Admin (Garrett Zatlin)
Mar 129 min
The NCAA indoor track season has officially concluded. As such, we've been left with a three-week void of no (major) racing. Right now, our TSR writers are wrapping up their final rankings and are voting on our "End of Season Awards." But before we get to that content, we wanted to publish some transfer info that we've been sitting on for a bit...
NOTE: Graduate transfer scenarios can often be anticipated by certain schools/coaches. Those moves are not always a reflection of a program's ability to retain (or not retain) talent.
EDITOR's NOTE: TSR can confirm that Arturs Medveds is entered in the transfer portal, although his current NCAA eligibility is unclear. For that reason, we have opted to refrain from any further analysis.
The Stride Report has confirmed that Iowa's Max Murphy has entered transfer portal as a graduate transfer. According to TFRRS, the Hawkeye talent is expected to have two seasons of eligibility remaining across all three seasons of competition (each).
Max Murphy is a personal favorite of mine. He's someone who I believe is slightly underrated, but more importantly, has tons of untapped potential.
With quietly strong personal bests of 3:40 (1500), 7:59 (3k), 13:39 (5k) and 28:57 (10k), this Iowa ace has excellent range and can provide value in essentially any area on the track. But one could argue that Murphy, at his best, is a true cross country runner. This past fall, the current Hawkeye talent was 20th at Joe Piane, 9th at the Midwest regional meet and a surprisingly great 69th place at the NCAA XC Championships!
Admittedly, the Iowa junior hasn't been the most consistent throughout his career. At some points, he'll go on a hot streak, ripping off numerous personal bests or top scoring finishes. But in other moments, Murphy can find himself struggling to break the 14-minute barrier.
However, in the grand scheme of things, that may not matter, largely because the versatility and the upside of Murphy essentially overrides those fluctuating performances.
Murphy can essentially do it all. He's a realistic scoring threat at most (although maybe not all) conference meets and can pretty much attack any distance. But with multiple cross country performances suggesting that he can be a high-impact top-five scorer, the opportunities for this multi-faceted midwest-based runner are seemingly endless.
If I had to guess, look for Texas, Iowa State, Tennessee, Notre Dame, Wisconsin and Missouri to be in contention to sign Murphy later this year.
The Stride Report has confirmed that former Princeton runner and current NC State graduate student, Abby Loveys, has entered transfer portal as a graduate transfer. According to TFRRS, the Tiger-turned-Wolfpack veteran is expected to have at least one year of eligibility remaining across all three seasons of competition (each).
Abby Loveys was a top Ivy League talent just a little over a year ago. The former Princeton runner holds solid PRs of 4:28 (1500), 9:22 (3k) and 16:05 (5k), but it was fairly clear that she was at her best on the grass. In the fall of 2022, Loveys placed 18th at Paul Short, 34th at Nuttycombe, 8th at the Ivy League XC Championships and then 3rd at the Mid-Atlantic XC Regional Championships.
Since venturing to Raleigh as a graduate transfer last summer, Loveys has been sidelined, not competing this past fall or this past winter. And with the current Wolfpack talent now in the transfer portal, her prospects of racing this spring seem thin.
Trying to figure out the next stop for Loveys is a bit difficult. Would the New Jersey native prefer to return closer to her home state? If so, then maybe Villanova, Syracuse or one of the other Ivy League programs could potentially be good fits for her.
In theory, most of those schools fit the endurance-first skillset that Loveys' resume boasts. Those schools also match the strong academic rigor that the current graduate transfer has seemingly embraced throughout her career.
The Stride Report has confirmed that Oklahoma State veteran Heidi Demeo has entered the transfer portal as a graduate transfer. According to TFRRS, she is expected to have one season of outdoor track eligibility remaining (if she does not race this spring) and one season of cross country eligibility remaining. She does not have any indoor track eligibility remaining.
The Oklahoma State veteran has mostly developed her reputation over the 1500-meter and mile distances, holding solid personal bests of 4:18 and 4:41, respectively. And thankfully, both of those times were run over the last year, meaning that Demeo is still riding an upwards trajectory as far as her fitness is concerned.
The Cowgirl runner has dabbled in the longer events as well, having run 9:23 for 3000 meters. Demeo has also shown promise as a potential scorer depending on the team) on the grass. Over the last four years, she has finished anywhere between 12th place and 31st place at the BIG 12 XC Championships. She also cracked the top-20 at the 2023 Midwest Regional XC Championships this past fall.
On paper, Demeo's resume doesn't jump off the screen in any major way. However, the subtleties of her career performances do hold nice value.
This is someone who is plenty experienced, fairly consistent and still improving. And for a very large handful of teams, her current resume would be a great addition to a team looking to score points at their conference meet or add backend depth to their cross country lineup.
So...where could her next stop be?
Truthfully, this is one of the more challenging names to figure out a destination for. That's largely because Demeo is Australian, meaning that she has no (known) geographical ties to any part of the United States other than Oklahoma.
Tennessee has been willing to add transfers who can add cross country depth, UCLA has a new Aussie distance coach in Andrew Ferris who is a proven recruiter in his own right and Oregon has been willing to add mile-centric women to their roster, many of whom are international talents.
But frankly, your guess is as good as mine.
The Stride Report has confirmed that Tennessee freshman, Jacob Nenow, has entered the transfer portal as a standard transfer. He has only used one season of cross country eligibility throughout his short time with the Volunteers.
Jacob Nenow was one of the best long distance recruits in the nation from the Class of 2023. As a prep athlete, the Oregon native threw down outstanding marks of 8:16 (3k), 8:47 (3200) and 14:35 (5k XC). Those times, in theory, made him an ideal fit for an up-and-coming Tennessee program that has leaned into a long distance identity.
