Admin (Garrett Zatlin)
Feb 7, 202114 min
Updated: Feb 8, 2021
The headlines from this past weekend were largely centered around the cross country action which took place at the Florida State Winter XC Classic on Friday. You can click here to read our full recap and analysis of that race.
Despite this weekend being a bit more thin in terms of elite-level indoor track results, there were still plenty of big-time performances, many with national-scale implications.
Let's dive into a few of those results below...
NOTE: Some meets are still taking place today. We will update this article should any notable performances arise from Sunday.
Our track action didn't end on Saturday as the American Track League gave us a very exciting mile race on Sunday afternoon which produced multiple breakout performances.
For Takieddine Hedeilli, his 3:56 mile personal best is not a total shock. He ran 1:45 for 800 meter earlier this season and prior to even coming to Texas Tech, held a personal best of 3:37 for 1500 meters. The rising NCAA star expertly handled a talented field and positioned himself for the win. His stock continues to rise at an exciting rate.
Hedeilli was the star of the show, but the headlines were from the guys who finished behind him. Oklahoma State middle distance standout Juan Diego Castro had what may have been the best race of his life, running 3:57 en route to a notable personal best.
The Cowboy standout has been a very solid middle distance runner, owning a personal of 1:48 for the half-mile distance. His previous mile PR of 4:00.43 suggested that he was in position to break the four minute barrier, but a quiet season opener (where he ran 1:50 for 800 meters) made this result a bit more surprising.
We would have previously thought that Diego Castro would pursue the 800 meters at the indoor national meet, but running 3:57 gives him a seriously fast time. So what happens if Diego Castro runs something along the lines of 1:47 or 1:48 later this winter and qualifies for Nationals? Both the 800 and the mile are beginning to see some significant depth and both events are equally top-heavy (although one could argue that the mile has more firepower than the 800 currently does).
Either way, Diego Castro is in a great position and has jumped into the national contender category in a major way.
Finally, let's talk about Hobbs Kessler, the current high school senior who has committed to run for Northern Arizona next year. We don't often talk about high schoolers, but it's hard to ignore the fact that Kessler just ran 3:57.66, breaking Drew Hunter's high school indoor national record of 3:57.81.
To say that this was unexpected would be an understatement. According to MileSplit, Kessler had never officially run a full mile and his 1600 meter personal best is only 4:21.
Now, in fairness, the Michigan native had clearly taken a massive step up in fitness as early as this past fall. He ran 14:51 for 5000 meters and finished runner-up at the XC Town USA Meet of Champions in Terre Haute. There is no question that Kessler has become a different runner since his junior year, but to see him run 3:57 out of absolutely nowhere and break the national record was unprecedented.
Maybe we're missing something when it comes to his past personal bests. Maybe there was a time trial or two that we aren't aware of. The pandemic, after all, did limit competitive opportunities this past spring and summer. Still, I can't remember the last time we saw a breakout high school performance of this magnitude.
And as for Northern Arizona? Well, the rich just keep getting richer...
Few distance programs have ever accomplished what the Virginia Tech men did this past weekend. In what was truthfully an unexpected result, the Hokies from Blacksburg, Virginia put a mind-boggling total of FIVE men under the four minute barrier in the mile. Of those five, one ran unattached.
That unattached runner was Diego Zarate, a Virginia Tech veteran who only has outdoor track eligibility remaining. He paced the way with a massive time of 3:57, solidifying suspicions that he was at an elite level of fitness following his 2:19 (1k) performance from a few weekends ago.
Zarate may not have eligibility for this indoor track season, but the recent results that we've seen from him are wildly impressive. He had never officially broken the four-minute mile barrier prior to this past weekend, but Zarate had always been a strong and tactically savvy miler who was plenty familiar with how to race some of the best names in the ACC.
Now, he has times that suggests that he could potentially contend for an ACC title in the spring, although guys like Nuguse will still very much be a problem. But let's talk about the four men behind Zarate, the group that will actually be listed on the national leaderboard.
The four-person contingent of Bashir Mosavel-Lo (3:59.00), Ben Nibbelink (3:59.04), Ben Fleming (3:59.47) and Antonio Segura Lopez (3:59.60) all dipped under the four minute barrier this past weekend, giving us what may be the most impressive of display of depth in a singular distance event so far this season (although Oregon may eventually take over).
For a few of those men, a sub-four result wasn't ever out of the question. Mosavel-Lo previously held a personal best of 4:01, Fleming had run 4:03 on a few separate occasions and Lopez Segura had run 4:03 once before. However, Nibbelink was the true surprise out of this entire group as he had never run faster than 4:07 prior to this past weekend.
