Maura Beattie
Feb 27, 20207 min
Conference weekend is upon us and this is the last chance for athletes to solidify their place in the top 16 of the NCAA. Some runners will be looking for national qualifying times while some athletes will be looking to use the Mountain West Championships as a tune-up before the Big Dance.
Avi’ Tal Wilson-Perteete is an accomplished 800 meter runner. Heck, she was the 3rd place finisher at the outdoor national meet last spring and owns a 2:01 PR. One would’ve expected Wilson-Perteete to ride that outdoor high during the indoor track season, but she has struggled a bit to jump up the collegiate 800 meter rankings. This season so far, Wilson-Perteete has only run an altitude-converted 2:07 and with that time, she is ranked at NCAA #41 for D1. Wilson-Perteete will need at least a low-2:05 to qualify for the indoor national meet.
San Diego State’s Nyjari McNeil is seeded second in the 800 meters behind Wilson-Perteete with a 2:08. McNeil ran 2:05 during the 2019 outdoor track season at the Mountain West Championships and will need to run a similar time if she wants to challenge Wilson-Perteete for the win this weekend. All things considered, McNeil isn't too far off from Wilson-Perteete on the indoor oval which could lead to a potential upset if everything goes her way.
A key athlete to watch for this weekend is Boise State’s Kristie Schoffield. She owns a PR of 2:02 for 800 meters and was a national qualifier for both the indoor and outdoor national meet last year. Her 6th place finish at the Outdoor National Championships was a promising result as it seemingly elevated her to the next top top 800 meter runners. However, like Wilson-Perteete, Schoffield hasn’t produced a stellar time yet this season, running 2:09.87 in her one attempt in the event. If she brings her "A-game" this weekend, Schoffield could sneak into the NCAA top 16.
Racing at altitude will make running NCAA qualifying times a little difficult because there isn’t a huge conversion in the 800 meters seeing that it is a shorter event. Wilson-Perteete and Schoffield are capable of running sub-2:05, but whether or not they will actually do so is a different question.
New Mexico’s Weini Kelati won the 3000 meters at the 2018 Mountain West Indoor Championships. She won the mile and was a member of the 2nd place DMR team at the 2019 meet. This weekend, Kelati is only entered in one individual event and no, it is not the 5000 meters, the only event she hasn’t competed in at these conference championships.
The New Mexico junior is slated to compete in the 3k. Currently, Kelati is ranked at NCAA #3 in the mile, NCAA #3 in the 3000, and NCAA #2 in the 5000. Seeing that she most likely won’t compete in the mile at NCAA’s, fine tuning in the 3000 meters is a good move for Kelati.
Kelati has only raced three times this indoor season, a 15:14 5k in December following winning the cross county national title, a 4:34 (altitude-converted) mile in February at a home meet, and most recently a 8:54 3000 meter performance at the NYRR Millrose Games.
When we look at the Mountain West conference, it is expected that Kelati will win. Kelati’s 8:53 PR is 14 seconds faster than teammate Hannah Nuttall’s seed of 9:07.
Nuttall is ranked at NCAA #26 in the 3000 meters with her 2020 season best of 9:15. Behind Nuttall, there is Maria Mettler (Air Force), Gracelyn Larkin (New Mexico), Olivia Johnson (Boise State) and Yukino Parle (Boise State). All of these women are underrated talents who have shown flashes of promise over the past few seasons. Someone is due for a breakout performance, and with a relatively strong (but not overwhelming) field, a new PR could be in store for a number of these women.
One name that shouldn’t go overlooked in the field is New Mexico’s Adva Cohen. Cohen is a great steeplechase athlete and has run 9:08 for the 3000 meters and 15:31 for the 5000 meters. She has only competed twice this indoor season, running 15:53 for the 5k at Boston back in December after the cross country national meet and a 9:30 for the 3k two weeks ago at the Husky Classic.
It is hard to determine where Cohen’s fitness is right now, but if she is in better shape since her last race, she could challenge all of the women mentioned above...besides Kelati.
Eric Hamer of Colorado State exhausted his cross country eligibility in 2018, but he used the fall of 2019 to prepare for a strong indoor season.
Hamer turned some heads, including mine, after his solo 13:40 5k at Boston University in December. Hamer ran that time largely uncontested in the second fastest heat of the meet. That time currently lands him at NCAA #13 for the 5000 meters.
Some may have thought that his breakout 5k was a one-time deal. However, at the Iowa State Classic, Hamer ran 13:43 to finish 3rd in a top-heavy field that consisted of guys like Morgan Beadlescomb and Peter Seufer.