The Volunteer rookie did race in his very first season of collegiate competition this past fall, although his main highlight was a modest 32nd place finish at the SEC XC Championships.
Unlike a few other names who we have spoken about in this article, trying to find a future home for Jacob Nenow seems fairly easy (at least in our eyes, that is). The true freshman was once looking at the Oregon men prior to signing with Tennessee. And given that Nenow's hometown of Portland is less than two hours from the Ducks, and that the Oregon men currently have a very young roster, all signs point to Eugene being a potential landing spot.
That, of course, is strictly speculation -- we don't have any direct knowledge as to where he's currently looking. After all, the Portland Pilots are a strong distance program that are essentially in his hometown backyard.
The Stride Report has confirmed that NC State veteran Zach Hughes has entered the transfer portal as a graduate transfer. According to TFRRS, the Wolfpack middle distance talent has one season of cross country eligibility remaining as well as one season of indoor track eligibility and two seasons of outdoor track eligibility (if he does not compete this spring).
Generally speaking, Hughes has been a very consistent and steady middle distance talent for the NC State men in recent years. His personal bests of 1:49 (800) and 2:23 (1k) are solid, although it seemed like he was due for a breakout race last spring.
I say that because Hughes ran 1:49 for 800 meters four. straight. times. last spring. And unfortunately, none of those marks were his actual personal best of 1:49.12.
It's not often that middle distance runners as seasoned as Hughes are so clearly due for a monster performance and a significant personal best. Despite a fairly quiet indoor track season this past winter, the Wolfpack runner did showcase a moment of surprisingly great strength, placing 28th at the ACC XC Championships last fall.
When it comes to potential landing spots for Hughes, we run into a bit of a challenge. Schools like Virginia Tech, Virginia, Clemson, North Carolina, Wake Forest and Duke would all be good fits for Hughes, both from a skillset perspective and a geographic perspective.
The problem, however, is that those programs are all direct ACC rivals with NC State.
In the grand scheme of things, that rivalry aspect may not matter, especially since the number of realistic landing spots for Hughes outside of those six are limited at best. And if ACC schools are in play, then my top-three guesses for Hughes (in no particular order) would be Wake Forest, Duke and Virginia.
The Stride Report has confirmed that Jonathan Carmin has entered the transfer portal as a standard transfer. He is expected to have two seasons of eligibility remaining in both indoor track and cross country. Assuming that he does not race this spring, Carmin will also have three seasons of eligibility remaining on the outdoor oval.
Jonathan Carmin is likely a name that you have seen on our site during the fall months. That's because the soon-to-be-former Lobo runner was projected to be the team's crucial fourth scorer on the grass as he attempted to support the "Big Three" that were Habtom Samuel, Evans Kiplagat and Lukas Kiprop.
Admittedly, Carmin struggled at most meets last fall, but that was because he was supposedly recovering from an illness (which is unconfirmed). The good news is that he was still able to (briefly) flash what his true talent looked like, placing 8th at the Mountain West XC Championships. That result turned out to be a massive performance that gave the New Mexico men the conference title over top-ranked Air Force.
And to be clear, that conference meet effort wasn't a fluke. Carmin had also finished 90th at the Nuttycombe Invite the year prior and later went on to produce personal bests of 3:43 (1500) and 13:52 (5k).
When Carmin is in top form and firing on all cylinders, he can be an impactful scoring piece for a national qualifying team. The Mountain West XC Championships proved that.
Of course, just like we mentioned with Heidi Demeo, we're struggling to figure out a good landing spot for Carmin given that he's from Israel. An athlete's proximity to their hometown is often a decent (although not foolproof) indicator of where someone may choose to transfer to. And as you can see, Carmin's background essentially makes that "general rule of thumb" moot.
When it comes to the surrounding areas around New Mexico, the options are limited. Arizona isn't necessarily known as a distance school, Northern Arizona is likely out of reach from a talent perspective and many of the better distance programs in Texas are much further east.
In theory, that may leave Colorado, Colorado State or Southern Utah as possible destinations for Carmin. And if proximity ultimately doesn't matter, then your guess is as good as mine.
The Stride Report has confirmed that Georgia Tech's Zach Jaeger has entered the transfer portal as a graduate transfer. According to TFRRS, the Yellow Jacket talent is expected to have one full year of eligibility remaining across all three seasons of competition assuming that he does not race this spring.
Zach Jaeger was one of the biggest breakout names in the NCAA last spring, emerging as one of top steeplechasers in the East region. The Yellow Jacket runner dropped two seconds off of his 1500-meter personal en route to a 3:43 PR and, more importantly, produced a huge 8:40 steeplechase performance despite having never contested the event before last spring.
During the 2023 outdoor track season, Jaeger would run sub-8:50 over the barriers and water pits a total of three separate times. He would win the Penn Relays steeplechase title and qualify for the outdoor national meet in that event.
Admittedly, Jaeger's steeplechase prowess is the biggest and most crucial aspect of his resume -- and it's not even close. If he ends up competing for Georgia Tech this spring, and therefore exhausting his spring eligibility, then his potential scoring value will drop considerably.
A program like Georgetown would be a great fit for Jaeger given their strong academic standing and consistent history of developing top steeplechasers. In fact, the same could be said about the Virginia men, although their steeplechase success has been more noticeable in recent years. Other schools such as Washington, Notre Dame, Duke and Portland have also been willing to introduce graduate transfers and steeplechasers to their roster as well.