First Thoughts: Post-Break Action

Winter break is done which means we can finally get into the bulk of the indoor track season! Here are the major highlights and takeaways from a fun weekend of action...

In our Wolverine Invitational Preview, we explained that Michigan was stacking the 800 meters with a total of 13 women. This was likely an effort to figure out which of their women would be candidates to fill a spot on their DMR which returns everyone except anchor Hannah Meier from last year. In the end, Meg Darmofel finished as the top collegiate in a very respectable time of 2:08.

That time isn't exactly Earth-shattering, but it is an encouraging mark. Michigan will now have the luxury of knowing that they have a respectable 800 meter leg who can hold their own while they experiment with the 1200 meter and 1600 meter legs of their Distance Medley Relay (which will likely involve Alice Hill and Aurora Rynda).

One program that has quietly assembled a handful of talented milers / middle distance runners is Binghamton. This past weekend, junior Dan Schaffer posted a very strong mark of 4:01 for the mile, taking the win over a respectable field by roughly three seconds. But before Schaffer was Eric Holt (who ran 4:02 during his time in college). Before Holt was Jesse Garn (who ran 3:59 during his time on college). Before Garn was Erik van Ingren (who ran 3:56 during his time in college).

We're not even two full weeks into the month of January, and Schaffer has already firmly established himself as a legitimate candidate who is capable of dipping under the four minute barrier for the mile. If he can get into a fast enough race later this season (potentially in Boston), then he may end up as the newest member of the sub-four minute club.

Momentum is a great thing to have, and Schaffer has a lot of it right now.

When we think of women like Kassidy Johnson (Kansas State), we think of women who are dominant in the middle distances, specifically the 800 meters. Despite having a personal best of 2:04 for the 800 meters and developing her reputation in the half-mile event, Johnson showed us that she is more than a one-dimensional middle distance runner this past weekend. The Kansas State ace recently ran a new PR of 4:48 for the mile at the Jim Green Invite, taking the win over Ohio State's Abby Nichols.

There were plenty of other respectable mile performances by a few other women this past weekend, but this result shows us that Johnson has clearly developed some additional strength heading into the winter months.

Despite consistent improvements and refined race tactics, Johnson was the first woman out of qualifying for Nationals in the 800 meters last spring. The 800 meters will still be plenty competitive in 2020 - and we shouldn't look too heavily into a sub-4:50 result in early January - but it's encouraging to see that Johnson is in PR shape right now before she narrows her focus to the four-lap affair.

Purdue senior Brody Smith, who owns a personal best of 4:07 in the mile, showed a clear up-tick in fitness last spring and last fall. He could be a sleeper pick to dip under the four minute barrier for the mile later this winter.

The Boilermaker ace recently ran 1:53 on his home track this past weekend which earned a flat-track converted time of 1:52 and resulted in a win. After coming off of a long cross country season, that's a nice display of range and it leads me to believe that he could find a happy medium in the mile later this year.

Just like the aforementioned Kassidy Johnson, Norfolk State's Martha Bissah recently showed off her middle distance prowess this past weekend, running a strong winning time of 2:49 in the 1000 meters at the Great Dane Classic. That time is a nice complement to her 4:45 (flat-track converted) mile that she ran last weekend.

Neither of those times are necessarily new or surprising (and they're not even personal bests for Bissah), but those marks do show us that she is fit and ready to post consistent results just like she did last year. In the 800 meters, showing consistency throughout the season typically leads to positive results at NCAA's (i.e. Nia Akins, Martha Bissah, Allie Wilson).

The Nittany Lion Challenge didn't offer too many exciting performances this past weekend, but the 1000 meters was the diamond in the rough as far as interesting results go. The Georgetown men crowded the 1000 meter field and put together a handful of promising times.

A total of eight men ran under the 2:30 barrier this past weekend, with five of them being Hoyas. The favorite coming into the race was Penn State's Billy McDevitt, but Georgetown sophomore Maazin Ahmed was able to take down the State College veteran on his home track to barely pull off the upset, 2:25.25 to 2:25.38.

The other four Hoyas to dip under the 2:30 mark were all freshmen.

It was easy to get carried away and expect a potential sub-4:40 mark from a true freshman in her collegiate indoor track debut. The Michigan star had a phenomenal cross country season and despite the potential of her being redshirted this winter, it does not look like that will be the case.

The true freshman ran 4:49 this past weekend to match her seed time. She finished 2nd overall behind Nike pro Shannon Osika who ran away from the field in a winning time of 4:34.

I'll repeat this for essentially every performance we talk about from this weekend, but it's still extremely early in the season. We'll likely see VanderLende venture in the 3000 and 5000 meters later this season given her grand success in the longer distances from this past fall.

However, if the Michigan coaching staff believes that they can further improve her middle distance speed, then VanderLende may have some role in a potential DMR for the Wolverines later this winter.

The Middle Tennessee State men went to work this past weekend, quietly putting together some strong performances. Jacob Choge, typically known for this excellence in the longer distances, dropped to the 800 meters and mile this past weekend at the Jim Green Invite. He took home wins in both events, running a pleasantly surprising 1:50 for the 800 meters and 4:06 for the mile (which is two seconds off of his personal best).

From a coaching standpoint, I love seeing Choge dropping down in distance and refining his speed in the early portion of the season. Choge has likely secured a national qualifying time in the 5000 meters already after his performance in Boston from December (where he ran 13:38). These opportunities for him to develop speed and learn how to close in tactical races will be key for his All-American aspirations.

As for Chemadi, he went to the University of Alabama-Birmingham this past weekend to battle with a handful of elite professionals such as Anthony Rotich, Emmanuel Bor, and Lawi Lalang in the 3000 meters. Unfortunately for Chemadi, those pro athletes were just a little too strong for him as Rotich and Bor went 1-2, each running 7:58. Lalang finished 3rd in a time of 8:00 while Chemadi was 4th in 8:02.

There is no doubt that Chemadi can run faster in this event given that he is an 8:38 steeplechaser from last spring and owns a personal best of 7:58 in this event. However, the idea that he could be a national qualifier in the 3000 meters this season seems to be a bit of a reach.

The good news for Chemadi is that he already has a likely national qualifying time in the 5000 meters from Boston University performances back in December (where he ran 13:36). It will be interesting to see what Chemadi attempts to run next, but I imagine that he'll attempt to run another fast 3k before the season ends.