is coming off of a unique transition to collegiate racing. Plus, you could argue that she's dropping down in distance in terms of individual events. The Wolfpack rookie had a few respectable 1200 meter legs this past winter, so I am excited to see what she can do for 1500 meters.

Also, Kaley Richards of UMass Lowell has me intrigued after a pair of All-American performances on the track and the grass. Few women in the NCAA has the momentum that she does and it feels like she thrives in these competitive fields.

Sam: I can't help but also like Richards. She had a huge breakout season this winter in both cross country and track, but now I sort of expect her to run fast knowing where she’s at, ya know?

Sort of an aside, but given the number of entries in all of the events this weekend, I’m definitely finding myself more intrigued by some of the names we haven’t seen over the past three to six months of racing. Pretty much anyone who hasn't competed since fall cross country is on my list.

John: I think that’s a fair. There have been lots of breakthroughs for athletes this year and I'm confident that we'll continue to see that on the outdoor track, especially with athletes returning to use their extended eligibility. Who do you have on the men’s side of things for having the biggest breakthrough?

Sam: I’m looking forward to seeing the Washington freshman duo of Cruz Culpepper and Leo Daschbach take a swing at the 1500 meters. Culpepper came agonizingly close to going sub-4:00 in high school, but was able run 3:59 in only one race this winter. And of course, as we saw last summer, Daschbach has already managed to dip under that barrier.

Both freshmen have raced sparingly since coming to the NCAA (three total races between them), so this should be a good gauge of how they’re adapting to the college lifestyle and training. Plus, this will also be the first super-deep collegiate field that they'll be facing on the track this year.

How about you? Who’s going to make a name for themselves this weekend?

John: Well, he's already made a name for himself, but I think Finley McLear is primed to show that his performance at the NCAA Indoor Championships wasn't a fluke and that he's more than just an 800 meter runner. He just went toe-to-toe with Charlie Hunter and set a huge personal best of 1:45 in the process. I’ll go out on a limb and say he runs somewhere in the 3:40 to 3:42 range as he’s in much better shape than a 4:24 mile suggests.

And to piggyback off of your Washington athletes, I am very interested in Mick Stanovsek and what he has to offer. He hasn’t raced since last February aside from two unattached races during indoors. The Husky veteran has been so darn good throughout his career and consistently post top times with each season. He has underrated speed and knows how to get the job done in most of these competitive fields. I will be curious to see if his outdoor season follows that same pattern.

Sam: It’s incredible how many guys look ready for a big performance. Zach Facioni of Wake Forest and AJ Ernst of Providence have both run right around (or under) 4:00 and we can't forget that Sean Dolan and Charlie O’Donovan have been outstanding for Villanova. And that’s without even mentioning anyone on the D2 side of things! Looking at those names, we have a trio of GVSU men, plus Seb Anthony (Queens) entered. Do you think any of these guys can crack that 3:42 (4:00 equivalent) mark?

John: I think Dennis Mbuta has the best shot at that while I think that Seb Anthony and Caleb Futter are the next in line to come close to that mark. Mbuta looked like his old self at Nationals and Anthony proved he was just as fit with his effort. I think both men come pretty close to that mark, but ultimately run 3:43 and start the outdoor season with a bang.

We also see a trio of D2 women entered as well. Taryn Chapko is stepping up in distance while Klaudia O’Malley looks to make some early noise. It’ll also be the debut of Liza Kellerman from Lee (Tenn.). Who runs the best out of these three?

Sam: I really like how Chapko has been trending lately. She had a great indoor season in her true freshman season and she should carry that momentum outdoors, although it's fair to point out that she is moving up in distance.

I’m particularly excited with many of the D2 entries in general this weekend as it’s one of the first times that we’ll see them racing with D1 runners. The COVID situation sort of limited the extent teams could travel, particularly indoors, but outdoors brings a chance for these athletes to get into some fast(er) races.

Since we’re covering a lot of the same names, many of these 1500 runners are also entered in the 800 meters on Saturday. On the women’s side of things, who intrigues you the most?

John: Obviously, the first name that catches my attention is Liza Kellerman. The D2 South Africa transfer is making her debut in the event and has a personal best of 2:05. It’ll be interesting to see how she fares in her first outdoor race.

Lotte Black and Katie Rainsberger are the two D1 women that catch my attention. Black hasn’t run an 800 meter race in more than a year. As for Rainsberger, she hasn’t run faster than 2:13 since making the move north to Seattle and after an unexciting indoor track season, she's likely trying to his reset on this spring and refine her middle distance speed.

Sam, what’re your thoughts on the 800 meter women this weekend?

