First Thoughts: Smith's D3 5k Record, Booth-Genthe & Central College Men Thrive in Mile

It's the holiday season, so I felt like our Division Three readers deserved an early present of distance running indoor track analysis. Below, we highlighted all of the major results that we've seen so far this month and gave some thoughts. Let's begin...

In the madness of excellence that we saw at Boston University earlier this month, it may have been easy to skim past Fiona Smith's name in the 5000 meter results. However, the College of St. Benedict star ran 15:50, a new Division Three record for the indoor 5k by a comfortable margin, beating Parley Hannan's former record of 16:05 from February 2020.

But truthfully, Smith's record is probably the least surprising record that we'll see broken this year, at least on the distance side. The recent D3 individual national champion in cross country has reached a completely different tier in terms of her fitness and seeing her run slower than 16:05 (5k) would have actually been a little surprising.

As much as I'd like to analyze this result, I don't think there's much to say. Smith is likely going to dominate the D3 scene this winter and spring before she ventures to NC State. If anything, this result is more important for the Wolfpack given that they'll be bringing in a star-caliber talent who has seemingly yet to hit her ceiling -- and that squad is going to be in need of more firepower after losing so many veterans.

This time last year, Pomona-Pitzer's Derek Fearon wasn't racing. He had just finished up a cross country season which ended up with a disappointing team showing at the national meet (although he still finished 24th overall).

But in 2023, that story couldn't be more different.

The Sagehens are coming off of a fantastic redemption story following their national team title at the NCAA XC Championships. And instead of taking a break from competition, Derek Fearon opted to carry the momentum of his 10th place cross country national meet finish to the indoor oval.

At Boston University, Fearon was fantastic, running 14:00.98 for 5000 meters. And in an era where Division Three has never been as fast as it is now, it feels like Fearon's performance has been slightly overlooked. He is now one of the 10-fastest men in D3 history for the indoor 5000 meters.

Truthfully, there's a chance that Fearon will move back a spot or two on the all-time list once other top names go after a fast 5k effort this season. Regardless, much of what we talked out with a fellow west coast runner, Natalie Bitetti, also applies to Fearon.

Running as fast as 14:00 for 5000 meters more than validates the national meet success that Fearon had in November. However, more importantly, it shows us that he's fit enough to hang with a fast pace in an all-out test of one's fitness. And given Ethan Gregg's tendency to be an aggressive front-runner, Fearon should theoretically be well prepared to handle the 5k field once he reaches the NCAA Indoor Championships...right?

Seeing Natalie Bitetti run 16:33 for 5000 meters at Boston University was admittedly super unsurprising. Yes, she had never contested that event before on the track, but this is someone whose aerobic-centric fitness has clearly been among the best in Division Three for the last few seasons. And after seeing her finish runner-up at the NCAA D3 XC Championships last month, a new 5k PR of 16:33 shouldn't be a shock.

Of course, just because that result isn't surprising doesn't mean that it's not impressive.

In most instances, when someone runs a fast time, I usually ask how they'll be able to translate that kind of performance to a championship setting that is typically more tactical. But with Fiona Smith likely going to be an aggressive front-runner when they reach the national stage, someone who thrives in an all-out, hard-from-the-gun race like Bitetti should theoretically thrive in that scenario.

As for Rachel Hirschkind, her and her teammates essentially did a team time trial of sorts on a 200 meter flat-track. And after crossing the line with a mark of 16:47 (5k), her time now reads 16:39 following the conversion.

Yes, this is a fairly significant 5k PR for Hirschkind who had been hovering under 17:30 for a while. However, when you look at her other times, specifically her 10:22 steeplechase PR, suggesting that she could run under 17 minutes was by no means a stretch.

Was a converted 16:39 (5k) mark in December what I was expecting? No, I'm not sure that I saw her running quite that fast, but she was due for a big 5k PR and she got exactly that. At her best, this SUNY Geneseo standout is a clear All-American threat in the 5k and I was happy that she finally got to show that after a fairly successful cross country season.

Update: Christopher Collet is still really good at this whole "running" thing.

The Wartburg veteran and his teammates took to the indoor track at St. Ambrose University where they essentially attempted a team time trial of sorts. And for the most part, the race was a success.

