Admin (Garrett Zatlin)
May 3, 202114 min
Updated: May 8, 2021
I'll admit, the men's 800 meters this spring has been relatively quiet. Prior to this weekend, no one had cracked the 1:46 barrier despite top talents like Charlie Hunter, Devin Dixon, Finley McLear and Festus Lagat proving in past seasons that they can do it.
Sure, there has been plenty of depth in the men's 800 this year, but not so much that it has really shocked us or has taken anyone by surprise.
However, the return of Isaiah Jewett to the half-mile distance this past weekend was quite the treat as the USC star threw down an outstanding, nation-leading mark of 1:45.80. Jewett had already run 1:46.99 earlier this season, but to see him run another top-time (which was a personal best) and improve upon his earlier rust-buster is impressive.
Will someone like McLear or Hunter still prove to be a title threat on the national stage? Absolutely. However, with Dixon not showing any signs of elite fitness (yet) and Jewett now posting one of the fastest marks in the nation at this distance, it seems fair to say that this USC Trojan can be in the national title hunt come June.
Few men are as experienced as Jewett and he has proven to be a fairly consistent talent. He admittedly did not have a great prelim at the 2019 NCAA Outdoor Championships, failing to make the finals, but that was a blip on another otherwise spotless radar.
At the same time, we still need to see how this veteran will perform against top-tier competition. His teammate Sam Van Dorpe ran 1:48 this past weekend, but an All-American contender who can challenge Jewett will likely give us a better idea of what he's capable of in the postseason, especially when it comes to race tactics.
As for everyone else, we have a slew of top marks that are now scattered across the national leaderboard.
Texas Tech star Takieddine Hedeilli returned to the half-mile distance this weekend after a solid, but unexciting 3:41 effort for 1500 meters at the Drake Relays. The Red Raider ace ran 1:46.84 at the Rock Chalk Classic, finishing 3rd behind Adidas pro Bryce Hoppel and Iowa State star Festus Lagat...but then things got weird.
According to TFRRS, Hedeilli also ran the 800 meters at his home meet this past weekend, posting a time of 1:46.83 which earned a slight altitude conversion of 1:46.52.
Does anyone understand this approach? I certainly don't. That's a lot of intense racing in the span of a single weekend, even if Hedeilli is chasing some sort of Olympic standard. On the other hand, I love how he was able to post top times in the same event over the course of one weekend. That perfectly emulates what he'll need to accomplish when it comes to the multiple rounds associated with the postseason.
Going back to Festus Lagat, it was nice to see the Iowa State star getting the edge over Hedeilli, even if he wasn't able to take down Hoppel. The Cyclone ace ran 1:46.09 which now sits at NCAA #2.
Frankly, I'm not sure there is much to say about Lagat. He's simply one of the best middle distance runners in the country who has plenty of experience when it comes to racing at a super high level. He rarely falters in his races and he's at his best when the pace is fast. Seeing him take down Hedeilli and run as fast as he did is about what we expected from him coming into this season.
As we move down the list, we also saw former Minnesota runner and Lipscomb graduate student Shane Streich extend his impressive outdoor track season with a true breakout performance in the 800 meters.
Streich has been running well all season long, flexing versatility between the 800 meters and the 1500 meters, posting times of 1:48 and 3:41 prior to this past weekend. Those kind of marks left us unsure what Streich should pursue in the postseason, but a 1:46 mark this past weekend blew us away.
It was clear that this Lipscomb runner was having the bet season of his career and trending in a very positive direction. But to run 1:46? Well, that came a little bit out of nowhere. At the same time, I can't help but feel like a breakout performance was inevitable for him.
I can't help but be happy for Streich. He was also a very solid and underrated talent during his time in the BIG 10. I always thought he could do more and it looks like this is the season where he is delivering on that potential.
As for everyone else, it's great to see Georgetown having major success in the middle distances once again. Matthew Payamps just ran 1:47 for 800 meters at the Virginia Grand Prix, a time that perfectly complements the 1:48 mark that we saw from teammate Theo Woods earlier this season.
We also need to go back to the meet at Texas Tech where Red Raider Marco Vilca, who was overlooked at times this past winter season, ran a slightly converted 1:47 this past weekend. With that kind of result now under his belt, I can't help but see him as a increasingly bigger threat on the national stage. How he performs in tactical settings and more crowded fields are still two major factors to consider, but I like what he's done over the past two seasons.
