Early-Season Sleeper Names

Our TSR crew is hard at work, preparing content for this week and continuing to research the extensive number of high-level distance performances that we saw this past weekend.

While those articles are in the works, I thought it would be a good idea to look back a few underrated names who haven't had enough attention during this still-young outdoor track season. There were, after all, an extensive number of top-notch performances that we weren't even able to highlight in our last update.

There have been a handful of women this spring who have posted some very solid times in the 800 meters. However, Giesing has emerged as an interesting name, mainly because we've seen so much success from her teammate, Kaley Richards, recently.

The UMass Lowell sophomore just ran 2:05.01 at the Colonial Relays, a breakout performance that has been a long time coming for Giesing after running 2:07 three separate times on the indoor oval throughout her career. That level of consistency and her ongoing improvements made Giesing a respectable talent, but not one that was going to be nationally competitive.

That narrative, however, is beginning to change. Her 2:05.01 resulted in a win over Maria Acosta, a very underrated middle distance from Richmond, and that time now sits at NCAA #10 on the national leaderboard.

Yes, this was a significant improvement for Giesing, but I have a feeling that she still has more to offer in terms of her ceiling and potential. She clearly had to shake off the rust at the Raleigh Relays and now that she's done that, Giesing seems to have found her groove again.

Not only that, but we saw how Kaley Richards was able to build upon her success this past winter, eventually emerging as an All-American after carrying her momentum into the national meet. If the UMass Lowell coaching staff takes the same approach with Giesing, then this sophomore will surely be primed to drop into the 2:04 realm...or dare I say faster.

I find it a bit hard to believe that we haven't really talked about Streich yet this season. The graduate transfer from Minnesota was a middle distance stud with the Golden Gophers, but seems have found a spark this spring.

The Lipscomb ace has put together a handful of strong performances that have gone unnoticed. He started off his season with a personal best of 1:48.68 in the 800 meters at the Georgia Tech Invitational before eventually running 3:42 at the Raleigh Relays, placing 9th overall in what may have been the deepest distance field of that weekend.

Streich running top times isn't necessarily new, but he's now running noticeable personal bests on one more than occasion and in one more than one event. His mix of championship experience and versatile middle distance speed should make him a legitimate threat at the regional level when it comes tactical racing.

No, Streich isn't exactly a lock to make it to the national meet, at least not right now, but he's slowly gaining momentum and quietly has all of the tools to have major success in the postseason two months from now.

I went all-in on Barrett when making my predictions for the NCAA Indoor Championships. I thought she was essentially a lock to make the finals and earn All-American honors. Of course, in a perfect twist of fate, she struggled in the prelims and failed to qualify for the mile finals.

Even so, Barrett has proven to be a consistently improving miler over the past few seasons and that was very evident over the last few races of her 2021 indoor track season. Sure enough, she rebounded this past weekend, running a very impressive personal best of 4:15 for 1500 meters which resulted in runner-up finish to Auburn's Presley Weems.

That was a really solid result for Barrett which should allow her to jumpstart her PR momentum once again. Despite being listed as only a sophomore for this outdoor season, Barrett is actually one of the NCAA's more experienced distance talents. She has made three appearances on the national stage between cross country and track and would've made a fourth appearance in the DMR had the 2020 NCAA Indoor Championships not been cancelled.

I may have been wrong on my national meet prediction for Barrett a few weeks ago, but I'm still plenty high on her as we head into the spring months.

Speaking of women gaining momentum, how about Christina Aragon? The Stanford veteran has battled with injuries throughout her collegiate career, at times holding her back from reaching her true potential.

However, when you look at her recent performances, you can't help but feel encouraged by what she has done. Aragon was the savior of Stanford's cross country lineup this past winter. She emerged as a crucial backend scorer who placed 12th at the PAC-12 XC Championships and eventually went on to earn a respectable 88th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships.

Those results weren't going to dramatically alter our perception of just how good Aragon is, but they were quietly strong steps in the right direction. Those finishes eventually led to the Cardinal veteran running 4:17 for 15000 meters this past weekend, finishing as the top collegiate at the Stanford Invitational.

Truthfully, that was probably the most encouraging result that we've seen from Aragon since the 2018 NCAA Outdoor Championships when she ran 4:09 to finish 4th overall. She has now begun to put together multiple meaningful results and is beginning to develop a bit of consistency which we really haven't seen from her over the last three years.