It's not exactly a shock that some of these men went under the four minute barrier, but the fact that they all made such significant improvements and all had their best performances in a single race is mind-boggling.
It would have been understandable if anyone had concerns as to how this Virginia Tech group was going to fare following coach Ben Thomas' departure to Oregon in the summer of 2018. However, coach Eric Johnannigmeier deserves a ton of credit for what he has done with this group. The bar was set incredibly high, but he is matching those lofty expectations.
The Arkansas women have been wildly impressive this winter, but one name who has gone under the radar is Kennedy Thomson. The Razorback veteran has been a non-stop force in the middle distances this winter. In fact, prior to this weekend, we ranked her at TSR #25 in our indoor track rankings.
Coming into this weekend, Thomson had been steadily improving upon her personal bests in each race that she toed the line for. She had run 2:05 (800), 2:46 (1k) and 4:41 (mile) prior to her most recent effort. Of course, just like all of her other races this winter, Thomson continued to build upon her exciting momentum, recently scoring a big 4:39 personal best in the mile at the Arkansas Qualifier.
That result now gives Arkansas FIVE women who have run under the 4:40 mile barrier this winter. While it's far from a perfect science, the 4:40 barrier is the very rough equivalent of the 4:00 mile barrier that we often discuss with men's distance runners. Some may argue with that 4;40 number, but it isn't too far off.
Thomson may not be someone with jaw-dropping times, but very women in the NCAA have the same level of consistency, momentum and range that currently Thomson does.
The Crimson Tide had quite the weekend at the South Carolina Invitational, posting some of the nation's best times. We'll talk about the women in the moment, but we absolutely need to highlight the incredible solo mile performance that we saw from Eliud Kipsang.
The Alabama ace has been largely unavailable for the Crimson Tide since joining the team a little over a year ago. However, an unattached mile performance from him where he ran 4:04 was plenty respectable.
Still, nothing could have prepared us for the huge 3:57 mile time that Kipsang ran this past weekend. He had posted very solid results earlier in the season, running times of 8:01 (3k) and 4:02 (mile), but a five-second mile PR in the span of two weeks -- in a mile field that was generally less competitive than the one he faced at the Carolina Challenge -- is not something that we expected to see.
With such a huge performance, we now have to ask...what's next? A 3:57 mile time suggests that he can run well under 8:00 for 3000 meters and a sub-13:50 mark for 5000 meters seems to be plenty realistic as well.
We'll see what he does next, but Kipsang is finally emerging as the star front-runner that he was rumored to be when he first came to Alabama.
Gosh, what an impressive pair of 3k performances from this Alabama duo.
There was no questioning Mercy Chelangat's talent coming into this race. Seeing her run 9:02 (3k) at the South Carolina Invitational is largely unsurprising given what she did last year and this past fall. Sure, it was a personal best, but if you would have told me that Chelangat was going to run under 9:00 this winter, I wouldn't have been surprised.
Of course, the story is entirely different for teammate Amaris Tyynismaa who might have just had the single greatest breakout performance of the winter season so far. The Alabama sophomore, seemingly out of nowhere this past weekend, running 9:03 for 3000 meters.
Her previous personal best? A time of 9:44 from last winter.
Tyynismaa was a decent, but modest backend scorer for the Alabama women this past fall. Although she had earned a new personal best of 4:44 in the mile earlier this winter, there was no indication that she was going to run 9:03 this past weekend.
In a lot of ways, Tyynismaa reminds us of Grace Forbes from last winter. Both women were respectable talents, but one massive breakout race caught us by surprise in both instances.
So where does this leave us? What else can we expect from Tyynismaa this winter? Can she replicate that performance in other events? How will this newfound fitness translate to the grass? What does this mean for Alabama's cross country lineup as a whole?
There's a lot to process here, but it's hard not to be impressed by what the Alabama women have accomplished over the past year or so.
It's only appropriate that we mention Grace Forbes in the last section and transition to her most recent performance in this section. The Rice sophomore went to College Station this past weekend to toe the line for a 5k which Forbes soloed en route to a shiny new personal best of 15:50.
From an analysis standpoint, this is a huge result from Forbes. The Rice standout had a solid 2020 indoor track season, but came out of nowhere to earn an 8:56 (3k) personal best towards the tail-end of last winter.
However, with the indoor national meet cancelled due to the pandemic and the Conference USA XC Championships not offering much competition, TSR writers like myself were left waiting to see if that 8:56 result was the real deal or if it was just a fluke.
