Five Things to Watch: 2023 Hokie Invitational

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Ah yes, Virginia Tech.

My alma mater and the greatest place on Earth.

Blacksburg, Virginia is also home to a handful of entertaining middle and long distance races on the east coast each and every year. The Hokies' revamped indoor track facility often hosts numerous indoor track meets, attracting a handful of top ACC and regional juggernauts throughout the months of January and February.

This year's Hokie Invitational won't be the fastest meet that we'll see this season, but the entries still have plenty of highly talented names and a handful of key headlines. Below, we highlighted a plethora of entries going into this weekend.

Let's begin...

Could the women's 1000 meters at Virginia Tech end up being the best middle or long distance race of the weekend? Well, when I look at this field, I certainly think that's possible...

Last year's 1000 meter field at the Hokie Invitational was absolutely stacked with 12 women dipping under the 2:50 barrier, 11 of which were collegiates. And of those 11 collegiates, seven of them ran 2:46 or faster.

This year, the top-end of the women's 1k at the Hokie Invitational will be no less lethal with numerous middle distance stars headlining the event.

We must first begin with Hokie veteran Lindsey Butler, the reigning indoor 800 meter national champion who, at her best, is almost impossible to take down in anything from the 800 meters to the mile.

With personal bests of 2:01 (800), 2:43 (1k) and 4:14 (1500), as well as a 4:29 mile split in a DMR from last year, there isn't another woman in this field who can match Butler's raw talent and firepower.

However, Butler sustained an injury going into the 2022 outdoor track season, effectively sidelining her from racing throughout the spring months. But the Hokie veteran did show promise on the grass and in the longer distances earlier this year. She placed 26th at the ACC XC Championships and recently ran a 9:27 (3k) personal best.

Butler's aerobic strength is still at one of its higher points. That, in theory, should benefit her if/when she ever moves up to the mile this winter.

Admittedly, we don't entirely know what the status of Butler's speed and turnover is right now. She hasn't contested a middle distance race since March of last year, so it's unclear how she'll fare in a speedy field that will surely be fast from the gun.

Of course, if Butler is running a new 3k personal best and is coming off of a respectable cross country season, then it's more than likely that she'll be competitive (and maybe even favored) this weekend over 1000 meters. Any questions about the current state of her turnover and speed are more meant to be thought provoking than actually concerning.

In reality, Butler is still the best 1000 meter talent in this field.

Even so, it's not entirely unrealistic to think that Butler could be upset. Fellow teammate Hannah Ballowe feels like one of the most underrated and underappreciated middle distance runners in the country. She has run 2:04 (800) and 2:44 (1k) before, the latter mark coming at this exact meet from last year.

Ballowe is far better than some people realize. Yes, she has been a bit inconsistent at times, but in her three efforts over 1000 meters, she's never run slower than 2:50 -- and that's really encouraging.

It feels extremely likely that Ballowe is going to have a great race on Friday night. She has historically found success in this event, has raced against most of these women before and probably knows better than anyone else in this field what to expect out of Butler.

We then come to Sam Bush, the versatile superstar from NC State.

Few women have a level of talent more lethal and dynamic than what Bush has. With personal bests of 2:04.99 (800), 2:43 (1k), 4:13 (1500), 4:37 (mile), 8:54 (3k) and 15:34 (5k), one has to believe that this Wolfpack ace is prepared for almost any race scenario.

In fact, let's not forget that Bush was actually the top collegiate in this exact race at this exact meet from last year. She finished runner-up overall behind only pro runner Josette Norris who dominated the field in a time of 2:38.

It's also fair to say that Bush has proven that she is (currently) the most fit woman in this field. A lot of that is because the rest of these entrants haven't had a chance to race in their best events (cross country vs middle distances), but it's also hard to say that someone will post a more impressive mark over 1000 meters this weekend in comparison to Bush's 8:54 (3k) mark from December.

It is entirely possible that Bush wins this race on Friday night.

In fact, she may be favored to do so.

However, a lot of that will depend on what the status of Bush's speed/turnover is and just how strong Butler will be in her first middle distance race back in 10 months.

Georgetown's Melissa Riggins also deserves plenty of respect in this field. Like Bush, she ran her 2:43 personal best in this event at this exact same meet from last year. She finished 3rd overall and the second-best collegiate in the field.

Riggins has been developing incredibly well over the last few seasons. She has run 2:03 for 800 meters, upset the women's 1500 meter field at the Joe Walker Invite last spring, won a BIG East title on the outdoor oval, was the first woman out of the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the East region and is coming off of a very solid cross country season.

It is not crazy at all to suggest that this still-young Hoya talent may be in better shape than she was last year. And if that's the case, then Riggins could walk away with a victory on Friday night. Not just because she's fast and improving, but because she has shown us before (at the Joe Walker Invite) that she can upset some of the more talented women in the country.

