Five Thoughts: Raleigh Relays (Day Two)

Day two at the Raleigh Relays is all wrapped up! We've had a handful of thrilling performances, so we opted to highlight a few of the results and give you a deeper breakdown as to what some of these finishes and times mean from a subjective point of view...

The women’s 1500 meters saw a unique mix of young talent and seasoned veterans come together and put down a number of times that will surely qualify for them for the regional competitions. Across the eight sections of the 1500 meters, the fastest heat had five collegians run 4:17 or faster, essentially guaranteeing that group a place in the postseason.

Looking back at 2019, 4:17 would have ranked at 17th in the East region and 23rd in the West region -- plenty quick enough despite the reduced field sizes for this year.

Rhode Island's Lotte Black finished 2nd in the heat behind professional Hannah Seagrave, coming in a time of 4:16.40. Right behind her was 2021 breakout star Kaley Richards of UMass Lowell. Funny enough, those two have been duking it out over the last few meets, this time with Black reversing the result and getting the better of Richards

Richards broke onto the scene this past winter when she finished 4th in the mile at the NCAA Indoor Championships and then doubled down with an All-American finish in cross country. Her time of 4:16.56 at Raleigh was an eight-second personal best in the 1500 meters and it will put her into the regional meet.

Even so, having Black run this well and emerge as the top collegiate is incredibly encouraging. Richards has all of the momentum in the world, but Black hit a minor rough patch at the tail-end of the dual winter season. The Rhode Island ace failed to make it out of the prelims in the women's mile and then finished 46th at the NCAA XC Championships. That latter results isn't terrible by any means, but Black didn't seem to have that All-American spark that we were used to seeing.

Luckily, this is an excellent rebound performance for her and a great way to build momentum heading into the spring months.

Right behind Black and Richards was the freshman sensation, Katelyn Tuohy. Eyes have been on Tuohy for a while now, but she didn’t make her NCAA debut until this past indoor season. After some up and down track results, her mark this Friday (4:16.76) was arguably her best track performance in college.

That's an incredibly encouraging result which gives us plenty of hope that Tuohy may be able to replicate her incredible high school success as soon as this spring. She was, after all, only two seconds off of her personal best.

In contrast to the young star, veteran Katie Rainsberger was close on her heels, coming in at 4:16.86. Rainsberger’s personal best is 4:12 from the indoor oval, but this season opener was a solid start after an inconsistent indoor season. Few women have the experience and extensive resume of success that Rainsberger does, but her winter performances weren't great. Seeing this kind of result is at least a step in the right direction, even if she wasn't one of the top-three collegiates.

We should also note that the Washington veteran is entered in the steeplechase next weekend which would be her debut in the event.

The last woman to break 4:18 was Nevada Mareno (NC State). One of the more underrated members of the Wolfpack roster ended Friday night with a time 4:17.32, a personal best of 0.13 seconds.

The NC State junior looks to be trending in the right direction after battling numerous injuries throughout her college career. If she can stay healthy and gain momentum like she did in the spring of 2019, then Mareno will end up being a serious problem for her conference competitors later this season.

Friday night saw 25 laps come down to 0.05 seconds in the men’s 10k. After sitting out of cross country and indoor track, both Robert Brandt (Georgetown) and Vincent Kiprop (Alabama) made their long-awaited return to the national spotlight and placed themselves at the front of the NCAA title conversation. Brandt barely edged out Kiprop over the final meters with both men closing in sub-60 seconds for the final lap, resulting in times of 28:23.55 and 28:23.60, respectively.

Despite both men having extended absences from NCAA competition, Kiprop had a much longer break from the 10k. Brandt had competed at several of the Sound Running competitions during his break, running a jaw-dropping time of 27:39 back in December. Meanwhile, Kiprop’s last 10k on the track was at the 2018 NCAA Outdoor Championships, where he placed 2nd overall.

Both will be among the title favorites in this year’s 10k competition, but Kiprop may still have more rust to shake off. If he was able to run 28:23 and take Brandt to the line after such a long absence, then what can he do when he gets a little more momentum and racing under his belt? The Alabama runner does, after all, have something to prove this spring after getting out-kicked at the NCAA Championships in back-to-back years.

Three other runners also broke the 29:00 barrier, including the Butler duo of Simon Bedard and Barry Keane who were split by Notre Dame’s Danny Kilrea. Bedard came across the line in 28:33 with Kilrea and Keane coming in only one second later.

All three of those men should be easily into the regional championships, but it's also hard to really say that any of their performances were a surprise. Bedard and Keane had shown that they were probably this fit back in December when they ran at the Sound Running Track Meet. As for Kilrea, he just finished 10th at the NCAA XC Championships and has historically been an excellent 10k runner.

This trio is proving just how good they are, but now the question is if they can find ways to build upon this momentum and reach the next tier where men like Brandt, Kiprop and Kiptoo currently sit.

Another nine D1 men crossed the line between 29:00 and 29:18 during Friday's race, with Thomas George of Missouri leading that group. In 2019, the 32nd 10k mark was 29:26 in the East region and 29:13 in the West region. George was the only runner in that group from the West and has a solid mark to get him into the regional meet.