Collet ultimately pulled away to win by five seconds over fellow teammate Jack Kinzer, 14:22 to 14:27. After conversions, those marks became 14:13 and 14:17.98, respectively. For Collet, that time should be enough to put him into the national meet, although not by a lot, especially if the 5k national qualifying cut-off time drops lower than it was last year.

Regardless, there isn't much that we can take from this performance. It's a nice way to kick-off December for Collet, but he's capable of running faster. Plus, there's a good chance that he doesn't even contest this event on the national stage. The 3000 meters is probably his sweet spot as far as event speciality is concerned and there's a good chance that the Knights will have a competitive DMR yet again in 2024.

As for Kinzer, his converted 14:17.98 (5k) puts him right on the cusp of national qualifying and it's the same story for his teammate, Tyler Schermerhorn, who earned a 14:19 conversion. Based on last year's national meet field, neither of those men would have qualified for the 2023 NCAA Indoor Championships based on their current times.

Even so, for a team that didn't quite meet expectations this past fall, this was a strong way to kick-off their winter campaigns. Both Kinzer and Schermerhorn just ran huge personal bests and will likely go after another fast 5k time in the future.

Kinzer, in particular, is someone who I would keep on your radar. He has a few sneaky-good 1500 meter times which could complement his aerobic strenghth. Could this rising Wartburg talent produce a top 3k time later this season? In theory, it would make a lot of sense if he did.

As for John Lucey, the Williams star ran 14:17.13 for 5000 meters at Boston U. earlier this month. And while that's a fine time for the Eph veteran (as well a few-second PR), I don't think his effort really told us anything new about him. He was, after all, the 6th place finisher at the NCAA D3 XC Championships this past fall.

If anything, we would actually expect Lucey to be a touch faster -- and I think he will be. He has always been more of a cross country guy rather than a track specialist, but I struggle to believe that his fitness from the fall won't be enough to eventually get him on the national stage this coming March.

One of the bigger breakout names in Division Three this past fall was Riley Capuano, a rising talent from Claremont-Mudd-Scripps who clearly reached a new level of fitness this year. The Athena standout was 11th at the NCAA XC Championships last month and just valdiated that effort with a competitive 9:48 mark for 3000 meters.

Admittedly, that time is probably not going to be enough for her to advance to the indoor national meet. Even so, it at least puts her in the conversation to do so. And frankly, her cross country season suggests that she may be able to run a few seconds faster in the future.

Capuano is still learning to race at a nationally competitive level -- and she's been doing incredibly well so far. But as she gets more comfortable, I imagine that she'll continue to realize what her full potential is and reach marks that are more indicative of her true talent.

We briefly touched on this in a separate article, but Frank Csorba's 8:06 mark for 3000 meters deserves more attention than we gave it.

When he's healthy, this Lynchburg veteran is very dangerous. And sure enough, UVA runner Andrew Jones found that out in a strong 3k battle at Liberty. In the end, it was Csorba who got the overall win, making an early-season statement with a time that would have put him at NCAA #6 on the D3 national leaderboard last winter.

It's hard not to be a fan of Csorba. He is highly consistent, has earned multiple All-American honors, is fairly dynamic and is still improving upon an already-impressive resume. The Hornet standout can thrive in most race scenarios thrown at him and I can't always say that about a few men who may have more name recognition.

In fact, I would argue that his win, and who he beat, is just as important as his time.

If I had to race Csorba in the coming months, then I would be very cautious. He had a much better cross country season than some people realize and he is seemingly sharper than he ever was before.

Really solid run by Colin Kirkpatrick (Pomona-Pitzer) who is coming off of a 27th place finish at the NCAA D3 XC Championships.

Of course, when you consider his extensive steeplechase excellence, holding a current PR of 8:41.92, it really shouldn't come as much of a surprise that this Sagehen ace ran a sub-8:10 mark over 3000 meters without the barriers and water pits.

Plus, this is someone who often does well in time trial environments and usually runs up to his competition (even if he has yet to win an individual national title). Kirkpatrick will need to take yet another leap up in his fitness to truly enter the national title conversation over 3000 meters this winter. That said, I can't help but get excited about how well-rounded he is. In my eyes, I feel like high-level range is fairly effective when contesting an event like the 3k.

However, a result that was certainly more surprising was Nate Lentz dropping an outstanding time of 8:09 for 3000 meters.