Also, how about those Ole Miss guys? Baylor Franklin continues to be a personal favorite of mine after a breakout indoor track season where he ran 1:48 and 3:59. He just ran 1:47 this past weekend, showing that he still has some room to grow and maybe reach the next tier of competitiveness. He was joined by teammates Waleed Suliman and Mario Garcia Romo who dropped down in distance to run 1:47 (talk about range).
Let's also chat about Daniel Nixon, another Iowa State stud who ran 1:47 over the weekend. He's been a bit forgotten on this squad given the success that we've seen from Lagat, Roomes and Gomez, but he's plenty dangerous and plenty talented. He is someone who can make it to the national meet, especially if he peaks at the right time. Nixon has a ton of experience.
Finally, shoutout to Morgan Beadlescomb. Traditionally a 5k runner, we've seen this Michigan State star dropdown in distance this season, posting a time of 3:41 for 1500 meters and now dropping even further down in distance to run 1:48. That is an exceptional level of speed, especially for a guy who I always viewed as more of a stamina-based athlete.
Virginia's Michaela Meyer continues to be a consistent star in the middle distances. After posting a time of 2:01 earlier in the season, she came back this past weekend to run a (minor) personal best which also sits at 2:01.
Consistency is key when it comes to the women's 800 meters, especially in a year that is so unbelievably top-heavy with elite half-mile talents. Being able to run as fast as 2:01 on more than one occasion is huge, especially since I'm not sure how many women will be able to run that fast when it comes to the prelims and the finals at both the regional and national meets.
At the very least, Meyer seems positioned to have success if she chooses to pursue the 800 meters in the postseason. That said, I still think she may want to pursue the 1500 meters. That's a distance that often turns tactical and Meyer's 2:01 speed could become a major asset if that were to happen.
Also, how about Miami's Kayla Johnson? I think there are a handful of women who we have forgotten about or who have fallen off of our radar given the extremely fast times that we have seen at the half-mile distance this year. That, however, didn't stop the Hurricane veteran from dropping a time of 2:02.94 this past weekend, a mark that now sits at NCAA #10.
What should we expect from Johnson moving forward? Will she be able to replicate this success throughout the rest of May and into the postseason? Admittedly, Johnson hasn't been the most consistent runner this season, posting times of 2:04, 2:06 and 2:02. She also faltered to 14th place at the NCAA Indoor Championships this past winter.
On paper, Johnson is fast enough and experienced enough to not just make it to the national meet, but to emerge as an All-American, even in this year's field. Still, there are some inconsistencies that we may want to watch moving forward.
As for a few other women, Richmond's Brooke Fazio continues to post consistently great times, winning the A10 title with a mark of 2:03.09. It's not anything surprising, but she's running at a high level on a consistent basis and has already taken down some really strong names. She seems to be peaking at a fairly good time.
Also, how about the Furman women? I think we oftentimes consider them to be a longer distance program, but they just had Megan Marvin come out of nowhere with a great 2:04 mark en route to the SoCon title. This was a massive personal for the first-year Paladin who hadn't run faster than 2:07 prior to this past weekend.
Will Marvin be able to translate that success to the postseason? It's tough to say, especially since she's still so young and inexperienced, but this was a very encouraging performance. Not only did she run that fast and get the win, but she also took down top-ranked teammate Gabrielle Jennings (who also ran 2:04) in the process.
We already spoke about how Georgetown was returning to national prominence in the middle distances, but that wasn't just reserved for the 800 meters. Hoya veteran Jack Salisbury has been a quietly solid distance talent for a while now, acting as the reliable backbone of this Georgetown distance group. Now, after years of patiently grinding, he is experiencing a breakout season.
Salisbury ran 3:40 for 1500 meters earlier this season at the Joe Walker Invitational, a clear jump in fitness which indicated that he was in the best shape of his life. He had been a super consistent talent before this spring, but had never run anything quite that strong.
And this past weekend? Well, Salisbury proved that his 3:40 was no fluke. The rising Georgetown talent just ran a huge mark of 3:56 for the mile, dominating a very respectable and accomplished mile field at the Virginia Grand Prix. His equivalent 1500 meter time now sits at 3:38.
Even in a year that is absolutely LOADED with talent in the 1500 meters, I think Salisbury is going to be a near lock to qualify for the national meet. He dominated his competition this past weekend, has consistently improved throughout the season and has been flexing his range in a variety of distances. So far this season, he has run personal best of 1:49 (800), 3:56 (mile) and 13:50 (5k).
It's clear that the mile is his sweet spot, but his versatility in other events will surely come in handy for the postseason, as will his years of experience.