Because of her relative youth, Riggins probably has the most upside of any top-tier woman in this field. And if she taps into her potentially-limitless ceiling two days from now, then she could put the NCAA on notice with a statement performance.

We wrap up this section with Grace Jensen (Georgetown), Madaline Ullom (Penn State), Ava Hassebrock (Virginia Tech) and Brooke Rauber (NC State). Each of these women have run under 2:50 for 1000 meters before and have caught our attention with some promising performances as of late.

Of this group, Jensen is the only one who could realistically contend for the win, although I wouldn't say that she's favored to do so. Even so, this former Vanderbilt star has run 2:47 for 1000 meters, is arguably at her best in the middle distances and just earned All-American honors on the grass this past fall.

Jensen is undeniably in the best shape of her life right now and that, in turn, should lead to her running a new personal best on Friday, especially in a field as loaded as this.

Ullom is a highly underrated talent who has been great in the 1500 meters. I could easily see her running 2:46 this weekend. Hassebrock, meanwhile, has been in the shadows of Butler and Ballowe, but she just ran 2:48 for the second time in her career last weekend and could be due for a big race.

As for Rauber, the redshirt freshman has always struck me as more of a true long distance runner, but she had a solid cross country season and could knock off a few seconds from her 2:49 personal best which she ran two years ago.

The North Carolina women will be fielding many of their best young distance talents in the mile this weekend. The likes of Taryn Parks, Brynn Brown and Carlee Hansen have each shown tremendous promise over the last year, potentially priming themselves for a true breakout race this season.

While we don't know if those breakout races will come this weekend, we do think that Friday's mile race will be a great opportunity to test themselves against the likes of Georgetown's Andrea Claeson, a graduate transfer from Boston University.

Claeson was expected to be a key member of the Hoyas' cross country lineup this past fall, but was ultimately sidelined for the entire season. Even so, when she is at her best, the former Terrier can be highly competitive in the mile, holding a 4:39 personal best.

It's admittedly hard to know what we should expect from Claeson this weekend. She hasn't raced since last spring, but this is her primary event and she is arguably more experienced than UNC's underclassmen.

But even if Claeson is firing on all cylinders, she probably isn't the pre-meet favorite to begin with. That's because North Carolina's Taryn Parks has run 4:36 in the mile and is the defending ACC indoor mile champion from last year after upsetting Lauren Ryan, Sam Bush and Mia Barnett.

Parks had a strong start to her 2022 cross country season, but faded a bit in the postseason. That likely isn't going to be a problem for this former high school star, but it does leave us curious about how she'll rebound in her season opener.

Of course, some may suggest that Parks isn't even the pre-meet favorite for the women's mile despite having the fastest PR in the field. That's because fellow teammate Brynn Brown has run 4:37 in the mile and has been at the peak of her fitness since the beginning of the 2022 cross country season.

 Despite not finishing her fall campaign as an All-American, Brown was still one of the more talented and reliable low-sticks in the country. She was fairly consistent and clearly took a step up in her fitness. And after running 15:43 for 5000 meters last month, it's clear that Brown could match or even slightly improve upon her mile PR this weekend.

And don't forget, Brown has some sneaky-decent speed as well. While many people may consider her to be more of a true long distance threat (which is an accurate assessment), her 2:49 PR over 1000 meters does point to her being competitive come Friday.

The last name who we need to highlight is Carlee Hansen, the final Tar Heel who we will mention in this section.

Believe it or not, Hansen has a resume that could put her in the conversation to secure a win just as easily as Brown or Parks could. With a 4:14 personal best over 1500 meters, Hansen actually has the fastest time in the metric mile between her fellow UNC teammates.

With times of 2:06 (800), 2:46 (1k) and 4:38 (mile), Hansen has the necessary speed to be a major factor in this race during the final moments. She has emerged as a scorer at multiple ACC Championships on the track and may be just as experienced as Brown or Parks.

To make a long story short, you could pick any one of these three North Carolina women and feel good about their chances of winning this race. And while I don't know if any of these young distance talents will run a PR, I could see the top Tar Heel coming around the line somewhere around 4:37 or 4:38.

Last year, the Georgetown men loaded up the men's 1000 meters at Penn State and flexed their middle distance depth to the nation. And in that race, Hoya star Matthew Payamps threw down an impressive time of 2:21.

Now, in 2023, the Georgetown men are bringing an equally-loaded group of middle distance talents to Virginia Tech where they'll look to do the same thing that they did in State College just a year ago.

Between Payamps, Camden Gilmore, Lucas Guerra, Sean Laidlaw (unattached), Matthew Rizzo, Parker Stokes and Abel Teffra, the Hoyas should have no problems controlling this race, especially with former Georgetown star Jack Salisbury entered unattached.

