John Cusick
Mar 7, 20235 min
Written by John Cusick, edits and additional commentary via Garrett Zatlin
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Editor's Note: Our TSR writers were asked to produce three sentences or less of analysis on every entrant in every distance event for every division. We will be slowly rolling out these previews leading up to the indoor national meets. Stay tuned!
Miguel Coca has quickly become the "on paper" national title favorite in the men’s mile. He has turned his aerobic fitness into his greatest strength and because of that, Coca’s upside is unlimited. He has elevated his running to an entirely new level, but he’ll need to tap into that limitless potential once more in order to win gold.
Charlie Dannatt has the fastest raw mile time this season and he’ll likely be viewed as the biggest threat to Miguel Coca for the national title...depending on who you ask. He’s got a knack for showing up on the national stage and we have a feeling that we’ll see him rise to the occasion again this weekend. In theory, he can handle any race scenario thrown his way.
Luke Julian comes in with the most experience out of anyone in this field. A national title has eluded him throughout his entire Oredigger career despite numerous appearances on this stage. But in a wide-open field, Julian (who is probably the most fit he's ever been) will have his best chance at capturing his greatest moment in a Colorado Mines singlet.
There is no doubt that Evan Graff has improved tremendously this season. And yet, despite that improvement, he has still been a bit more inconsistent than we’d like. He's just as talented as some of the All-American locks in this field, but Graff will need two strong performances in order to secure a top-eight finish.
It was nice to see Hudson Majeski run 4:05 (mile) after posting a converted 4:01 (mile) at 7700 feet. However, his most recent performance at the RMAC Indoor Championships does leave us with more questions about his tactics than we’d like entering the indoor national meet.
Hunter Hutton has proven to be a strong championship racer throughout the years, but he’s never been given the opportunity to showcase it on the national stage. That changes this season after Hutton ran 4:03 (mile) to qualify for the national meet. He’ll get to test out his racing wits against the country’s best and it could end with him being an All-American despite his relative inexperience.
If you looked up the definition of a "dark horse" pick in a dictionary, then you’d likely see a picture of Dillan Haviland next to it. The Northwood athlete has continued his breakout season and is looking to parlay that momentum into a strong national meet showing. With all of his focus on the mile, we could see him play spoiler in this highly-contested event.
Hunter Kurz has steadily improved throughout his college career and this season was no different. His aerobic capacity has increased dramatically and when paired with his foot-speed, that could be a deadly combination at the end of any race. Not only that, but he has proven to be an incredible doubler/tripler, making us increasingly more confident about his chances if he were to make finals.
Caleb Futter is peaking at the perfect time. After a newly-minted 4:04 (mile) personal best, Futter’s confidence should be sky-high. And if he ends up peaking at the national meet, then we could see the emergence of the superstar that we always knew he could be.
Jagger Zlotoff has a modest personal best of 4:06 for the mile, but he was also the silver medalist at the RMAC Indoor Championships in this event. With mostly altitude converted marks on his resume, it’s hard to tell what we should expect from him this weekend. Navigating the preliminary rounds will be important for Zlotoff and with no prior national meet experience, it could prove to be a tougher task than we initially thought.
Davonte Jett-Reynolds has contested three miles this season and they’ve all been at 7500+ feet of elevation. His personal best of 4:01 (mile) makes him one of the top competitors in this field, but this will also be his first sea level mile race in over a year, leaving us curious about how he'll respond. Regardless, this Adams State ace probably has one of the more well-rounded resume in this field, theoretically allowing him to handle a variety of race scenarios.
Jordan Foster is largely unknown within the Division Two realm, but he has all of the talent in the world to change that narrative this weekend. He recently shaved eight seconds off of his previous personal best to finish 2nd at the GMAC Indoor Championships behind Dillan Haviland in this event. Who’s to say that when he squares off against the nation’s best that he won’t exceed expectations again?
Colten Brand comes into the national meet with personal bests of 4:07 (mile) and 8:17 (3k) which are lacking in comparison to the rest of this field. In Brand's defense, he has run a flat-track converted 4:04 (mile) mark this winter and hasn't necessarily had a "poor" race this season. Even so, he will still need to produce a lifetime performance to make the finals on Saturday.
Ryan Outler’s success is based on being more aerobically fit than his opponents. And while that works in the regular season, it’s left Outler with struggles on the national stage in the past. Don't be mistaken, this Mountaineer runner is just as talented as some of the men seeded above him, but his latest showing at the RMAC Indoor Championships has us scratching our heads wondering what's next.
Luke Stuckey snuck into the national meet as the second-to-last entrant and his admittance could spell trouble for the rest of the field. The former 1500 meter bronze medalist (from the 2021 outdoor national meet) has championship racing experience and he has also proven to be tactically sound when it matters. Of course, he’ll need to get out of the preliminary rounds first which will be his toughest task.
Grand Valley State continues to produce star talents and it appears that Elias Bergman is the latest to see those benefits. He’s gotten better each time that he’s stepped on the track and in order to continue his season past Friday, he’ll need another lifetime best.