First Thoughts (Part Two): Statement Steeple Wins For Schraft & Abouzouhir, Bossong Continues to Improve, Olemomoi Runs NCAA-Leading 10k, Khan vs Roban & Rop Upsets Green

As promised, Part Two of our "First Thoughts" weekend analysis is here!

If you haven't already, be sure to check out our extensive library of post-race interviews from the Raleigh Relays on our YouTube page! If you enjoyed those, it would be awesome if you subscribed to our channel (the faster our channel grows, the more we can offer).

Alright, with a coffee now in my system, it's time to get started...

If you are a listener of the Blue Oval Podcast, then you know that my fellow co-host Ben Weisel and myself discussed Victoria Bossong's resume at length in our last episode. We cited her great consistency, underappreciated middle distance marks, solid experience and recent improvement.

And yet, despite the growing momentum that Bossong had been collecting, no one could have expected this Harvard veteran to upset Penn State's Hayley Kitching this past weekend with a jaw-dropping time of 2:00.92 for 800 meters!

Sure, Bossong had run 2:04 (800) multiple times in the winter and had run 2:02 for the same distance just the other week. But to drop as much time as she did this past weekend was absolutely brilliant. And more importantly, she took down an All-American standout who has looked fantastic over the last few months.

How should we interpret this result? What does this mean for the national meet and the contenders for All-American honors? Can Bossong continue to improve? Is her ceiling high enough where should could legitimately be a national title contender?

That last suggestion may seem like a little bit of a stretch, but there aren't many women in the middle or long distances who have been on the same kind of heater that this Crimson ace has over the last two months.

Gosh, Coach Alex Gibby has built quite the middle distance contingent in Cambridge...

Kitching, meanwhile, didn't get the win, but she did secure a strong 2:01 (800) season opener. And considering that 2:01 is her PR and a time that she ran often during the winter months, this was a nice way for her to step onto the outdoor oval.

There's still another tier that Kitching needs to reach as we look towards May and June. She has obviously made a huge jump this year, but can she capitalize on her consistency and raise her ceiling any further to close the gap between her and Rose and Whittaker?

I don't know what the answer to that question is, but she seemingly has a very high floor and leaves us with very little to dislike.

Also in this race was Judy Kosgei, South Carolina's distance ace who can seemingly do it all. Based on her cross country success, we felt like she was more of a long distance runner, but this past indoor track season and her recent 2:01 (800) PR suggest otherwise.

Kosgei is undeniably talented. In fact, her career ceiling in the NCAA may be even higher than both Bossong and Kitching when all is said and done. Of course, she'll still need to refine her tactics and fitness -- and simply gain more experience -- before we view her as an All-American favorite, although she does have far more aerobic strength than most 800-meter runners do.

Also, a big shoutout to Flomena Asekol who ran 2:02 (800) in this race as well. The Florida star now holds times of 2:02 (800), 4:26 (mile) and 8:52 (3k). Oh, and she's been a two-time top-15 finisher at the NCAA XC Championships. And when you think about it from that perspective, Asekol's versatility may come close to matching the dynamism that we've seen from Duke's Amina Maatoug and Oklahoma State's Billah Jepkirui in the past.

I'll admit, I had a very tough time trying to figure out what my predictions were going to be for the women's steeplechase at the Stanford Invite earlier this week. Among all the collegians in the field, I really liked most of them...but I didn't necessarily love any of them, either.

 My guess to win was the Kentucky-turned-Washington steeplechaser Perri Bockrath who ended up as a DNF on Friday night.

Oddly enough, Bockrath stepped off the track not due to pacing or to falling over an obstacle, but rather some kind of sudden and significant injury that happened on a simple turn. Had she remained in the race (and not been injured), I liked to think that she would have been competitive for the win (she was, after all, with the lead group late in the race).

Instead, it was Iowa State's Janette Schraft and Arkansas' Laura Taborda battling over the last few laps before the Cyclone star simply took off with 600 meters to go. The control in her fitness was obvious as Schraft was clearly holding back for a grand finish. And in the end, she earned a 9:48 (steeple) PR.

I really liked this race from Schraft. She looked so calm the whole time and basically turned on cruise control behind the leaders for most of the race before she took over. And truthfully, it looks like she could have run a significantly faster time -- it was clear that she was conserving energy until the final moments.

With an early-season PR, a major win and plenty of experience under her belt, the idea that Schraft could make it to the national meet and contend for All-American honors is plenty realistic. She'll still need to show us how high her ceiling goes, but this was one of the more refined distance performances of the weekend.

As for Arkansas' Laura Taborda, she posted a very solid 9:54 steeplechase mark, just four seconds off of her PR. For the month of March, that's a really promising result. Taborda is very experienced in this event and has a skillset that can sometimes before more dynamic than other steeplechasers who are often more one-dimensional.

