First Thoughts: Mu's Collegiate Record, Southern Utah Upsets NAU & Stunning Breakout Performances

This past weekend was an absolute thriller. The number of headlines and jaw-dropping performances that we saw continued to make this winter season even crazier than we could have possibly imagined.

We already spoke about some of the action from Thursday and Friday (which you can read here), so we'll be focusing on some of the results from this past Saturday. And yes, we know that some meets are still being wrapped up today, but we're not going to waste any time getting content out, so let's get started...

NOTE: This recap is not exhaustive and does not mention every conference winner. Due to time limitations we have opted to highlight only a handful of results.

Look, we knew Athing Mu was going to be great and it truthfully wasn't much of a surprise when she ran 2:01 earlier in the year. The Jersey native was a superstar in high school and gave us every reason to believe that she was going to continue her grand success at the collegiate level.

We just didn't think she would reach this level so quickly.

At the SEC Indoor Championships, freshman phenom Athing Mu put together one of the most impressive collegiate performances that I can remember. The Texas A&M rookie dropped a time of 1:58.40 to shatter the old collegiate indoor record of 2:00.69 as well as secure a new U20 World Record for the indoor 800 meters.

What could I really say in this article that could do her performance justice? I could try to offer some fancy analysis, but the fact of the matter is that Mu is light years ahead of her competitors and frankly, she'll be in the conversation for an Olympic medal later this summer.

Speaking of racing against the professionals, I think it's hard not to ask, but...should Athing Mu go pro this summer? Assuming she wins a national title this winter and this spring, what would really be the point of her racing collegiately past this year?

As for the NCAA Indoor Championships in March, is there anyone who could realistically take down Mu? Lindsay Butler and Laurie Barton just ran a pair of 2:01's, but even then I don't see a realistic scenario where Mu loses at the national meet. Unless the entire women's 800 field somehow agrees to work together and box her in, Mu should be an easy lock to win NCAA gold.

 We should also talk about Gabrielle Wilkinson (Florida) and Shafiqua Maloney (Arkansas), two women who have been gaining a ton of momentum throughout this winter and seem to be peaking at the perfect time.

Wilkinson has been a promising young talent for a while now, and although she didn't win a SEC title this past weekend, she did run an outstanding time of 2:02. The Florida ace has yet to have a bad race and just seems so much sharper than she has been in the past. I truly believe that if Mu wasn't in the NCAA, then Wilkinson would be in the national title conversation.

As for Maloney, I continue to be so impressed by her never-ending progression. Since the winter of last year, the Arkansas Razorback has posted times (in order) of 2:11, 2:09, 2:08, 2:08, 2:05, 2:04, 2:07 and 2:03.

Maloney continues to get better in almost every race she toes the line for and it doesn't look like she has reached her ceiling just yet. However, I'm not entirely sure how Maloney will handle competing on the national stage against a historically elite field that, in some respects, is more experienced than her in this discipline.

The Northern Arizona men have lost twice this cross country season to two different teams. I bet that's not something that you expected to read this year, huh?

At the BIG Sky XC Championships, the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks toed the line with a varsity group that was without Luis Grijalva, Nico Young and Blaise Ferro -- three star scorers who are amongst the best in the nation.

Despite those absences, one would have thought that Northern Arizona would have been able to take home the conference title like they usually do. They still had a handful of top names racing and despite Southern Utah being an accomplished team, the Lumberjacks just had more weapons on their roster...or so we thought.

The Thunderbirds ended up putting together the best race of their season. In fact, one could argue that they put together one of their better cross country races of the past decade.

Through four scorers, both Southern Utah and Northern Arizona were fairly equal. Abdi Nur (NAU) took home the individual win while Stefen Rasmuson (SUU) finished 3rd.

However, not much changed in the middle portion of either lineup. Ryan Raff (NAU) finished 4th, but was quickly followed the Southern Utah duo of Aidan Reed (5th) and Nate Osterstock (6th). With Northern Arizona's Drew Bosley (8th) and Brodey Hasty (9th) being closely followed by Southern Utah's Christian Ricketts (10th), it was actually the Lumberjacks who had a two-point edge through four scorers.

And then we came to the fifth scorer.

