First Thoughts: Oregon Twilight

Friday's Oregon Twilight gave us plenty of exciting results, so much so that we thought the meet deserved it's own recap and analysis. Below, we breakdown a few of the top results and offer our thoughts on a what a few key performances may mean moving forward...

If there were any questions as to what event(s) Eilish Flanagan will pursue at the D2 NCAA Championships, we now have a clear answer. The Adams State superstar just soloed an unbelievable time of 9:40 for the 3000 meter steeplechase, dominating her competition and absolutely crushing the former D2 record by seven seconds.

When it came to the top spot in our rankings, we had a few debates about whether or not Flanagan or Lee's Celine Ritter deserved the top spot. Well, after this result, it seems pretty clear that the Grizzlies' superstar is safe at her TSR #1 position.

Flanagan has been a dominant talent for a while, but this was a next-level performance. Her prior mark of 9:52 was outstanding, but the competition she was facing this weekend wasn't conducive to running a fast time...or so we thought. Her ability to go out and completely solo a mark of 9:40 puts her a whopping 39 seconds ahead of NCAA #2 steeplechaser Hannah Roeske.

The thing about these crazy fast performances is that there isn't much we can say other than "wow". That seems to be the case for Flanagan's recent steeplechase effort as she simply crushed her competition and showed a level of fitness that surprised Adams State optimists like myself.

BYU's Garrett Marsing is the newest steeplechase star who has entered the national contender fray. Guys like Shumway, Heslington and Owens have been the marquee steeplechase names on this squad for the past few seasons (as well as maybe one or two others), but Marsing was primed for a breakout performance after running 8:50 at the Hayward Premiere meet and then 8:44 last weekend.

In a field where his greatest competition were his own teammates, Marsing continued to sustain his incredible momentum of personal bests. Running 8:34, while certainly faster than I expected, seemed to match all of the encouraging signs of progress that Marsing has given us this spring. He was having a bunch of success in this event early on, was continuing to chase fast times and it doesn't hurt that BYU is known for their accolades in this specific race.

On paper, it was only appropriate that Marsing joined the elite tier of this BYU contingent.

Not only that, but we now have to wonder where Marsing fits into the national title conversation. Jaziri and Smeeton aren't too far ahead of that mark this season and Kigen Chemadi has run 8:35 this spring. On paper, this recent mark forces us to put Marsing into gold medal contention.

Typically, I would be worried that Marsing's inexperience of racing at this high of a level would eventually get the best of him on the national stage, and that's still a valid concern I have.

However, his recent momentum is extremely promising. He's getting better every time he toes the line and he's taking down some really strong athletes (often his teammates) in the process. Wit BYU's history of success on his side, I think there is more to like about Marsing than not.

I'm still hesitant to make him a title contender, but it's not impossible.

As for Shumway, his mark of 8:40 may not seem like a big deal, but this was a seasonal best after he struggled the other weekend. The BYU veteran ran a time of 8:50 at Fresno State, a mark that was not at all indicative of his actual talent.

Marsing may have run the faster time, but seeing Shumway post a mark of 8:40 was a super encouraging rebound performance and it couldn't have come at a better time. As we prepare for the postseason, Shumway can reignite his momentum and aim to peak at the national meet. He's experienced and talented enough to do just that and I actually like the fact that he already got a poor performance out of the way before the postseason begins.

As for Matt Owens (8:52) and Kramer Morton (8:53), these aren't bad times, but it could've been so much better for Owens who has run 8:32 and was a steeplechase All-American back in 2019. He's already run 8:46 this season, but he doesn't seem to have the same spark that he did two years ago.

That, however, could be a good thing. Maybe Owens is aiming to peak at the regional and national meets when it matters the most. After seeing the BYU men struggle a bit in the finals of the men's steeplechase at the 2019 NCAA Championships, that may be on their mind.

Gosh, I don't think people are talking enough about the fact that Anna Camp-Bennett finished 11th at the NCAA XC Championships this past winter and has now run 2:04 (or faster) for 800 meters this season not once, but FOUR times.

Her recent 2:03 effort was a personal best by a few tenths of a second, leaving us so incredibly impressed by her middle distance consistency after coming off of a winter season where she was training for a 6k on the grass. That's so incredibly rare and I hope people can appreciate what we're seeing out of this BYU standout.

As mentioned earlier, this is now the fourth time we have seen Anna Camp-Bennett run 2:04 or faster in the 800 meters this season. Is it possible that she may actually pursue the half-mile distance in the postseason? I suppose it's possible, but her speed and 4:11 personal best (which she's run twice this season) makes the 1500 meters a more logical option.

The 800 is just too stacked and although I love the consistency that we've seen out of Camp-Bennett in this event, she's largely having same level of success in the 1500 meters this season.

With Notre Dame's Sam Voelz ultimately not competing this weekend, this was Peralta's race to lose. The Oregon sophomore ran 1:48.82 to take home a fairly narrow victory over Nike's George Mill (1:48.95) and teammate Matt Wisner (1:48.98).