I don't know if I would necessarily put her in the All-American conversation yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if she made a few appearances in our writers' predictions come the national meet in June.

When it comes to how this race played out, I don't have too much to say. Eastern Kentucky's Abdelhakim Abouzouhir took over this race roughly 1000 meters in and essentially dared the rest of the field to catch him.

And for the most part, they couldn't.

In the end, the EKU steeplechase standout pulled away from the field and gave himself enough of a cushion that he could cruise across the line. Yes, Rob McManus did keep things competitive time-wise, but upon watching the replay, you'd find that this was Abouzouhir's race to lose.

Truthfully, I don't think we learned anything new about Abouzouhir after this performance. He was a key name who I mentioned in our predictions and based on what he did last spring, there wasn't much of a reason to think that he couldn't run in the high 8:30s this weekend.

Even so, if Abouzouhir is able to run 8:37 in the steeplechase -- coming nearly two seconds within his PR -- in the month of March, then that spells a very bright future for him. The Colonel talent had a really strong indoor track season (by his standards) and looks a bit more complete as far as his skillset and racing tools are concerned.

As for Rob McManus, he's one of those guys who is a completely different runner once you put barriers and water pits in front of him. Running 8:37 in the steeplechase in the month of March is pretty huge for someone who is still relatively inexperienced as far as his eligibility is concerned. Yes, he has run 8:31 in this event before, but more specifically, I liked that he was one of the few men to really chase after Abouzouhir.

Other guys such as Levi Taylor (Montana State) and Joel Mendez (Utah Valley) had great steeplechase performances as well, each running 8:39. However, those results are pretty on par with what we've come to expect from these men. That, of course, doesn't make them any less talented.

As for Victor Kibiego, the UTEP-turned-Texas A&M standout who ran 8:26 over the barriers and water pits to earn bronze at the national meet last year, faded to a time of 8:45 on Friday. And while that's certainly not a bad time, it does leave us wanting more, especially for someone who we viewed as a national title favorite a few months ago.

One of the biggest and most exciting names from the indoor track season was Parvej Khan, a freshman who settled for a backend All-American honor on the national stage. But make no mistake, the entirety of his resume and his blistering kick has made him stand out in a huge way as just a rookie.

With a 3:55 mile PR and an upset win over Anass Essayi for the SEC indoor mile title, Khan captured the attention of many and has potentially been viewed as the NCAA's next great miler. However, the 800 meters was an area that the Gator rookie had not fully capitalized on during the winter months.

That, of course, changed this past weekend.

At the Florida Relays, Khan unleashed an unreal kick over the last 200 meters to run a monster 1:46 (800) PR, taking down multi-time national meet bronze medalist, Handal Roban, who also ran 1:46, finishing just 0.14 seconds behind his SEC counterpart.

The overall winner was Adidas pro Josh Hoey who ran 1:45 (800).

Don't get me wrong, I really liked Khan this past winter. He absolutely exceeded my expectations and he peaked beautifully for the postseason. Even so, I went into February thinking that he needed another year of development before he was really going to be a major factor.

That, however, is clearly not the case. Khan was able to drop down in distance to meet a national-caliber star in his primary event -- and beat him. That's a no-joke performance, especially when you watch the replay and see how far back he was with 200 meters to go.

Frankly, I'm still in awe.

By pairing that display of speed with his blistering kicks from the indoor track season, Khan could end up being one of the most feared tactical milers that the NCAA has come June.

As for Roban, it's hard to be upset about this result. He went straight to the front and was aiming to out-run a field that, on paper, he was the favorite in (or at least co-favorite in). Even when the pack caught him, he still fought off all of them except Hoey. And truthfully, if Khan was going to beat Roban, then at least Roban made him run his race rather than something more tactical.

And for that, I have to give the Nittany Lion ace a nod of respect.

Does Roban's result tell us anything new about him? No, not really. I think we all knew that he was capable of running 1:46 (800) right now. He does, after all, hold a 1:45 PR from last spring and summer.

That being said, this is easily the fastest that Roban has been at the start of any track season, whether that be on the indoor oval or the outdoor oval.

Also, nice race for Nebraska's Niko Schultz who ran 1:47 for 800 meters in the second section. He's beginning to string together some nice consistency. He may be someone to monitor come the BIG 10 Outdoor Championships.

I like to think that I have a very good grasp of the NCAA middle and long distance scene. I know who the favorites are, who the underdogs are, who the high-upside picks are, who the safe picks are and which athletes have upwards or downwards trending momentum.

However, Iowa State's Ezekiel Rop is one of those men who I can simply never get a good understanding of.