However, runners from the East region may want to be a bit more wary of their standings. Particularly, the trio of Daniel Bernal (Furman), Paul Arredondo (Charlotte) and Josh Park (Ohio) who all ran around 29:17 to 29:18. While those marks would appear safe based on the performances from 2019, there is likely to be more emphasis on the cut-off time in 2021 and we may see that time surge to a faster mark with individuals chasing it.

We might want to consider that group the “bubble runners” until more big meets take place, but with COVID-19 protocols being put into place, how many more big meets like this will there be? That's the counter argument to this theory.

Four. That’s the number of women who ran faster during the 2019 regular season over 5000 meters than Katie Wasserman did on Friday night. The Columbia graduate transfer had quite literally been waiting a year to make her Notre Dame debut and it was nothing short of phenomenal.

Wasserman had never run 5000 meters on the track (attached) despite being a redshirt senior. Her attached personal best for 3k, the closest distance outside of cross country, was 9:53, although she did run 9:19 earlier this winter. Despite finishing 75th at the NCAA XC Championships in 2019, her most recent performance was still a bit of a surprise.

Not only was her mark of 15:33 on Friday both a facility and meet record, it also appears to be well short of her potential. Looking at the splits, Wasserman had been consistently hitting 75 to 77-second laps before closing the final two splits in 71 and 64 seconds. In a better paced race, it seems highly likely that Wasserman could have run faster. Not only that, but a 64-second last lap at the end of a 15:33 effort is incredibly encouraging when thinking about how Wasserman could handle future races that turn tactical.

The Notre Dame runner helped pull eight other collegiates to sub-16:00 marks in this race. Georgia Tech junior Nicole Fegans was coming off of a big 12th place showing at the NCAA XC Championships and clocked a time of 15:37 on Friday, smashing her previous personal best by 29 seconds.

That was a huge validating performance which established the idea that her most recent result on the grass, while surprising, is justified. Fegans has been sneaky consistent throughout her career, but now has a mark that puts her in the upper-echelon of distance talents.

NC State veteran Savannah Shaw also made her debut at the 5k distance and came across in 15:40, with Abbey Wheeler of Providence close behind in 15:46. This is a huge race for Shaw who has been predominately a miler throughout her career. She has sometimes been overshadowed by her superstar teammates, but this was a breakout result that was bound to happen.

Shaw has been wildly consistent throughout her time with the Wolfpack and was finally rewarded with a top-tier time. In fact, she now has a faster 5k PR than All-American teammate Hannah Steelman does.

One of the biggest improvements may have gone to Temple's Grace Moore who shattered her previous personal best of 16:38 by 49 seconds, finishing in 15:47. Maggie Donahue (Georgetown), Sarah Chapman (Missouri) and Katie Thronson (Tennessee) were the other D1 women to eclipse the 16-minute barrier.

Celine Ritter (Lee) was the one non-D1 woman to break the 16:00 barrier on Friday. After running a D2 collegiate record in the 3k this indoor season, Ritter stepped up to the 5k for the first time since April of 2019 and made her case as the title favorite.

Last night, Ritter ran 15:58 for 5000 meters, obliterating her previous PR of 17:38. Looking back to the last full outdoor season, only Caroline Kurgat, arguably the greatest D2 woman in history, broke 16:00 for 5000 meters. Ritter now adds her name into that conversation and will have a chance to go even lower considering she closed her final lap in 70 seconds.

The D2 women’s 5k title race may be one of the most interesting storylines of this season. In December, Roisin Flanagan and Eilish Flanagan of Adams State ran 15:38 and 15:40 at the Sound Running Track Meet. Meanwhile, Lauren Bailey is coming off of a personal best of 16:02 run at the NCAA Indoor Championships.

Right now, there are at least four women capable of running sub-16:00 and potentially much faster in the right conditions. The D2 record is held by Neely Spence (Gracey) in 15:33. That time looks to be in jeopardy with the way these women are trending. The only uncertainty is if they will find the right race to run fast enough.

The last time more than five men ran 29:15 or faster for 10,000 meters in a D2 season was 2017, when a total of six accomplished the feat. Now, in the first major outdoor meet of the season, four have already done it.

Jack Mastandrea of Charleston (WV) led the way in a mark of 29:02 with the GVSU duo of Isaac Harding and Tanner Chada close behind in 29:06 and 29:07. Jan Lukas Becker of Queens came across in 29:15, with all four men placing in the top-15 of the fast heat on Friday night.

The performances were spectacular across the board. Mastandrea knocked 34 seconds off of his previous best while Harding knocked off 88 seconds. Chada and Becker both were debuting at this distance on the track.

Anyone who has only recently started to follow the D2 scene may not be familiar with Mastandrea's accomplishment's, and that's understandable given the absences that we've seen from certain names due to varying eligibility and the impact of the pandemic. However, the Charleston (WV) ace is super talented and it's no surprise that the 10k distance is his best event given his best past cross country performances and 14:08 (5k) personal best.

Looking ahead, 2021 could be historic. Outside of those four men, there are plenty of other D2 names who could be nearing the 29:00 barrier. Taylor Stack, Charlie Sweeney, Dylan Ko, Loic Scomparin, CarLee Stimpfel and Christian Noble are only a handful.

And truthfully, after seeing how many men ran under 8:00 in the 3k and under 14:00 in the 5k this past winter, the idea that we'll see even more men crowd the upper-echelon of the 10k seems plenty realistic.