I'm not sure there's much to say here. The race simply didn't unfold into anything faster than what it was and although we got to see three sub-1:49 marks, I don't think anyone is surprised by the results. Peralta has been running at this level since the beginning of the year and Wisner has run this fast on numerous occasions even before his time at Oregon began.

Would it have been nice for someone like Peralta to be challenged by a top-tier All-American standout like Voelz? Yes, that obviously would've been ideal, especially as we near the postseason. Even so, I do like that we're seeing a good bit of consistency out of the Oregon sophomore. This was a respectable win and I think it deserves some recongition.

Coming into the men's 1500 meters, all of the attention in this race was on three athletes: Yared Nuguse, Cole Hocker and Cooper Teare. With that much elite firepower in one race and Olympic standards on the line, it was no surprise that this race ended up being wildly fast.

With a lap to go, much of the main pack was still together, with Cooper Teare in the lead and Yared Nuguse right behind him. Cole Hocker settled in a few spots behind those two, waiting for his moment to strike.

As the final lap unfolded, Teare and Nuguse began to slowly breakaway while Hocker patiently waited for a gap to open up so that he could implement his famous finishing kick. However, by 100 meters, Teare and Nuguse had already pulled too far away and although Hocker's kick made up plenty of ground, it was the clear that the two veterans would be duking it out for the overall win.

With 40 meters to go, it looked like Teare had the edge by half a stride, but Nuguse continued to push, trying to find a gear that he maybe didn't realize he had. When they came across the finish line, it was the Notre Dame star who leaned, barely taking home the win in what was yet another stunning display of his patented kick.

In the end, Nuguse would run 3:35.96 for the victory while Teare settled for runner-up in 3:35.97. Cole Hocker finished 3rd in 3:36.47 while Furman's Ryan Adams (3:37.66), Oregon's Charlie Hunter (3:38.17) and BYU's Talem Franco (3:38.49) were the other collegiates to dip under the 3:40 barrier.

Trying to properly detail the impact of Nuguse's win is tricky. He just took down Teare and Hocker, two collegiate superstars who have each run 3:50 in the mile this year and have been labelled two of the NCAA's absolute best distance talents of the past decade (by me). Based on that fact alone, I think we need to look at him as the favorite for NCAA gold come June.

For this Fighting Irish ace to run 3:35 in just his second race of the season and take down two Oregon stars on their home track is wildly impressive and of course. We may have been impressed by Hocker's tactical prowess and great finishing speed this year, but Nuguse has proven that his final kick is just as dangerous.

As for Teare and Hocker...what now? These were obviously great performances, but do their recent results mean that they should pursue the 5k over the 1500 meters at the NCAA Championships? That could be true for both of them, but if the Oregon men are trying to maximize their team point totals at the national meet, then we'll probably see Hocker and Teare split the difference and each choose a separate event.

Yes, it's possible that they could do the 1500/5k double, but that seems unlikely in this situation since the Olympic Trials are only one week after the NCAA Championships.

Despite what we saw on Friday, I think Teare will run the 5000 meters and Hocker will run the 1500 meters. Tactically, Hocker seems better suited for the metric mile thanks to his great finishing kick and indoor national title from this past winter. Meanwhile, Teare seems to have better stamina-based strength, something that will probably be more important than a kick in the 5000 meters if someone like Kiptoo aggressively pushes the pace.

As for everyone else, Adams and Franco continue to be two of the most consistent 1500 meter runners in the NCAA this season. The number of times they have run 3:37 or 3:38 has been beyond impressive. The Olympic Trials standard continues to elude them, but their consistency will surely get rewarded at one point or another.

I do have minor concerns that they might burn themselves out by consistently chasing an intense standard, but we currently have no reason to believe that they'll slow down anytime soon. They have been reliable distance talents and right now, we would expect them to deliver on the national stage.

BYU's Whittni Orton was a narrow 2nd place finisher last weekend to Arkansas' Krissy Gear in the 1500 meters, running a huge time of 4:09 in the process. However, instead of being content with that mark, the BYU veteran returned to the distance on Friday.

Paced by teammate Courtney Wayment, we saw Orton take home a very comfortable win over a field that was simply outmatched by her fitness. Orton powered through the final lap to earn a time of 4:10, one second off of her personal best from the week prior.

While I would like to dive into a bunch of fancy analysis, I'm not sure there is a whole lot to say here. However, it is nice to see this kind of consistency from Orton. She was able to run one of the nation's top 1500 meter marks in a top-heavy field last weekend and was essentially able to replicate that success this weekend in a race where she was largely unchallenged.

After rebounding from a minor injury in the winter, it's incredibly encouraging to see Orton not only run fast times, but running fast times on more than one occasion. That development simply validates her return to full health and prime fitness.

As for everyone else in this field, there isn't a whole lot to talk about. Portland freshman Lauren Pellicoro ran well, posting a time of 4:20, while long distance veterans Roisin Flanagan and Carmela Cardama Baez dropped down in distance to earn marks of 4:21 and 4:22.