Well, after this past weekend, we can solidly say that Forbes belongs among the best of the best. A time of 15:50 for 5000 meters gives her resume the validation and overall spark that we were hoping to see. To be clear, it's not like we thought that Forbes wasn't talented or that she couldn't run a time in the 15:50 range.
Still, consistency is key and we can now talk about Forbes as one of the national elites with a little more context and a little more evidence.
Unlike the women's 5000 meters, this year's men's 5k has been quiet...very quiet. In fact, prior to this past weekend, no one on the national leaderboard owned a time that was faster than 14:14 (converted or unconverted).
That, however, has since changed as Colorado State standout Eric Hamer has returned to action. The long-time veteran ventured to Colorado Mines were he ran a raw time of 14:16 for 5000 meters. When you factor in the altitude and track conversions, that mark earns a whopping 40-second conversion, giving Hamer the nation's fastest time of the season so far with a 13:36.
If you think that conversion is too generous or not in alignment with Hamer's actual ability, take note of the fact that Hamer ran 13:40 for 5000 meters last winter at sea level. And the catch? He did it entirely solo, winning his heat by 19 seconds.
That 13:36 mark should comfortably qualify Hamer for the indoor national meet. The Colorado State runner doesn't have any cross country eligibility remaining, so he'll be able to shift all of his attention to the indoor oval this season.
Don't sleep on a strong and experienced 5k runner who has posted multiple top marks at both altitude and sea level throughout his career. With many of the country's best distance talents likely focusing on cross country this winter, the idea that Hamer will be an All-American in March seems very realistic.
Year-in and year-out, the Virginia Tech women produce some of the nation's best middle distance talents. Despite losing top-tier names like Hannah Green, Sarah Pocratsky and Sarah Edwards (who still has outdoor track eligibility) over the past few years, the Hokies have been able to find more depth and more firepower when it comes to events like the 800 meters.
Sure enough, Lindsey Butler looks like she is the newest half-mile standout for Virginia Tech after throwing down a huge time of 2:04.00. That mark not only gave her the NCAA #3 ranking in the women's 800 meters, but it also gave her the win over a deep field of high-level teammates (some racing attached, some racing unattached).
If history has told us anything, it's that Butler should be in the conversation to contend for the ACC indoor title in the 800 meters this year. She'll have her work cut out for her based on what we have seen out of Clemson's Laurie Barton and Andrea Foster. But still, Butler is the lead talent in one of the nation's deepest middle distance squads and that should position her incredibly well to take home gold later this season.
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ย We should also note that teammates Grace Boone and Hannah Ballowe also had solid races of their own. They finished behind a few unattached teammates, but their times of 2:06.95 and 2:07.92 (respectively) gives the Virginia Tech women some additional depth.
Miami (Ohio) is often headlined by the success of the Torpy twins. However, Finley McLear has been making a name for himself over the past year or so, emerging a consistent threat in the 800 meters.
The RedHawk ace ran 1:48 not just once, but twice last year during the 2020 indoor track season. However, even if the national meet had not been cancelled, The Stride Report was informed by a source close to the situation that McLear was not eligible to compete at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
That was because a) Miami (Ohio) doesn't officially have an indoor track team and b) McLear joined the RedHawks after 2017, meaning his results don't make him eligible to compete at the NCAA Indoor Championships since he joined the team too late for his results to count (like they did for teammate Sean Torpy last winter).
Despite having that information from last year, we truthfully aren't sure if that ruling still applies to McLear for the 2021 indoor track season. He wasn't listed in the TFRRS descending order list during the 2020 season, but he is currently listed in this season's national leaderboard.
Regardless of his status, McLear seems to be back on track (no pun intended) after throwing down yet another 1:48 mark this past weekend. That time might get him into the national meet (if he's eligible) and at the very least, it's an encouraging display of career-long consistency.
Slowly but surely, Florida's redshirt sophomore Gabrielle Wilkinson has climbed her way up the national rankings despite racing only twice so far this winter.
The Gator's middle distance standout was an accomplished underclassmen in the spring of 2019, running a personal best of 2:04 for 800 meters and qualifying for the outdoor national meet. However, Wilkinson hasn't (knowingly) competed since the spring of 2019, meaning that she hadn't raced in roughly a year and a half.
But after running 2:07 in her season opener and later 2:05 this past weekend, we have to start thinking about Wilkinson as a true threat to earn All-American honors. She had success back in 2019, has national meet experience, is making steady progression, has a pair of wins under her belt this winter, and is approaching some of the fastest times that she has ever run on the indoor oval.