Southern Utah closed out their scoring much faster than Northern Arizona did as Isaiah Labra secured a clutch 11th place finish, crossing the line five places (and four points) ahead of NAU's fifth runner, Aldo Marquez.

In the end, the Thunderbirds walked away with an outstanding three-point victory over the powerhouse program from Flagstaff. So...what should we take away from this race?

First off, massive kudos to Southern Utah. They have been a solid team for a while now, but seemed to be missing a few key pieces during the 2019 cross country season. Now, it looks like everyone on their team is healthy and they are continuing to get better as the season goes on.

They have a complete top-five and even have some non-scoring depth in their varsity lineup that they've been able to flex. They don't have a ton of stars or overwhelming firepower, but Southern Utah is proving that you don't need all of that to find success at the national level.

Not only that, but with this victory, Southern Utah has almost certainly secured themselves a spot to the national meet. In the grand scheme of things, this was maybe the most impactful win for any cross country team this season.

As for Northern Arizona? Well, it's a tricky balance between not overreacting and becoming increasingly more cautious about the backend of their lineup.

Not having Grijalva, Young and Ferro essentially left the Lumberjacks without three of their top four runners, so let's not overreact and suddenly say that NAU is out of the national title conversation. If that trio raced this past weekend, then Northern Arizona would have won fairly comfortably.

Still, this is now the second-time where I've begun to question the backend of Northern Arizona's lineup. They convincingly took home the win at the Battle Born XC Challenge (and were still missing a few names), but there were notable gaps after their top-five runners in that race.

When NAU runs their absolute best lineup, concerns about their depth become a little less relevant. However, I am becoming increasingly more cautious about the consistency of a few of these runners.

Brodey Hasty had two not-so-great races at the Oklahoma State Invitational and the Silver State XC Challenge, but was much better at the Battle Born XC Challenge. Now, after finishing 9that the BIG Sky XC Championships, I'm not sure he's someone who can be relied upon as a top-five scorer in a fully-stacked lineup.

The same can be said for Ryan Raff. He had a tough race at the Battle Born XC Challenge, finishing 44th overall, but just finished a respectable 4th place this past weekend. What should we expect from him at the national meet?

And then we come to Drew Bosley. He has only raced twice this year, once at the Oklahoma State Invitational (15th) and once this past weekend (where he finished 8th). Bosley isn't racing poorly, but he doesn't appear to be anywhere near his All-American form that we saw from him in 2019.

On paper, I still feel like Northern Arizona should be favored for gold when they toe the line in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Heck, if they ran either Grijalva, Young or Ferro, then we're probably not even having this conversation.

Still, this team hasn't been perfect and it's hard to ignore just how good BYU has been this year.

When talking about the 800 meters, Athing Mu will rightfully get most of the attention this weekend. She did, after all, break a collegiate record. However, the fireworks that we saw between Virginia Tech's Lindsey Butler and Clemson's Laurie Barton in the women's ACC 800 meter race was incredibly exciting.

Butler and Barton pushed each other to times of 2:01.96 and 2:01.99, respectively. Butler held off a hard charge from Barton in the final straight, pushing each other to marks that now rank at NCAA #2 and NCAA #3, respectively.

Fun fact, Barton is a former Virginia Tech runner who transferred to Clemson a few years ago.

In a world where Athing Mu isn't a collegiate distance runner, we would be talking about these two as the national title favorites. Anything under 2:02 is absolutely incredible and it shows us that both of these women are peaking at the perfect time.

If Mu hadn't run as fast as she did this past weekend, I would have argued that Butler and Barton were realistic threats to take down the Texas A&M star at the indoor national meet...but then Mu ran 1:58, so just ignore that suggestion.

Of course, when you have two women run that fast in a championship setting, you're surely going to see fast times from the rest of the field (which is exactly what happened).

Andrea Foster (Clemson) and Kayla Johnson (Miami) are proven 800 meter veterans and posted a pair of 2:03's. That truthfully isn't super surprising given their past success at the half-mile distance, but it gives their resume a bit of a spark heading into the national meet.

And how about Aleeya Hutchins? The Wake Forest sophomore has proven to be a promising young talent, but running 2:04.73 is the kind of result that we were waiting to see from her. It looks like she'll be going to the national meet and regardless of how she does, that will give her valuable experience as she progresses throughout the rest of her college career.