We then come to teammate Parker Stokes, he is going to be a real problem for his BIG East competitors in the near future. His 8:38 steeplechase mark from earlier in the year was beyond impressive for someone who is still fairly young, but the Hoyas have a history of success at that distance and Stokes already had steeplechase experience from high school.
However, seeing him run 3:59 in the mile this past weekend is what really validates his talent. Stokes has now shown off some sneaky-good speed, although maybe I'm only saying that because a 3:59 mile sounds better than a 3:42 1500...either way, I'm super high on this young Georgetown runner.
For whatever reason, I can never seem to get a good gauge of women's 10,000 meters runners. Some athletes are great at the event and can effectively translate that success to other distances while other women can be fairly one-dimensional and only have success in this race.
Well, Weber State's Lexie Thompson showed us this past weekend that her 32:49 (10k) effort from the Hayward Premiere meet was no fluke. After a solid season of winter competition, Thompson truly validated her breakout year with a very exciting mark of 15:37 for 5000 meters. Thompson battled with recent Colorado graduate Makena Morley, settling for 2nd place behind for the Buffalo alumni.
Thompson has been making very steady improvements throughout the entirety of this year, but this was one result that truly surprised me and made me take her more seriously than I already had. That said, the women's 5000 meters seems to be getting increasingly top-heavy this season, so I still think Thompson's chances for postseason success lie in the 10k. That, of course, shouldn't interfere with a potential 10k/5k postseason double if she wants to go for it.
However, with a recent 15:37 mark under her belt, I feel a lot more confident in Thompson's chances of becoming an All-American in the 10,000 meters.
Remember how we said the other week was the "Weekend of the Steeplechase"? Well, we sort of lied since the results from the Eastern Kentucky steeplechase eventually became invalid. But this past weekend? Well, it was just as exciting.
Fans of collegiate distance running were treated to an outstanding national meet preview at the Kansas City Qualifier as Ahmed Jaziri (Eastern Kentucky) and Ryan Smeeton (Oklahoma State) went head-to-head in one of the better distance matchups of the spring season so far.
In the end, Jaziri fended off a great challenge from Smeeton, running 8:32 for the overall win and validating his elite-level of talent. This was a massive statement victory after his 8:23 performance from the other weekend proved to be the result of a race that was short.
Even so, this is a mark that is much more aligned with our expectations. Jaziri was excellent on the indoor oval this past winter, earning top All-American finishes and taking down some big-time names. However, the steeplechase was what he was recruited for and it's clear that he'll be the favorite to win NCAA gold after taking down Smeeton.
That said, Jaziri isn't unbeatable. Smeeton ended his race with a time of 8:33, just 0.30 seconds away from the Eastern Kentucky star. If something went even just a little differently, we're probably saying that Smeeton is the national title favorite right now.
Either way, that could still be the case. The Oklahoma State runner had a great cross country season, owns a personal best of 8:27 in this event and was the runner-up at the 2019 NCAA Outdoor Championships. He's already beaten Chemadi this spring and pretty much took Jaziri to the line.
Smeeton may not have gotten the win this past weekend, but his performance did validate the idea that he could win NCAA gold come June.
Speaking of beating Chemadi, the Middle Tennessee State standout posted a time of 8:35 at the Tennessee Challenge this past weekend in an effort that was entirely solo. In fact, there were only two other men in the field.
It's a personal best for Chemadi, but I don't think we can really take much away from this performance. He's basically an All-American lock at this point after finishing a narrow runner-up to Smeeton earlier this year and owning a bronze medal in the steeplechase from the 2019 national meet.
Is he in the mix for the national title? Yes, I think so, but I need to see him take down more competitive names in the steeplechase in order to feel more confident about that.
There were also a handful of other names who made a splash in the steeplechase this past weekend.
Minnesota's Alec Basten (8:41), Santa Clara's Zach Litoff (8:43), Weber State's Tracen Warnick (8:43), Purdue's Brody Smith (8:43), Michigan's Christian Hubaker (8:44) and Pittsburgh's Josh Higgins (8:45) all ran 8:45 or faster this past weekend. I would've listed every athlete who dipped under 8:50 this past weekend, but that would've been far too extensive.
When it comes to guys like Litoff, Warnick and Hubaker, their results could probably be considered as breakout performances. Don't get me wrong, they had been respectable talents who offered a lot of value to their respective teams, but these were definitely the best results of their collegiate careers (so far).
As for someone like Higgins, he's a steeplechase veteran and he's done incredibly well under Coach Herbster. However, this was clearly a jump in fitness and I really like what he could do in the postseason given his past experience.