Of that group, Payamps, Gilmore, Rizzo, Stokes and Teffra have run 2:23 or faster for 1000 meters. Laidlaw has never contested this event and Guerra has only run 2:25. However, Guerra's 3:59 mile PR suggests that he'll be faster this weekend.

There are, however, two (attached) names who could potentially break up that contingent of middle distance standouts. I am, of course, talking about the North Carolina duo of Jesse Hunt and Kyle Reinheimer.

Hunt is easily the most experienced runner in this field. He has qualified for multiple national meets, has often toed the line against some of the best distance talents on the east coast and has been in the NCAA since the fall of 2018.

We'll admit, Hunt doesn't necessarily have the fastest 1000 meter PR ever, holding a modest time of 2:26 over the distance. However, we should note that Hunt has only ever contested the 1000 meters once in his career at UNC which was all the way back in the winter of 2020.

Since then, he has earned personal bests of 1:50 (800), 3:39 (1500) and 4:01 (mile).

Hunt is absolutely due for a new 1k PR and I would be stunned if he ran any slower than 2:23 this weekend. What I'm more uncertain about is how far under that mark he will go and how competitive he'll be with the top Georgetown men.

But Hunt isn't the only Tar Heel who could be factor in this race. Teammate Kyle Reinheimer has run 1:48 for 800 meters and may actually be better suited for this middle distance event in comparison to Hunt.

Of course, it's also hard to say exactly what we should expect out of this 800/1500 meter specialist. Reinheimer has never run the 1000 meters before and hasn't toed the line since the spring of 2022. He'll be a key wildcard to watch this weekend.

We should also note that Virginia Tech freshman Nick Plant, an Ohio native who was a superstar middle distance runner at the high school level, is also entered in the 1000 meters this weekend, unattached.

Plant has run 1:48 (800) multiple times and also owns a 4:07 mile personal best. There's a chance that he's pacing this race, but if he's not, then he'll be a top guy who could make this battle fairly quick.

Remember how we were talking about the North Carolina trio of Brown, Parks and Hansen and how they could be competitive in the mile? Well, all three of those women will be doubling back on Saturday for the 800 meters.

It's hard to know just how good this trio of Tar Heels will be with a likely-quick mile race in their legs from a day before. Even so, they should at least remain competitive. Parks and Hansen have each run 2:06 before while Brown has never run the half-mile at the collegiate level.

But the UNC women are likely not going to be the main focal points of this race. Instead, they'll be facing a pair of Penn State talents who, on paper, are far better suited for this event than the women from Chapel Hill are.

Madaline Ullom will also be doubling back from the women's 1000 meters the day before, so it's unclear how her legs will respond during the two-day double.

With a personal best of 2:06, this Nittany Lion talent, who is arguably better in the 1500 meters than anything else, may have a shot at matching (or possibly even exceeding) her current half-mile PR.

But none of the women who I have mentioned will likely be able to take down Victoria Vanriele, the Penn State middle distance star who ran 2:04 for 800 meters. The third-year Nittany Lion qualified for the 2021 indoor national meet in that event. She has also matched or run faster than the 800 meter marks of every woman in this field multiple times.

As long as Vanriele executes at a relatively high level, she should win this race. However, just like some of the top women in this field, she'll be doubling back. The Penn State talent is also entered in the 600 meters on Friday night.

We should also make a note of Virginia's Keara Seasholtz. The Cavaliers have been quietly developing a handful of great 800 meter runners. And with multiple seasons of eligibility remaining, Seasholtz could eventually be that next half-mile contender for UVA.

The current sophomore (by eligibility) has run 2:06 and 2:07 multiple times throughout her career. However, she'll need to make significant strides this winter if she's going to be the focal middle distance focal point of this program once Esther Seeland and a few others leave.

No matter which men's middle or long distance field you look at, it seems like there are numerous rookies and underclassmen who could have breakout races.

I'll be watching a lot of the Virginia Tech guys this weekend. While top talents like Nick Plant, Charlie Stock, Ryan Chevalier and Bryce Reeburgh are entered unattached, other rookies, redshirt freshmen and sophomores could be primed for big races.

I'm really looking forward to seeing Viktor Idhammar and Declan Rymer toe the line in the mile this weekend. They both ran 2:23 for 1000 meters last week and could be due for a big performance. Both of these young distance talents have made tremendous progress over the last year and could surprise a lot of people...who don't read The Stride Report, of course.

Other runners such as Penn State's Yukichi Ishii (mile), North Carolina's Dylan Look (800), North Carolina's Aiden Neal (800 & mile) and East Carolina's Henry Lyon (3k) may all be looking for potential breakout races this weekend. And yes, I'm sure there are a few younger distance talents who I missed, but work with me here, I can only talk about so many athletes.

*Collegiates only, assumes all runners will contest the race that they are entered in.