Hamer is expected to compete in both the 3k and 5k this weekend at the Mountain West Championships. He leads the 5k field by 24 seconds based on athletes who have competed this season. Luke Beattie of Utah State is coming off of a strong 14:04 PR at the UW Husky Classic and will be looking for the first MW individual title of his career. The distance races at the MW Championships are always tactical, especially considering they are at altitude, so it will take a gutsy performance early in the race from Beattie to take down Hamer.
Joining Beattie from Utah State will be Dallin Farnsworth. Farnsworth hasn’t competed yet this indoor season, so it is hard to determine where his fitness is, but he does own a 13:53 5k PR from his time at BYU prior to transferring to USU for graduate school. Farnsworth won the 2019 Mountain West Cross Country Championship and has experience running well in championship style races.
In the 3000 meters, Hamer is seeded second with an altitude-converted 8:08. He ran this time at the Colorado Invitational, but he lost to #1 seed Harry Ewing of Wyoming. Ewing and Hamer should go back-and-forth in this race considering their personal bests being are almost identical, although Hamer's 5k PR tells us that he is due for sub-8:00 performance (possibly via conversion).
Michael Downing of Wyoming and Jonathan Shields of Boise State will also challenge for the win seeing they have both run 8:09 for 3000 meters. Downing’s best time comes from the UW Husky Classic while Shields ran his personal best at the UW Invitational.
Just to add one more name to the mix, there is also Utah State’s Stockton Smith entered in the 3k with his 8:10. Smith has run PR’s in the mile and 3k this indoor season and was 3rd outdoors in the steeplechase at the Mountain West Championships. He's picking up momentum at the right time of the season and now has some experience under his belt as we enter the conference meet. He could be a key sleeper pick to watch.
As one can clearly see, the 3k field is deep and Hamer won’t have an easy path to the individual title.
Boise State is stacking the mile this weekend. Just looking at the entries list, the Broncos own the first three spots. Henry Mong, Ahmed Muhumed and Jonathan Shields are all seeded with a time of 4:04. These three men recorded those times at the UW Husky Classic two weeks ago.
Any of these men could win the individual title, but if you’re looking for which athlete has the advantage over the others, it would have to be Shields. The Boise State junior has run 8:09 this season in the 3000 meters and 2:24 in the 1000 meters. That mix of endurance and middle distance speed should bode well for a race that will likely be tactical.
A few guys who will try to interrupt a Bronco mile sweep will come from Colorado State, Air Force and Wyoming. Jacob Brueckman and Thomas Chaston of CSU have run 4:05 and 4:06, respectively this season. Meanwhile, Sam Gilman and Scott Johnson of the Air Force have run 4:04 and 4:07, respectively. Michael Downey of Wyoming has run 4:06.
To put this into perspective, the eight names that we mentioned in this section have run mile PR's this season that are separated by roughly three seconds. The mile will be packed and with a tactical race likely taking place at altitude, anything can happen.
In years past, the New Mexico and Boise State women gone head-to-head at this meet in an all-out DMR. Boise State took the win last year and ultimately qualified for the NCAA meet with their altitude-converted time of 11:00. New Mexico placed 2nd last year with an altitude-converted time of 11:18. But in 2020, the Lobos have the advantage.
As of right now, it is going to take at least 11:05 to qualify for NCAA’s in the DMR. New Mexico has the best shot at doing that this weekend. Weini Kelati is only slated to compete in the 3k this weekend, but if she races the 1600 meter leg of the DMR, her 4:34 mile could come in handy. Between Elise Thorner, Lydia Hallman, Hannah Nuttall, Alondra Negron and Emily Martin, the Lobos should have enough depth and firepower to put Kelati in position to run a national qualifying time.
Michael Rhoads of Air Force leads the field in the 800 with his 1:47 season best. Rhoads is sitting at NCAA #4 in the 800 meters heading into conference weekend. He owns a 1:46 PR for 800 meters from last spring and is the reigning 800 indoor and outdoor conference champion. Rhoads has secured an NCAA qualifier and will be using this weekend as a tune-up for the National Championships.
Mahala Norris of the Air Force enters this weekend as the #1 seed in the women’s mile with her 4:41. Norris ran that time at the Iowa State Classic, a race where she finished 3rd, less than two seconds off from 1st place. Norris came on strong during the 2019 cross country season, finishing 39th at the NCAA XC Championships. After a breakout cross country season, Norris has gone on to set PR’s in the 800 and mile.
Jenny Sandoval of San Jose State (the 82nd place finisher at the NCAA XC Championships from this past fall) is racing in the 5000 meters this week and owns a PR of 16:24. Sandoval’s PR comes from the UW Husky Classic from two weeks ago. After placing 8th at last year's conference meet, she'll be looking for her first individual title. She will have to compete against Boise State’s Claire Graves who has run 16:26 for 5k during her career and is coming off of a recent 16:43 showing. In what should be one of the more underrated matchups of weekend, Graves and Sandoval will be the ones duking it out for the gold medal.