If she is able to stay healthy and build on this newfound momentum, then Aragon may be a favorite to qualify for the outdoor national meet and earn an All-American honor. She's done it before and she has the experience. Now it's just a matter of getting her to the starting line at (or near) 100%.

The BIG 10 North Florida Invitational quietly produced a handful of strong performances, including a 1-2 finish from the Michigan duo of Nick Foster and Tom Dodd. These were two excellent performances, although based on Dodd's recent 3:57 mile PR from the indoor oval, it's hardly surprising to see him run 3:43.

However, seeing Foster, who only has the eligibility of a freshman, run 3:42.97 is a result that actually brings some fireworks to his resume. This is a guy who was a national-level star in high school, running 4:03 for the mile. He has previously shown us glimpses of excellence and exciting potential, but his recent win over All-American teammate Tom Dodd, en route to a time that converts to under 4:00 for the mile, has caught our attention.

Foster may still be on the younger side, but he's been unafraid to run with the top guys in prior race and this past weekend is not the first example of that. He ran 7:59 for 3000 meters this past winter (en route to an overall win) and has clearly refined his fitness to produce high-level results on a more consistent basis.

And how about Vincent Mauri? The Arizona State distance talent was a top-ranked high school runner in his own right, although his mile PR prior to entering the collegiate level was a bit slower than Foster's at 4:09.

Even so, the Ohio native has proven to be a very respectable runner who has been waiting for his opportunity to shine with the Sun Devils. He was just ok during the 2019 cross country season and had a relatively uneventful indoor season, toeing the line for just three races.

However, Mauri's true potential finally came through this past weekend as he willed himself to a breakout performance and a personal best of 3:42. That's a significant time which also resulted in a clutch runner-up finish (as the top collegiate) over veteran teammate Alex George.

I really liked what Mauri brought to the table in high school. He was an underrated miler who was able to effectively handle the longer distances fairly well. However, the mile is where he really thrived, which is why I was bit surprised he only ran one mile (and not a single 1500 meter race) prior to this outdoor season.

The question now is if Mauri can produce at that level on a consistent basis. His promising prep careers suggests that he's capable of doing so, but that remains to be seen. Even so, a personal best of 3:42 is nothing to scoff at and I really think that Mauri can be something special over the next few months.

Arizona State does, after all, have a recent history of producing nationally competitive milers.

We already spoke about one Florida standout, but Ormsby is another distance talent who recently captured our attention. The Gator rookie just ran a surprisingly strong time of 15:54 for 5000 meters at the Pepsi Relays this past weekend, putting herself in the top-20 of the national leaderboard (NCAA #16).

Ormsby put together a very solid 21st place finish at the FSU Winter XC Classic back in February, a result that should have gained more attention at the time given her youth and the fact that it was her first-ever collegiate cross country race.

When you look at the talented women who Ormsby beat in that race, we should've been slightly more prepared to see a strong time out of this Florida rookie. Even so, I'm not sure we expected to see her run a time of 15:54 in her first-ever collegiate 5k. Her recent 1500 meter effort from late March resulted in a time of 4:28, a mark that truthfully didn't suggest that Ormsby would run this fast.

If any Florida freshman was going to have national-level success this year, I figured it was going to be Parker Valby. However, if Ormsby is going to continue to run this well and if Valby can grow into the front-runner that we think she can be, then the Florida women may have a chance of one day fielding a competitive cross country lineup with some legitimate scoring potency.

I find it hard to believe that no one is really talking about Euan Makepeace, a personal favorite of mine for years now. Despite the grand success that we've seen from teammates Simon Bedard and Barry Keane, this Butler veteran is arguably the best distance talent on the Bulldogs' roster.

Between injuries, staggered eligibility and the pandemic, Makepeace has been around the NCAA for quite some time. That, however, hasn't necessarily created any rust for him. This past winter, he ran a time of 7:55 for 3000 meters on a flat-track. That time roughly converts to 7:49, putting Makepeace into some elite-level company.

The Butler veteran has finally returned to true collegiate competition with a Butler singlet. He just ran 13:44 for 5000 meters at Raleigh Relays a few weeks ago, validating his fitness, but leaving us with the impression that he can do more.