The Williams runner has mostly been known for his middle distance speed, holding personal bests fo 1:52.93 (800) and 4:07 (mile). In fact, he has yet to contest the 5k on the track. And even though he was clearly better than what his national meet performance showed in the fall, I'm not sure that we saw Lentz dropping nearly 17 seconds off of his 3k PR.

Clearly, Lentz built up plenty of aerobic strength during the fall months. And when you balance proven speed with a strong long distance base, you usually get fantastic success over 3000 meters.

In a tactical 3k, I could see Lentz being a problem for his competitors. I'm not exactly anticipating that we'll see a tactial scenario on the national stage, but he's clearly fit enough to be competitive for a top-half All-American honor and he has prior indoor national meet success already on his resume, specifically in the mile.

Yes, I know it's only December, but we do have to give kudos to UW-Oshkosh's Cyna Madigan who currently leads the nation (within Division Three) over both the mile and 800 meters.

The middle distance veteran posted a flat-track converted mile time of 5:02 back on December 2nd and later ran a flat-track converted 2:12.37 mark for 800 meters. Admittedly, that mile time isn't going to be important in the national qualifying picture, but her half-mile effort most certainly will.

Sure, Madigan was expected to advance to the NCAA Indoor Championships this year in the 800 meters, but it's still encouraging to see her have early-season success. She has a national qualifying time (most likely) out of the way and she's already emerging as a nationally competitive talent before winter break even begins.

The Titan ace has a current PR of 2:09.79 for 800 meters which she ran at the outdoor national meet last year. With enough tries and in a fast enough race, I could see a scenario where Madigan ends up with a converted time this winter that is faster than her PR.

Before we even reached the month of December, I felt like Pomona-Pitzer's Bennett Booth-Genthe had an argument to be ranked at TSR #1 in our 2024 preseason indoor track rankings. You'll soon find out whether or not our writers agreed, but his recent 4:00.33 mile PR at Boston University certainly helps his case.

With an all-time great mile mark and a 1:48.31 (800) PR to boot, it seems fairly safe to say that Booth-Genthe is the best middle distance runner in Division Three right now. With Mike Jasa and Ryan Wilson both out of the Division Three realm, I think Booth-Genthe has to be the clear national title favorite in the mile this winter and you could even make the argument for the half-mile as well.

But in the grand scheme of things, his latest result shouldn't exactly be shocking for anyone who is familiar with his resume. Booth-Genthe already held a 4:01.90 mile PR going into December and was the runner-up finisher in the mile at the NCAA Indoor Championships last winter. I will, however, be interested to see how he attacks the 800 meter distance on the indoor oval this winter, something that he has never done before as a collegiate.

If I had told you that Central College would have two men run under 4:04 in the mile (converted) in the same race, then you likely would have thought that Caleb Silver was one of those men. He was, after all, a true star on the grass this past fall, placing 7th at the NCAA D3 XC Championships.

But nope! Silver has instead been resting from a long fall campaign. And in his place, teammates Noah Jorgenson and Adam Sylvia were incredible, producing outstanding flat-track converted marks of 4:02 and 4:03 in the mile, respectively. That was also enough to take down Loras standout, Ryan Harvey, one of the more experienced and talented milers in Division Three, somewhat convincingly.

Sure, both of those Central College athletes were accomplished prior to this season, but even then, I don't know how we could have seen this coming. Jorgenson had run 1:49 (800) and 3:49 (1500) last spring, but even then, his previous mile marks were nowhere close to what he just produced.

Of course, when you consider that he was 24th at the NCAA D3 XC Championships last month, it makes sense that a top-tier 800 meter runner would have big-time mile success with a far greater aerobic base under his belt.

Sylvia was already a strong miler, having previously run 4:08 at last year's indoor national meet, but an unconverted two-second PR in December from his prior postseason peak is incredible.

It will be fascinating to see how these two men perform moving forward. Yes, they have been nationally competitive before, but not quite to this extent, at least not in the mile. And with Caleb Silver also on this roster, you can't help but wonder how lethal the Dutch men could be in the DMR later this winter.

 As for Ryan Harvey, he deserves a lot of respect despite the loss. A converted 4:05 mile time in early December is super impressive, especially when you consider that his outright mile PR sits at 4:07. The Loras veteran is metronomically consistent at this distance and is usually pretty good at getting past prelims. This may not be an Earth-shattering performance for him, but for someone as experienced as himself, this is a big step in the right direction.