Finally, we have to give some credit to Duke's Leigha Torino. She finished 6th in this race with a personal best of 2:05.20 which currently ranks her at NCAA #15, meaning that she should qualify for the indoor national meet and I'm happy that she'll be there.

The Duke runner has had a breakout season, consistently improving her marks almost every time she toes the line. She's been competitive with some of the top talents in the ACC and hasn't really faltered in any race that she has toed the line for. Watch out for Torino in Fayetteville, Arkansas a few weeks from now.

University of Washington's 300 meter indoor track is known for producing plenty of fast times, especially in the distance events. That's why it was hardly surprising to see Washington's Sam Tanner drop a 3:55 in the mile this past weekend.

Of course, anyone who is familiar with Tanner's recent performances wouldn't have had any reason to be surprised by this result. He ran 3:34 for 1500 meters on an indoor track against an elite pro field a few weeks ago, so posting a 3:55 mile seemed plenty realistic. After all, we figured he was going to pursue a quick mile before the national qualifying period ended.

However, what we didn't expect to see was BYU's Lucas Bons coming out of absolutely nowhere and posting a jaw-dropping mark of 3:55 in the mile. And yes, that is a true 3:55, meaning that he ran it without conversions.

Most people didn't know who Bons was prior to this weekend and frankly, we can't blame you for that. The research that we do for our annual recruit rankings is the only reason why we knew who he was prior to Saturday.

Before this weekend, Bons has recorded times of 1:53 for 800 meters and 8:34 for 3000 meters, both marks being run at altitude. By no means did any of those performances suggest that Bons was going to run 3:55 for the mile.

What makes things even crazier is that according to Isaac Wood, Bons spent two years on the Ivory Coast and has only been back for eight months. That's what makes this result that much more difficult to fathom.

I'd like to sit here and tell you exactly what we should expect from Bons at the indoor national meet, but truthfully, I don't think anyone really has a good idea of what he'll do next. Sure, breakout races aren't completely uncommon, but this kind of jump is unprecedented.

Coming into the SEC Indoor Championships, Katie Izzo was considered to be the clear favorite in the women's 5k and women's 3k. And who would have argued against that? Izzo has only been getting better as the season has progressed, has a history of championship success and has been excellent when doubling this season.

That's why it was so surprising to see the Arkansas runner lose not just once, but twice this past weekend.

Auburn's Joyce Kimeli, who had been solid, but also somewhat quiet this season, put together her best two races of the year this past weekend. She threw down a meet record of 15:46 in the 5000 meters and then came back the next day to run 8:56.02, just barely edging Izzo who ran 8:56.55.

After an early-season loss to Maudie Skyring at the beginning of the season, Kimeli has since picked up some momentum. She has secured multiple wins, has earned a new personal best and seems to be peaking at the perfect time.

If she was able to take down Izzo in two fast races over the same weekend, then I have to imagine that she is now in the national title conversation for the 3k and the 5k. And let's not forget, the Auburn star also took down Mercy Chelangat in the 5000 meters and Lauren Gregory (as well as Chelangat) in the 3000 meters.

In other words, Izzo wasn't the only top-ranked ace who fell to Kimeli this past weekend.

Heading into this weekend, only one runner who was entered in the men's mile at the ACC Indoor Championships had broken the four minute mile barrier. That runner was Virginia Tech's Ben Fleming who had run 3:59 alongside his teammates earlier in the season.

However, one could have also argued that the consistency and momentum that we had seen from North Carolina's Brandon Tubby made him the most dangerous name in that mile field.

And that, of course, that turned out to be the case.

In the mile finals, Tubby took control and dropped a massive personal best of 3:57, winning gold and essentially guaranteeing himself a spot to NCAA Indoor Championships. At the moment, he sits at NCAA #15 despite owning a new personal best of 3:57.77.

Teammate Thomas Ratcliffe, after many extended absences and poor performances, finally put together an intriguing result that caught our attention. The former Stanford runner finished 2nd in this field to run 3:59. That mark won't get him to the national meet, but it is a solid mark that indicates that he's at least healthy enough to be nationally competitive.

As for Tubby, he's a name who you should absolutely watch assuming that he qualifies for the indoor national meet (which it looks like he will). He was consistently flirting with the four minute barrier this season and even secured a new personal best of 1:49 for 800 meters before the ACC Indoor Championships.

