TSR Collaboration
Jan 24, 202110 min
The Cyclones have one of the best collections of middle distance runners in the country. The addition of Alex Lomong was the one we focused on, but their recent summer addition of Jason Gomez led to him stealing the show this weekend at the Cyclone Invitational.
The former Notre Dame de Namur runner beat all of his Iowa State teammates in the 800 meters with a huge time of 1:47.02 (NCAA #20. That is a massive PR for the sophomore who had previously run 1:50 in the event. Running 1:47 will certainly qualify Gomez for the NCAA Championships in March and it makes him a threat to finish within the top-five for an All-American finish.
The only uncertainty, however, is whether or not he can run like that on more than one occasion. Gomez was a promising talent at the D2 level and has clearly elevated his fitness since last year. Now, we just need to see him consistently string together performances as strong as this one.
Meanwhile, fellow Cyclones Festus Lagat and Roshon Roomes also ran 1:47 while Daniel Nixon ran 1:48. However, that trio ran unattached as they no longer have indoor track eligibility. Lomong recorded a DNF, but that can be chalked up to pacing duties which led to a banner day from the Iowa State crew.
Another strong performer was Missouriโs Christopher Conrad who earned a small PR of 1:48.45 on his way to finishing 4th behind Gomez, Lagat and Roomes. The junior was 5th at the 2018 SEC Outdoor Track and Field Championships running 1:48.68, but he had not broken 1:50 prior to this winter.
After running 1:49 last weekend at Vanderbilt, it looks like Conrad is back in top shape and will be a top threat in both the SEC and the NCAA as he continues to find momentum heading into the month of February.
The Carolina Classic gave us a very fast 5k matchup as we got to see Alabama star Mercy Chelangat go up against Georgia Tech ace Nicole Fegans and Georgia standout Jessica Drop.
In a field featuring nationally competitive talents and a quick pace, we saw Chelangat take home a relatively comfortable win with a time of 15:52 for 5000 meters. Fegans, meanwhile, finished 2nd overall in a time of 16:06 (a new school record) while Drop settled for 3rd in a time of 16:13.
Those times now rank at NCAA #2, NCAA #3 and NCAA #5, respectively.
For Chelangat, this is a great sign that she is still in top shape, although it's hardly surprising to see her run this well. She owns a personal best of 15:37 from last winter and given her recent dominance on the grass last fall, this seemed like a realistic result for her heading into this weekend.
Fegans, meanwhile, continues to roll. After an unexciting season opener in the mile where she lost to Jessica Drop, the Georgia Tech veteran got her revenge in the 25-lap affair. Drop, meanwhile, had a respectable race of her own, but her 4:39 mile from earlier this season was arguably more impressive.
Sticking with the Carolina Challenge, there were a few notable results that we wanted to highlight. The Campbell Camels have been a team known for adding strong distance talents from overseas over the past few years. Sure enough, we saw numerous names step up and introduce themselves to the rest of the NCAA is a quiet, but notable-enough way.
Freshman Travis Koekemoer ran 4:05 in the mile and Laderique McNeil ran 8:29 in the 3000 meters. With fellow teammates Athanas Kioko and Godwin Kimutai running 8:04 and 8:27, respectively, the Camels are building out the depth of their men's teams. Koekemor and Laderique McNeil didn't set the world on fire, but they held their own and could be key names to watch in the future.
A lot of the same things can be said about the Campbell women. We saw Dorcus Ewoi and Shanley Koekemoer go 1-2 in the 3000 meters, running times of 9:34 and 9:41, respectively.
One last name we need to make note of is Alabama's Eliud Kipsang. After a very strong season opener of 8:01 for 3000 meters last weekend, Kipsang went on to run 4:02 in the mile this past weekend. That's some nice range and it indicates that the Crimson Tide runner is in a nationally competitive tier of fitness.
The Illinois star toed the line for his first race in nearly a year, running 8:08 in the 3000 meters at the Larry Wieczorek Invitational. He ran from the front for the entirety of the race with no known pacer.
Despite 8:08 not being all that close to Davisโ personal best of 7:49, it's still a solid mark for a guy who has been in and out of competition throughout his collegiate career. If he can solo that kind of time in his season debut, then he may have a good chance at cracking the 8:00 barrier later this season.