There's a lot to like about this Florida runner moving forward. We'll be excited to see what happens when she goes head-to-head against Arkansas' Kennedy Thomson and Shafiqua Maloney at the SEC Championships.
Life must be pretty good for George Kusche. After securing the individual BIG 10 cross country title last weekend, the Nebraska star returned to the track and threw down a solo 4:01 mile effort on a flat-track, eventually converting to a time of 3:58.49. His personal best of 3:57.93 is from the 2020 indoor track season.
We'll have to wait and see what other events Kusche pursues this indoor track season and whether or not he'll focus on cross country or indoor track when it comes to the national meets.
Between the grass and the track, the Nebraska star probably has an equally strong chance of emerging as an All-American regardless of the national meet that he attempts to pursue.
The 3000 meters continues to be one of the more top-heavy distance events of the 2021 indoor track season, but this past weekend also made it one of the deepest distance events. Four different men toed the line for the 3000 meters this past weekend, each dipping under the 8:00 barrier.
Let's start with Amon Kemboi, the Arkansas star who soloed a time of 7:52 at the Arkansas Qualifier. Truthfully, this is hardly surprising given that his personal best in the event is 7:44. In fact, he probably could have cracked the 7:50 barrier at the Razorback Invitational last weekend if he had competed in that elite 3k field like he was originally expected to.
Either way, this is a great result for Kemboi who can't seem to do anything wrong right now.
Let's move on to Eastern Michigan standout Baldvin Magnusson. He just ran an Icelandic national record of 7:53.92 for 3000 meters. This is a huge statement performance for the Eastern Michigan distance standout. Magnusson had held solid times prior to this season, but a 7:53 is far and away the best mark he has ever posted.
It's tough to say what that means for the rest of his season, but we should expect him to get much closer to the 4:00 mark and ideally run under the 14:00 barrier for 5000 meters. This mark also puts him in a position to potentially qualify for the indoor national meet later in the season. However, if the Eagles qualify for the cross country national meet, it would be surprising if they didn't pursue that opportunity.
Finally, let's chat about the Cameron Ponder vs Andrew Kent matchup that fans of the sport were treated to this past weekend. Two weeks after running 3:59 in the mile, Ponder stepped up to the 3000 meters and gave us a mark of 7:55 which seems to be on par with that earlier mile result.
However, the rising Furman star wasn't just given the overall win. Georgia Tech's Andrew Kent kept things competitive, posting a time of 7:56 in the same race. That is a huge performance for Kent who has been the Yellow Jackets' top distance talents for a few seasons now.
Kent didn't have a great performance at the ACC XC Championships this past fall. However, owning a new personal best of 7:56 for 3000 meters validates all of the incremental improvements that we've seen from him over the past year or so.
The American Conference has largely been dominated by Tulsa...and that didn't stop this past weekend. The Golden Hurricanes, who are currently ranked at TSR #3 at the time of publication, got the job done by showing off their impressive firepower and a complete scoring five.
Patrick Dever took home the overall win while teammate Scott Beattie had one of the better races of his collegiate career, finishing 2nd overall and pulling away from Cincinnati star Aaron Bienenfeld in the final few moments of the race.
With Peter Lynch (4th), Isaac Akers (6th) and Cameron Field (7th) also earning top finishes, it was clear that the rest of this conference was no match for the Tulsa men who scored a very strong 20 points. This field wasn't big enough or deep enough to give us an idea of how good their sixth and seventh runners are, but that doesn't make their team performance any less impressive.
One last note: Nice race by Alec Sandusky (Cincinnati). He finished 5th overall after running 8:02 for 3000 meter earlier in the season. He seems to be a rising talent and his low-stick value in this field helped the Bearcats secure a strong 2nd place team finish.
There's not much to say about the women's race. Winny Koskei (Wichita State) emerged as the individual champion as expected. She's a top-ranked talent, but this field didn't have too many top competitors outside of Caitlin Klopfer (Tulsa) who kept things honest and finished runner-up.
In the team standings, it was the Tulsa women who secured a fairly comfortable win, scoring 40 points to Wichita State's 61 points. The Golden Hurricanes were simply better through most of their scoring spots, although the Shockers' had the better 1-2 punch with Yazmine Wright finishing 5th overall.
Tulsa lost quite a few women from their 2019 national qualifying lineup, but they seem to have a respectable varsity lineup with a variety of different scoring options. However, we'll need to see how this team fares in a larger, more competitive field before we can truly gauge just how good they are.