Ben Weisel
Mar 26, 20219 min
The Raleigh Relays is one of the biggest and most exciting outdoor track meets in the nation each and every year, especially for distance runners. The meet often produces a plethora of regional qualifiers and gives us plenty to talk about over it's multi-day schedule.
While we can't necessarily talk about EVERY result that happens, we were able to breakdown a few of the major highlights and offer some subjective analysis on the performances that we saw from Thursday night.
The Wildcats would like a seat at the milers table with Oregon and Ole Miss. Two ‘Nova runners finished 1-2 in the 1500 meters at the Raleigh Relays on Thursday. The field was paced modestly as the front-runners came through 700 meters in 1:44, but it was rookie Sean Dolan and veteran Casey Comber who closed extremely well to take home the top-two spots.
We just saw Sean Dolan run incredibly well at the NCAA Indoor Championships as he finished 6th in that race, crossing the line in 3:57. Earning a 3:39 in his first-ever collegiate 1500 meter effort, he validated his breakout performance in Fayetteville and proved that his recent All-American honor was the result of improved fitness, not just a fluke.
However, what was more impressive is that Dolan was patient throughout the entire race before slowly moving up the field and hitting his competition with a tremendous last 800 meters. Closing in 1:53 on a breezy night in Raleigh also bodes exceptionally well for his chances in a championship race. That poise and tactical approach from a freshman is so rare and it makes Dolan that much more talented.
Not to be forgotten is Dolan’s teammate Casey Comber who also ran a 3:39 to finish 2nd overall. The senior ran a three-second PR and looks like the 2018 version of himself when he finished 8th at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 1500 meters and runner-up at the NCAA Indoor Championships in the mile. Showing signs of his old self, the Wildcat ace was aggressive from the start and put himself in position to win the race until Dolan flew by him at the end.
You have to love seeing Comber back to where he once was. This was a huge performance for someone who has had to deal with injuries and then patiently wait through a pandemic for collegiate racing opportunities. That aggressive pacing is a marquee aspect of how he approaches races and it's encouraging to know that he can still run that way and earn top times.
Lastly, we have Charlie O’Donovan who also ran a 1500 meter PR of 3:41 to finish 8th in the final heat. Coming off running at the NCAA Championships in Stillwater just 10 days ago, the Wildcat miler showed no negative effects from recently running a 10k on a difficult course.
The Irish distance talent was one of the more underrated milers in the NCAA back the winter of 2020. He slowly knocked time off of his mile PR and earned a 3:58 personal best. O'Donovan was quietly great in a lot of tactical races and seems ready to put himself in a position where he'll peak near the postseason once again.
Overall, it looks Villanova has been able to once again match their historic reputation as a middle distance powerhouse. Comber may be older, but the future is very bright with O'Donovan and Dolan.
Coming off of what some would consider to be an upset win at the NCAA XC Championships, it was fair to wonder just how much of that cross country success would effectively translate to the outdoor oval.
Of course, any doubt that lingered around the Alabama star was quickly squashed last night, as less than two weeks removed from her national title win, Chelangat put on a show in Raleigh.
The race started out with a pack of six women: Hannah Steelman, Jessica Drop, Melissa Dock, Kelsey Chmiel, Maria Ahm and Chelangat. That group was rolling through 80-second laps. Steelman was set to pace the group through 8000 meters and things had been moving well up and to that point.
However, shortly before Steelman would step off, Chelangat decided it was time to shake things up and proceeded to gap the field by 14-seconds over the next 800 meters. She ran solo the rest of the race, closing her final 1600 meters in 4:44 in what was a super convincing move and a clear display of aerobic dominance. Her finishing time was a strong mark of 32:31, well over a minute clear of the next-best finisher.
The Alabama sophomore is likely the 10k national title favorite now when pairing her cross country national title with her recently dominant performance. Her victory seemed effortless as she turned on the burners for the final seven laps and crushed top competition in the process.
Keep in mind that one of the women who she blew away was Kelsey Chmiel, the 9th place finisher from the NCAA XC Championships, who finished runner-up in a time of 33:40. It’s also worth noting that a handful of collegiates ran faster at the Sound Running Track Meet back in December, so the national title race isn't exactly out of reach for a handful of women. A tactical race at the National Championships could also dramatically change how we view Chelangat's title chances, but that's a conversation for a different day.
Chmiel also had a strong run in her 10k debut, coming across the line in 33:40. In her first collegiate outdoor track season, the young NC State runner could be poised for a 5k/10k double this year.
Another woman who burst onto the scene was Maria Ahm of Elon. In another debut season, the freshman finished 3rd overall, only three seconds behind Chmiel. The recent breakout performer was the 82nd place finisher at the NCAA XC Championships this year, so it's not a total shock to see her 33:43. However, seeing a freshman run just three seconds behind Chmiel is fairly impressive. When you look at her recent results, we can't help but make comparisons between Ahm and Grace Forbes when she was a freshman.
One other notable debut came from Sara Freix of Virginia Tech. The redshirt senior had exhausted her indoor and cross country eligibility, but returned for a final outdoor track season. She spent much of the race in the chase pack, but was able to move up over the final laps and finish 6th overall in 34:14, missing her personal best by 10 seconds.
Also, we saw very solid performances from Providence's Maria Coffin (34:05) and Loyola's Kathleen Simms (34:11). Coffin has been a rising talent and this performance validates suspicions that she could soon be a key name to watch (if she's not already).
As for Simms, it was hard to gauge just how strong her runner-up finish at MVC XC Championships was earlier this month. However, her recent 10k mark is very solid and we now have a few performances from Simms which suggest that she is picking up some promising momentum.
