TSR Collaboration
Mar 12, 20199 min
By: Michael Weidenbruch, Ben Weisel, Sean Collins, Sam Ivanecky Garrett Zatlin
We weren't going to bore you with a traditional recap, so we got the TSR crew back together again and gave you some of our thoughts from the national meet.
Garrett: Let’s start with the men. For me, I can’t help but think that Grant Fisher should realistically have at least two or three national titles on his career resume (instead of one). He first had to go through Justyn Knight and now he has to deal with Morgan McDonald. He’s also been a bit unlucky in his final kicks which is odd considering he may have some of the most underrated finishing speed in the country.
Ben: It is unbelievable to me that Fisher doesn’t have more titles. It seemed like he was destined to win multiple titles in track and cross country. Is he is the best ever to only win one title?
Michael: My biggest takeaway is that Joe Klecker is the real deal. He has had some impressive track performances in previous years and ran a very aggressive race at NCAA XC this past fall which paid off for him. He went for it in both the 5k and the 3k this weekend and came away with 2nd and 3rd place finishes behind the two best distance runners in the NCAA right now. In my predictions, I had Klecker getting 4th in both races, but he exceeded that. He’s definitely on my watch list for the 5k title outdoors, although he will face the same competition. The DMR finishes between Nuguse and Fisher were also one that I think will go down as one of the most exciting ever.
Garrett: Agreed on Klecker, dude was incredibly impressive. One of the most underrated performers of the weekend.
Sean: I guess I shouldn’t be surprised be this, since it happens every year, but my biggest takeaway is always how ridiculous the DMR lineups are compared to the qualifying teams. Every year, it feels like two or three teams qualify and then run a “B” lineup which is really sad. Would love to see deeper races with teams going all in or increase the number of teams to 16 so that the race for All-American is more competitive.
Sam: Sean, I like your take on the "B" squads. It seems like deeper lineups across the board would produce a better result. What do you think of making teams run the same lineup they ran when they qualified for NCAA's (barring injury)?
Sean: I don’t love requiring teams to run the same lineup as their qualifying team, because moving away from the six-person relay pool is far too difficult. I’d rather them open it up to more teams and see how those additional four teams impact the race. For example, the women’s teams would have been Ohio State, Stanford, Texas, and Michigan State. All four probably would have gone all out in the relay considering their individual entries and their team ranking possibilities.
Sam: This year’s NCAA meet epitomized everything track & field is about. The fans got a true spectacle of racing, showing the unpredictable finishes and exciting competition that can be great for growing the sport. Both mile races were complete surprises for the vast majority of folks (myself included) and although McDonald came away with two wins (as expected), both were close to the finish. Oh, and the DMR’s were crazy as usual.
Ben: In one of the deepest 800 fields, it wasn’t the American collegiate record holder who took home the title. Instead, it was Bryce Hoppel who paced himself perfectly to track down Marco Arop to earn the win. I can’t wait for outdoors to see how fast Arop, Dixon, and Hoppel all run. The mile also must be mentioned as Hoare was a lock in my opinion, but Beamish and Comber ran perfect races to take down the favorite.
Garrett: The women’s 800 was also wildly fun to watch. It felt like anyone could come away with the national title and it certainly seemed that way when Nia Akins was nearing the finish. Overall, it was a great effort from every woman in the final of this race. This is likely one of the most underrated half-mile fields we’ve seen for the women in quite some time.
Michael: On the women’s side, the chaos of the mile shows how stacked the event is right now (along with most other events). Rizk’s upset is one thing, but the 2-8 finishers crossed the line all in the span of 1.1 seconds. Some of the best talent in the NCAA wasn’t even in there either. Dani Jones and Jessica Hull would have certainly been factors as well had they been running.
Ben: While all of the women’s races were great, you could definitely feel Dani Jones’ absence. She most likely would have won the mile and it would have been awesome to see her fight down the stretch with Hull and Birk at the end of the DMR.
Garrett: Jordy Williamsz over Cheserek at the Penn Relays was a pretty big upset, but maybe not more significant than when Tiernan won the XC national title over Cheserek back in 2016. Still, both of those men were at a super high level and had proven themselves on multiple occasions. Beamish has never actually run a mile faster than 4:06 which is absolutely mind-numbing to think about. It’s also ironic that the guy who upset the best miler in 2018 (Hoare) was the best miler in 2019 and was upset by a new name.
Sam: I agree with the Tiernan take. That was completely unexpected. Another would be Kerr taking down Cheserek in the mile indoors as a freshman. This was only a year after Cheserek ran his crazy triple and at the time he looked untouchable. Beamish had a crazy run, but I didn’t feel like anyone in this field was as much of a lock as Cheserek was before Kerr dethroned him.
Ben: The Williamsz win over Cheserek is a cult classic that I am willing to watch on repeat for weeks, but I tend to agree with Sam and Garrett that the Tiernan title was more impressive. Tiernan beat Cheserek at his own game while Williamsz and Kerr took it to Ches in the mile. I think the Beamish upset ranks behind the Kerr upset because of how shocking it was to see Ches lose, but I might rank it above the Williamsz upset.
Sean: I think the most interesting thing about Beamish’s upset was that Beamish upset the entire field, not just the favorite. Tiernan was a top five contender and Villanova was expected to challenge Oregon in that Penn Relays 4xMile. Beamish beating Hoare was an upset. Beamish beating Mau was an upset. Beamish beating Villarreal was an upset. Beamish beating Suliman was an upset. You can just keep going down the list of people in the race of who Beamish was not supposed to beat. In the other examples given above, the upsets were between the second best and the best. This is just different.