Sam: I am beyond excited to see the debut of Sophie O’Sullivan for Washington. I wrote about her when we did our recruit rankings, but given that she specializes in the 800 meters, this will be her first collegiate race. She has run 2:06 and was the Australian U20 Champion, as well as a silver medalist at the 2018 European Championships. She is also entered in the 1500 meters this weekend where she owns a personal best of 4:22. I’d imagine she could surprise quite a few people in Raleigh.

John: On the men’s side, we’ve got essentially the same names coming back to race the 800 on Saturday. Who stands out and looks poised to make the biggest splash?

Sam: McLear and Torpy should be solid, but how about Ian Johnson of Ashland and Christopher Conrad of Missouri? We haven’t mentioned them yet, but both men could be in for some big races.

Johnson was one of our top names in D2 this winter, displaying some exceptional range and a quietly great ability to double. As for Conrad, he was knocked out during the D1 prelims in the 800 meters, but has a personal best of 1:48.45 and should be a factor on Saturday.

How many guys do you think will go sub-1:50?

John: I think we can see upwards of eight athletes go under that barrier. Culpepper, McLear, Stanovsek, Torpy, Conrad, Anthony and Mbuta I think all go under 1:50 while Adam Wright and Ian Johnson are close behind.

How about you?

Sam: Not to copy you, but eight seems like a good bet. Looking at our list of names, we have upwards of 12 men in consideration, but I imagine doubling back from the 1500 will take a bit out of some guys who may have been on the bubble.

Arguably the biggest event of this meet will be the 10k. In 2019, there were 27 athletes who finished in the top-32 of their respective regions based on times run in Raleigh. I chose to highlight the top-32 as the cut-off because of the changes made in D1 regional qualifying this year (as opposed to 48). Let’s talk about the men first. Who is THE man to watch in this field?

John: I think it’s Vincent Kiprop. Sure, I’ve got some bias due to his D2 ties, but I think Kiprop is looking to prove something on the track this season. The Alabama runner is at his best in the longer distances (like the 10k) and is probably one of the best athletes in the country who has yet to win an NCAA title right now. Who do you have as the man this weekend?

Sam: In my opinion, the man to watch is Robert Brandt of Georgetown. The former UCLA runner has been on a mission in 2020-21. He set a personal best in the 10k at Sound Running Track Meet back in December when he ran a blistering time of 27:39, pushing him from All-American contender to title contender. Then, only two weeks ago, he clocked 13:24 for 5000 meters. I have to think Brandt is the guy to watch after putting down those marks. He has has strong times before, but those personal bests put him in a new tier and his past experience in the NCAA will surely do wonders for him.

John: There is no shortage of D2 athletes in the 10,000 meters as well. Since we’re short on time, give me one name, men or women, who you think enters the D2 title race this weekend?

Sam: When you consider that this race has a good chance of being somewhat of a time trial to chase qualifying marks, I like the GVSU duo of Tanner Chada and Isaac Harding. Both men have been great when the racing has gotten fast this past winter and I expect the same this weekend. If you look at their resumes from the indoor oval, they were posting times that would contend with some of the best guys in D1 and that's saying quite a bit. Although, if I remember correctly, you’re a big fan of Jan Lukas Becker, no?

John: I am a big fan of Becker. In fact, I think Becker will be better at the 10k than he was/is at the 5k. He has run 13:51 (5k) and 8:07 (3k), two times that he recently just posted at the indoor national meet, so we know that he's in peak shape right now.

While we might be splitting hairs here, I think his 3k time actually suggests that the 10k might be his best event as he seemingly gets better the longer the race is. This leads me to believe that Becker runs a phenomenal 10k in his debut.

Also, keep your eyes out for Jack Mastandrea. The Charleston (WV) athlete has had a lot of time off to get better, and I think he’s going to make us remember his name this weekend.

Sam: Earlier this year, you and I joked that we needed a D1 vs D2 meet after the incredible indoor performances. This weekend is actually getting us close to that concept…

Jumping over to the women, this, in my mind, is the marquee event. We have newly crowned NCAA cross country champion Mercy Chelangat, sophomore sensation Kelsey Chmiel, the Drop twins, PAC-12 XC champion Haley Herberg and the return of Sara Freix. How many of these women (and anyone else) do you think will earn a regional qualifier this weekend?

John: Yeah, I think the six athletes who you mentioned will grab a regional qualifier, at the very least. Freix is someone who I'm not totally sure about as she returns to the fold with another year of training under her belt.

I think the most intriguing name of these six women has to be Chmiel. She’s never run a 10k before, but has dipped under 16:00 for 5000 meters. She clearly was stronger over the course of a 6k compared to a 5k during cross country and I think that indicates that Chmiel will be even better at the 10k distance.

Sam: Going back to the numbers, this race put 10 women in the top-32 back in 2019. I’d guess for a similar total this year given the Ivy League is not competing outdoors. Another potential D2 qualifier will be Jessica Gockley from GVSU. The auto qualifying mark for Division 2 is 34:27. John, is that in her wheelhouse this weekend?

