One Sentence Previews: 2022 NCAA Outdoor Championships Men's 1500 Meters (D2)

NOTE: Athletes are listed in order of their seed position. Final predictions are at the bottom.

After shockingly missing the mile prelims, Ahl has almost certainly recalibrated his approach for this 1500 meter race and on paper, he has the necessary credentials to be one of the few national title favorites in this field.

Few men in the NCAA have flexed the 800 meter and the 1500 meter firepower that Miller has this season which, in theory, should be enough to win him a national title, although his performances at the NISC Championships were far from good.

The indoor national champion in the mile following Christian Noble's surprise DQ, Elson is a tactical nightmare for anyone in his way, flexing incredible finishing speed and an ability to implement moves that are wildly challenging to combat.

Coca has been super consistent all year long and has shown flashes of brilliance in some of his races, although how he handles tactical championship races will be what makes or breaks his outside chance of a national title.

Dannatt has run 1:52 or faster five different times this spring (running 1:49) and has run 3:42 twice, meaning that he has far better control of fitness than he did in the winter when he was a 5th place All-American in the mile.

On paper, Franks' versatility, range, consistency and prior championship success might make him one of the safest All-American picks this weekend.

He opted out of the mile at the NCAA Indoor Championships to pursue the DMR/3k double, but this guy is clearly at his best in the 1500/mile distance, even if I think his chances of earning All-American honors are higher in the 5k than the 1500 meters.

Strader hasn't translated his 3:58 mile PR from the indoor oval to the outdoor track, but his 1:50 mark for 800 meters was run at altitude, meaning that he has a lot more speed that could be used in a tactical affair.

Warren has tons of range and is one of the most established veterans in all of Division Two, although All-American success as eluded the Western Washington star despite his numerous national meet appearances.

Arguably one of the more underrated names in this field, Kraemer hasn't lost to a D2 opponent in the 1500 meters this spring (in five attempts) and has put together two strong 3:43 performances this spring.

It still feels like Graff is one year away from truly competing with the upper-tier of these national fields, but he's been really solid and has become even better since putting together a strong indoor track season.

His two 1:49 marks exhibit great speed, he consistently wins, he almost always doubles each weekend and his best performances have come recently, making it hard to dislike anything about this guy.

Sayen was the top D2 runner in the 1500 meters at the Raleigh Relays, took down Harding for the GLIAC 1500 meter title and has run 1:49 for 800 meters, making Sayen someone who will surprise a lot of people if they aren't familiar with his resume.

Despite being somewhat new to the NCAA, Cox was a 7th place All-American in the mile this past winter, although there were a few instances this spring where he fell behind a few other men in this field.

Stuckey isn't perfect, nor does he have the elite personal bests that a few other men do, but he is very consistent between the 800 meters and the 1500 meters, giving him a high floor coming into this national meet.

Southard is maybe the most underappreciated name in this field, having taken down numerous top-tier D2 talents in the 1500 meters this spring including Reece Sharman-Newell, Luke Stuckey, Mason Strader, Luke Julian, Simon Kelati, Miguel Coca and many more.

Abberton was due for a national qualifying performance after showing great consistency all season long, but this will be a massive jump in terms of the competition that he has faced this spring.

One could argue that O'Keefe is better than his seed time indicates, but there isn't necessarily one result on his resume that truly jumps off the page, making it a challenge to know where we should project him to finish.

Benoit was super consistent all season long and showed great range from the 800 meters up to the 5k, but while his late-season PR was super encouraging, he'll need to replicate that mark (and build upon it), if he wants a shot of making the finals.

Luke Julian has the experience and proven talent to compete for a national title, but he hasn't necessarily had that same edge this year that we're used to seeing.

This Illinois-Springfield runner is a solid talent who has run four personal bests in his last five races, although he will need to have the best race of his career if he wants to get out of the prelims.

Kelati has shown us plenty of promise and has displayed tons of raw talent, but he's still young and needs to translate his best performances at altitude to championship settings.

Rettschlag isn't perfect, but he's probably one of the better backend seeds in most of these middle or long distance fields based on his respectable finishes in semi-competitive 1500 meter races this spring.