Kevin Fischer
Mar 7, 20235 min
Written by Kevin Fischer, edits and additional commentary via John Cusick & 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 meet. Stay tuned!
The MIT megastar is a two-event D3 record holder and the top seed in this field by six seconds. Ryan Wilson also has, by far, the best 800 meter speed of anyone who he'll face in the mile. He’s a massive title favorite and it would be pretty shocking to see an upset here.
Pomona-Pitzer doesn’t schedule a lot of indoor track meets, but when Bennett Booth-Genthe got a chance to race this season, he took full advantage of it. If this race turns super tactical, then the Sagehen star might have an outside shot of taking home gold, but for right now, he'll be racing for silver.
Travis Martin’s recent form over these past couple of weeks hasn’t been exceptional, but he didn’t run a 4:03 mile PR by accident. You can’t count out this two-time All-American at this stage, especially given how dynamic he is. On paper, he should be able to handle most race scenarios that he sees this weekend.
Christopher Collet knows how to navigate big races, having proven himself as one of the best multi-round talents on multiple occasions. His national meet experience should come in handy this Friday and Saturday, as should his clear postseason peak that he has shown over the last few weeks.
Jamie Moreland made a big splash with an early-season 4:03 mile PR and then followed that up with some solid efforts. However, since then, he hasn't produced anything at quite the same level. He hasn't necessarily done anything to hurt his stock either, but it may be difficult for some people to gauge where in the All-American mix he belongs.
Wyatt Kelly’s best performance of the season came at the American Rivers Indoor Championships where he almost beat Christopher Collet. The Loras distance talent has also made subtle improvements within the 800 meters this winter, potentially giving him the slightest bit more turnover. He’s peaking at the right time and there’s not many men who can touch him with this type of form.
Aidan Cantine was a guy who was high up on the national leaderboard in January after running a strong mile early in the season. But after a few underwhelming weeks, it looked like he had fallen out of a spot to the national meet. That, of course, recently changed when he put together the best race of his life at the Tufts Last Chance meet (running converted 4:04 mile), effectively validating his early-season fitness.
Last year’s 3rd place finisher in the 1500 meters at the outdoor national meet, Scott Sikorski knows how to navigate the nuances and tactics of an elite field. And when you consider that this guy could have also been in the 800 meter prelims, he has a lot of speed and turnover that you probably don't want to deal with in a championship setting.
Don’t be fooled by his seeding, as a 3:44 (1500) runner who split 4:02 in the DMR earlier this season, it would be surprising not to see Ezra Ruggles end this indoor track season with another All-American honor. And truthfully, in a world where Ryan Wilson doesn't exist, you could argue that Ruggles is naturally talented enough to win NCAA gold.
Justin Krause hasn’t competed a ton this year, but he has made the most out of every opportunity. His name is not always given the same gravitas as a few of the top seeds in this field, but he will be eager to show that his 4th place finish in the 1500 meters last spring was no fluke.
Jonathan Zavala gave Ezra Ruggles a major scare at the SUNYAC Indoor Championships two weeks ago. If he can replicate that type of performance this weekend, then he will have some household names feeling the pressure and he will almost definitely be an All-American.
In his first collegiate track season, Gabe Nichols steadily improved throughout the winter months, ultimately earning a national bid in the eleventh hour. That, however, is something that we should have seen coming. After all, this Carleton distance talent has been undefeated in six individual races since late-January.
Cal Yackin hasn’t contested a mile since running his converted 4:06 mark in January, but that was enough to get him into the Big Dance. Even so, his 3000 meter and 1000 meter efforts of late have shown that he is still operating at a very high level. That, and the fact that this is his fourth national meet on the oval, doesn’t hurt, either.
Some of Ryan Harvey's races this year have been a notch below his very high standards, but there is no doubting what he can do at his best. Finishing 4th at last year’s indoor national meet in the mile, Harvey is a savvy championship racer who has real scoring potential despite being seeded 14th in this field.
Henry Hardart keeps getting better little by little in the mile, going from 4:09 to 4:07 to 4:06 in his three efforts at the distance this season. He has a shot at taking yet another step forward into All-American contention, especially if this momentum is going to follow him into this weekend.
Despite not really being on the national radar up until this past weekend, Adam Sylvia broke through with the best race of his career at the Wartburg Final Qualifier. He is theoretically peaking at just the right time, but that lone 4:10 mile effort (unconverted) is a fairly clear outlier on his resume.
The true freshman and 4:12 high school miler is not having any issues transitioning to the collegiate level of competition. This weekend will mark the biggest race of his NCAA career so far, but it will likely be just the first of many times seeing him on this stage. With nothing to lose, watch for Neumann to be aggressive if he's in the right spot.
MIT’s ridiculous depth makes it so that Pablo Arroyo flies under the radar within the program. But frankly, he would be "the guy" almost anywhere else. He may only be the fifth-fastest miler on his team, but his consistency and recent PR suggest that he may have another personal best within him.
As expected, there’s a Blugold distance runner in this field, just not the one who we anticipated going into this indoor track season. A breakthrough season capped off with a personal best at the Wartburg Final Qualifier has led to Mason Shea sneaking into this field. Getting out of the prelim may be a tall order, but he's yet another name who has posted a couple of new PRs in the last few weeks of the season.
Despite being listed at NCAA #27 on the national leaderboard, Nate Lentz nabs the last qualifying spot in the mile due to some scratches. Regardless, there should be no doubt that he belongs here after the consistent season that he had. In fact, he may be one of the better final seeds of any of the distance events that we preview for this weekend.