Admin (Garrett Zatlin)
Apr 53 min
The Stride Report has confirmed with two separate sources that Washington's Wilma Nielsen and Oregon's Abdinasir Hussein have entered the transfer portal as graduate students.
According to TFRRS, Nielsen will have one year of outdoor track eligibility and one year of cross country eligibility remaining. It is also possible that she has multiple seasons of indoor track eligibility remaining, although that is still unclear.
As for Hussein, he will have one year of outdoor track eligibility (barring waivers) and one year of cross country eligibility remaining. It also seems that he has multiple seasons of eligibility remaining remaining for indoor track, although that is not yet confirmed.
Wilma Nielsen's recent entry into the transfer portal is a surprising one. That's because the middle distance star, who was first at Bradley University, transferred to the University of Washington this past winter.
In her first season with the Huskies, Nielsen was able to replicate her high-level success, but this time with more consistency. The Swedish half-miler ran 2:02 for 800 meters this past winter not once, not twice, not three times, but FOUR separate times. In fact, Nielsen's last effort of the indoor track season ended with her finishing 6th place overall in the women's 800-meter finals, earning All-American honors.
It should be noted that, during the 2023 indoor track season, Nielsen stunned the nation by running an NCAA #2 all-time 1000-meter effort of 2:38.95 at The Armory. The collegiate record of 2:38.58 was set by Danae Rivers in 2019. Nielsen also ran 4:11 for 1500 meters overseas last summer. She has already opened up her 2024 outdoor track season at the Stanford Invite, posting a 2:04/4:16 (800/1500) weekend double.
Should Nielsen decide to leave the Seattle-based Huskies, the options for her will be plentiful. However, there is one glaring landing spot that feels more obvious for Nielsen to venture to than others.
I am, of course, talk about the University of New Mexico.
Nielsen previously ran for Bradley University. However, when Coach Darren Gauson left the Braves to become the new head coach at New Mexico, Nielsen left the midwest-based program shortly thereafter. And with a plethora of former Bradley runners already on the Lobos' roster, Nielsen's introduction to the program would theoretically be seamless.
When it comes to Hussein, the Oregon veteran is more of a longer distance runner, specializing in cross country and the 10k on the track.
With a 10k personal best of 28:57, it's clear that this soon-to-be-former Duck holds nationally competitive potential, especially when you realize how sporadically he competes. Admittedly, Hussein's limited amount of racing each season isn't ideal, but that may actually be a good thing when talking about his untapped upside.
However, Hussein is arguably at his best on the grass. In the fall of 2022, the Oregon talent placed 75th at Nuttycombe, 17th at the PAC-12 XC Championships and was 131st on the national stage. Hussein did run this past fall (twice), although his season ended after a 20th place finish at the PAC-12 XC Championships.
The below clip features discussion on the Oregon men from the summer months
When thinking of potential landing spots for this aerobic-centric west coast product, it's hard not to see Portland and Gonzaga as two possible landing spots. Both teams are on the west coast, both teams specialize in the longer distances and both teams are going to have key departures from their roster after this year.
Of those two, the Pilots seem the most likely to land Hussein. Coach Rob Conner has often dipped into the transfer portal to find 10k specialists just like him. It also doesn't hurt that this Duck veteran is from Portland as well.
Should Hussein land at one of those schools, the future graduate student could fill a key gap in a team's cross country lineup, effectively raising their floor. And with tons of upside seemingly still within him, the net benefit likely outweighs his on-and-off racing resume.
In theory, teams like Boise State and California Baptist would also be good options for Hussein, although the former usually builds through international runners and JUCO talents while the latter is in a state of flux with a recent coaching departure.