Garrett: I also think we can’t leave out Ben Flanagan’s 10k win last spring. That was also pretty wild.
Sam: Flanagan winning is definitely my biggest upset in recent memory. That was insane. Could we consider Cheserek beating Kithuka as a major upset?
Michael: To be honest, I don’t see this as that major of an upset. Beamish may have a much slower PR than everyone else in that field, but if anything, his win just tells me that the altitude conversions are legit. I, for one, counted Beamish out as a contender, but as soon as I saw him go to the front I knew he had a chance. I was surprised to see Hoare lose the race, but Flanagan’s 10k and even Andy Trouard’s win over Knight in the 3k last year stand out to me a bit more. Beamish was the NCAA leader for a while after all.
Ben: I think it is easy to think that the Beamish win wasn’t a big upset in hindsight because he ran such a fast (converted) time earlier in the season. That said, no one expected Beamish to compete for a podium spot, much less the win. If someone was going to beat Hoare, I expected it to be Villarreal or one of the Ducks. I think Flanagan’s upset was as surprising as the Beamish's win. The Ches win over Kithuka, while surprising, wasn’t as crazy to think about before the race.
Sam: Personally, while I did not expect Rizk to win, it wasn’t really that much of an upset. She came in with the #5 fastest time in the NCAA this year and three of the four women ahead of her opted for other events.
Garrett: Would have to agree with you there, Sam. She ran 4:32 two weeks before the national meet, but it seems like everyone thought she couldn’t make any noise on the national stage (we were wrong). That said, I’m not sure I can think of another recent upset of this magnitude with the (possible) exception of Dani Jones winning the cross country national title this past fall.
Sean: Who knew who Julia Rizk was before 2019 though?
Ben: I did not.
Garrett: That’s a fair point, it truly just depends on how you look at her season from start to finish. Entering the season, if someone told me that she would win the mile title, I would have said no way. After BIG 10’s, it wasn’t the craziest assertion.
Sean: Rizk had never made a NCAA Championship meet before this one. What Ohio State and Rizk did this season was an incredible way for them to put themselves on the map. Once Rizk made the meet, her win was not an upset at all. However, I don’t think we would have even picked Rizk for the BIG 10 top eight in the mile at the beginning of the season.
Michael: This may seem to go against my thoughts on Beamish’s performance, but I think this is one of the bigger upsets in recent years. Rizk certainly came in with a fast time, but she seems to have been much more unknown on the national scene than many of the “underdogs” we’ve seen win in recent years.
Sam: Out of curiosity, who were we considering the favorite going in? The only woman ahead of her was Michigan’s Hannah Meier who ran her personal best in the same race as Rizk and hadn’t broken 4:40 until this season.
Garrett: Hannah Meier? Lauren Gregory? Maybe Karisa Nelson depending on who you ask. I don’t think there was a clear-cut favorite, but I’m not sure I would have put Rizk among the nation’s top three entering the meet. I think a lot of people (including myself) put too much stock into Meier’s conference win, but we can’t discount the fact that the Michigan veteran made so much progress in 2019.
Ben: I thought Nelson had the win with about two laps to go, so I was surprised to see Rizk pull out the win. She definitely was a surprise winner, but after BIG 10’s, it seemed realistic that she could win the title.
Sam: I would say no to Notre Dame on the basis that you have to be in contention over multiple events/distances to be considered a powerhouse. Notre Dame won the DMR, but they lacked a presence in other events. Sure, many of the guys on that relay team could have been in contention for other events, but I think they need more depth to be a “powerhouse”.
Sean: Are the Syracuse men a powerhouse team?
Garrett: That is a great question and it depends on who you ask because everyone has a different definition as to what a powerhouse is...but sure, Syracuse is a powerhouse.
Sean: Notre Dame is a powerhouse if Syracuse is one. Notre Dame has had two great seasons on the men’s side that I would say mimic the general trajectory of Justyn Knight’s impact on the Syracuse men. Syracuse even had better years before that with Martin Hehir and others. If you don’t think the Syracuse men are a powerhouse (a reasonable answer in my book), then I don’t think you can give that to Notre Dame.
Michael: I would definitely consider Notre Dame to be a powerhouse program. They may not have had much depth in terms of entries in this meet, but they are a team that will be high on my radar this year going into next year. They are certainly not a dynasty, but I don’t think long-term success is as important when considering powerhouse status. If Nuguse had chosen to run the mile, I think he would have finished well. The Irish have young talent with a lot of potential too, so I’ll be watching for them in cross country this fall.
Garrett: I’m saying yes. I don’t know what else they need to do to get to that status. After the Fighting Irish upset the Orange for the conference title in cross country, they came back to win the national title in the DMR after finishing 2nd the year prior. That said, I would like Notre Dame to find an identity that is more than just Yared Nuguse. Still, Kilrea and Jacobs seem like they will develop into true low-sticks for this team. Plus, they have another monster recruiting class on the way! It's hard for me to say no...
Ben: I don’t think we can call them a powerhouse. Syracuse won a national title in cross country in addition to having Justyn Knight win multiple individual titles. Plus, they had All-Americans in other events such as Colin Bennie and Martin Hehir. Syracuse had depth to go along with top-end talent which made them a powerhouse. Notre Dame didn’t have anyone competing for an All-American spot, much less an individual title, and had only one All-American in cross country.
Sam: Syracuse has also been to a cross country national meet for ten straight years now, including a national title in 2015 and a 3rd place finish in 2016…Plus, Bennie and Knight were strong performers on the track at NCAA's.
Ben: They could become a powerhouse, but they aren’t there yet.