For instance, Rop -- who originally went by the name Ezekiel Kibichii a few years ago -- once attended Eastern Kentucky. And during his time there, this overseas star was outstanding, placing 13th at the Nuttycombe Invite and 9th at the Joe Piane Invitational during the fall of 2019. But since then, Rop's success on the grass has been far more muted in comparison to his track accolades.

Instead, Rop has become a top miler under Iowa State, running well under 3:40 for 1500 meters multiple times last spring. That was a shocking development for someone whose mile PR was 4:01.

But if you think that his 1500-meter success would translate to the indoor oval, then you'd be mistaken. While Rop certainly ran well this past winter, running 3:58 in the mile, his times didn't at all reflect the caliber of marks that he produced during the 2023 outdoor track season.

That's why you can imagine my surprise when I saw Ezekiel Rop narrowly get the win over Washington superstar Nathan Green at the Stanford Invite this past weekend.

Sure, maybe I should have given Rop more respect when considering how much better he has been in the spring compared to the winter. Even so, to sling off the final curve on Friday night to (barely) out-kick a speed-based miler like Nathan Green was not at all on my weekend bingo card.

I think some people will probably look at this result and think, "Oh man, do we need to be concerned about Nathan Green?" And I do understand where they're coming from. After all, this is a guy who failed to make it past the 800-meter prelims at the indoor national meet earlier this month after being the second-ranked seed and now took an unexpected loss in his main event.

However, the 800 meters is not Green's best event -- something that he has admitted himself -- and the national meet felt like a fluke. And when you go back and watch his 1500-meter race at the Stanford Invite, I actually really liked that he tried to take the lead when the pacer stepped off and pull away from his competition.

In fact, he nearly pulled it off!

Plus, in his post-race interview with Flotrack, Green explained how he had nothing but positives to take away from his 1500-meter race. So while it may be easy to inch closer to the panic button, I'm just not there yet.

Alabama's Hilda Olemomoi is really, really good.

Like, REALLY good.

Aerobically speaking, her strength surpasses everyone except a select few women in the NCAA. But that's something that we already knew about the Crimson Tide star. In fact, we've known that about her since her first cross country season.

I'd love to give you some original and exciting insight about Olemomoi's nation-leading performance, but...I can't. Yes, I did think she would run faster, but I also thought that this field would be much faster, so it's hard to really find a critique.

I will, however, leave you with this question: Could Hilda Olemomoi win the 10k national title this spring? If Parker Valby remains in the 5k this season, I don't think that's out of the realm of possibility.

I don't necessarily have a ton to say about any of these races, although that shouldn't take away from how impactful and important these victories are/were.

Admittedly, I misread the entries and thought Charlie O'Donovan was racing unattached. Had I correctly read that he was entered under Villanova, then I would've picked him to emerge as the top collegian (and to run 3:38).

Sure enough, the Irish miler was the top collegian in this race and ended up running a strong rust-busting time of 3:39. And given the competition that he was facing, that's exactly what we thought he was capable of.

Butler's Jesse Hamlin has been doing this thing where he'll randomly have a huge race and looks like one of the best distance runners in the nation. It may not happen consistently, but when it does, he looks incredibly dangerous.

That's exactly what we saw from him on Thursday after Hamlin held off Virginia's Gary Martin to get the victory at the Raleigh Relays over 5000 meters and run a 13:31 PR.

I'm still not sure what Hamlin's best event would/could be at the national meet. He's run 3:38 in the metric mile, but a 13:31 (5k) effort is arguably just as good. Sure, he could try the double, but I like the proven turnover and speed that Hamlin brings to a tactical 5k race on a championship stage.

And then there's Will Anthony, the Virginia product who was fantastic on Thursday night in Raleigh, running 28:21 for 10,000 meters to secure the win. His huge last lap effort (a 58-second split) gave him a rough four-second victory on Butler's Florian Le Pallec (28:25) despite having a one-and-a-half-second deficit with 400 meters remaining. Tulane's Jack Jennings (28:28) and South Carolina's Bradley Makuvire (28:29) also dipped under 28:30.

Coming into this year, I think both myself and my fellow Blue Oval Podcast co-host Ben Weisel really liked Will Anthony as a competitive distance talent. And while his most recent performance was within the realm of possibility, it was still on the better end of expectations. But maybe more importantly, Anthony was able to make up a gap on the last lap and then create a significant gap of his own.

Oh, and by the way, Anthony is a redshirt freshman this season.

As for Le Pallec, he had a solid race, although his 5k efforts from last summer leads me to believe that he could run a bit faster. He strikes me as more of a 10k runner than a 5k specialist, but so far, the evidence on his resume (specifically via World Athletics) suggests the opposite.