Yared Nuguse looked like a veteran in his first collegiate 5k as he lurked behind Eastern Michigan standout Baldvin Magnusson going into the bell lap. Closing in 58 seconds to win the race easily is something that we have come to expect from the Fighting Irish star. He continues to prove that his range is one of the best in the country and at this point, it's fair to assume that he's probably the best closer in the NCAA...right?
Also coming back from the cross country national meet in Stillwater, Andrew Alexander and Josh Methner ran very solid times 10 days after their All-American performances on the grass. Alexander put down a time of 13:54 to earn a PR while Methner ran a 14:05 in his first-ever collegiate 5k on the track.
Two runners from South Bend who did not run at the NCAA XC Championships looked strong in Raleigh. Matthew Carmody and Kenny Vasbinder add to the Irish’s already insane depth in the distance events.
Crossing the line in 13:44, Carmody also ran a PR for the Irish. After finishing 3rd in the 3000 meters and 5th in the 5000 meters at the ACC Indoor Championships earlier this year, the Notre Dame runner looks like he is coming into his own on the track. He was a standout talent during the 2020 indoor track season when he cracked the 14-minute barrier at the Iowa State Classic.
However, oddly enough, Carmody wasn't even part of Notre Dame's cross country lineup at the NCAA XC Championships. Even so, his absence shouldn't be mistaken as an indicator that he wasn't good enough to train and race with the top men on this roster (as his 13:44 obviously shows). The sophomore has been quietly developing into a consistent talent and now seems to be turning the corner into a true front-runner. His progress over the next year or two will be pivotal as Nuguse begins to enter the latter stages of his eligibility.
As for Vasbinder, he was also on the PR train, running 13:45 the other night after earning a mark of 13:52 at the ACC Indoor Championships a month ago. The graduate transfer from Columbia gives the Irish yet another scoring option at the ACC meet and yet another qualifier for the regional meet.
His progress with the Notre Dame men has been encouraging, but we'll be interested to see how long Vasbinder can sustain this level of success and what his ceiling will be under Coach Sean Carlson.
In one of the first big races where we got to see an overlap of top D1 and D2 talents, the runners from the middle division showed up in a big way.
In the men’s 5000 meters, Enael Woldemichael of Grand Valley State finished 5th overall in the fifth section, clocking a time of 14:03. That mark was nine seconds faster than any 5k he had ran during the indoor season and was less than 10 seconds off of his personal best from 2018.
Women's teammate Jessica Gockley came agonizingly close to running a D2 auto-qualifying mark in the 10k, missing the standard by only eight seconds. The Grand Valley junior set a new personal best of 34:35, knocking 25 seconds off of her prior PR.
That time would have put her at NCAA #4 in Division 2 during the 2019 outdoor track season and it cements Gockley as one of the primary contenders for the D2 national title in 2021. While there are surely other names who will rise to the 10k distance such as Bailey, Uwajenza, Baker, etc. it's safe to say that few women in D2 have the momentum that Gockley does, especially when you see how she ended her winter campaign.
As for the 1500 meters, we also saw a couple of D2 men put down some quick times, with both Dennis Mbuta (Grand Valley State) and Seb Anthony (Queens) breaking the 3:50 barrier. Mbuta shaved 0.6 seconds off of his personal best, finishing in 3:46.34 as the top D2 finisher. Anthony knocked over two seconds off of his personal best, clocking a time of 3:49.53.
Both men could be contenders in the 1500 meters later this outdoor season, but it feels safe to say that the 800 meters is likely their bread and butter after they finished a narrow 1-2 at the indoor national meet just a few weeks ago.
Their 1500 times are strong, but there are plenty of top-tier talents who will almost certainly run faster than that and emerge as stronger title contenders than Mbuta and Anthony would be in a non-tactical 1500 meter final.
Nine out of the top-32 women from the 2019 East regional qualifying list earned their marks from Raleigh Relays. In the East region, the 32nd-fastest 10k time was 34:20 (2019) and 34:35 (2018) over the past two years. We're choosing to focus on the East region as that is where many of these runners from the Raleigh Relays fall into.
With only seven attached collegiates running 34:20 or faster on Thursday, and 11 runners earning a time under 34:35, it will be interesting to see if their marks will be enough to maintain their regional qualifying position based on prior seasons.
Will we see more women run a second 10k as they try to improve their chances at qualifying? Or will the qualifying times revert back to the 2018 standard? In a race as long and taxing as the 10k, it is rare that athletes get many great opportunities to pick up quick times in the event.
For East region athletes, Raleigh is one of those top chances to earn their regional mark. However, with COVID still limiting the number of big-time meets, the opportunities to run as fast may be relatively scarce.
As for the men’s 1500 meters, we likely only saw five or six East region runners pick up qualifying times. With the 32nd-fastest time in the East region 1500 being 3:44.91 in 2019 and 3:44.28 in 2018, it will be more difficult for runners to earn a regional spot early in the year, especially when athletes return to the track after taking time off from winter competition.
Lastly, the men’s 5k likely provided plenty of potential regional qualifying marks. The time to get into the top-32 for the event was 14:01 in 2019 and 14:02 in 2018 for the East region. On Thursday, Raleigh Relays saw 16 men from the East region run 14:02 or faster which would more than triple the number of regional qualifying times run at this year’s meet compared to 2019.
Needless to say, it looks like it will take at least a sub-14:00 performance to qualify for regionals this year, although the number of opportunities to run that fast may still be scarce as the season goes on.
Unlike the 10k, many of these men in the 1500 meters and the 5k will have ample opportunities to chase more fast times, but the qualifying mark will be one to monitor throughout the season in all of these events.