The UNC ace has the necessary speed and consistency to emerge as a potential finalist in the men's mile, so don't sleep on him when making your All-American picks.

After a handful of incredible performances on Friday, the BYU women sent another contingent of women to Washington's 300 meter indoor track for some fast 800's. And much like Lucas Bons in the mile, we saw a new breakout star emerge.

Junior Claire Seymour has been a respectable talent for the BYU women, but never a national contender. She often hovered around the 2:07 to 2:09 range in numerous races and didn't give us much reason to believe that she was going to have a breakout performance.

Then again, breakout performances aren't exactly the easiest to anticipate.

This past weekend, Seymour came out of nowhere, throwing down a shocking time of 2:02.20 for 800 meters. She now sits at NCAA #4 in what has to be one of the most top-heavy years in the women's 800 meters.

Much like Bons, it's hard to really get a gauge a breakout talent like Seymour. She has generally been pretty consistent at the half-mile distance, but we've never seen her perform to this level before.

As for the rest of the BYU women, Lauren Ellsworth, one of the top middle distance talents in the country last year, ran a time of 2:05.39 which currently ranks her at NCAA #17. The top-16 names in an individual event automatically qualify for the indoor national meet, so Ellsworth needs at least one woman ahead of her to scratch...but who will that be?

On paper, the only realistic scratch seems to be Colorado's Sage Hurta who is also nationally-ranked in the mile. She is by no means guaranteed to scratch out of the 800, but it's certainly possible.

Finally, let's quickly talk about Courtney Wayment. After an incredible season where she has run top times in the mile and the 3000 meters, I was happy to see her drop down in distance and run 2:05 for 800 meters. That's a very impressive display of speed for someone who finished 5th at the 2019 NCAA XC Championships. It's also promising to see that she can effectively double in a single weekend.

On paper, Wayment looks like she might be the most well-rounded distance runner in the NCAA right now.

There's not a whole lot to talk about in the women's 3000 meters at the ACC Indoor Championships, but we did see a slew of fast times. Elly Henes unsurprisingly took home the win in a time of 9:00, a mark that seems to be on par with her level of talent.

However, the bigger development was seeing three other women behind Henes putting themselves in the top-16 of the national leaderboard in the women's 3000 meters. The Florida State duo fo Maudie Skyring (2nd) and Alyson Churchill (3rd) finished with times of 9:04 and 9:07 while Georgia Tech's Nicole Fegans (4th) was close behind in a time of 9:07.

It looks like all four of those women will qualify for the indoor national meet. That makes me curious about what Maudie Skyring will pursue at the NCAA Indoor Championships. She's currently ranked at NCAA #9 in the mile and NCAA #13 in the 3000 meters.

Given her past experience, Skyring will likely pursue the mile. However, there is a small possibility that she realizes how effective her mile speed would be in a tactical 3k and decides to go all-in for that race.

Truthfully, I don't actually think that would happen, but with the DMR on day one and the 3k on day two, Skyring would be completely fresh for her relay and still have a shot at individual glory.

I'm a big fan of Ben Veatch. I think he's been an underappreciated talent in the BIG 10 who has flexed all of the intangibles that TSR looks for in top-ranked runners. He's consistent, knows how to win, is capable of competing with some of the best names in the country and is no stranger to running fast times.

However, Veatch has been a little quiet this season. He's had a handful of solid results, but his times were largely unexciting and it looked he wasn't going to qualify for the indoor national meet...until he toed the line against Morgan Beadlescomb in the 5k this past weekend.

At the BIG 10 Indoor Championships, Veatch found one final gear and pulled away from the Michigan State star in the final stretch of the men's 5000 meters. Veatch crossed the line securing his second gold medal of the weekend, his first one coming in the 3000 meters.

However, his 5k performance is what will qualify him for the national meet. Veatch's time of 13:42 currently sits at NCAA #12 while Beadlescomb, who also recorded a time of 13:42, sits at NCAA #13.

With the BYU men expected to forgo the indoor national meet in favor of the NCAA XC Championships, that should clear up some space at the top of this 5k field and leave the national title essentially open for the taking.

If Veatch is peaking like we think he is, then don't be surprised to see him in the mix to take home that national title if the race turns out to be tactical.