We imagine that Davis will likely pursue the mile in the near future, a race that could be argued as his ideal distance.
In a three-person 800 meter field, Williams took control of the race and dropped his second-consecutive 1:48 mark this season. The Indiana ace dropped his seasonal best to 1:48.09, further solidifying his spot to the NCAA Championships.
The recent consistency out of Williams is nice to see, especially in a field which wasn't all that competitive for him. Even so, we're still waiting to see how he runs tactically in a stronger field. That will give us a better idea of where he stands in the NCAA's hierarchy of half-mile stars.
The depth in the women's 800 meters continues to grow as many top talents made their season debuts this past weekend. Overall, we had three key wins in the women's 800 meters this past weekend which resulted in a few strong middle distance talents earning top spots on the national leaderboard.
Iowa's Mallory King had a breakout season last winter and looks to be right on track with a winning time of 2:06 at the Larry Wieczorek Invitational. That's the second-fastest time of her career and it places her at NCAA #5 right now. She dominated the field by over five seconds, leaving us quietly impressed her performance this past weekend.
As for Tachinski, it looks like Penn State is rebuilding the depth of their women's 800 meter crew. The Nittany Lion senior ran 2:06.71 (NCAA #6) at the Penn State Invitational this past weekend to finish 2nd overall behind Danae Rivers (2:03) who was running unattached.
Unlike King, this was a faster field which pushed Tachinski from behind and forced her to chase Rivers who was in front. It looks the Penn State veteran can handle a faster field, but now we're eager to see how she'll fair when she's not racing her own teammates.
Finally, we have Florida ace Gabrielle Wilkinson who continues to be a growing threat in the women's 800 meters. The sophomore ran 2:07.59 to hold off a strong effort by Georgia's Anna Hall who ran 2:07.91. That's a nice win for Wilkinson and a huge breakout performance from Hall who had previously run 2:23 and 2:16 in her last two races at the 800 meter distance (according to TFRRS).
Also quick, shoutout to the Alabama women as Lauren Turner and Sydney Milani ran of pair of 2:09's in the same race as Wilkinson and Hall.
Overall, the women's 800 meters continues to grow in depth from a national perspective. While the NCAA is expected to have the same amount of top-tier 800 meter stars that we're usually used to seeing -- and that isn't to discount what we've seen from Athing Mu -- the depth from some of these half-mile talents has been impressive for the month of January.
Indiana's Ben Veatch took home the win this past weekend in the 3000 meters with a time of 8:02, fending off Kyle Mau and James Uhlenberg in the final moments. After a modest 4:10 mile time in his season opener, it was good to see the Hoosier veteran earn a solid mark in his second race of the season. It wasn't a personal best for Vetach, but it does put him on track to qualify for the National Championships by the end of the indoor season if he can make the necessary improvements.
Former teammate Kyle Mau (running unattached) finished 2nd, but the surprise of the race was Michigan Statesโ James Uhlenberg who crossed the line in 3rd, also running a time of 8:02. The sophomoreโs previous personal best in the event was 8:23, so his recent performance marks a dramatic improvement. Fellow Spartan Brendan Favazza, in the first race of his NCAA career, looked strong on his way towards running 8:07.
After not seeing the BIG 10 run at all this past fall, Michigan State looks like it is developing some strong underclassmen who can keep the Spartans at least semi-competitive on the grass this winter and next fall.
We were hoping to see Iowa State star Cailie Logue toe the line against Missouri standout Sarah Chapman this weekend, but unfortunately, Chapman didn't end up racing.
Either way, Logue still ran a very strong 3k time in her season opener, running 9:19 for 3000 meters (NCAA #4). Her personal best for the distance is 9:10, so this a good sign that the Iowa State veteran is near the height of her best career fitness.
We'll be eager to see Logue take on Oklahoma State's Taylor Roe and Gabby Hentemann later this season after battling the duo during the 2020 cross country season.
The women's mile at the Gladstein Invitational was loaded with a plethora of talented BIG 10 women's distance runners. However, in the end, it was Indiana runner Bailey Hertenstein who took home the win in a respectable time of 4:42.
Her time, while respectable, doesn't blow you away. However, her ability to take home wins over accomplished talents such as Katelynne Hart, Alice Hill, Jenna Barker, Sarah Schmitt, Kathryn House and Ericka VanderLende is super encouraging.