Makepeace is also an underrated 1500 meter runner, boasting a personal best of 3:43 for the event. He also knows how to position himself in nationally competitive fields, regardless of the discipline that he's contesting. When he's at his best, Makepeace is one of the more consistent runners in the country and that's fairly evident when you take a look at his last year of competition.

It's been a while since he's officially raced attached, but this is someone who should certainly be a national qualifying contender...and maybe even a national qualifying favorite.

Honestly, this is pretty much an excuse for me to talk about how crazy fast this year's men's 10k is. In case you didn't read yesterday's article, 30 men have already run under under 29:00 barrier for the 10k distance. 30 men! That's an absurd number that, at this point in the season, could lead to one of the deepest 10k fields in NCAA history.

Christian Ricketts (Southern Utah), Connor Weaver (BYU), Scott Beattie (Tulsa), Matt Young (Arkansas), Emmanuel Cheboson (Arkansas), Aidan Reed (Southern Utah), Gilbert Boit (Arkansas), Peter Lynch (Tulsa), Christian Allen (Weber State), Mitchell Day (Iowa State) and Michael Ottesen (BYU) all ran between 28:40 and 28:55 at the Hayward Premiere meet.

No one who I just mentioned finished in the top-three of that race.

While I know that this is an exhausted topic of conversation, could this mass increase of times potentially be linked to the improved spike technology? That's not to takeaway from what these athletes have accomplished, but I have hard time believing that the enhanced footwear hasn't played some kind of role.

Regardless, trying to qualify for the national meet in this year's 10k is going to be absurdly difficult. The amount of depth that we've already seen in this event, paired with the top-heaviness of title and All-American contenders, may influence certain athletes to go all-in for other events like the 5000 meters or the steeplechase.

Who knows? Maybe certain athletes will look at the 1500 meters more seriously, although that is admittedly quite the drop-down in distance from the 10k.

The winter cross country season obviously ended with the BYU women emerging as the title winners, an accomplishment that featured Sara Musselman who had the race of her life after posting a 33rd place All-American finish.

Musselman had proven to be a very solid and steady contributor in past seasons, although we weren't really expecting her to provide the firepower and scoring potency that she showed us in Stillwater, Oklahoma just a few weeks ago.

However, seeing her run a huge personal best of 10:01 in the steeplechase -- an improvement by almost 22 seconds -- is flat-out incredible. That wasn't just a fast time that will put her in the national qualifying conversation, but it also validates her outstanding cross country performance, showing us that her All-American finish wasn't a fluke.

With a cross country All-American finish, a significant steeplechase personal best and all of the momentum in the world, it's hard not to get excited about what Musselman can do as we move into the middle and latter portions of this season.

We also have to recognize how much experience someone like Musselman has. She's been to four NCAA XC Championships (she can technically make a fifth appearance next fall) and has contested the steeplechase at the West Regional Championships twice during her career.

It's hard to dislike pretty much any BYU runner at the moment as they can seemingly do no wrong. However, the one Cougar athlete with the highest ceiling may actually be a long-time veteran who is only now beginning to realize her true potential.

The steeplechase hasn't really picked up yet when looking at the national rankings. In fact, only three men have run under the 8:50 so far this season. That, of course, is to be expected. However, one name who I want to highlight is Nathan Mylenek, the Iowa veteran who can do a little bit of everything and do it at a fairly high level.

The Hawkeye distance talent has gone throughout his collegiate career gathering personal bests of 3:44 (1500), 7:58 (3k) and 14:09 (5k). However, his steeplechase PR sits at an outstanding mark of 8:38.

Let's not forget about what Mylenek accomplished during the 2019 outdoor track season. He ran his personal best at the Mt. SAC Relays, ran his 1500 meter personal best at the Drake Relays, was 3rd at the BIG 10 Outdoor Championships in the steeplechase (facing two collegiate stars in Obsa Ali and Daniel Michalski), qualified for the NCAA Championships and finished just one spot out from All-American honors that year.

When Mylenek gets on a hot streak, he can be a very dangerous name who is incredibly tricky take down. Now that he knows what it takes to be nationally competitive, this Iowa veteran looks like one of the most underrated sleeper picks to watch in this year's steeplechase picture.

A comfortable season opening time of 8:50, en route to a win, is a very good way for Mylenek to reignite that hot streak that we saw from him in 2019.