As for guys like Basten and Smith, I can't say that I'm too surprised. Sure, each of their marks were faster than I thought they would be, but not dramatically so. Basten was absolutely incredible at the NCAA Indoor Championships this past winter while Smith is a reliable veteran who has had plenty of success in the steeplechase. They'll both be factors in the postseason.
The women's steeplechase certainly had a handful of elite-level performers this past weekend, but we also got to see plenty of other talents transition their recent success to the water pits and barriers.
I was a big fan of George Mason's Annabelle Eastman this past winter. On the grass, she earned a win and two runner-up finishes prior to the NCAA XC Championships against competition that was certainly not easy. An 83rd place finish at the national meet validated the idea that this George Mason runner was truly experiencing a breakout year.
Luckily for her, Eastman has effectively translated her cross country prowess to the steeplechase after running 9:53 this past weekend at the A10 Championships. She also ran a 16:51 (5k) double this weekend as well.
The momentum that Eastman has right now is quietly impressive and she's put herself into a really great position as we enter the more important meets of the month. She has scored numerous personal bests this season, so we'll just hope that she is able to replicate her steeplechase result on a consistent basis and into the postseason.
As for Alice Hill, it was a pleasant surprise to see the Michigan runner post a time of 9:54. She dominated her competition with relative ease, but this was honestly not a result that I saw coming from her.
Hill has been a respectable distance talent for the Wolverines, but hasn't really made a ton of noise outside of a few decent finishes at the BIG 10 Championships. She's a decent miler and ran 9:57 for the steeplechase back in 2018 (at the U20 World Championships). However, Hill hadn't recently shown us that she was going to be running 9:54 anytime soon.
Her middle distance speed could become an asset if a postseason steeple race gets tactical, but I'm not sure if that's a scenario we'll see. Either way, this will be the perfect result for her to build off of in order to create some momentum heading into the postseason.
As for Kaylee Mitchell, the Oregon State star has been outstanding for the Beavers since transferring into the program. She just ran 9:57 this past weekend, but I'm not sure if I can really be all that surprised. She was a standout in cross country this past winter, earning All-American honors with a 20th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships.
On paper, that result was going to perfectly translate to a sub-10 effort as long as Mitchell had the technical readiness and understanding of how to race the steeplechase.
Finally, let's talk about West Virginia's Ceili McCabe. I was super pumped for this Mountaineer youngster after her 9:57 mark at Eastern Kentucky. Of course, as we know by now, that result was invalid. That was a bit of a bummer and truthfully, I didn't feel as confident about her running that fast again in a race that was actually 3000 meters long.
But what do I know? McCabe came back this past weekend to drop a near-equivalent time of 9:58 for the steeplechase, proving me wrong, but also confirming everything that I initially said about her in our prior First Thoughts article.
I won't let this section get too long, mainly because I don't think it has to be.
Florida State's Adriaan Wildschutt has become a true superstar this year. He has never been so consistent and he has never run this fast or taken down the competition that he has with such ease. His front-running tactics have never been more effective.
After beating the 10k field at the Virginia Challenge by 25 seconds, Wildschutt traveled to the North Florida Invitational where he soloed a time of 13:28 for 5000 meters. No one else in the race broke 14 minutes.
Is that a surprise? No.
Do we need to say much more? No.
Can we move on? Yeah, I think so.
Campbell's Athanas Kioko has been excellent this spring, throwing down top-tier marks, showing off a surprising amount of consistency and flexing speed that we never expected him to have.
Kioko just put together what may have been the most impressive weekend double from this past Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The Campbell runner, who has essentially built his reputation in cross country and the 5k, ran an incredible weekend double of 3:38 (1500) and 1:48 (800). That was a much better weekend double than his 3:43/1:52 from a few weeks back.
Whenever I see athletes like Kioko doing middle distance races like the 1500 meters and the 800 meters, I always assume that they're doing speed work to better prepare themselves for the longer postseason races that often turn tactical.
That may very well be true for someone like Kioko, but running 3:38 is super impressive and in some years, that mark would be just as impactful as running 13:28 for 5000 meters.
Do I think Kioko is going to drop down in distance this postseason? No, I don't.
However, I am becoming increasingly more confident in Kioko's skillset after the weekend he just had. In the past, he hasn't always been super consistent when facing top-tier competition and he hasn't always understood how to execute certain race tactics.
That, of course, seems to be changing.
I still want to see Kioko in a more tactical setting or facing a more competitive field, but he is a name who is on the rise and someone who is showing off some really impressive range right now.