That's an awfully impressive group of women to secure a win over and that victory should be considered as the important highlight of Hertenstein's weekend. We'll be eager to see what happens when she moves up to the 3k or 5k which feels like her ideal distances.
Indiana ace Matthew Schadler was at the Gladstein Invitational this past weekend, running in his ideal event, the mile. The Hoosier standout didn't match his personal best of 3:58, but he did run 4:02 and take home a strong win over top Michigan talents Tom Dodd (4:03) and Anthony Berry (4:06).
While his race may not seem like a big deal on paper, this still feels like a big victory for Schadler given that it's so early in the season. A victory over two of the better milers in the BIG 10 has to be encouraging and it shows us that Schadler can put himself in position to win competitive races.
As for Dodd, he just ran a 4:03 in back-to-back weeks. That's exciting consistency, but with the University of Michigan now pausing athletic activities, we're unsure what the future holds for him and his teammates for the rest of this winter.
We typically only cover events that are 800 meters and higher, but we can't ignore the fact that Texas A&M freshman Athing Mu just ran 1:25.80 to break the collegiate record. That, of course, isn't necessarily surprising. She owns a personal best over two seconds FASTER than that time from her high school days when she ran 1:23.57 at the 2019 USATF Indoor Championships.
At this point, it's hard not to see Athing Mu as the overwhelming favorite to take home the women's 800 meter national this winter. She ran 2:01.07 in her season opener and seems like the no-brainer pick to win NCAA gold in March.
Cross country is back! Although we didn't have any powerhouse programs race this past weekend, we did get to see a few nationally competitive programs toe the line and battle it out on the grass.
How about the Utah State men and women? Both teams took home wins over respectable programs from Southern Utah and California Baptist despite initially being considered as the "underdogs" in our eyes.
The Utah State men had a nationally competitive team in 2019, but lost numerous scorers from that group. That, however, didn't seem to impact the Aggies too much at the Dixie State Invitational.
After serving a church mission from 2017 to 2019, Camren Todd is back for Utah State as a freshman. He took home a big win over top distance talents California Baptist's Ivo Balabanov (who ran 28:43 for 10,000 meters in December) and Southern Utah's Aidan Reed, one of the better distance runners in the country during the fall of 2018.
Caleb Garnica (4th), Haydon Cooper (5th), Spencer Nelson (8th) gave Utah State four men in the top-seven of the team scoring, although their fifth runner was a bit further back in 16th place. Even so, the frontend scoring of this varsity lineup was enough to take down a strong Southern Utah team by five points, 31 to 36.
The Thunderbirds actually had a more complete top-five, led by Reed (3rd), Ricketts (7th), Labra (9th), Rasmuson (10th) and Osterstock (12th). However, the Aggies of Utah State were simply better up front which is what gave them the five-point edge.
Even so, there's actually a lot to like about SUU's performance. Their lineup structure would theoretically benefit them in a larger field and Osterstock is likely capable of a better performance. The same goes for his teammates Travis Feeney and Santiago Gaitan who had respectable performances at the Oklahoma State Invitational and simply had "off" days this past weekend (based on the results).
As for the women's race, it was the Utah State women taking down a strong California Baptist team by a relatively comfortable margin, 42 points to 55 points.
A strong 1-2 punch by Micaela Rivera (2nd) and Katie Struthers (4th) essentially matched the finishes by CBU's Anna Mate (3rd) and Greta Karinauskaite (6th). With Utah State simply having better backend scorers at the fourth and fifth spots of their lineup, they were able to put together a full team effort and take down the Lancers.
Now, in fairness to California Baptist, Emilie Renaud (10th) probably could have had a better race and it feels like a larger field would have benefitted this team in the overall results. Even so, Utah Sate displayed outstanding depth and deserves a lot of credit for their performance despite being a fairly unexciting team (from a performance standpoint) back in 2019.
As for the Southern Utah women, they didn't have a great performance, but it's important to keep in mind that top scorer Allison Pray, who would have been in the running to win this race, was a DNF. Still, even if she had won, SUU would have been a bit further back in the results.
Finally, Summer Allen (Weber State) looks like she could be a real problem for her Mountain region competitors over the next few months. After a strong 3k performance last weekend, she took to the grass and secured the overall win over a decent field.