John: It definitely is. She’s run 35:00 before and is coming off of the best individual season of her collegiate career (and she was already pretty darn good beforehand). Given how she’s trending right now, I think there’s a legitimate shot at her going under the 35:00 barrier this weekend and becoming a D2 title favorite in the event.

Sam: Someone once told me that in order to predict someone’s 10k, you double their 5k personal best and add a minute. I’m not sure how often that works out but it would have Gockley running right around 34:00 this weekend.

John: Yeah I'm not saying that's out of the realm of possibility. It sounds a bit aggressive based on her current personal best, but she's definitely at the peak of her powers right now.

Let’s get into the last event of the preview, the 3000 meter steeplechase. Sam, give me both of your names to look out for on both the men’s and women’s side of things.

Sam: The steeple may not be quite as loaded as the other events, but there are still some names to watch. In particular, I like the Daly brothers from Notre Dame in the men’s field. Collin has run 8:46 while Will has run 8:51. Both are graduate transfers after spending time at Penn and have plenty of experience.

In the women’s race, I’m really excited to see Gabrielle Jennings return to the track. The Furman senior was having a huge indoor season prior to the COVID cancellation and I expect her to come out on fire this weekend. She was one of the nation's premier milers in 2020 and just ran 4:33 on a flat-track at Camel City earlier in the winter. Jennings is fit and I think she is going to be a scary-good name to watch this spring.

She also gives me the chance to start using #GirlGang again.

John: I think I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Christian Noble here. The D2 phenom has stated that he wants to take down multiple records during the outdoor season, and while this may be a seasonal rust-buster for him, it’s going to be a very good indicator of what we should expect from him this season. It’ll be two days after he runs a 5k, so the legs might be a bit tired, but we will know his fitness level and his comfort going over barriers this early in the season.

As for the women, I’m very intrigued by Alabama's Leah Hanle. The Mount Olive graduate transfer opened the season in 16:25 last weekend and has run 10:04 in the steeple prior. She also has not raced this event in almost two years. It’ll be interesting to see what she has in store for an event that hasn’t been seen as her best one.

Sam: Hanle could definitely benefit from having someone like Jennings in the race. Jennings has a personal best of 9:47 which is faster, but could lead Hanle to a big PR. I’m also looking forward to watching Emma Gee of Temple (formerly BYU) in this race. She was #23 on the overall qualifying list in 2019 and just ran 4:35 for 1500 meters in her first race since that outdoor season. I’d expect her to be close behind, but probably not right with Jennings and Hanle.

John: As we wrap up discussion on what looks to be an exciting weekend, do you have any final thoughts you’d like to add?

Sam: Obviously, the entries for this weekend are absolutely loaded and there are plenty of runners who could have big results that we didn’t even get to touch on here. Also, we have to shoutout TSR staff member Ben Weisel who will be competing in the 1500 meters this weekend. He was listed in our “Notable Entries” list and should have a great race.

The one runner I’ll personally be paying particularly close attention to that we didn’t mention is Chase Cayo of SDSU in the 10k. Cayo has been a strong mid-major runner and missed out by only seconds on a regional qualifier in this event a couple years back. He could surprise a few folks watching that race on Thursday.

Women

Brooke Fazio (Richmond)

Men

Casey Comber (Villanova)

Ahmed Jaziri (Eastern Kentucky)

Daniel Maton (Washington)

Haftu Strintzos (Villanova)

Caleb Futter (Grand Valley State)

Jonathon Groendyk (Grand Valley State)

Women

Laurie Barton (Clemson)

Ceili McCabe (West Virginia)

Lydia Olivere (Villanova)

Hannah Steelman (NC State)

Men

Rohan Asfaw (Virginia)

Euan Makepeace (Butler)

Ian Shanklin (NC State)

Haftu Strintzos (Villanova)

Diego Zarate (Virginia Tech)

Enael Woldemichael (Grand Valley State)

Women

Dominique Clairmonte (NC State)

Sarah Edwards (Virginia Tech)

Shona McCulloch (Washington)

Sydney Seymour (Tennessee)

Abbey Wheeler (Providence)

Sarah Chapman (Missouri)

Katie Thronson (Tenn)

Charlee Boxall (Lee)

Kayce Rypma (GVSU)

Men

Simon Bedard (Butler)

JP Flavin (NC State)

Andrew Jordan (Washington)

Barry Keane (Butler)

Danny Kilrea (Notre Dame)

Tai Smith (Wingate)

Men

Carter Coughlin (Wake Forest)

Ben Hill (Wake Forest)

Women

Ceili McCabe (West Virginia)

Hannah Brookover (Wake Forest)